Brisbane to Cairns

So I am sitting here on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship – Legend of the Seas. I am looking out towards the Cairns coastline and I am surrounded by red velvet plush lounges and leather armchairs. A piano is playing somewhere and Darryl is deep into his latest Sudoku compliments of the ships library.

Where to start. Firstly – getting over 2500 guests on board a departing ship is quite a feat in maneuvering. At times it was confusing but overall – a relatively smooth transition from land to sea. A small suggestion to terminal staff – please advise guests of the sensitivity of sea passes (at sea credit card equivalent) to magnets. Putting them in a bag next to your mobile phone thus rendering them instantly and completely useless is a definite no no as we discovered.
We have been sailing now for a day and a half and the ocean has been as flat as a millpond. We have passed a few cargo ships and the islands of the Whitsundays looked stunning at sunset last night.

 Our balcony cabin is aging but extremely well laid out and as good as we were hoping for. I am able to do most but not all of my morning yoga in our lounge area without hitting something. Some positions however and I cannot avoid hitting the fridge or tv. The bathroom is a good size and the shower provides good water flow and plenty of hot water – the shower curtain does tend to stick to one at times however which is a bit disconcerting.
As usual on a cruising holiday – food and the quantities available are an issue. We follow the 5-2 diet – or now that we are just maintaining , a 6-1 diet. This means 6 days of eating pretty well what we want with one day following a very limited menu. Our problem is what day will be our fasting day as the food looks so good every day. We have selected my time dining for our evening meals which means we can go down to dinner at any time rather than en-mass at designated dining times. Dinner our first night consisted of a delicious three course meal accompanied by an amazing Californian White Zinfandel. We topped the night of with a stroll around the promenade deck, a quick view of the nights cabaret show before collapsing into our king size bed (sounding like an advert now).
In a few hours time we will be arriving in Cairns where we will be docking overnight before departing tomorrow afternoon. Its interesting that our first port of call on this adventure is Cairns. Cairns holds many memories and feelings for us – grateful,poignant, scary and downright terrifying. It is where Darryl spent 12 weeks in hospital, 3 of those in a coma following a motor bike accident back in 2011. It will be nice to return and create some better memories – ie I intend to visit the duty free shop pretty well first thing. Chanel Mademoiselle is crying out to me.
So that’s it for the time being – feel free to post some comments. We are only relying on free internet where available so I am not sure when the next post will eventuate but stay tuned.