Tuesday, 11th April 2017 - Cairns

Another hectic day with a pre-paid trip on the Skyrail to Kuranda and return. Fortunately we were due to dock at Trinity wharf, instead of tendering from Yorkey's knob, and, as we were arriving from Port Douglas, a mere 75km by road from Cairns I assumed we would be on time. Woops, I was wrong. Of course, as there is a reef between Port Douglas and Cairns, we had to go the long way around, 175 nautical miles. Anyway, as I had booked directly with skyrail, including their bus transfer, I was at the mercy of their schedule, which was an 8:20am pickup from the Pullman International Hotel. We were due to arrive at 7am, however we were a bit later than that and then weren't given clearance until much later. At 8:15am, still on the ship with no sign be would be leaving soon I phoned the Skyrail office to let them know. Fortunately as I was speaking to them we were able to start disembarkation. The Skyrail was going to let the bus driver know as we weren't the only ones who had booked. Making the bus just in time, we waited for a few others to turn up. Originally when I was researching our options for this trip I did get a quote for a taxi to the Skyrail, and for the 3 of us it was only just a little bit more than the bus. In hindsight if I was doing it again I would have taken this option as we wouldn't have had to wait for the return bus. 

Barron river falls

I did pay extra for the "diamond" carriage, a glass bottom, however I wouldn't recommend it. Our first section they squeezed us into a carriage with 2 others, 5 in total. As I was pinned in the middle, holding my bags, I couldn't bend forward to see the glass bottom so that was wasted. Also it was disconcerting when there is a 400kg limit and knowing roughly what the 3 of us weigh and a guess with the other 2 we would have easily been over the limit. Anyway, we jumped off at the first station, looked around and insisted on a carriage by our selves for the remainder of the journey.
We didn't arrive in Kuranda until 11am and we were scheduled on the 12pm return trip down. The tickets when I purchased them indicated that the bus would return us to the wharf at 2pm and originally we were scheduled to leave at 4pm (all aboard is usually 30 minutes prior) so I was surprised when we checked in at Skyrail that the bus leaves Smithfield at 2pm. So glad that the port changed to an overnight in Cairns.
So, with a mere 60 minutes in Kuranda we decided to start walking up the hill towards the shops. We made it to the Kuranda hotel and decided a very early lunch would be prudent.

 Bench made from old railway tracks

 Kuranda Candy

We did make it to the Kuranda Candy shop and H bought a bag. Delicious.
We made it back down to Cairns, waiting about 45 minutes for the 2pm bus. My son was keen to go to the Australian Armour and Artillery Museum, which is located a few hundred meters down the road, but we didn't have time. Maybe next visit to Cairns we will add this to the list.

Making it back to the ship for a quick coffee and snack, we walked around to the lagoon to meet our newest nephew, and the rest of his family of course. It was great to catch up with them. It was nice to stick our feet in the water a cool off for a while and relax. Afterwards we did a brief bit of shopping on our way back to the ship for a late buffet dinner. We decided to miss the entertainment tonight and opted for a hot spa. It was truly relaxing and topped off a long day.

Pacific Aria leaving Cairns about 5pm.

After seeing the Pacific Aria leave Brisbane on the Friday, it was in Cairns the same day. Both the Sea Princess and Pacific Aria were able to dock together at Trinity wharf.

Monday, 10th April 2017 - Port Douglas

Today is a tender port. From experience, this is probably my most hated concept about cruising, mainly from the uncertainty of how long it is going to take to get on the tender. It makes organising anything except a ship tour a nightmare. Some cruises it has taken 2-3 hours of waiting for your turn, others the weather has turned for the worst and the tender operation gets suspended and all efforts are placed in retrieving the passengers already on shore. So...against my own advice, and because it was an Australian port, I decided to go ahead and organise a huge day ashore. This required my fellow cabin cruisers to be ready, out of bed, and breakfasted by 7am so that we could get ashore ASAP (these are sleep late type of people). 
Fortunately luck was on my side today. A large shore-side vessel was helping with the tender process and we were on board the first trip.
Our days plan was to pick-up a hire car for the day, drive up to Mossman gorge, return for a reef tour, lunch and then some more scenic driving around before returning on the almost last tender.

