After we published last evenings Blog we ran into the Cruise Director who highly recommended that we see the evening show. We are so very glad that we took his advice. The entertainment was by Ventriloquist Jay Johnson. He was outstanding and he had us laughing for much of his show. He is best remembered for playing Chuck and Bob, the crazy ventriloquist in the evening television show known as Soap. This is the show that featured other actors such as Billy Crystal. This is the first time he has performed for Crystal and he was very funny from the moment he walked on stage. He started by telling a number of jokes before he brought to life his puppet. We are very glad we attended this show.
Today, we arrived at Brisbane, Australia. This is a maiden port of call for Crystal. Brisbane is located between the Gold Coast to the south and the Sunshine Coast to the north. This town as an array of places to visit including it Botanical Gardens, the Sir Thomas Planetarium, the Queensland Museum, Art Gallery and Maritime Museum. There are about 1 Million Residents of greater Brisbane, with far few people living downtown.
Last evening we set the clocks back on hour as we cruised into a new time zone. Keith awoke quite early this morning and was up to the Fitness Center a little before 5:00 AM. However, he was not the first one to the Center as another passenger who he knows quite well was already working out. Surprisingly, it never was too busy in the Center while Keith was still there. Anne Marie took another day off from working out, as she is still under the weather. After Keith’s workout he went to the Lido Café to have a cup of coffee and then went out on the open deck to watch as the ship began to get closer to the Brisbane Harbor.
We enjoyed a very nice breakfast in our room as we arrived at the Cruise Ship Terminal.
During Captain Glenn’s morning talk he mentioned that at 2:00 AM we picked up the pilot for the long journey downriver. Before arriving at the berth, he turned the ship around to that we could sail right out of port when we depart at 6:00 PM this evening. The Captain’s thought of the day is “Please don’t make the mistake and give nothing because you only could give a little bit.”
Crystal offered a complimentary tour this afternoon for all passengers who are on this world cruise segment. However, we decided to pass on the tour since Anne Marie is not feeling well and Keith was also concerned about sitting on a bus with other passengers who are also under the weather. Essentially, there are a few different bugs going around from the common cold, to some passengers who seem to have laryngitis like symptoms, to some who have one or two other types of viruses. Some have been sick once, some twice and we know of at least one couple who came on the ship starting with the voyage before the world cruise and the husband is now sick for the third time while the wife is now sick for the second time. Hopefully, this will all cease shortly. We spoke with the ships doctor last evening at the Captain’s Welcome Session and he has definitely been very busy.
We also learned in today’s daily program that since our ship has entered one of the most environmentally sensitive areas of the world, and, due to local environmental regulations in the Great Barrier Reef, that is necessary to close guest laundry facilities during the time we transit this area in order to conserve the ships water supply. The facilities will be closed starting March 1 and will reopen on March 5.
Crystal provided a complimentary shuttle service from the pier to the city center of Brisbane. This involved a three mile drive and shuttles ran every twenty minutes for so.
As we were going down to the cruise ship terminal we ran into a very nice woman who used to work on the Serenity as the assistant to the Hotel Director. She recognized us right away. She told us that her husband, Adi, who used to be the Head Sommelier, was downstairs and sure enough we spoke with him. He recognized us right away and also remembered that Keith was his partner in the Passenger/Crew Triathlon that was part of last years World Cruise Games. We miss them both. After many years with Crystal they have settled down in Brisbane, Australia where they started a travel business. We also ran into one of the Shore Excursion Staff who just returned to the ship from Holiday in Sydney and she remembered our names right away. What memories the crew has.
We took the first shuttle at 9:00 AM, which dropped us off by a department store in the downtown area.
We enjoyed a very nice walk and first went over to the Botanical Gardens. Afterwards, we walked on a pedestrian bridge over the river and walked through a University and then we walked along the river where we passed a variety of gardens and a man made beach. We walked by the Maritime Museum, the Art Gallery and an area where the World Expo was held twenty years ago. We then walked over another bridge into the city where we saw the former Treasury building, which believe it or not is now a casino.
In town, we bought an item for Anne Marie’s virus and a couple of other small items. The town is very vibrant. We walked for a while longer until it was time to take the shuttle back to the ship. We then had lunch in the main dining room and then went back off the ship to walk around the Cruise Ship Terminal. The terminal is fairly new and has some very nice shops and restaurants. They even had a high-end grocery market with wonderful looking vegetables and fruits along with a section with fresh seafood, meats, and sushi. The quality of these food items was definitely high end with reasonable prices. We even saw the Moreton Bay bug that resembles a crayfish and it is very popular with the locals. We posted a picture showing them. There were some nice retail shops and even a movie theatre. The quality of these shops is of a standard much higher than what one normally sees at a cruise ship terminal.
All of the locals who we spoke with were very polite and considerate. They would ask us nice questions and went out of their way to assist us. The city was very clean, vibrant and it felt very safe. Everything is so very well organized including the security at each of the cruise ship terminal that we have gone through in each Australian Port.
This is a country that we have become more impressed with by the day. The people are wonderful, the cities are all clean, there is so much natural beauty and there is so much to do, and there is vibrancy in the air.
Since many passengers were on the complimentary shore excursion, and given that we will be unable to do washes over the next few days, we decided to do a couple of washes since the washing machines and dryers were available.
Before dinner, we attended Friday evening services where we, once again, said a prayer for a very special couple whose husband is ill. Our thoughts go out to them.
This evening we enjoyed a nice meal in the Main Dining Room. We had pre-ordered chicken and a chicken soup hoping that this would be a nice remedy for Anne Marie’s virus.
Keith & Anne Marie
