Monday, February 14, 2011

Almost over

Since we left Auckland, I think that most Aussies onboard have regarded
the cruise as basically over and have been largely marking time - this
has been especially so for those who have done the complete
circumnavigation. Many left the ship in Sydney, where we had an unusual
two day port stop. As I understand it, they were supposed to get off the
ship on the second day - but many insisted that they wanted to get off
on the first day. This introduced some problems regarding Customs
clearance - but in the end, they were able to do so. I don't blame them
for wanting to get off - I would not want to wait for another day after
arriving in Brisbane. When the party is over, it's over! Today is the
100th day of our journey and although very happy about it all, we are
looking forward to getting home.

However having said all that, we had an enjoyable stop in Sydney.
Somewhat strangely, the evening entertainment on both nights were some
of the very best we have had - in spite of the fact that many of the
passengers were off the ship. A lot of them went to the Opera House to
see "Madame Butterfly" on the first night.

I think that this will be my last post to this Blog - except that, after
we arrive home, I will attempt to answer some specific questions that
have been asked in the "Comments" section of each post. As I have
previously explained, I haven't been able to access the Blog much myself
while at sea, and when I did it was usually some time after a question
had been asked. So, I will gather all the questions together - and
answer each one individually.

7 comments:

  1. Hi Barry,welcome home old son. really enjoyed your blogs, what an adventure. I would like to do half of it, maybe all too much. Catch up on the boards.
    (I am shattered was due to leave for South America this weekend for Star Princess around South America, had to cancel due to health.)

    Cheers, Les

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi globetrotters,welcome home. I have greatly enjoyed the journey,visiting parts of the world that I will never see, and your well written stories. We have booked our first trip, (Lord Howe Is,) thanks to your spirit of adventure, and inspiration. Cheers, Joy & Fred

    ReplyDelete
  3. Are you going to blog your trip on the Queen Mary (or whichever it is - I can't remember) next week? Would be great to continue this blog with stories of that fancy trip!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Welcome home Barry & Christine. Thank you for your blog - we have enjoyed it very much, especially as we were on the Oriana for the first of your cruises. It was good to hear your comments on both ships as we haven't been on Arcadia. Thanks again.
    Chris & Richard Howick (Grisham 1)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Welcome back!! What an adventure you've had and what an adventure we've had vicarously!! :)
    Hope to see you guys soon.
    All the best,
    Cyd and Dean

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow what an adventure! Love reading the blog and seeing your great pics. And really enjoyed meeting you both. Hope you get your 'land legs' back soon!
    Tina & John

    ReplyDelete
  7. Many thanks for your blog. My wife & I were also on the 2011 Arcadia Cruise from Southampton to Sydney and I've just been reading your work and re-living the experience. I agree with much of what you write.

    I expected a bit of uncomfortable weather as we crossed the Bay of Biscay, but I didn't expect the Cat 1 hurricane that we met when we entered the Atlantic. It was, for me, a rather dramatic encounter and is now a talking point. One of the arranged sets of onboard talks was given by a 747 Captain and he displayed copies of the Met Charts for the heavy weather encountered, and explained them to the audience.

    We had a cabin on Australia Deck (Deck 8) at, roughly, midships, so we had some splendid views of the rough weather, the ports of call, and the Panama Canal.

    I think the only nuisance during the voyage was the lack of a two day stop-over at San Francisco (I notice that P&O now stop there for two days) because, as you say, the Border Control procedures do take a very long time.
    We took an excursion to Muir Woods (famed for their Giant Redwoods), located just north of the City, and then left the returning coach early, together with a few other couples, at a Cable Car terminus so that we could enjoy a ride on the cars. We travelled the length of that line and then needed to catch the "F Line" tramcar back to Pier 35 where Arcadia was berthed. All great fun, but if you travel it, do make sure you've some coinage for the tramcar fare, 'cos the driver doesn't give any change.

    At the end of the cruise I had used about 15GB's of memory on the digital camera, and about 300 steroscopic slide pairs (on film), so now I need to scan the slides to display them on the 3D TV.

    Speedbird

    ReplyDelete