Live From – Crown Princess 26 Oct Round Australia Cruise

[Cbtours]

44 minutes ago, Ozwoody said:

The Next Instalment

 

We’re on our way

 

We have arrived at the airport, and yes it was a smooth 15min drive (long sigh) but I did not get that “roll of the eyes and why are we early look”, just a long-suffering resigned look.

 

We’re going cattle class, as it’s only a 1.5-hour flight to Sydney I should be able to handle it.

I’m not a keen flyer, indeed to put it plainly, “I Don’t Like Flying”.

But I’m a big boy and I will grit my teeth and look happy for Hilary.

She won’t be fooled of course, and casually tells me you’re not good company flying you know.

 

We Are Here

We’re here in Sydney, its sunny and pleasant, picked up a taxi at the airport as we walked out of the doors, and he whizzed us over to our hotel, “The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel” Est in 1841, its delightful character pub of three stories, Ground floor is the Pub, Second floor the Restaurant, and the Third floor the hotel accommodation.

There is no lift, but they have great staff and our two large bags and two smaller ones appeared in our room nearly as soon as we arrived. The rooms are the original rooms but spruced up and very comfortable.

All in all, we felt reasonably good for $250/night, smack middle of the Rocks Area. They have advised staff will take our bags down again tomorrow.

 

We had lunch here in the Pub area, before venturing out, the food was very good, provided quite quickly. Would definitely rate the staff here as excellent, young, enthusiastic, energetic, and eager to help you. Full marks to the management.

 

We took a walk around the local area and down to the OPT, as always, the Rocks area of Sydney is a bustle of energy, visual beauty, hard to knock it in any way. After the walk we adjourned back to our room for a rest and to let our bodies catch up to our enthusiasm.

 

Dinner tonight in the Restaurant down one level, then to bed, for tomorrows is:  THE DAY.

 

I identify to many portions of your report!

I arrive at airport 3 hrs ahead for international flights, we live 45 mins from airport (Melbourne) so I don’t trust traffic at all so allow excessive time lol.

id rather sit three hrs at airport with a coffee than stress in traffic 😁

[Muffinz]

1 hour ago, Cbtours said:

I identify to many portions of your report!

I arrive at airport 3 hrs ahead for international flights, we live 45 mins from airport (Melbourne) so I don’t trust traffic at all so allow excessive time lol.

id rather sit three hrs at airport with a coffee than stress in traffic 😁

We are the same…. When we go to Sydney in December our flight leaves Auckland 9am and we intend to get to the airport by 6am… we’re about 45-50 minutes from the airport on a good day but suspect it will only be about 30-35 minutes in the shuttle at 5:30am

 

we too like to relax with a coffee and de-stress

 

wife usually takes a photo of the international airport departure board and posts it on Facebook and waits for her friends to ask “oh where are you going”?? 😊😊

[arxcards]

That's what lounges are for. Just pretend it is the cruise ship buffet, and relax while the time ticks away.

[Uniqueguy4]

As I watched the Crown Princess dock this morning on the webcam I got excited even tho our cruise is weeks away. As she slid into view a tug welcoming he with water spouts high into the air you could see the peaks of the Opera House over the top of the ship. The weather even gave her a good welcome with clear sky's and the sun glistening on the buildings of out city. I will be watching her departure this afternoon...this is a fantastic webcam

[ceeceeDee]

23 minutes ago, Uniqueguy4 said:

As I watched the Crown Princess dock this morning on the webcam I got excited even tho our cruise is weeks away. As she slid into view a tug welcoming he with water spouts high into the air you could see the peaks of the Opera House over the top of the ship. The weather even gave her a good welcome with clear sky's and the sun glistening on the buildings of out city. I will be watching her departure this afternoon...this is a fantastic webcam

Sounds like Sydney is pulling out all the stops for John and Hilary!😃

[Uniqueguy4]

yes it sure does Cee Cee it puts the icing on the cake with great weather

[Cbtours]

Today’s the day at last! Have the best cruise 🥰🥰

 

 

[ceeceeDee]

3 minutes ago, Uniqueguy4 said:

yes it sure does Cee Cee it puts the icing on the cake with great weather

There's nothing better than Sydney Harbour on a beautiful day. Much more picturesque than Brisbane International Cruise Terminal's mangroves and industrial estates!

[Cbtours]

5 minutes ago, ceeceeDee said:

There's nothing better than Sydney Harbour on a beautiful day. Much more picturesque than Brisbane International Cruise Terminal's mangroves and industrial estates!

I don’t even mind flying Sydney from

me to sail out of the harbour than Melbourne lol

[ceeceeDee]

4 minutes ago, Cbtours said:

I don’t even mind flying Sydney from

me to sail out of the harbour than Melbourne lol

I was brought up in Manly and travelled to Circular Quay and back on the ferry quite a bit and never fully appreciated just how beautiful the harbour was (even without the Opera House in those days). Hindsight, as they say, is 20/20

[Muffinz]

 On our cruise in 2018 I'm sure the schedule said the ship departs at 5pm or 5:30pm, so at 4:30pm we were in our room unpacking the suitcases when we looked out the balcony window and realised the ship was moving, so we abandoned our unpacking and raced up to the back of the ship to the Sunset bar (Celebrity Solstice) and stayed there for the sail away... by the time we returned to our room to continue unpacking it was dark!

But Yes - I agree Sydney Harbour is pretty spectacular.

 

on our cruise in December I've told wife that I want to board the ship soon as possible, get something to eat, go to the muster station, go to the cabin to watch the muster video and unpack... then we have the whole afternoon left to do a bar crawl! 😆

[ceeceeDee]

2 minutes ago, Muffinz said:

 On our cruise in 2018 I'm sure the schedule said the ship departs at 5pm or 5:30pm, so at 4:30pm we were in our room unpacking the suitcases when we looked out the balcony window and realised the ship was moving, so we abandoned our unpacking and raced up to the back of the ship to the Sunset bar (Celebrity Solstice) and stayed there for the sail away... by the time we returned to our room to continue unpacking it was dark!

