karmac
December 25th, 2007, 11:26 PM
Well, as they say....better late than never. Although after reading it you might have preferred never;)
Thursday 8th November 2007
I got up about 5am. Didn’t sleep very much as I had so much going through my head. We booked this cruise 505 days beforehand and I couldn’t believe the day had finally arrived. We’d decided a few months ago to leave today & spend the night in town because I wanted to see the ship at night time all lit up. Well, after we made that decision we found out that there was going to be the naming ceremony & a light show on so that was a huge bonus. We were traveling with another family of 3 and we had arranged for DH to go & pick them up at 11am and then he & my dad were going to drive us to the railway station, drive home & then dad bring DH back to the station. We’re not too far away so that was no hassle. Dad was willing to drive our luggage into the city for us but we decided that due to parking (or lack of) it would be easier just to drag our luggage with us.
Well, about 8 o’clock that morning I received a phone call from our traveling companions asking for the name of the hotel we’d booked because they were going to cancel. His back was sore & he needed to go to the chiropractor or something like that:rolleyes: . Some of you may remember the concerns I had just a couple of weeks before about him & his back & whether they might cancel. A very stressful situation for us because our daughter was sharing their cabin. They told us they would see us on the ship the next day. Ah well, their loss. Dad drove us to the station in one trip (yes, we squeezed an extra one in but it’s not far). We had a large suitcase each & 2 smaller overnight ones so that we didn’t have to dig into the big ones before we got on the ship. Then of course there’s the cameras & stuff so we were pretty well loaded up. Got to the station around 12 and discovered that trains were running late due to a breakdown. Ended up waiting about 40 mins and by this time the station was getting pretty crowded. Not what we wanted as we were hoping for an end section of a carriage to ourselves coz of the amount of luggage. Anyway, all worked out ok. We got off the train at Wynyard & looked for the best way out. DH found what he thought would be best. It wasn’t the shortest but it had escalators instead of stairs. A BIG plus. Well, that plus was short lived. Just as we got to the escalators, the up one stopped:eek: . GREAT. We managed to drag our luggage up the stairs and then we were on our way to our hotel. Found it, paid our money & the nice gentleman took us up to our room (more stairs). Well, what can I say. Chez & Geri had stayed in this hotel when the Regal came in and didn’t give it a rave review so I really didn’t know what to expect. It was fine. It was clean, comfortable & roomy. They had put a mattress on the floor (as we are a family of five) and it was still roomy enough. I emailed many places when looking for somewhere & they were the only ones willing to do that, anywhere else we had to book 2 rooms which is why we chose this one. $150 for a family of 5 in the heart of Sydney is a bargain. And it was just a bed for the night, literally, We dropped of our luggage, walked down to Darling Harbour where we had lunch and then hopped on a ferry to Circular Quay where we remained until about 9.30 that night.
We had a great night with fellow CCers. We arrived at the Orient a little early and went & sat in the beer garden. A few minutes later Toasted2 showed up & not long after that everyone arrived. Charlie girl & DH, kaseyoz & DH, Aussie cruiser, Icemaiden, Chez, Geri. We had dinner & a few drinks & lots of laughs before heading towards the Opera House to watch the light show. Here we met up with epal & DH & Billgwen. Once the light show was finished & we said our goodbyes we walked back to our hotel & went to bed.
Up again at 5 o’clock. As I said, the hotel was in the heart of Sydney. Not exactly quiet.I didn’t care coz I really don’t think I would have slept much anyway. DH & I both had our shower & sat o the bed drinking coffee while the kids were still sleeping. One by one, they woke up, had their shower and around 8.30 we left to go back to Cicular Quay. We rang our traveling companions to ask what time they were going to get there and they said about 2.30pm:eek: . Personally, I thought that was cutting it fine but hey, if they missed the ship, we had 2 cabins;) .
Dropped our luggage off around 9.30. went to Macca’s for brekky & then walked over to The Observer where we were meeting at 11am. We were early but when we got there epal, billgwen & Charlie girl were all there so we just stood around chatting & looking desperate waiting for the pub to open.
What a wonderful morning we had at the pub. I really have to say thank you to everyone who was there for adding to the excitement of the da. Chez, Geri, Icemaiden, Charliegirl & DH, epal & DH, billgwen, newlyweds, the Fox & Di, Brushtail & DH and just as we were leaving megagirl turned up so we did get to meet. Hope I haven’t missed anyone. We stayed there for about an hour & half soaking up the party atmosphere before heading across the road to join the queue.
Gee guys, sorry this is long……and we haven’t even got on the ship yet. I promise not to ramble so much in the next installment.
