OzKiwiJJ

It had a different taste to either of those but not quite like deer venison.

No way! You don't ruin good venison with tomato sauce! It was part of an African Dinner of 14 different dishes. There were some very interesting dishes but the venison pie was one of the best.

We had a very nice venison (springbok) pie as part of the African dinner excursion we went to last night.

Diamond is going up to Japan. We switched because we ended up with heaps of FCC from the world cruise itinerary change. Yes, easier to have a nice lunch ashore on turnaround day.

On arrival in Port yesterday the hull of our ship was given a rigorous inspection by a local marine expert who we spotted relaxing after its efforts.

We ended up with a Mercedes C class in Melbourne once. That was fun!

We cancelled that cruise and are now joining Mic & Rosie on the Diamond repositioning cruise so will be in Sydney during your first stop there.

It was an embarkation port - I noticed a number of people waiting with suitcases. However our late docking probably skewed the situation. We all had to go through immigration when leaving the ship so I imagine the ship had to reach zero count before check-ins were allowed. We were on an excursion originally due to leave the ship around 8am but with the docking delay and a very long immigration queue we boarded our bus just before noon. It appears to be very easy to get to the terminal and there were plenty of people there to guide us, both departing for tours and arriving back again. Unfortunately I can't comment about the actual check-in process but getting from the terminal to the ship was a quick walk down steps or ramps and across the wharf -see below.

It was amazing. The views are incredible. Look out for the rock rabbits - they will be below the viewing areas.

We will. We're currently sitting in the Explorer's Lounge waiting to do the Table Mountain excursion.

The weather has been conspiring against us for our arrival in Cape Town. First there were some very nasty seas two nights ago. The captain moved the ship closer to shore so we avoided the worst of them but, even so, we were rocked to sleep by 5-6 metre seas. We lost a bit of time with this so all the ship's excursions have been rescheduled. Ah well, at least we didn't have to get up so early! However there was thick fog this morning - so thick the pilot couldn't get out to the ship - so our arrival has been delayed a bit more. The fog started to lift just as we got back to our cabin after breakfast, giving us gorgeous views of Table Mountain while the city was still swathed in fog.

On the Northern route you'll see some of the coast if the ship goes along the Queensland coast inside the GBR, and there will probably be some scenic cruising on the Western Australia side (Kimberleys and sometimes some other areas), but other than that the ship will usually be further out to sea. Still, it's a very nice cruise - we did it Perth to Sydney, and also as part of a full Round Australia cruise, both on Princess. We've also done a number of NZ cruises. I would suggest looking at doing an NZ cruise first, in March, which may make it possible to do the Northern Australia route after that or even the full Round Australia cruise. Be aware that the Princess Round Australia cruises, full or sectors, sell out very quickly.

I now carry some masking tape (painters tape) in our bits and pieces kit to mask off those annoying sensors. Hopefully I'll remember to remove them in another 93 days! 😄

Healing thoughts coming to you from somewhere off the east coast of Africa, Les.

Distance and time to travel that distance aren't always equitable. Melbourne airport to the apartment hotel we like is around 23kms and usually takes about half an hour but one time it took close to an hour and it wasn't even rush hour. It was crazy!

🙄🙄🙄 Actually some of the wines by the bottle are quite decent. Over-priced, of course, but the 25% Plus discount helps.

When we were on Diamond last November it varied - sometimes a single musician, sometimes 2-3 musicians, and once some of the show band members played jazz. Note: the Wheelhouse Bar on Diamond is much larger than on Royal and is often used for dancing later in the evening.

Since we're paying extra for wine by the bottle that isn't an issue. 😊 Staying within budget is though. 🫢😒

We got the good wine glasses last night! 😊

A long time ago when I was a teenager the fashion was hipster jeans with rope belts.

Interesting to see how Princess is getting the blame for the Darwin dock change. Local port authorities have a big say in where ships dock and I doubt they would arbitrarily allow a cruise ship to choose to dock in a working port unless there was no alternative. Was any reason given for the change to the Darwin dock?

Much to our surprise our bid for an upgrade was accepted just over a month before our current Coral Princess world cruise embarked in Sydney. We were very happy about that.

Not really. However the lunch restaurant had one of the biggest mango trees I've ever seen. It was huge - probably a metre or so in diameter at the base of the trunk.

We'll see how it goes. We're working on getting the good wine glasses at dinner since we're having wines by the bottle.

I was fascinated by the mountains surrounding Port Louis. I presume they are the remnants of a very old volcanic crater. Some were very sharply pointed and reminded me of Moorea. You can just see some of them in the background of this photo.