Barb & John's Hols: Sailing away to the Whitsundays , Queensland

We're off to sea on the Pacific Jewel

Sunday 17th August, 2014

Haven't we just been on holidays?

Well you can't have too many. Barb's friend Julie from work (and also Red Hats) and her were chatting at work one morning some months ago about another mutual friend who was going cruising.

"I've never been on a big cruise ship" said Barb
"Oh it's wonderful!!!!" enthused Julie, who'd been on several cruises before. "You and John should try it sometime. Maybe just one of those short ones out of Brisbane first to see if you like it."

Two days later both John & Barb and Julie &Lynden ( Julie's husband) were booked onto a P&O Pacific Jewel cruise, that leaves from Brisbane and sails up to the Whitsunday Islands then back again. Four nights and three days of shipboard leisure. Woo Hoo!

The drive down to the cruise terminal in Brisbane was uneventful despite a huge event in Mooloolaba - Tough Mudder - over the weekend. We were expecting that traffic might be very heavy after the event and so we left early. Fortunately they didn’t and our trip down was traffic lite.

Ready for cruising

John at Portside Wharf about to board

Julie had suggested to me that we should book in at Portside Parking where our cars could be safely left for the duration. It wasn’t terribly expensive and we’re so glad we did. Their check in procedures were very slick, and they’d loaded our bags into the shuttle bus for the short trip to the terminal very swiftly while meantime our car was whisked away.

Considering we were there at 1pm (the boat doesn’t leave until 4 pm), there were a lot of people ahead of us in the queue. Once again there were ample numbers of staff assisting with check-in procedures and it all went very smoothly, including the airport-style security check.

Once aboard we found our cabin, mid-ship on the sixth floor (deck Barb, it’s called a deck) and our room (cabin Barb … oh whatever!) is pleasingly spacious with a large window. Our steward for the trip, Tadius, came and introduced himself to us and told us about the compulsory safety talk to be held before we sail.

John makes himself at home

more spacious than we had anticipated

John and I wandered around the boat to check out the facilities and found ourselves at the Plantation restaurant which was open and serving a buffet lunch. We sat for a while on the back deck in deck chairs sipping drinks, waiting for the rest of the passengers to board. Later we went down to the Marquee - a theatre within the ship -to attend the safety talk, picking up our life jackets from our cabins on the way.

barb quickly found the sun lounge

View of the city from the deck

drinks and relaxation

Every one had to try on their life jackets and be deemed competent before we left. This accomplished we made our way back up to the Lido deck (aka the big open deck at the top with the pool) for the Sail Away party.

safe in our jackets

everyone in their jackets

Barb was very excited to experience going under the Gateway Bridge, to see how close you actually get. It did look pretty close! We could see there were planes taking off every minute or so from Brisbane Airport and you could see why they might be wanting a second runway. The weather has fined up to be absolutely glorious and it was a fabulous experience to watch the sun set as we waved goodbye to Brisbane.

Sail away party gets underway on the Lido deck

didn't try the flying fox over the pool

Julie, Lynden & John

Can we make it?

Yes we can....but it's close!

Julie and Barb

We’d arranged a time to meet up with Julie and Lynden for dinner in the Plantation before heading to a show in the Marquee by “Pacific Entertainers and Pacific Cirque” called “Life as we know it”. It was amazingly good and has set the bar high for future shows on the ship.