Cruise ships in Brisbane 28th November - 4th December 2016

Cruise ships in Brisbane this week. All are scheduled for Portside, Hamilton

Monday 28th November 2016: Pacific Aria
Tuesday 29th November 2016: Pacific Dawn
Friday 2nd December 2016: Legend of the Seas
Saturday 3rd December 2016: Pacific Dawn

From the photo archives: Pacific Dawn 2011

Brisbane overnight stay

It was our anniversary about 6 weeks ago and we didn't really get an opportunity to celebrate, so when an offer for an overnight stay for my son with his grandparents came up, we jumped at the chance of playing tourists in our own city.

Admittedly we had a function to attend at city hall early on the Friday evening as well as tickets to see Bill Bailey's performance at QPAC later that night.
I booked a room at Rydges Southbank to stay overnight as this was the most convenient hotel to QPAC. I was able to request an early check-in online and on arrival found we were upgraded to a junior suite. Wow, after a cabin upgrade early in the week, now a hotel room upgrade I'm feeling very lucky and blessed this week.
We also had a late, 1pm check-out on Saturday so I made the most of it. Browsed the markets at Southbank and had a leisurely  stroll through the gardens.
The buffet breakfast at Bacchus restaurant was fantastic and the staff were attentive, excellent service all round.

The whole experience was wonderful and if we get the opportunity again we would definitely stay at Rydges Southbank.

 Junior suite at Rydges South bank. There is also a bedroom and ensuite not shown. They do have king suites and I can't imagine how huge they would be.

 View of the Wheel of Brisbane from our room

 Southbank

 Confucius garden, Southbank 

Cabin upgrade fairy

Woohoo!!
Notification today from our travel agent that we have scored a cabin upgrade for our upcoming December cruise. Booked an obstructed view cabin and received the highest category ocean view. This is excellent news, we are so excited.

2011 Fiji Cruise on the Pacific Dawn

Our second cruise was once again on the Pacific Dawn. In 2011 there was very little choice leaving from Brisbane and we had such a great time on the first cruise we thought we couldn't go wrong.
This cruise was half in, half out of school holidays and there were plenty of kids for my son to play with. He had a fantastic time at the kids club and was even lining up before they were open.

This cruise was the "island magic" cruise. 12 nights taking in Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

This cruise featured the up-grade fairy bestowing on us a higher level cabin. We were booked into cabin E212, cat FF on deck 6 and were elevated to deck 9 mid-ship, cabin C192 , cat DD. This is the first and only time we have received an upgrade and it is exciting.

The cruise was absolutely fantastic and we still keep in touch via Facebook with some of the fellow cruise addicts we met on board.

We booked 2 tours via the ship.
Firstly the Secret Garden Outdoor Cultural Centre at Port Vila.
The second was Fijian Firewalking-Culture Show  at Port Denarau.

Tender arrival at Port Denarau

 The secret garden Port Vila.

Isle of Pines

Mystery Island

Cruise ships in Brisbane 21st-27th November 2016

Cruise ships in Brisbane this week. All are scheduled for Portside, Hamilton

Monday 21st November 2016: Legend of the Seas
Saturday 26th November 2016: Pacific Dawn
Sunday 27th November 2016: Sea Princess

From my photo archives

The Legend of the Seas in Brisbane March 2016.

Cruise to nowhere

A bit of a last minute decision, I have decided to book a brief 3 night cruise to nowhere from Brisbane. Billed as a food and wine cruise I'm really considering it a sleep, eat, read, do nothing cruise. A mini break from the year before the Christmas break.

All the inside cabins were fully booked, but I have scored a guarantee obstructed view so fingers crossed for the up-grade fairy. The only time we have received an up-grade was our second cruise in 2011 to a slightly higher deck. I like to choose my cabin and lock it in, but for 3 nights and no ports, I thought I'd take my chances with a guarantee cabin.

The cruise ship is the Pacific Dawn. We have sailed a number of times on the Pacific Dawn as Brisbane is its home port. Travel insurance is paid, just hoping for clear weather and calm seas. Bring on December 17th, 2016.

Cruise ships in Brisbane 14th-20th November 2016

Monday 14th November 2016: Pacific Eden at Portside
Friday 18th November 2016: Sun Princess at Portside
Saturday 19th November 2016: Pacific Dawn at Portside
Sunday 20th November 2016: Sea Princess at Portside

This week all cruise ships are scheduled to berth at Portside.
If you are looking for further info on Portside wharf, they do have a website at Portside wharf, Hamilton

From my photo achives

 Seven Seas Voyager at Portside February 2014.

2010 Cruise, our very first.

Hi everyone,
I thought I'd take the opportunity to quickly jot down the specifics of our past cruises prior to this blog taking shape.
It's really meant as a reminder of where we've been, which ships etc. I intend to post each cruise separately over the next few weeks until I've caught up. So here goes...

Our very first cruise was on the Pacific Dawn from Brisbane, and like most it was the 7 day "week fantastic " to the South Pacific.

We had a fabulous time and it hooked us onto cruising as a family holiday.

Family Island theme night

Itinerary:

18th Sept 2010: Embark Brisbane
19th Sept 2010: At sea
20th Sept 2010: Noumea (3pm-11pm)
21st Sept 2010: Lifou (9am-5pm -tender)
22nd Sept 2010: Port Vila (8am-5pm)
23rd Sept 2010: At sea
24th Sept 2010: at sea
25th Sept 2010: Brisbane (6am)

Pacific Dawn at Lifou

Beach at Noumea

Market at Port Vila

Cabin:
Inside cat K, B262
Captain:
David Box
Cruise Director:
Paul Hancox

GBR Itinerary update

As I mentioned a while back that there were 2 ships scheduled in Brisbane on our day of embarkation, but there were no mention in the cruise personaliser of which port we'd be leaving from. The other ship is the Pacific Aria and the P&O ships seem to have first dibs on Portside so I expected that we'd be leaving from the Fisherman Island muti-user terminal.
Combing the Port of Brisbane schedule I have found that the Sea Princess is listed for Fisherman island and returns to Portside for disembarkation.
We've never left from the other side of the river so that is going to be a bit tricky as we usually leave our car with Portside parking. Hopefully they will have a shuttle, otherwise we may leave the car at home and taxi both ways. Looks like I'll have to get some quotes closer to the time and make a decision that way.

Ships in Brisbane 7th-13th November 2016

As the cruise season is in full swing in Australia at the moment, I thought I'd try to make a list each week of expected Brisbane port visits.
There are two locations for cruise ships. The first is Portside and is only suitable for ships that can sail under the Gateway bridge and are short enough to turn 180 degrees in the river.
The second is the Fishermen Island multi-user terminal at the Port of Brisbane. Larger ships dock here or if there are 2 ships due then both get used.

The viewing platform is great at Portside and you can also catch a citycat ferry past the docked ship for great photo opportunities.

The Port of Brisbane also have a visitors centre and a roof top cafe with great views. I haven't been there when a cruise ship has been in port, but that's on my to do list this summer.

Due this week

• Wednesday 9th November 2016: Sea Princess at Portside
• Wednesday 9th November 2016: Golden Princess at Fishermen Island
• Thursday 10th November 2016: Pacific Aria at Portside
• Saturday 12th November 2016: Pacific Dawn at Portside
• Saturday 12th November 2016: Celebrity Solstice at Fishermen Island
• Sunday 13th November 2016: Legend of the Seas at Portside

Download: Port of Brisbane cruise info

Port of Brisbane visitor centre. Observation cafe on the roof top level is open Mon-Fri 8:30am to 3pm.