Anyway, back to the Windjammer - this sign was on all the tables - but hey, the Schooner Bar is for other drinks!!!!
Then we were off to check out more of the ship ....
More views of the Windjammer first ...
View of the city at Circular Quay from Deck 10
Deck 10 walking track overlooking the pool deck
Broadway Melodies Theatre
Solarium - roof closed, but open for most of the cruise.
The Centrum
Beautifully decorated all ready for Christmas
The new chandeliers are quite something. Decorative but with another purpose, to be revealed later.
Back on deck. Only ourselves to spend time with at sail-away, but cocktail in hand, we were all set to sail out of Sydney Harbour in reasonable weather. Our last departure had been in pouring rain and dark, so we were able to experience the sights from a higher vantage point than our usual view from the Manly ferry!!!!!!
Being a regular traveller on Sydney Harbour I understand a few essential ship signals. Here we are on Deck 11 forward of the ship's whistle!!!! As you can see below there are quite a number of others on the deck where we are. I wish I could have captured their looks when the ship's whistle was sounded - just once. A couple close by were lingering (most everyone else had disappeared) and I suggested to them that there would very soon be three short ones. Sure enough the signal indicating to all on the water that we were reversing came reverberating to our ears - what a wonderful sound!!!!!!!!!
So we were underway. Being a local it was obvious who the interstate visitors were ... "are we backing under the Bridge ..." "Gosh we are so close to the Opera House ..." "What's 'this'?" "What's 'that'?" So for those who don't know ...
This is a photo from Deck 11 as we are reversing towards the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which we do not reverse under!!!!
This is the Sydney Opera House with the city behind and the Overseas Passenger Terminal (OPT) to the right of the picture. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is out of shot to the right.
This is Admiralty House, the home of Australia's Governor General when she is visiting Sydney (otherwise she resides at Yarralumla in Canberra)
As we headed down the harbour the sun was sinking lower towards the horizon ... Oh gosh suddenly realised I had booked a Spa visit!!!!!!!!!
Off I went to the opposite end of the ship - a quick dash to stern and camera in hand watched the sun sink behind the coast of New South Wales. I could bore you with the half dozen plus pics I took, but this one I felt was the pick of the bunch.
Spa treatment over time to head for the Windjammer for some sustenance. The sun having set the full moon began to rise - what a great way to start the cruise. Red then gold reflecting on the water as the sun sets then the silver stream of the moon rising - beautiful.
So well fed and watered we meandered out on deck once again to catch the ambiance sans people. This is quite obviously the Pool Deck (9) looking towards the Viking Crown Lounge. Why was no-one around I hear you say? Well look closely, they hadn't just washed the deck - it's raining! So we were indeed very lucky to see what we saw earlier in the evening.
This is looking astern (love the lingo) towards the Viking Crown Lounge
Returning inside the Centrum is now lit up, chandeliers and Christmas tree looking beautiful
However, let's back up a bit. Earlier before Muster, we went meandering along Deck 6 to the Shall We Dance Lounge
Not a lot has changed here with the refurb
Back through the Schooner Bar
Lastly we had to wait until the next day to find Latte-tudes open for business. No Chunky Monkey in the ice cream bar sadly!!
Our first night at sea was formal. This is our Captain Rick Sullivan. He's an East Coast Canadian and very drole. Astonishingly, he is the only captain we have sailed with, having been on Rhapsody of the Seas three times. Considering the captains have 10 weeks on and 10 weeks off that's not bad.
Here is the secondary reason for the beautiful chandeliers - the new aerial show. Very difficult to get good photographs with a point and shoot, but I can assure you it was pretty cool. This was the rehearsal which was happening during the day, so no crowds around the Centrum.
Another view of Broadway Melodies Theatre
Towel animals, as all cruisers know, are a feature of arriving in your stateroom (aka cabin) when your room has been made up for the evening. Our cute little elephant had little paper eyes even though the traditional sunnies were left lying around. The Cruise Compass is always good bedtime reading to check out what is happening the following day around the ship.
The belly flop competition always attracts a good crowd. Our Cruise Director was very quick witted and kept the on-lookers entertained with his come-back lines.
Another evening to look forward to in the Main Dining Room is Italian night. Everyone gets into the enjoyment, twirling their napkins as the wait staff march into the dining room between courses.
Then it's a serenade with them all grouped up the stairs. Just to explain, the Main Dining Room is on two levels of the ship. Each level is for different time dining options.
As return cruisers we were invited to a function held in the Shall We Dance Lounge. It can be a rewarding experience in more ways than one staying with the same cruise line.
Our first port of call on this cruise was the Isle of Pines in New Caledonia. Named by Captain Cook, he felt these islands resembled the highlands of Scotland. It is easy to see why this particular island in the group is called the Isle of Pines.
No shore excursions were offered. Well there's really nothing much there. There is quite a bit of history. After the British handed over the islands to the French, it became their penal colony. Sadly not a lot of the history is preserved, but there are many old stone walls like this to be found.
We had asked some other cruisers we had met during an on board
function, where the best snorkelling spot was. Unfortunately hundreds
of other passengers also found out and the place was very busy. The reef
was not the best but the fish were plentiful and very beautiful. This is actually an island which you can swim right around. You can see the hoards of people in the water in the distance.
We walked along the stretch of beach and there were many local families spending time together. These two little chaps were having a lot of fun clambering on the outrigger parked near their home just up from the beach.
On the other side of the island where the ship's tender docked, was this interesting timber fenced home. It was close to the cafe and gift shop, but seemed rather incongruous in its location. It was a Sunday when we were there and many local families had come down to the beach area to have picnics. It was hard not to feel like we were intruding, but many of them had little food stalls set up selling local food to the passengers as well.
