Well we have been back one week today from the Cruise and now I would like to share with you all about the Week Tropique to Cairns, via Airlie Beach, 7 nights upon the P&O Cruise ship “Pacific Sun'
Well we were all excited to be heading away on a holiday of a life time, My youngest daughter jannali, yolanda my 18yr old daughter and Crystel my Son's fiance. So five suitcases and a Taxi ride later we arrived at the Cruise Terminal where our next 7 nights would be cruising the East Coast of Australia, I had bought Sea Sickness tablets, Gastro Stop and Headache capsules, all ready for any illness we may come across on our journey…We unloaded our baggage at the drop off point and headed for… something to eat. Filling in time before we had to board…as we headed into the boarding room, saying our good-byes, we saw the large line in which we had to wait to get all the paperwork to be able to board…finally we board and the excitement sets in…
Jannali and Crystel were a little seasick on the first night, it was a bit rough and we all decided that an early night might be the best thing, that way we could enjoy the first morning at sea…
Breakfast buffet, everything you could possibly imagine…Eggs, Bacon, Sausages, Baked Beans, Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Fruit, Yoghurt, and any cereal you could want…where to start…isn't it funny how when food is there in front of you how you just want to try a little of everything…so we did. Come on, we are on holidays 🙂
For the rest of the day we spent finding our way around the large ship. Elevators were busy with those diabled or elderly, so we used the stairs a lot, up to levels 10, 11 and deck 12…the Oasis Deck, no children allowed. Looking in on all the activities happening from the Terraces Lounge to the Atlantis Room. The ship was huge.
Tuesday we dock out from Airlie Beach. We don't eat brekky until we go ashore, Yolanda decides she wants to stay on the ship, so Crystel, Jannali and myself head off on a small boat to see what Airlie has to offer…The sea is an amazing colour…only the tropical waters could hold such a magnificent blue. We shopped at the Airlie markets, lots of local stuff to buy, I picked up a couple of nice aboriginal paintings on shells…the girls will love these…met a lovely couple also, chatted with them and found out they were from Gladstone.
We walked up the streets of Airlie and had brekky at a lovely cafe…now refreshed and shopped out we head to the lagoon and wade in the water for a bit wondering why we hadn't brought our swimmers with because the day was hot.
Back on board and happy to relax before getting ourselves ready for dinner. Hhmmm…I wonder what we will eat, and what restaurant we will eat at tonight. See the buffet food was all starting to taste the same…at least at the restaurants we had a choice of what to eat and the food seemed to taste better…Bernard was one of our waiters…he kept us entertained with his little magic tricks and was always smiling or laughing.
Wednesday and Thurdsay we docked at Cairns. Arrhhh…beautiful Cairns, it was a little overcast…and I was pleased with the cooler weather because of it. What are we going to do…one wanted to go quad biking, the other wanted to go on the big plastic balls, the ones where you hop inside and go rolling down a hill…now we don't have a lot of time, so I decided to take charge and we headed off to The Cairns Crocodile Farm, an hour and a half up the river and in through the mangroves…trying to spot Crocs along the way, till we are let off at and area and the picked up by a small bus…the guys on here take us for a trip around the Crocodile Farm…not far in we parked and walked along a fenced area, where we could easily spot big Crocs laying out in the sun, well the little bit of sun that was out…these Crocs are huge…old ‘Gummy' with teeth, is a whopping 4 mtrs long. CRIKEY!
We all enjoyed our day out and it was very educational.
Back to the ship for a rest, then eating again…oh my goodness, that's all we seem to do…Eat, Sleep, Drink, a little shopping, then Repeat…hahahaha. Thursday we shopped…yes most of the day. When we returned to board the ship, there were some local ladies there cutting up all this fresh fruit for us all to try. I can tell you I have never tasted such beautiful tropical fruit in all my life, there was Dragon Fruit, Star Fruit, Mango, Custard Apple, Monkey Bananas, Passion Fruit so big and sweet…we were in Tropical Fruit Heaven, and we stayed and grazed for a good half hour.
