The Ides of March

Today is our first full day at sea. I must tell you a little about our “sail away” from Sydney. Our ship, Pacific Princess, was docked smack dab between the Sydney Harbour (my computer is telling me I’m spelling that wrong, but that’s the way they spell it here in Oz) Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. An unbelievably beautiful view. Just after sunset we sailed out of the harbor (okay, I’ll spell it right and make the computer happy) and they light up the bridge and the opera house making for a stunning spectacle. I’m sure there are many things wrong with Sydney and Australia, but for visitors (Sydneysiders refer to us as “visitors” as they consider “tourist” a tacky word) it’s fabulous. Very spendy, but worth it.
The ship we’re on is much, much smaller than other Princess ships we’ve been on, but we are quickly learning to “downsize.” I’ve gone from a large laptop screen to a tiny netbook size; I’m adapting to shaving my legs in the “crane” position; and we are determined to make 200 sq. ft seem spacious enough for two people for 62 days. There’s a bit of a swell in the Pacific today so Tom and I are both wearing our “psi bands”—wrist bands with buttons that press on an acupressure spot that will supposedly deter seasickness. They seem to be working okay—now if only someone could come up with something to help us walk through the ship without looking like we’d fail a breathalyzer test.
This morning we had the ubiquitous “muster station drill.” I’ve been to a few of these since every passenger on every cruise must go through the motions of finding their “safe area” and putting on their life vest in the unlikely event of a water landing. I looked around the room and knew, without a doubt, that if there’s a Poseidon adventure in our future there will be few, if any, survivors. Not that there was a lack of cooperation or appropriate attention. Oh no. These folks were hanging on the crew’s every word. The problem is, these folks are also hanging onto oxygen canisters, walkers, and their Lipitor. We were greeted at the gangway as “honeymooners” (no lie). If we pass for honeymooners you can imagine the rest of the lot. Oh well. If we were allowed to choose our method of leaving this world, I’m sure more than a few would choose saying “sayonara” in Japan, or “arrivaderci” in Rome over fading away hooked up to a beeping vitals monitor in a pale green hospital room. And it probably would be cheaper too!
This morning we played trivia with a couple we met who live in our home town (Green Valley, AZ). They invited us to join their team, but we weren’t much help. One of the questions was, “Which jazz trumpeter was dubbed “The Prince of Darkness”? and I answered, “Ozzy Osbourne!” Obviously, an incorrect response. And so it went.
But they harbored no ill will and asked us to join them for lunch. We learned they have been around the world a number of times—mostly on freighter ships. Heaven forbid. Tom was pretty intrigued with that idea. Me? Not so much.
After lunch we went to a ballroom dance lesson. It’s kind of a trick to learn new dance steps while the ship is tossing you this way and that across the dance floor. I think some of us looked like we were “getting our groove on” when, in reality, we were just trying to remain upright.
We are now headed to Cairns (which is pronounced “Cans” by the Aussies) to see the Great Barrier Reef. We’ll arrive next Thursday (which will be Wednesday for those of you in North America) so we’ve got a few days at sea ahead of us. I promise not to bore you with our day-to-day adventures at sea (Bingo! Trivia! A lecture on Australian opals!) but I’ll be back with a new post when something of note happens (hopefully not the aforementioned Poseidon Adventure). In the meantime, here are a few photos of our sail away. Thanks for reading. We miss you all and look forward to reading any comments you care to add to this blog.