Let's go on a virtual NZ and Australia cruise

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, MMDown Under said:

In Italy, there have 1st plate, 2nd plate.

It's a bit more complex than that.

Primi (1st plate) is the first course to contain hot food, usually pasta. But before that there could be Aperitivo - wine (often bubbly) with nuts and olives, followed by Antipasti - cold meats or fish, cheeses, bread.

Secondi is the second hot course (meat or seafood) and is served with Contorni (vegetable-based) served alongside.

Then there might be Insalata.

Formaggie E Frutta (Cheese and Fruit) comes next.

Dolce - Dessert

Caffe - only ever espresso

And finally Digestivo - limoncello, grappa, amaro.

 

Years ago I worked out the only sane way to enjoy a full classic Italian meal was to have half for lunch and the rest for dinner.🤣

[MMDown Under]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It's a bit more complex than that.

Primi (1st plate) is the first course to contain hot food, usually pasta. But before that there could be Aperitivo - wine (often bubbly) with nuts and olives, followed by Antipasti - cold meats or fish, cheeses, bread.

Secondi is the second hot course (meat or seafood) and is served with Contorni (vegetable-based) served alongside.

Then there might be Insalata.

Formaggie E Frutta (Cheese and Fruit) comes next.

Dolce - Dessert

Caffe - only ever espresso

And finally Digestivo - limoncello, grappa, amaro.

 

Years ago I worked out the only sane way to enjoy a full classic Italian meal was to have half for lunch and the rest for dinner.🤣

Wow that is an impressive meal.  I've only had 1st and 2nd plate in Italy, but we used to have two hour lunches like these in the south of France, near Italy, when we stayed with a family.  

[OzKiwiJJ]

4 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Wow that is an impressive meal.  I've only had 1st and 2nd plate in Italy, but we used to have two hour lunches like these in the south of France, near Italy, when we stayed with a family.  

At restaurants most people just order the courses that suit them. You'd definitely need a whole afternoon to get through the full menu. A very long lazy lunch! I wouldn't like to try to have it for dinner though. I wouldn't sleep after all that food even if the portion sizes are small.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Itinerary Item 36 – Sea Day

Discussion Topic – Dream / Bucket List Cruises

 

Let’s talk about the real world cruises we would like to do in the future. The cruises that are on your bucket list. The ultimate dream cruise. The cruise you’d be happy doing over and over again.

 

Our next stop is Brisbane.

 

If you’ve just joined us, please read the first post which contains the rules for this thread. Note this is a luxury all inclusive ship - all drinks, restaurants, internet, excursions, spa, beauty salon.

[shipgeeks]

Dream cruises!  Well, we are on one right now.  And finally seeing Whitsunday from the helicopter was something I've wanted to do for years, after seeing pictures.  I lived in Sydney 1969-1982, and did many land trips in the eastern half of the country, as well as a trip to NZ.  But seeing all this from a ship has been wonderful.  

Apart from that, we love being out on the ocean.  My trip to Australia in 1969 was on a freighter; 42 days from New York to Sydney, with no ports between Panama and Qld.  Fabulous.

Since we live in the eastern US, we now occasionally do transatlantic cruises to the Mediterranean.   If we could do that as a round trip -- crossing, a week or so in the Med, cross back -- we would do it all the time.  Having to fly one way is the deal breaker.  But as a dream cruise, we would sail from Baltimore (our closest port) or Fort Lauderdale (so much fun sailing out the channel, with the ship's horn blasting and people in the condos cheering us on).

And finally, I'd love to sail among the icebergs of the Antarctic.

 

[Sarnia 432]

There are so many places in the world I would love to see, some of which my wallet will never reach!  I think it would be amazing to visit the Galápagos Islands on a small expedition ship.  To be able to go ashore in small groups to see the unique animals, escorted by a knowledgeable guide would be fantastic.  Antarctica is another cruise that would be best experienced from an expedition ship.  I think you would need to get onto the land for a true experience, rather than a sail by on a larger ship.  Both of which are just dreams, but it is sure nice to dream!!

