Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a family trip
That started from a Sydney port
Aboard a huge cruise ship.
We began our nine day cruise of the South Pacific in April 2011 beginning with a stretch limousine which dropped us at Sydney wharf. Hubby had bought a bottle of champagne for he and I and a bottle of lemonade for the kids, so we sat back, relaxed and enjoyed being chauffeur driven.
The Pacific Jewel looked enormous docked in the harbour. We were four of the first people on board and went immediately to investigate our cabin. We were introduced to our cabin boy who informed us he would be cleaning our cabin twice a day, and to leave our wet towels on the floor! Ha! He didn't have to ask us twice!
Sail-away photo
We headed to the Oasis deck and ordered our first drinks. Afterwards we walked around the upper decks and investigated the rest of the ship. It took several hours for passengers to finish boarding: we finally set sail at 4pm. We were frantic registering both kids into their respective kids' clubs in time to return to the deck for the sail-away party. Once formalities were complete, we relaxed and took in the views of Sydney Heads. We took ample photos while leaving Sydney until we were out in open sea and it went dark. We sat on the Oasis deck until we could no longer see the lights of Sydney.
We ate our first cruise meal in the Plantation Restaurant which was a popular family buffet. There was tonnes of food, with many choices and we watched Mr 9's eyes light up. We told him he could serve himself and could eat whatever he wanted because we were on holiday. Being a fussy eater - this made his day! However he surprised us by always including vegetables and/or salad with his meals. People were socialising, introducing themselves to one another and talking excitedly. It was very easy to get into a party mood.
For the first four days we cruised non-stop and spent those days partying, drinking, lazing by the pool, eating, reading, napping, chatting and meeting new people. Then the next three days we island hopped: Isle of Pines, Mystery Island, Lifou and Noumea. We swam, shopped, snorkelled and went on bus trips.
Islanders on Lifou
Miss14 snorkelling off Isle of Pines
The kids on Pacific Jewel
Mr9 drinking real coconut milk
The final three days were spent cruising back to Sydney. Unfortunately three of us were sea-sick on the return trip, so we didn't go up on deck. However the weather was bad so there were no festivities planned for outdoors.
We awoke before dawn on the final day to watch the approach to Sydney Harbour. We saw the sun rise through Sydney Harbour Bridge and we took amazing photos. Would we do another cruise? AB-SO-lutely!
We awoke before dawn on the final day to watch the approach to Sydney Harbour. We saw the sun rise through Sydney Harbour Bridge and we took amazing photos. Would we do another cruise? AB-SO-lutely!
Hubby and I with Sydney Heads at dawn in the background
Sydney Harbour Bridge at sunrise
Michelle Jenkins is the owner of Mojo Online Solutions: www.mojoonlinesolutions.com.au. We create and manage Facebook Business Pages, Twitter accounts, blogs and websites for small businesses affordably. Don't ignore the power of social media. She is currently studying Bachelor of Internet Communications.