Anchors Away…. 29 Dec

Another good night's rest in the hotel and a liesurely start to our day, checking out by 11am and making our way to Museum train station.

Our ship's app tells us that check in is between 12.30 and 3pm so we take our time to get to the cruise terminal but find that we can leave our luggage in one spot and then go straight through to check in. Unsurprisingly we are deemed Priority passengers, so get moved through to the head of any lines so that it is a very simple and fast checkin process. Once onboard, we head to our cabin but the beds have not yet been made so we head to a bar and order our first drink for the day ... coffee! It's now time for lunch so we head to the main dining room and I had a most unusual prawn and avocado dish, plus a lovely chicken chasseur. No room for dessert.

We then find the Vines bar and decide that we need to try out their version of a London Lemonade.

It was very nice, so we had two! Back to our cabin to find that the beds are all made up and our suitcases have been delivered, so time to unpack and settle into our home for the next 2 weeks.

Unpacking is thirsty work, so we head back to another lounge and try their London Lemonade which was actually a bit nicer than our earlier tasting. While we are sitting there minding our own business, an elderly gentleman walked past Julie and then leant in towards her to tell her that she looks 40 years younger without glasses! I asked Julie if she knew him, but he was a total atranger! She only wears glasses to read, so only had them on a short time to check her phone. I tried yo get her to accept the comment as an unusual compliment, but really? What ever made that fellow think it would ever be okay to say that to anyone? Oh well, I suppose it takes all sorts. At least there are a multitude of walkers and wheelchairs on this cruise, just strange men.... and an even stranger one later in our encounters. Time to set sail, so we head out on deck as we sail out of Sydney Harbour in perfect weather conditions.

We have had a good wander around the ship to get our bearings and decide to check out the Captain's Circle event for Platinum members in the exclusive Elite lounge. Canapes and drinks are offered in the Skywalkers bar at the back of the ship (that's Deck 18 Aft for the nautical types) and ofcourse we fit right in with the hoy paloy... So now it is time for dinner. We head to the Michelangelo dining room, not realising that this restaurant requires pre booking. We had already walked away from the Botticelli dining room where we had lunch as there were large crowds of people queuing to get in. After a 25 minute wait, when we were no closer to getting seated, I'd well and truly had enough of bring ignored so told Julie that I was out of there and she could contiue to wait if she wanted. We made our way upstairs to the Da Vinci dining room and it was only a short wait to be seated. Two ladies from Sydney joined us at our table and then a man was seated with ud, Ken. The meal was really nice. I had a prawn cocktail and the Cajun chicken.

Again, no room for dessert. Julie was sitting next to Ken so for the majority of the meal, I was talking to the Sydney ladies next to me. It is just as well I wasnt having dessert as when we had all finished our main meal, and some were waiting for dessert, Ken tells us that he 'hates Asian women'. I was gobsmacked and asked him why he would say such a thing. He came up with some BS about not understanding why any man would want an Asian woman instead of one like us! WTF??? He then asked us what we voted in the 'Voice' referendum. I asked him to repeat the question as I couldn't believe my ears, so he asked again. Julie answered him but I said I wasn't going to tell him as it was none of his business. With that, I excused myself from the table, told the 2 Sydney ladies that I hoped they had a good cruise and I look forward to running into them again. Didn't give Ken a second glance! Julie followed me out. I have made it very clear to Julie that if I have the bad luck to be seated at any meal with him again, I will leave the table. So with that we had a bit more of a wander. Julie was happy to sit and listen to some music for a while, but I'm ready to head back to our cabin and do the blog. Seas are calm and so am I.