 

Realistically, there are some places that we hope to see at some point in the future.  I would love to cruise round Africa, maybe spend some time on land pre or post cruise.  South America is another place on my wish list.  We were going to cruise the Baltic this year, we plan on re-booking, it is an area of the world we would love to explore more.

 

In the meantime, we are really enjoying this cruise, such a great itinerary.

[Bubbeh]

13 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

A very long lazy lunch!

and a waddle back home.

[Bubbeh]

13 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Itinerary Item 36 – Sea Day

Discussion Topic – Dream / Bucket List Cruises

Well, we did have plans but these days it seems all we may have is dreams. 

 

We currently have a Mekong River cruise and tour of Cambodia / Vietnam booked for October 2021 which we are still very hopeful will proceed.  However, today I'm going to cancel our December Christmas cruise to Asia as I doubt that it will go ahead and I don't want to keep waiting and seeing.  This way I can make other plans for that time of year, not sure whether we'll head east or down to Margaret River / Busselton area at this stage.

 

We had intended doing the 2023 Princess Pacific Circle cruise out and back to Sydney.  We thought we'd go to Canberra first and visit our daughter and son-in-law for a few days and then drive to Sydney staying at the Amora on Jamison for probably a further 5 days.  The cruise is a 77 -79 day sail and we had intended repeating our Sydney / Canberra stays on our return before heading home to beautiful Mandurah.  

 

The next cruise we'd planned to do would have been in 2025 when we thought we'd do the Princess World Cruise ex Sydney and of course visiting our daughter before and afterwards.

 

Between these larger events, we would usually take at least one Christmas cruise from Fremantle and back up to Asia.  it is our habit to absent ourselves at Xmas every second year and allow our Perth based daughter and grandchildren the freedom to spend time with her partner's family sans any sense of guilt (or excessive travel) about Mumndad in Mandurah.

[Blackduck59]

Well being a short time cruisers there are many adventures on our list. Most may never happen. The first one that will happen is our real cruise and land trip "Down Under" that one is planned but if we need to postpone to 2022 we will, our preference is to proceed as planned in Jan/Feb 2021.

We also want to do a "Fall Foliage" cruise in Eastern Canada, most of those have US Stops but with the current administration there, we aren't too fussy to go there (to our American passengers, no offense intended). There are a few itineraries that don't include US Stops but they do include Newfoundland, bonus. 

A return to Alaska is high on the list, I want to see Sea Otters. I think this will be a land and sea adventure and will include some time in the Yukon. I was in the Yukon for 7 weeks in the summer of 1977, it will be interesting to see how Whitehorse, Carcross and Dawson City have changed in the last 40+ years.

I want to do the transit around Cape Horn although Lynn is a little less keen on that. 

South Africa interests us with a safari of some kind, I find Cheetahs fascinating and would love to see them hunting in the wild. Maybe a Rovos Rail trip, expensive But I hope it would be worth it.

There should be at least one Trans Atlantic with Queen Mary 2.

Lynn has a cousin in Finland so a cruise there would be nice.

A UK and Ireland cruise would be nice maybe do that in conjuction with the TA on Queen Mary 2

Yes it's a long list but everybody else on this cruise has such a head start many of you have probably "been there, done that".

We have had such a good time on this down under adventure, I think that we would return "Again and Again" and add the pacific islands to that.

Edited May 25, 2020 by Blackduck59

[OzKiwiJJ]

My Dream Cruise would be on a fairly small ship, around 100 passengers, cruising for at least a month from Athens to Venice, or vice versa. Visiting the places that the big cruise ship don't go to in the Greek Islands and up the Dalmatian Coast. However this cruise will have to remain just a dream as a) it would be way outside my price range and b) it would be hard to find such an itinerary.

