Day 13 KL

Enjoyed KL today. 

Visited many different places. The blue mosque, War memorial, Museum, Kings Palace and the Towers.

 

Day 12 Singapore

We spent about 5 hours in Singapore today. We visited Chinatown, where you have many of the original Malay and Chinese buildings and stalls trying to flog off cheap merchandise at high prices. The highlight of Chinatown was the original Buddhist building.

After we waited 15 mins for two late people to get back on the bus we went to the royal selangor pewter house. We made our own pewter dish, that was very noisy but fun. 

Finally we went to Raffles hotel, and had a Singapore sling cocktail.  This cocktail originated here. The hotel was very nice. The long bar where we had the drinks had very interesting ceiling fans and the tables had raw peanuts. You toss the shells of the peanuts on the floor when you are finished. I wouldn't like to be the cleaner for that bar.

The plan was to have a champagne farewell from Singapore. They have brought roughly 100 glasses of champagne on top deck and now it is pouring rain lol. Damn, I want my free bubbles.

Day 10 At Sea

We managed to do better at Trivia today, 15/20. We had got 13/20 three days in a row, so it felt good to do a little better. Our little team of two (which we call Dumb & Dumber) has now recruited two more regular players and we ask anyone who seems to be on their own to join us also.

Nana was talking to another lady during Zumba. Apparently many of the old grannies go naked into the sauna. I have made a mental note to stay clear.

I think most people on board have established a pattern. I see the same people lounging on the top deck trying to improve their tan, not sure if you can improve on old boot leather, but they keep at it each day. Helda tells me she would like to go in the pool more but their are too many large people taking up the room. I see the same people walking out around the ship on deck 7 several times a day. I stick with them until my fingers swell up into dirty great sausages then I head on inside. 

There is lobster on the dinner menu tonight, nom nom.

Last night we watched the Life of Pi under the stars. We didn't get any pop corn this time. Ripped off! I did get us both a dirty banana cocktail though. Our first cocktail onboard. Nana didn't have much of hers because she found it too rich. SCORE! 

Our toilet stopped flushing. Thank goodness it was empty at the time. All fixed now.

They sell formal pictures of you that you can purchase at a high price. There is a total of 13 formal nights on board. I was sneaky and took a photo of my first one. 

Day 11 Neptune pays a visit

So many people push in, especially when food is involved. Bloody seagulls, it's not like I can give them a light elbowing, they might fall over and break a hip.

Neptune made an appearance on top deck today as we crossed the equator. All the pollywogs (people who have not crossed the equator) had to make themselves known. They then toss a bucket of god knows what all over you (it looked like paint and chunks of chocolate cake). Nana and I fell asleep in our cabin and missed Neptune, but we made it up to see all the mess they made of the people. They didn't get tossed in the pool afterward, instead they had buckets of pool water thrown over them to clean them up. Good thing I missed that one, I was wearing all white today. Traditionally you are meant to report those who don't show up, but Nana knows what is good for her, lol.

I asked Helda about her children last night. She told me that her youngest sons name is Garfield. She then continued to tell us that her son hates his name and that she is so sorry about it. How was she to know that a few years after he was born that there would be a fat, lazy, lasagne eating cat with the same name. Ah we had a good laugh.

Their is a water leak right outside our cabin door. It is dripping into a bucket from a light fitting. Of all the cabins on this vessel it has to be outside our room.

We had the best dessert so far tonight. It was a caramelised rice creme brûlée with a scoop of lime sorbet. Best creme brûlée I have ever had.

Tomorrow we arrive in Singapore. It will be strange leaving the ship for the first time after I have established a routine.

I am sitting out on deck 7 whilst writing this, here is a picture of my view.

Day 9 Beautiful Seascape

I saw a dolphins today. The seascape was so lovely today. The water was so still the clouds were reflected.

As we passed many small islands in the Banda Sea I took at least 50 photos. Occasionally there was a fishing boat, and sadly there was a lot of rubbish in the water. 

Day 8 A week has gone

Well it has been a full week since we set sail. 

We watched The Artist and The Avengers today. We extended our outdoor cinema experience with soft serve ice cream and popcorn. Even though it is rather warm outside, we still used the blankets as it gets windy.

We passed East Timor today. The water was oddly calm. It looked like we were sailing through a rich thick liquid silk. It just didn't look right.

A lady was lucky she didn't drown in one of the pools today. Not a good idea to go in the pool if you can't swim. She swallowed some water, but was otherwise ok. 

Tomorrow night we get to set our clocks back another hour. It is so going to hurt doing the reverse on the way back to Australia.

