GBR cruise summary April 2017

As promised, this is a brief summary of our latest cruise.
Booked about 15 months ago, it eventually came around with a few minor itinerary changes including a change as we boarded.

Final Itinerary

• 7th April 2017: Depart Brisbane 6pm

• 8th April 2017: Sea day

• 9th April 2017: Sea day with scenic cruising Willis Island 1-2pm

• 10th April 2017: Port Douglas (tender) 7am-6pm

• 11th April 2017: Cairns 7am-overnight

• 12th April 2017: Cairns departure-6.30am

• 13th April 2017: Sea day

• 14th April 2017: Sea day

• 15th April 2017: Sydney (OPT) 7am-4pm

• 16th April 2017: Sea day

• 17th April 2017: Brisbane 7am

  

We had a fabulous cruise, it just wasn't long enough. 
For port info see the previous posts. I have included menus for the MDR (main dining room) on most days as well. For other stats, movies shown, entertainers, production shows, staff etc see below.

Cruise Line: Princess cruises
Ship: Sea Princess
Cruise: 10 night Great Barrier Reef cruise.
Voyage: C705B
Cabin: P335, outside Cat. OC Deck 5.
Captain: Aldo Traverso
Cruise Director: Jen Glancey


Movies 
These were shown during the voyage either at MUTS (movies under the stars) or the Vista lounge. Movies were usually replayed the following day on your stateroom TV.

• Jackie (2016)
• Hidden Figures
• Jurassic World
• Inferno (2016)
• Moonlight
• Eddie the Eagle
• The Girl on the Train (2016)
• La La Land
• Lion (2016)
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
• Ghostbusters (2016)
• Passengers (2016)

Production Shows

• Stardust
• Disco..Blame it on the Boogie
• Sweet Soul Music
• British Invasion

Guest Entertainers

• Tribute: Monty Cotton-Johnny Cash
• Tribute:The Blues Bros.
• Tribute: Greg Andrews- Elton John
• Comedian: Jason Ryder
• Comedian: Chris Radburn
• Comedy Magic: Adam Dean
• Piano Entertainer: Brian Johnson

We managed to see all the production shows, most of the guest entertainers and only 2 movies.

So that's our cruise for the year. The 2018-2019 itineraries came out a few days ago and I have been pouring over them trying to decide what to do. Of course we are still locked to school holidays and after both our April cruises in recent years having been altered due to cyclones, I'm thinking we should try for early December again. There are murmurings by my cruising buddies of possibly a snow skiing trip so watch this space for 2018. (I'm not sure who is going to turn my bed down and leave a chocolate on the pillow if we go skiing though!)

Monday 17th April 2017 - Brisbane

Well that's a wrap. I was up early to take some photos on the Brisbane river and then we had to pack up, have breakfast and disembark about 8:15am.

Gateway bridge, Brisbane river

I intend on making one last post with a summary and some photos from around the ship, a list of the entertainment, movies etc and other info, mainly so that I have the info at hand.

 The new "Eat Street" on the Brisbane river

 Portside

Brisbane river

Sunday 16th April 2017 - Sea day

Today was Easter Sunday and there was a great display in the Atrium.

Today was our last day and I spent the day packing and attending some of the activities. We did happen to catch a pod of dolphins but the photos weren't worth posting. 

Tonight in the MDR

 Chicken and lentil soup

  Smoked Tasmanian salmon

Oven roasted rack of lamb

 Pan-seared herbed Chicken breast

Petit-fours

Tonights entertainment

6:15pm: Comedy: Chris Radburn

9:45pm: Greg Andrews' Elton John tribute show.

Saturday, 15th April 2017 - Sydney

A beautiful sail into Sydney this morning at sunrise. I have taken some video footage and once I work out how to edit it I'll post it here. The regular photos were great especially as the sun rose over the opera house.

For the rest of the ship it was turnaround day with about 1600 departing and another 1600 to get on. As we were transit passengers we were able to go ashore and do our own thing. It was Easter, so high on the list was a visit to Haighs Chocolate shop and we had a shopping list prepared. Once that was taken care of we decided to go to the Old Vienna cafe for a coffee and plan the rest of the day. Originally I thought we might have gone to Fort Dennison for a look and see the cannon firing at 1pm but we decided to drop that idea and head over to Luna Park instead. All aboard was 3:30pm so we didn't want to go too far afield. We caught the train back to Circular Quay and grabbed the ferry across to Luna Park. None of us are interested in the rides, and we really just wanted to have a look around. We ended up buying a 10 ticket pack for the side-show games and managed to win lots of useless stuff such as googly-eye glasses, fluffy dices, stuffed Nemos, and over large sunglasses. We were planning to have lunch at Luna park but the lines for the food were huge and the prices high. By then we had all had enough and decided to return to the ship for a late lunch, with the intention of going for a walk around to the opera house after. By the time we had lunch we were all tired and only had an hour left of our day in Sydney and decided to stay on board.

Sailaway was fantastic and I took more footage of us leaving Sydney.

 Haigh's at The Strand Arcade

 Old Vienna Coffee House

 Fort Dennison

Leaving Sydney

Tonight at the MDR

 Lobster and Seafood terrine

 Baked seafood parcel

 Artisan cheese from the everyday dessert menu

Apple struedel

Tonights Entertainment

9:45pm: Grand adventure showtime & Comedian Chris Radburn

Friday, 14th April 2017 - Sea Day

Another sea day steaming towards Sydney. The majority of the ship are debarking in Sydney tomorrow with a fresh set of passengers joining us for either a 2 day cruise to Brisbane (where we get off) or a 36 day Hawaii cruise.
The sea was a little rough in the afternoon and evening.

Tonight in the MDR
As it was the last night for many, it was the baked Alaska parade.

Baked Alaska

Tonight's entertainment

6:15pm: Variety Showtime "Jason Ryder & the Blues Bros."

8:00pm: Rock the boat teen disco 

9:30pm: MUTS (Movie under the stars) Rogue One: a Star Wars story

Thursday, 13th April 2017 - Sea day

Today was a sea day. We really didn't do too much. Caught the movie Lion and generally relaxed. Tonight is formal night and lobster was served in the MDR.
We also had a special invitation to the Captain's circle cocktail party at 7:15pm

Tonights Dinner in the MDR

Tonights Entertainment
7:15pm: Captain's circle cocktail party - by invitation only
9:45pm: Production show "British invasion"
10:30pm: Comedy Showtime - Jason "Rash" Ryder
11:15pm: Balloon drop party

Wednesday, 12th April 2017 - Cairns

We stayed overnight in Cairns and was due to depart at 6am. It was nearly 6:30am by the time we moved away, sailing towards Sydney. I did get up early to film some sail away and photos are below.

The rest of the day was relaxing.

Tonights dinner in the MDR 

Tonights Entertainment
6:15pm: Production Show "Sweet Soul Music"