Port Douglas marina

All the car hire companies are located in Warner street, a 5 minute walk from the marina. We had a reservation with Budget and were on the road by 8:20am. As we didn't need to be back for our reef trip until 11:30 we decided to head for Mossman gorge first.

Mossman Gorge
The last time we were here was 1998 and we were able to drive up and park beside the river for a swim. Now there is a visitor centre and cafe, board walks, shuttle bus and guided tours. The drive from Port Douglas was about 25 minutes.

 UNESCO world heritage info

 Mossman river

 Rex bridge

Wood fungus

The shuttle bus provides short trip to where the board walks start. The road is very narrow and limiting the traffic on the road makes it safer for everyone.
Most of the walks are short, some with a small amount of steps. We didn't go much further than the Rex suspension bridge as our time was limited. We did stop for a coffee at the cafe and can recommend the damper with the coffee.

Reef trip with Reefsprinter, Port Douglas.
I pre-booked a few weeks ago a reef trip with Reefsprinter. The trip is a 2 hour fast tour to the Low Isles and I had booked the 11am tour. On the Friday, as we were leaving for the cruise they phoned to say they had pushed back the tour to 12pm due to the tide. This suited me as I was nervous that the tendering could run us late. As it turned out, we fitted the Mossman gorge trip in first.
Having the car, we were able to take a change of clothes with us without returning to the cruise ship. We had to check in at 11:30am and they supplied us with stinger suits, snorkel, masks, and flippers.
The boat takes 14 people and the trip is fast, about 15 minutes. We had about 90 minutes of snorkel time, plenty of time.
The water was a bit murky, stirred up from recent cyclone activity. The photos below don't do justice to the reef and they have been saved from video footage from our GoPro and a Lumix DMC-FT2.

Low Island

  

  

  

  

Port Douglas sightseeing

 Bally Hooley Railway Station

 Train

Flagstaff Hill view

At Flagstaff Hill

Lunch at the brewery

We returned the car and managed to get a tender straight away. It has been the best tender experience ever.

Tonights dinner in the MDR 

Tonight I had the crispy spring rolls followed by the lamb shank. Delicious but no photos tonight.

Tonights Entertainment
6:15pm Comedy and Magic of Adam Dean
We didn't make the late night show by Monty Cotton.
Tomorrow is Cairns, another early day.

Sunday, 9th April 2017 - Sea day

Another sea day with scenic cruising of Willis Island in the Coral Sea. The island is a weather observation post run by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) and is in international waters and as such duty free items can be purchased. The cruise ship stopped for a time and we were able to take photos. The island is considered a territory of Australia.

 Willis Island

Buildings on Willis Island

Tonights dinner at Cafe Corniche
We choose to eat at the pizzeria tonight for something different.

We ordered an antipasti plate to share and a pizza each. We got 3 antipasti plates and 3 pizzas, way too much but delicious anyway.

Antipasti

 Pizza Tarantina

Pizza Hawaii-without pineapple

The other pizza ordered was the Pizza Sea Princess but the photo was too blurry to post.

We all struggled to finish the pizza and skipped the tiramisu listed for dessert.

Tonights entertainment

8:15pm: Production show "Blame in on the Boogie"

Saturday 8th April 2017 - Sea day

Today is a quiet sea day. Great for a sleep in and some rest from our hectic week. We really didn't do too much. 
H had a go at the "Hole in one" golf challenge in the Atrium.
We all went to the GoPro seminar which was very timely. We purchased a GoPro for this cruise and it was great to get an overview as we aren't really confident users yet. Sadly we discovered we had left the charging cable at home and they don't sell them on board. The photography department was happy to charge it for us overnight so that was a relief. I can't thank them enough for helping us out.

