Sydney, Australia – Arrival
It’s all over, our epic voyage around the world aboard the Sea Princess has come to an end, as the vessel secured alongside the White Bay Cruise Ship Terminal in Sydney. One hundred and four nights, 5 continents and countless ports, unfortunately has reached a conclusion, and it’s time for us to say our final goodbyes to our many new friends, both crew and pax.
Auckland, New Zealand to Sydney, Australia
Our final day of the 2015 World Cruise, and based on the Captain’s forecast, we will be ending the cruise with the same conditions we experienced on that first night, oh so many days, even months ago. Today was a day for packing and saying our goodbyes to the many new friends we have met, including many of the wonderful crew aboard, who have worked extremely hard, with constant smiles, to make this almost completed 104 night adventure, most memorable.
Auckland, New Zealand to Sydney, Australia
During last night’s update the Captain advised of inclement weather expected today. Sure enough after sunrise the wind picked up and the swell steepened, creating considerable pounding and slamming, resulting in the Captain altering course to the south to avoid the worst of the seas. Other than the weather, today was much quieter than yesterday, with few activities of interest.
Auckland, New Zealand to Sydney, Australia
Wow, September is now upon us and it is hard to believe that on my first blog posting I typed May, it seems like an eternity since we excitedly boarded this ship in Sydney, full of great expectations. Well our final port is well and truly behind us as we rock, roll and slam our way across the wild and more than slightly windy Tasman Sea, towards the magnificent natural harbour of Sydney. Today was actually a rather busy day with a multitude of interesting activities on the daily schedule.
Auckland, New Zealand – 07:00 to 22:00
Our final port of call on this grand voyage around the world, before sailing into the magnificent Sydney Harbour on Friday morning. Having been in Auckland twice before, many years ago, I recall it as a spectacular arrival and was fully intending to be out on deck enjoying the sights. However, waking up my usual 04:30 I was serenaded by two minute blasts on the ship’s whistle. It wasn’t foggy, but with rain reducing the visibility, it was pointless heading our with the camera.
Pago Pago, American Samoa to Auckland, New Zealand
Our final day at sea before arriving in Auckland tomorrow morning. Judi was very pleased to note the seas flattened out, which eased the passage giving her inner ears an opportunity to settle. This is our last Sunday at sea, so today’s culinary highlight was the final Sunday Brunch, which means no dining room breakfast, as the waiters get a well deserved later start. It was also an opportunity to say our goodbyes to the many New Zealanders departing the ship tomorrow morning.
International Date Line (IDL), Prime Meridian, Antemeridian ?????
So how much sleep did we get last night – 7 hours or 31 hours???
A rather strange question you may ask, 31 hours sleep in 1 night, no way, that’s impossible!. However, we retired at 23:00 on Friday 28th August and awoke at 05:00 on Sunday 30th August. With my rudimentary math skills, that makes 30 hours of sleep, not the 7 hours or 31 hours noted above.
You may ask – did we awake completely refreshed – nope, no different than usual, so what happened? Well it’s really rather simple, provided you understand things like International Date Lines, Prime Meridian, Antemeridian, Time Zones, etc.
Read on for an explanation of how it works.
Pago Pago, American Samoa to Auckland, New Zealand
The second of three days between Pago Pago and Auckland and this will be our last day at the tail end of world time, as at 02:00 tomorrow morning the ship’s clocks will zoom ahead 23 hours. The resultant puts us at Z+12, or the leading edge of world time. Today’s social calendar is well filled, with the guys having a TGIF (Thank goodness it’s Friday) meeting for Happy Hour, followed by cocktails at Fay & Vonnie’s cabin at 18:00 and finally another trip to the Steakhouse for dinner.
Pago Pago, American Samoa to Auckland, New Zealand
Having spent most of the last week heading west across the Pacific, on departing Pago Pago, we headed south. While this is normally good news for us northern hemisphere types, on this side of the equator, it means heading to chillier climates. After the heat and humidity of the past few days, it was already noticeably cooler down on the Promenade Deck this morning. With respect to weather, the swells and winds have picked up and we continue to rock and roll our way across the Pacific.
Pago Pago – 08:00 to 17:00
We originally booked one of the ship tours, but cancelled it last week hoping to find internet ashore. We wanted to Skype with our daughter and grandson again, and I am still waiting to download the new Windows 10, but at 3GB download, don’t want to use our precious remaining satellite time. Nope, no internet available, so we Skyped from aboard, which with most people ashore, actually worked very well. This will probably be our final Skype session, as we will be home in about 10 days.
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