aussielozzie18

So cute. Should be a where’s Molly book with illustrations from your village.

Last story from the cruise. The only port tour I did by myself was the stretch Hummer tour. It started at 3pm. Towards the end of the tour, I sent a photo to daughter from Palm Cove. DD: You are in Palm Cove? Me: Yep. It’s beautiful DD: What time will you be back? All aboard closes soon. Me: Yes I know but ship will wait for me. DD: Is anyone else from the ship? Me: No. Just me. DD: Please don’t be late Me: Should be fine as long as the Hummer doesn’t break down like it did in the morning tour… DD: OMG 10mins later…. Me: Don’t worry. This is a SHIP excursion. We are all from the ship. It won’t leave without us.. DD: OMG. Thank goodness! I have just been trying to work out what to do if you got left behind and how to get you from Cairns to Port Douglas…. Daughter is always doing jokes so it was fun to get her going for once 😀 Me after 3 champagnes from the open bar. Photo taken by our driver.

We also had Conga for Kids on board. Buy a t-shirt for $20 with all funds going to a Children’s hospital in Queensland. Told DD I was doing this. She wasnt interested but was happy for me to buy her a t-shirt. At midday, I sent her a msg and said the Conga line is about to start. She said Omg you are doing a Conga line? (She thought it was just buying a t-shirt) She left her pool deck and came down to the main pool deck to not only film me in a conga line but then we all did the Macarena. Again seeing middle aged mum doing the Macarena in public had her stitches. Then she uploaded the video to her friends group and they loved it 😀

Daughter decided she wanted a break from her phone on our 7 day cruise so didn’t buy the internet package (I went without it too). She told me on the evening of the 3rd day of the cruise that she had just discovered that the tv channel that showed vision of the front of the ship from the open top deck had great background music. I said I knew where the camera was located and she might see me briefly as I did my morning walking laps. The next morning, I planned to walk laps of the top deck per usual. I messaged daughter and said are you watching because I am about to walk past. Then instead of walking past, I stood directly in front of the camera and did several star jumps. Seeing her middle aged mum unexpectedly doing star jumps for everyone to see had her in tears of laughter. Then she sent the video to her brother in Canada…..

@grapau27 Graham all the best for your procedure & post procedure healing.

+ 1 @Sea Dog

Sad to see the devastation from the cyclone but thanks for sharing your photos.

Knew about Brett’s Wharf but not citycat. Thanks for the info.

Yes. Stepped out of the airport. To the taxi rank. No wait. $30

In the morning at breakfast, the sky above the ship was filled with birds. Never seen that many birds before when cruising. Turns out they all roost on Willis Island. The waters around the island are also home to endangered turtles and obviously other sea life. Another lovely sunset

On our final sea day, we slowly cruised past Willis Island. The only inhabited island in the Coral Sea. A team of 4-6 live here, releasing a weather balloon at 9.30am and 9.30pm every day in conjunction with scientists in other countries & then sharing data. We had the Reef Pilot on board and he communicated with one of the scientists on the island. He told us a little about life on the island, then we all watched as the 9.3Oam weather balloon was released.

3rd and final port was Port Douglas. Another beautiful day with water so calm and temps again 35C. A tender port. We did a ship tour with Quicksilver Cruises. Spent the day snorkeling on the reef from a platform located at Agincourt Reef. Stinger suits a must, as always this time of year. After a beautiful day, a lovely sunset.

Sail out of Cairns was stunning

No swimming today though, as a crocodile had been spotted on the beach the day before and none of us had stinger suits.

Headed back to the ship to get out of the sun. Left DD by the pool deck, whilst I headed out on a “Cairns in style” ship tour - in a stretch Hummer. A lively group of 12 of us. Driver was great and the open bar was enjoyed. First stop - Cascades in Cairns for a refreshing dip Second stop was Palm Cove, an hour out of Cairns.

Then the lagoon pool was open and it was bliss in the heat. I spent 2hrs in the water. Whilst DD was in and out. Helipad near by was busy all day doing sightseeing flights

We arrived at the lagoon pool at 10am. Unbeknownst to us, the pool is closed til midday one day a week. Decided to go for a wander but cut it short and grabbed brunch instead as it was too hot for walking. Christmas tree was up

It was a hot 35C in Cairns. Walked from the ship around the waterfront to the lagoon pool. DD wanted to do this when we passed it. Having done a jumping crocodile cruise - I gave this one a hard no…

Our second port was Cairns. This port we docked. A seaborn ship was in before us and we could large groups of visitors boarding sightseeing boats for reef trips etc.

December is the start of cyclone season but we were blessed with beautiful weather and perfect calm seas the entire we were in Far North Queensland.

First port was Airlie Beach in Queensland. Up early for the sail in. Tender port. 30C. High speed boat ride to snorkeling location. Too busy snorkeling to take photos. After snorkeling pulled into beach for lunch & swim off the beach. Beautiful.

Good morning. Favourite spot on board Carnival Luminosa (new to Australia was previously part of the Costa fleet). Daughters favourite spot. Was a blue lounge in the sun below. First of many balcony photos:

We then went for a wander around the ship. We liked the layout. Easy to get around. Plenty of places to sit both indoor & outdoor. Daughter checked out the gym. It was better than expected for her. Same machines as her gym but slightly older models. She signed up for classes. Individual classes $20 each or 3 for $49. She signed up for cycle & boots classes. Only two of them with the instructor each time. Instructor was good but class room was west facing &not air conditioned and daughter struggled in the FNQ heat.

Rooms were available at 1.30pm. Deck 7 balcony cabins. I chose the cabins (not guarantees) Daughter had adjacent but not connected balcony cabin. Very happy with our cabins. Comfortable bed, good shower pressure, good location. Our cabins weren’t connecting but after looking at our balconies we thought the partition between the two could be opened. Room steward said he needed approval from higher up - which we easily obtained from guest services. It was done whilst we were at dinner. Having access to our combined balcony was great.

The muster drill, involved going to the Muster location on the outside deck, watching a life jacket demonstration by staff, when you arrived and that was it. You didn’t need to wait for every else in the muster group to turn up like you did precovid. The staff member did the life jacket demo for just daughter & I and then we were signed off.