It's hard not to take a photo of the ship when moored offshore.
Tonight we had our first night booked in a specialty restaurant - Chops Grille. This is the entrance
More importantly - this is the food!!!!!!!! Beautiful.
I just managed to catch the flame on the top of the creme brulee - it occurred to me too late that I should have taken the photo when the whole surface was blue with flame.
Tonight was the real deal with the aerial show. Now you can see how packed out all the levels overlooking the Centrum become. It's very difficult to find a good position unless you are prepared to sit in the lounge near the R-Bar and nurse a drink or two for an hour or so beforehand!!
The next day we were moored off Lifou in the Loyalty Islands. Still part of New Caledonia. A much larger island, but still recommended for snorkelling. We spent an hour snorkelling over a beautiful reef. Again it was very crowded, but we managed to steer clear of the swimmers. It was sad to see, however, how many people thought it was OK to stand on the coral, just because they were wearing 'reef shoes'. Our Great Barrier Reef in Australia is well protected and all operators taking visitors to the Reef will give specific instructions on the do's and don'ts. This place has no such capacity to protect their environment apart from some hand written signs (many in French, but some in English) which were totally disregarded.
After our dip, we decided to walk up to the church on the point.
This is the little church of Notre Dame de Lourdes which is perched high on a cliff overlooking the sea. The walk up was not too bad with some stairs, but definitely worth it. There was a group of local women having their lunch outside the church and I asked them about the church. Every Saturday a Priest takes the locals in procession up to the church for the service. It's only tiny. I did not ask how many people would normally do this. They said our ship was very big and that they only travel on small boats for fishing or to go to Noumea which is 6 hours away.
After another hour in the water to cool off, we headed back to the dock. This is a very pretty place, but quite obviously quite poor too and very reliant on the cruise passengers.
The ubiquitous markets were situated close to the dock (of course) I asked permission to take this shot because, again I felt like we were intruding on their lives. Though, of course, they are gaining from the custom brought by the big ships.
This shot of Notre Dame de Lourdes high up on the cliff, was taken from the ship as we were leaving.
Our third and final port of call was Noumea itself. The capital of New Caledonia and only a small town, it is located on the south western tip of Grand Terre, the largest of the islands that make up this French Pacific Territory.
We were docked, but had to take a shuttle to get into town as there is no dedicated cruise terminal. We were literally in the middle of the working container dock. The ship was offering a number of shore excursions, but we were happy to just do our own thing. We knew what was on offer as both our children had been to Noumea with their French class at high school and I had done research of my own.
We originally planned to take a quick look around then return to the ship to collect our snorkelling gear and head around to one of the beaches. After we took a local bus tour around the town and main beaches, we decided to take a closer look at the cathedral instead. The photograph below shows the cathedral from a high point overlooking the town.
We made a couple of interesting stops along the route of our tour including this one which was at Ouen Toro which in the picture above is pretty much in the centre of the photo in the distance. Another high point of the town with some WWII history and of course beautiful views out to sea.
So after leaving our tour, we headed for the cathedral which by Roman Catholic standards was quite modest. There was even a statue of Joan of Arc on one side of the cathedral. On the other side was a grotto dedicated to the Virgin Mary which was being watched over by a local gentleman who explained that you could send prayers to the Virgin. There were family plaques and lots of flowers, but I did not photograph this as I felt it would be disrespectful.
Walking back through the town again we took another route to walk through the Place des Cocotiers, a local meeting place for the native Kanaks. There were market stalls to wander with lots of local trinkets and clothes and fashions of all kinds.
As we returned to the terminal where our shuttle would take us back to the ship, the tourist train was waiting for it's next load of tourists. I'm not sure that this is the original Le Petit Train which was so famous when my children were in Noumea many years ago. I did not see any reference to it being called that. However, it had plenty of business taking visitors on a slower, more novel experience, around the town.
It was a fine evening when we left though the clouds were building after a very hot and humid day.
As we left a tug went speeding past to pick up a merchant ship just entering the harbour. Needless to say there were lots of people on deck watching our departure, which is always an interesting exercise, seeing how different dock workers attend their duties.
Out of the harbour and into the South Pacific once again. This time we were headed towards the setting sun. We were having pre-dinner drinks in the Viking Crown Lounge on Deck 11 where we had a superb view
I even took some liberties with the camera settings and took this fish-eye shot of the pool deck.
This evening we had booked ourselves into Izumi, the Japanese specialty restaurant which now occupies an area that used to be part of the Viking Crown Lounge. We did not know what to expect, but the ambiance was certainly lovely.
The food did not disappoint. Ian had the meat hot rock and I had the seafood. The meal overall was very good.
Dessert was especially yummy
Back in our cabin we were greeted with a towel animal we had not seen before on any previous trips. This lovely peacock was resting gracefully against the pillows.
The crew farewell is always special. It was preceded by a comedian, juggler who was very entertaining. What a lovely end to a short but sweet trip.
I had asked the captain during his Q&A session onboard about the flags flying at different times. I mentioned the 'Blue Peter' and also asked about the red and white flag. Well here it is and it means there is a pilot on the ship. Now I'll have to ask, next time what the yellow one is for. I've looked it up, but it doesn't make much sense to me.
Passing close by Fort Denison in Sydney Harbour. All decked out ready for a party by the looks of it. Perhaps even a New Year's Eve celebration - that would cost a pretty penny I'll be bound.
And here we are, almost home, sweet, home. Grey skies but warm. It's good to be home, but I'm looking forward to the next trip - as always.