 

I do have a number of bucket list cruises:

The big one is the one we should have been on right now. Western Europe (Civitavecchia to Dover) with so many bucket list ports on the itinerary. 

I'd like to do the Baltic.

I spotted an interesting Black Sea itinerary a while back which would be a fascinating cruise.

Alaska would be stunning as well.

Unfortunately all of these involve long distance air travel so become less affordable once the extra costs are taken into account.

I'd love to be able to afford a World Cruise, or even a Circle Pacific cruise.

And I want to circumnavigate Australia, just because!

 

To me there are three types of cruising:

1. Port intensive that visit many new ports of call.

2. Cruises with lots of sea days that go to familiar places, like the South Pacific ports, or are repositioning cruises with just a few interesting ports.

3. NZ cruises, which are mostly catch up with friends and family opportunities.

 

So far the one cruise I've been on that I could happily do over and over again is the 35 night Hawaii/Tahiti cruise Sydney return. Preferably on Sea Princess or Sun Princess because I like the layout of those ships best. It's such a relaxing itinerary, with an interesting selection of ports. But I'm never doing it in an inside cabin again - those Sea Princess inside cabins are just too small for a 35 night cruise. We do have it booked for September 2021, but I may defer it to early 2022 mainly because I'd like to do it the second time at a different time of year (and also so I can save up for another shopping spree at Macys in Honolulu 🤣). 

 

 

  

[MicCanberra]

In terms of cruising we have probably got a few areas still to explore (before doing repeat journeys that may include differing ports).

• the Black sea
• Chilean Fjords
• Suez canal
• Caribbean (more islands).
• the white sea
• Greenland
• Canada's East.
• East coast of Africa

 

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

Itinerary Item 37 – Brisbane

 

Our ship is small enough to pass under the Gateway Bridge so we’re berthed at Portside. We’ll be here for two virtual days.

 

If you want to head into the city the nicest way to travel is by ferry, and the Brett’s Wharf ferry terminal is just a short walk from the Portside shopping complex.

 

There are a few excursions on offer:

 - A helicopter transfer to Fraser Island, the world’s largest sand island, where you’ll transfer to 4WD vehicles to tour part of the island. It’s an incredible place.

- A day trip into the Hinterland up to O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat where you will get to meet some of the quirky local animals, and get a close-up view of some magnificent birds of prey. Make sure you do the Tree Top Walk for a great view of the rainforest canopy.

- If you wish to visit the Australia Zoo, the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, or the Gold Coast there will be vehicles available to take you there.

 

There will be a gala dinner in the MDR as we leave Brisbane.

 

Next will be our final sea day on our way to our disembarkation in Sydney.

 

If you’ve just joined us, please read the first post which contains the rules for this thread. Note this is a luxury all inclusive ship - all drinks, restaurants, internet, excursions, spa, beauty salon.

[MMDown Under]

Wonderful to have two days in Brisbane, as there is so much to see and do there.  Day 1, I'll take a car and travel to Noosa, visiting all the beautiful Sunshine Coast beaches en route, with fish and chips for lunch at Caloundra.  On the way back, I'll visit the beautiful Hinterland villages of Montville and Maleny.  Day 2, I'd leave early to visit Stradbroke Island for the day. 

[MMDown Under]

24 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Wonderful to have two days in Brisbane, as there is so much to see and do there.  Day 1, I'll take a car and travel to Noosa, visiting all the beautiful Sunshine Coast beaches en route, with fish and chips for lunch at Caloundra.  On the way back, I'll visit the beautiful Hinterland villages of Montville and Maleny.  Day 2, I'd leave early to visit Stradbroke Island for the day. 

Whilst at Straddie, I'll do the spectacular North Gorge Headland walk, where I'll look out for stingrays and whales.  I'll have fish and chips for lunch, then head inland to the Blue Lake National Park for a swim.  Before heading back to the ferry back to Brisbane, I'll do a tour of the unique island holiday houses.  I'll be sad to only spend a day, as many Brisbane people holiday on Straddie.  

