Just a cruise note…

On my 2 cruises that I’ve done now, I would carry around several small notebook and a pen with me on the ship or while on shore excursions, so I can take note of the things I want to remember while on the cruise. This way I have detailed notes of all the things that I want to remember in my small notebooks.

I generally during a quiet time will find somewhere on the ship, in a public place and sit there and write my memories down before I forget the things I want to remember.

I write down the funny things I’ve seen and heard, I write the names of crew members who have gone above and beyond to make sure that I’m having a good time on my holiday (handy for the compliment cards from the Passenger Services Desk on the ship and the survey at the end of the cruise), I write down the informative things, the amusing things, the entertaining things, the highlights of the cruise, about the wonderful people I have met and conversed with.

I like going back to my notebooks and rereading what I have written and remembering those moments.

On my last cruise from Adelaide, South Australia to Fiji and return back in November 2019, I could be found on the Lido Deck scribbling away in my notebook, or in the Explorer’s Lounge, or on the Promenade Deck.

Writing notes at various times during the day or the evening during some down time helps me to remember a cruise, as does taking photos and video’s on my phone.

On my first cruise back in 2018, going from Adelaide, South Australia to New Zealand, on that cruise I had taken so many photos that the friend I was travelling with, jokingly called me “a Japanese tourist” lol. Funny how she wanted half the photos I had taken so she could print them off for herself lol.

The next cruise for next year, December 2023 from Adelaide, South Australia to New Zealand, as it’s going to be a Christmas and New Year’s cruise, I was considering getting the internet package on the ship and do some live videos while on the cruise, especially on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve but for this cruise, yes, I will be bringing along a pack of small notebooks to write my memories in.

However you remember your cruises, I hope you look back on the memories and smile as you remember the crew members who made your cruise enjoyable along with the memories you made on your cruises.

Until Next Time

Kaye

Cruising in a new world…

Well, on the morning of Saturday 22 January 2022, as I listened to radio and heard Phil Hoffmann, the boss of one of the biggest tourism companies here in Adelaide, South Australia, telling everyone regarding their latest deals, during his regular radio spot, mention a cruise from Adelaide to New Zealand, my ears pricked up to listen.

He mentioned a cruise happening in December 2023, from Adelaide, South Australia to New Zealand and return, which will be sailing Christmas and New Year before returning back to Australia, for 19 nights.

Over at a friend’s house over an hour later, as she’s my cruising buddy as well, I mentioned if she was interested. Stupid question by the way lol. I got on the Phil Hoffmann Travel website to check out the cruise in detail and liked what I saw with both the price and the itinerary. On the PHT website, there is a feature where you can chat live and after talking with a guy from PHT Travel with the chat feature of the site, a cruise was booked. Or as I jokingly say, “accidentally booked” lol. Accidentally on purpose.

The cruise is leaving Adelaide on the 16th December 2023 and returning 1st January 2024, 19 nights with ports including Port Lincoln and KI, on board the Grand Princess, sister ship to the both the Golden Princess and the Star Princess cruise ships.

Both the Golden Princess and the Star Princess are no longer Princess ships as they were both previously sold to P&O Australia and have since been renamed. It leaves the Grand Princess, the oldest of the 3 sister ships being the last of the 3 still with Princess Cruises.

I don’t know if this cruise will go ahead. I hope it will as December 2023 is just under 2 years away. Hopefully cruising has resumed here in Australia by then and New Zealand has reopened their borders again. With the world as it currently is, the world is an unpredictable place because of covid and all it’s variants.

I hope that by the time December 2023 arrives, the world is more settled and used to the new normal we have to live now. Time will tell.

All I know is this, the reasons for my booking this cruise is I want something to look forward to. I want to feel as though life is returning to a new normal because it will never be the same as it was before the pandemic. I want to go back onto a cruise ship.

For those who think that they will never get back onto a cruise ship because of covid and the thoughts of cruise ships being huge Petri dishes floating on the water, I just want to say this – cruise ships are continuously by the crews and this was going on even before the pandemic. It’s the people who get onto the cruise ships who need to not board ships while sick and those who fail to regularly wash their hands.

I also know from experience after doing 2 long cruises as a passenger, that a cruise ship simply cannot allow passengers to get off the ship without permission from the authorities of the port and the countries laws they are in at that moment, which include health authorities, customs and immigration.

I know that cruising will include being double vaccinated and having boosters, wearing face masks, washing hands frequently or hand sanitising, covid tests before boarding a cruise ship and other measures but if they keep me safe and those on the same ship as me safe, I’m going to do it without complaint.

Bring on the cruise in December 2023

Until next time

Kaye