Day 7 Lazy Sunday

Late breakfast, late lunch and walked for about 8km around the ship. Most people look drunk walking about with the ship movement.

We decided not to go to the dinning room or buffet tonight. Instead we are watching movies in our room and we have ordered room service.

Missing Tim and the kids. Still a few days at sea before we arrive at Singapore.

Day 6 It's warming up

Was hard not to stay on the balcony and just watch as we sailed through the Great Barrier Reef today. It was very humid outside. We had our first passenger leave the ship today due to illness. We slowed down to a snail pace whilst a boat came along the side of the ship to pick them up.

We watched Anna Karenina, and Cloud Atlas today. My butt is sore for sitting so long. We also watched another comedian who was good.

We set our clocks back an hour tonight which is sweet.

Day 5 Friday 24th

Nothing much to report today.

The weather is warming up, will have to start fighting grannies for deck chairs soon.

Will have to step up the gym time if I am to continue the current diet trend.

Today we started travelling through the Great Barrier Reef.

Helda made me a necklace. Talented lady.

I missed the Michael Jackson Power Hour because Nana wanted to watch Les Miserables on the big screen outside. I probably would have been the only one dancing to M.J anyway.

This is the painting I like in the gallery. Doubt I could afford it at auction

Day 4 The first formal night

Had our first sleep in today, got up at 8.30am instead of 6am. Did a Zumba class and had a crack at trivia again. Only managed 10/20 this time round. Rachel you will be proud of me, I guessed what "Na" was correctly.

I went down to the computer room to post some blogs today and I must have been dressed like a staff member because I had about 10 passengers lining up for me to set up the wifi and Internet access on their iPads. I was happy to help them out. I finally told the group after I helped about 5 people that I was a fellow passenger. When they found out, one lady shoved $10 in my hand. Woohoo cocktail money!

I put on my tightest dress for our first formal night because I doubt that I will fit into it for any future formal events. 

We have two lovely Chinese ladies who share our dinner table every evening. Helda is the most talkative of the two. She told us some stories of her travels as a young woman. She told me that when she was roughly my age she went to Italy. Being a confident young woman, she decided to make her own way back to her hotel late in the evening. She got lost and couldn't ask for directions so she stumbled into an old drunk Italian fellow. She tried to convey what she was trying to find by making a sleeping motion with her hands. Poor Helda, the man thought that she wanted to sleep with him.

Helda thought she would be clever on her next trip which was in Japan. She asked the coach driver to write her hotel name down in Japanese so that if she got lost on her way back to her hotel she could show someone on the street so she could get help. As you would expect, our dear Helda got lost. She  started showing people her little travel brochure that had the hotel detail written in Japanese, however every time she presented the brochure the people would look at her and shake their heads at her. She was so upset that nobody would help her. Anyway, she managed to find her way. Helda later discovered that the details written on the brochure were recorded next to the details for a brothel.

I am not sure if Helda likes to make up stories, but they were funny none the less.

Nana and I watched the Oz movie under the stars tonight. We lounged on padded deck chairs and used the warm blankets provided to snuggle up. Nana was snoozing through some of it, but I bet she will deny it if asked.

The atrium was jam packed after dinner today, I wasn't surprised when I found out they were giving out free champagne and mimosas.

Day 3 Onboard the Sea Princess

Today we arrived in Brisbane. Nana and I had no excursions planned so we jumped on a coach to the city for $10 return each. It was a cold and wet day and the Brisbane river looked and smelled like the sewer. 

I connected to the ships Wifi today. I am not confidant I will be able to make many posts on Facebook as the connection keeps cutting out and chews into my purchased time.

The food is so good. I think I have put on a kilo despite doing Yoga, Zumba and climbing countless stairs.

I think I am the youngest passenger on board, not including the staff on ship. One elderly gentleman told me he was enjoying watching me dance today (just a tad creepy)

We watched our first comedian today, he was from the UK and was most enjoyable. Hopefully I will remember some of his jokes. I tall lady with a rather large girth took the seat in front of us blocking our view. A guy behind us made a comment about it. I hushed him "Man, you can't say that junk to her face".

Day 2 - The stuffing of ones face begins

We ordered room service for breakfast. I made a point of including prune juice in my order to help me process all the food I am devouring. The staff probably think the prune juice is for Nana.

We did a Yoga class, a Zumba class (not Zumba for Grannies) and watched a line dancing class. We participated in a 20 question trivia session. I suck at Trivia, but we managed to guess 15 out of 20 right,  I was owning that junk!

Day 1 Goodbye Sydney.