Back to the ship, this was to be our last day of land before docking back in brisbane on the Sunday. Viddy our Cabin Boy/Steward had been looking after us really well and had left some really fascinating towel animals in our Cabin…what a sweet man he was.
So here we are back on the open seas. Friday was a good day. There was always a good choice, Stage shows, Stand up comics, what a scream they were, Bingo, Musical Murder Mystery's. Jannali had spent some time in HQ, this was like a kids club, but for those kids aged 12 – 17yrs, she met a couple of lovely girls there and had spent time with them. We ate at the only Restaurant that charges for dinner that night…$25 a head for adults. It was very nice, only yolandas Steak was still kicking when they brought it to the table…she sent it back…hahahaha. Otherwise the Maitre De and wait staff were very friendly and very helpful, chatting with me for some time. I had a flutter on the pokies and won quite a good amount of money that night also…
Saturday we wake to huge swells and they must be huge because they are throwing this ship around like it is a tinny…Jannali is looking a little green around the gills, oh no…vomiting everywhere in the room, all over my bed and the floor. Yolanda was with her at the time. Poor baby, I call the Pursers Office to ask if a doctor was able to see her, but they advised me that the doctor would cost me a lot of money, so instead they suggested I go and pick up some sea sickness tablets for my daughter. She settled down and slept for a couple of hours…with Yolanda safely looking after her and the room now cleaned, Crystel and I go to attend the Art Auction. It seems the Company that used to own the Art Gallery onboard had gone bust, and P&O had bought the consignment of paintings, and because the ‘Pacific Sun' had been sold to China and would no longer be used for cruises, P&O brought an auctioneer onboard to auction off the paintings…some very good bargains. I must say…and yes I bought four.
Back to the room we go, to check on Yolanda and Jannali, my little one is still not well. Viddy advised me that she should eat, as this will help. I get her some bread, but within minutes of eating it she is vomiting again…she continues to be sick off and on most of the night. None of us got much sleep and early Sunday morning as we docked in Brisbane I rang and asked if I could get her in to see a doctor…hang with the expense, my baby needed help.
So she ended up having to have a needle, my throat was starting to really hurt by now, it had started a couple of days earlier and I thought it was just from the air-con. We had to put our luggage out the night before, so we had an overnight bag with us and all the things we had bought in 4 other bags, we had to get off the ship asap, so here we were 4 of us…4 bags full of gifts, 4 paintings, one little girl with a spew bag, struggling to exit the ship…it was only when we disembarked that a lovely lady from the Cruise Terminal asked if we needed help and sent a wonderful, caring man with a wheelchair for my daughter and another helped with some of the bags. Down to where we are to pick up our luggage and 1, 2, 3, 4…where's my suitcase?? nowhere to be found. Noooo, you have to be kidding me…so we search, next minute my mobile rings…it's a lady calling me from Qantas lost and found at the airport, some lady had taken my luggage by mistake and left it at the airport…you have to be kidding I half scream back to the lady…I have a 12yr old daughter still vomiting, my throat is getting worse by the minute, 4 paintings, 4 suitcases, and 4 bags of gifts…i just want to go home.
We eventually get a cab, after me having a little run in with the taxi marshall….what is it with these guys…they are almost like nazi's when put into a place of authority. Anyway we finally got home. My son and cousin waiting with a bucket and muscle to help bring everything inside…We were EXHAUSTED.
Did we enjoy ourselves??…Yes, every minute. Would I recommend the P&O cruises??… Yes I would, even though my youngest will probably never want to go on a ship again it was lovely sharing with my girls and having lots of fun together, not having to worry about the cooking or cleaning.
Till next time… x
4 Responses
Thank you so much for posting your Travel Journal. I really enjoyed reading it! Glad you all had a great time!! 🙂
Thanks Gloria, I appreciate your comment. We had a really good time. Looking forward to planning the next one 🙂 lol
So glad you had a wonderful time. Poor Jannali for getting so sick, I bet she was glad to get off the boat.
Thanks Jackie, we all had a wonderful time, and i don’t think Jannali will be going on a cruise in the near future. She had a great time though, lucky it was the last day she was sick. 🙂