Tonight was formal night. So we dressed up and hit the portrait spots for photos. Some time ago there was an offer on the personaliser for an ultimate all inclusive photo package and I was determined to get my moneys worth even if G and H were not quite as enthused. I paid about $124 AUD and noticed there was a buy 10 for $199 AUD on board. Both included the digital files on a USB drive.

Tonights dinner in the MDR (main dining room)

 Dessert

Sundae

Tonights entertainment

6:15pm: Comedian Adam Dean

7:00pm: Captain's champagne reception and waterfall.

7:45pm: Dinner

9:45pm: Production show "Stardust"

With photos in between it was a pretty busy evening.

7th April 2017- Brisbane

Friday the 7th finally rolled around. Even though we have had this cruise booked for about 15 months we still weren't packed. The last week has been filled with our usual holiday appointments of dentist, physio, and flu vaccinations as well as a couple of others. There was also some last minute shopping on Thursday for G as he realized he didn't have anything to wear except work uniforms and some worn out old weekend stuff that had really was on it's last legs.

We had booked our car into Portside Parking and they were providing a shuttle for the 3 of us. We were given a choice of 3 time slots and choose the earliest of course. We have always used Portside parking and they always look after our car and the whole experience is painless.

The multi-use terminal, or grain terminal, at Fisherman island is the Brisbane alternative cruise terminal for ships longer than 270 meters who can't turn around in the river at Portside, or who are too tall to fit under the Gateway bridge. This was our first experience with it and it was great. Well organised, plenty of seating. As we arrived they gave out a number and we took a seat. When they call your groups number you line up. This saves standing in a line for ages. At Portside the longest we stood in a queue was 2 hours back in 2014 for our PNG cruise. That was not a great experience and fortunately has been much faster since.

View from the Sea Princess docked at Fisherman island. The large white building is the Port of Brisbane visitor centre, open to the public Monday to Friday. It has a cafe and a roof top viewing area.

We managed to get aboard about 12:30pm, dropped our hand luggage at our cabin, met our cabin steward John, and then dashed to Horizon court for some lunch. As this cruise wasn't a full turnaround, most embarked in Sydney 2 days prior, there wasn't a huge crowd for lunch. We spent the afternoon checking out the ship and unpacking.

Around 3pm the Pacific Aria sailed past, on it's way north to Townsville.

Pacific Aria sailing past

We didn't depart until 6pm.
Our dinner time was 7:45pm traditional sitting. Anytime dining was not available for this cruise. We were joined by a family of three who were pleasant company. As we weren't sitting by ourselves I didn't take many photos of the food but I do have menu shots and will include them in each post. Most of the menu photos are poor quality and I provide them more as a reminder for ourselves of what we had.

Tonight's entertainment was Monty Cotton with a Johnny Cash tribute show in the Princess theater.

Itinerary change

Today is sail away day. WooHoo!! I have just been informed via FB that guests aboard the Sea Princess have been notified of the itinerary change. No longer going to Airlie Beach and instead we will overnight in Cairns departing at 6am Wednesday. I have been expecting the Airlie beach stop to be cancelled all week and am surprised they left it this long. Any how, back to my last minute packing and planning what we are going to do for a night in Cairns.

2 days to go...

We are down to the pointy end of being ready for our cruise on Friday. Can't believe it's finally here. I finished work 5 days ago and we have been busy washing, cleaning and running around with dentist, hairdresser and flu vac appointments. Just have a physio one Thursday for my dodgy ankle. The suitcases are laid out waiting for all the stuff...

The last update to the itinerary was a shorter time in Cairns sadly, but only by an hour so that's OK. I have been checking my cruise personaliser twice a day all week as I have been expecting the Airlie Beach port to be changed, but nothing so far. Maybe they will be happy to see cruise passengers next week?
So the itinerary as it stands is

• 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-4pm

• 12th April 2017: Airlie Beach (tender) 10am-8pm

• 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