[Sarnia 432]

We are heading out to explore along the Gold Coast.  Our first stop will be the Rainforest Skywalk and Eco Discovery Centre.  I am looking forward to going on the elevated walkway through the rainforest canopies.  I hear there are some spectacular views.  We plan on having a pub lunch and then drive back to Brisbane.  We hope to enjoy the Tamborine Mountain scenery and will make some photo stops to take in the Gold Coast.

[possum52]

We decided to do a tour to Mount Tamborine and Gold Coast Hinterland. It's been quite a few years since we visited so we were looking forward to it. We walked through the rainforest along the skywalk. Amazing! The scenery is just fabulous. 

 

 

     

 

 

We had a late lunch at Mt Tamborine Village before heading back to Brisbane and to Portside.

 

           

 

 

 

[possum52]

Brisbane Day 2.

 

We decided as we have been to Brisbane a few times to just take the Citycat into South Bank. We had a leisurely breakfast before walking to Brett's Wharf to catch the Citycat. It was a beautiful morning so sat at the back of the cat enjoying the sun. We decided to get off at Kangaroo Point and walked along the river a short distance and then returned back to the ferry wharf and caught the next City Cat to South Bank. By then it was time for a coffee. We strolled through South Bank Parklands before walking across the Victoria Bridge to the city. We wandered around before finding a seat to rest and people watch before finding a cafe for a late lunch. We walked back to North Quay and caught a City Cat back Brett's Wharf  and walked back to the Ocean Pearl. 

 

                                         

 

                                     

 

                                  

 

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

Catching the CityCat into town is my favourite thing to do on a Brisbane port stop if it's a fine day. 

[possum52]

3 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Catching the CityCat into town is my favourite thing to do on a Brisbane port stop if it's a fine day. 

So do we! Love it!. 

 

Leigh

[MicCanberra]

We spent the first day going by helicopter to Mount Tamborine taking in the skywalk and some of the wineries.

[MicCanberra]

The second day, we too took the River cat into Brisbane and explored the Queen street mall, South Bank and a few of the museums.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Itinerary Item 38 – Sea Day

 

It’s our final sea day. Our voyage is almost at an end.😪

 

Thank you all for joining me on this virtual cruise, for all your contributions, your thoughts on the places you visited (real or imagined), and your help in designing this magical fantasy ship. It’s been a fun journey.

 

Tomorrow we’ll be disembarking in Sydney.

[shipgeeks]

We will be sad to have this wonderful journey come to an end.  The ship, the ports, and our fellow passengers have all been outstanding.  So nice to have such great photographers aboard, too, to share the many sights.

I'm glad we will all have our Gala Dinner together.  Tuxedo and Most Fabulous Dress are hanging and ready to don.

[MMDown Under]

12 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Itinerary Item 38 – Sea Day

 

It’s our final sea day. Our voyage is almost at an end.😪

 

Thank you all for joining me on this virtual cruise, for all your contributions, your thoughts on the places you visited (real or imagined), and your help in designing this magical fantasy ship. It’s been a fun journey.

 

Tomorrow we’ll be disembarking in Sydney.

Thank you for creating Ocean Pearl on 16th April for a virtual cruise around NZ and Aust, which has been such a lot of fun.  Brought back many happy cruising memories, as well as cruising ideas for the future.  

[Sarnia 432]

What a wonderful trip.  Thank you so much for hosting Ozkiwijj, it really has been a pleasure sailing along with you all.  This cruise ship has been really amazing, the staff are ready to meet all our needs and very quickly greeting us with our favorite drinks and snacks.

 

I am anticipating a superb evening, excellent food and great company.  We can reminisce on all our wonderful port stops.  I think my favourite was the day time passage of the Torres Strait.  The scenery was spectacular.

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by 4HeatonsGal
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