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 Around 1:15, we figured it was time to get an Uber back to the hotel so we could grab our luggage and head off to the port to board our ship. We got this guy, who, due to traffic, took quite a while to get us to the hotel. Once we got there and got our luggage, we realized we'd need a van that could handle the four of us and our suitcases and backpacks, so we waited until this guy showed up with his more than adequate van, loaded everything up, and off we went, crossing the Sydney Harbor Bridge (1:13) twice (0:41)note on the way to our ship. |
 And then we were at the terminal with the hundreds (thousands) of others who would be sailing with us on the Royal Princess. During the preparation for our trip at home, we were constantly bombarded with the term "Green Lane", the expedited line to speed our way through check-in which we were expecting once we got into the terminal. Unfortunately, the Green Lane was a myth; there was just one extremely long queue we had to wait in before getting processed. When we did finally get to our room, we were welcomed at our door, which automatically unlocked thanks to the sensor in our medallion that we wore around our necks |
 It was around 3:30 when I took this first picture from the ship. It's from our balcony while the ship was still docked. We were pretty happy with our room's location and the view it would afford us. Just off to the left, we could see this. We wouldn't be sailing for a few more hours, so we decided we should take care of the most important business first, ... |
 ...Food! We went up to Deck 16 to the Horizon Bistro, the buffet where we'd eat more often than we should have. I didn't take many pictures, and we didn't eat a lot because we planned on checking out formal dining in the no-reservations-required Symphony Dining Room tonight, but we got a good impression of what the buffet had to offer, and I wasn't too impressed. |
 So with free time before our first formal dinner, we two couples went our own ways, planning to meet at the Symphony Dining Room at 7:00. Mei-O and I just walked around the ship, taking some final pictures of Sydney and some of its more famous landmarks which we could see from our ship, the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge, before sail away at 6:00. |
 In the "old days" of cruising, before the ship could depart, everyone had to check-in at their muster stations all together for a safety briefing. Now, we could watch the safety briefing on our room's TV (I don't know if they could actually tell if everyone watched it or not), head down to our muster station, and scan our medallion, and that was it. Once everyone was checked-in, the ship could depart. |
 A little after 6:00, off we went (4:15!) with a tug boat pulling the ship around (you can see that around 3:00) so it could head straight out of the harbor. Here's one of my favorite pictures, one of the last pictures I took as we left Sydney. We were underway. |
 There were two formal dining rooms on the ship, the Concerto Dining Room on Deck 6 where reservations were required, and the Symphony Dining Room on Deck 5 where you could just walk up to the entrance and get a table. Our schedules were quite open, such that making reservations would be difficult, so we always went to the Symphony where, despite it just being walk-up dining, we never encountered more than one or two couples waiting to get in ahead of us, and there was never a wait for a table. This suited us fine. |
 Tonight's menu included two of the items I was most looking forward to: "Captain's Favourite French Onion Soup" and "Classic Caesar Salad" which I was able to get with anchovies! In fact, these were both "princess favourites", which means they would be available every night. I followed these up with a "Garlic & Herb-Crusted Short Rib with creamy brie polenta, tempura mushrooms, and red wine jus" which was pretty good. Mei-O, hoping for a good vegetable dish, ordered the "Asparagus Risotto" which turned out to be kind of a joke with just three short pieces of asparagus in it. For dessert, we had "Princess Love Boat Dream" and "Traditional New York Cheesecake" with strawberries and ice cream. That was our first of our many formal dinners.... |
 We started a nightly tradition after dinner tonight. Teresa and Mei-O had a real hunger for fruit, so after finishing our formal dinner in the Symphony Dining Room, we'd head up to Deck 16 to the Horizon Bistro to see what they had. One of the most disappointing aspects of the cruise was that day after day, night after night, the only fruit they had to offer was several different kinds of melons. Our visit there also turned out to supplement our formal dinner when it wasn't enough, and often a second dinner was scarfed down. Steve especially took advantage of the buffet's main course offerings, especially when they had things like prime rib or filet mignon (which weren't a whole lot like the real thing). The melons above was the last picture I took today. I suppose we were tired and just wanted to get back to our room and get some sleep. We were sailing towards Melbourne; tomorrow would be a full day at sea. We'll see what that holds for us. Next Top |