But Yes - I agree Sydney Harbour is pretty spectacular.

 

on our cruise in December I've told wife that I want to board the ship soon as possible, get something to eat, go to the muster station, go to the cabin to watch the muster video and unpack... then we have the whole afternoon left to do a bar crawl! 😆

We plan to do exactly that in December as well. We've selected the earliest boarding time so should be able to stick to our planned schedule. 😀

[Muffinz]

7 minutes ago, ceeceeDee said:

We plan to do exactly that in December as well. We've selected the earliest boarding time so should be able to stick to our planned schedule. 😀

apparently Princess don't have 'boarding times' as such, but we will probably have to check out of the hotel by 10am, then get the tram to CQ, so all going to plan should be on Crown Princess before mid-day 😃

[ceeceeDee]

12 minutes ago, Muffinz said:

apparently Princess don't have 'boarding times' as such, but we will probably have to check out of the hotel by 10am, then get the tram to CQ, so all going to plan should be on Crown Princess before mid-day 😃

We're out of Brisbane on Encounter and have selected 11am so ditto. 😉

[arxcards]

21 minutes ago, Muffinz said:

apparently Princess don't have 'boarding times' as such, but we will probably have to check out of the hotel by 10am, then get the tram to CQ, so all going to plan should be on Crown Princess before mid-day 😃

Yes, just a priority line that will empty into the terminal before the everybody else line. On a good day, start to look to finding your appropriate line around 11, and it will often start moving by 11:20. I expect for John & Hilary today, it could be a bit later for Crown's first turnaround. Our border officials are very dedicated on 1st turnarounds.

[arxcards]

A little bit of homework for you John. How are they running their "blue line" today? Our last three Princess embarks at OPT have been different, and I am wondering if they are still experimenting or have settled on a preferred path. Is it:

Medallion pick-up at a counter downstairs, then up to check-in;

Up the escalator to check-in, and given medallions at check-in;

Up the escalator to check-in, then given a card to collect your medallions from another counter. 

 

Happy barking day!!

[arxcards]

 

 

[ceeceeDee]

45 minutes ago, arxcards said:

 

 

Just gorgeous!

[arxcards]

Just now, ceeceeDee said:

Just gorgeous!

It is a stunning day to be cruising out of Sydney.

[Kiwi_cruiser]

 

[Muffinz]

7 hours ago, arxcards said:

 

 

Can you please have a talk to the weather people in Sydney / NSW and make sure the day is exactly like this on 14 December? 😀

[Uniqueguy4]

We second that request Muffinz

[arxcards]

A couple of Bon Voyage pics for you John, and another to show how a beautiful day turns into a beautiful night.

 

 

 

[Ozwoody]

Another Instalment.

 

The Dinning

We ventured down to the hotels main dinning room, which was very pleasant with a relaxed atmosphere.

We sat at the table in the foreground, it was difficult to encapsulate the whole area, but the seating was about three time what is captured.

We found the staff very professional, and attentive, providing a very relaxing vibe.

The meals were both excellent, they looked so good we forgot to take a photo, and they were every bit as delicious as they look and smelt. We would definitely eat there again.

All in all we could not fault the establishment or the services that they provided, very happy with our stay, and very appreciated our large heavy cases being carried up and then back down as we left.

 

The bar from the main front entrance.

 

 

Our room with the king size bed, at first we were disappointed with no fridge or tea making facilities, but then we opened the cupboard door, and hay presto all the facilities are there. Very neat and tidy.

If your looking for a stay that’s a little different, this place “The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel” comes highly recommended.

[Ozwoody]

THE DAY HAS ARRIVED

Here she is big and beautiful, our home for the next 26 days, the Crown Princess.

Now Sydney would be hard pressed to have provided a better day than it has to day, warm but not to warm.

We’re excited and we have arrived at 5 past 10am, and we’re dropping our bags off, and then heading up to the Pancake Parlour for breakfast.

 

We then strolled back down to the ship around 11am to see when Elite could embark, to our surprise we were told no one was going to be allowed to board until after 2pm, no reason given just that was what they have been told to tell everyone. A bit of a shock, as already there is a huge crowd lining up to board.

We decide a wander was in order so we troop of to explore the harbour area. As said earlier Sydney has put on its best face, so a pleasant walk is no hardship.

 

Around 1pm we return to the OPT, and now there a really huge number of people lined up and going nowhere, we’re thinking what’s going on with Princess? We are normally on and enjoying lunch by 11:30am latest?

Deciding no way are we lining up in that crowd, we head into the Bar at the ground level of the OPT, find a seat and a couple of drinks and settle into wait. Finally, at 2pm with line now stretching way back towards the quay its self, the line starts to move very slowly. Turns out they are using only one lane for everyone.

We’re thinking come on Princess what’s happened to the priority lane they normally have.

 

At this stage we are not overly happy with princess, but sit tight and wait for the que to thin out somewhat.

Around 2:45 we join the dwindle que line, but it’s still a long winding route into the check-in area, processing was quite quick, but then long que’s to get through security, which seemed stricter than we experienced at the airport.

Seemed a bit over the top for a local cruise around Australia.

 

Later we were told that the disembarking delays were caused by Australian Customs insisting on through face-to-face vetting of all passengers. Do not know if that was true, but there seemed to be disembarking passengers for quite some time from what we saw.

 

However, long and short of it we managed to get on board minus or power-board, taken for checking and to be delivered to our cabin later.