Karen
Thursday 8th November 2007
I got up about 5am. Didn’t sleep very much as I had so much going through my head. We booked this cruise 505 days beforehand and I couldn’t believe the day had finally arrived. We’d decided a few months ago to leave today & spend the night in town because I wanted to see the ship at night time all lit up. Well, after we made that decision we found out that there was going to be the naming ceremony & a light show on so that was a huge bonus. We were traveling with another family of 3 and we had arranged for DH to go & pick them up at 11am and then he & my dad were going to drive us to the railway station, drive home & then dad bring DH back to the station. We’re not too far away so that was no hassle. Dad was willing to drive our luggage into the city for us but we decided that due to parking (or lack of) it would be easier just to drag our luggage with us.
Well, about 8 o’clock that morning I received a phone call from our traveling companions asking for the name of the hotel we’d booked because they were going to cancel. His back was sore & he needed to go to the chiropractor or something like that:rolleyes: . Some of you may remember the concerns I had just a couple of weeks before about him & his back & whether they might cancel. A very stressful situation for us because our daughter was sharing their cabin. They told us they would see us on the ship the next day. Ah well, their loss. Dad drove us to the station in one trip (yes, we squeezed an extra one in but it’s not far). We had a large suitcase each & 2 smaller overnight ones so that we didn’t have to dig into the big ones before we got on the ship. Then of course there’s the cameras & stuff so we were pretty well loaded up. Got to the station around 12 and discovered that trains were running late due to a breakdown. Ended up waiting about 40 mins and by this time the station was getting pretty crowded. Not what we wanted as we were hoping for an end section of a carriage to ourselves coz of the amount of luggage. Anyway, all worked out ok. We got off the train at Wynyard & looked for the best way out. DH found what he thought would be best. It wasn’t the shortest but it had escalators instead of stairs. A BIG plus. Well, that plus was short lived. Just as we got to the escalators, the up one stopped:eek: . GREAT. We managed to drag our luggage up the stairs and then we were on our way to our hotel. Found it, paid our money & the nice gentleman took us up to our room (more stairs). Well, what can I say. Chez & Geri had stayed in this hotel when the Regal came in and didn’t give it a rave review so I really didn’t know what to expect. It was fine. It was clean, comfortable & roomy. They had put a mattress on the floor (as we are a family of five) and it was still roomy enough. I emailed many places when looking for somewhere & they were the only ones willing to do that, anywhere else we had to book 2 rooms which is why we chose this one. $150 for a family of 5 in the heart of Sydney is a bargain. And it was just a bed for the night, literally, We dropped of our luggage, walked down to Darling Harbour where we had lunch and then hopped on a ferry to Circular Quay where we remained until about 9.30 that night.
We had a great night with fellow CCers. We arrived at the Orient a little early and went & sat in the beer garden. A few minutes later Toasted2 showed up & not long after that everyone arrived. Charlie girl & DH, kaseyoz & DH, Aussie cruiser, Icemaiden, Chez, Geri. We had dinner & a few drinks & lots of laughs before heading towards the Opera House to watch the light show. Here we met up with epal & DH & Billgwen. Once the light show was finished & we said our goodbyes we walked back to our hotel & went to bed.
Up again at 5 o’clock. As I said, the hotel was in the heart of Sydney. Not exactly quiet.I didn’t care coz I really don’t think I would have slept much anyway. DH & I both had our shower & sat o the bed drinking coffee while the kids were still sleeping. One by one, they woke up, had their shower and around 8.30 we left to go back to Cicular Quay. We rang our traveling companions to ask what time they were going to get there and they said about 2.30pm:eek: . Personally, I thought that was cutting it fine but hey, if they missed the ship, we had 2 cabins;) .
Dropped our luggage off around 9.30. went to Macca’s for brekky & then walked over to The Observer where we were meeting at 11am. We were early but when we got there epal, billgwen & Charlie girl were all there so we just stood around chatting & looking desperate waiting for the pub to open.
What a wonderful morning we had at the pub. I really have to say thank you to everyone who was there for adding to the excitement of the da. Chez, Geri, Icemaiden, Charliegirl & DH, epal & DH, billgwen, newlyweds, the Fox & Di, Brushtail & DH and just as we were leaving megagirl turned up so we did get to meet. Hope I haven’t missed anyone. We stayed there for about an hour & half soaking up the party atmosphere before heading across the road to join the queue.
Gee guys, sorry this is long……and we haven’t even got on the ship yet. I promise not to ramble so much in the next installment.
Karen