A few weeks ago an advertisement for a ship inspection popped up on my FB feed. After consulting the calendar and husband, we decided to book it. A decision that took maybe 30 seconds.
This is the first time I've ever seen a ship inspection opportunity. It looks like they quite often have them in Sydney and I have heard other ports overseas have them as well.
We arrived at Portside about 10am and snapped some shots of the ship from viewing platform.
The weather wasn't very favourable.
Supplies being loaded.
We met Warren from Cruise Express at 10:30 with the other guests on the tour. There was about 50 (I didn't count, just a rough guess) of us and we had to get visitor passes for the terminal as well as a visitor pass for the ship, presumably so we couldn't stow away.
We all had to go through security as expected and finally made it on board around 11:15. There was a day group ahead of us from Camp Quality charity with a heap of families spending the day on board, kids using the facilities and the parents having some R&R.
Once on board we went straight to level 11 to the nightclub area. This has the Chops Grill restaurant and the Japanese restaurant on the outside. It would be a spectacular view for a special meal at night.
Chops Grill
From there we seemed to cover the entire ship's public areas.
Looking down on the atrium area.
Outdoor pool area.
Mini golf. There is also a rock climbing wall.
Adults only pool area
Adults only pool area
Adults only pool area
Park cafe
Adults only pool area
Gym
Anchor's Aweigh
Main theatre
Main theatre
Art work in theatre
For anyone with teens, here is their space
At about 12:30, at the end of the tour, we ended up at Romeo and Juliet's, the MDR, for lunch. The dining room was closed to everyone else and we had a small, limited menu to choose from. Food was delicious and even a glass of complementary wine.
Everyone at our table ordered the shrimp cocktail and I wasn't quick enough to photograph, but here are the mains and dessert.
The salmon
Beef Stroganoff
Apple pie
Lunch concluded the tour.
I'd really like to thank Cruise Express and Royal Caribbean International for organizing this.
We like to cruise from Brisbane for convenience and having some alternative ships as well as the future possibility of a new cruise terminal in Brisbane makes it very exciting.
I'm really hoping that the new terminal will have the disused train line extended out to the site to aid transport, as well as make day trip visits easier for overseas passengers.
