81Zoomie

I wish we could teleport your Motown Diva singer to our ship 🎶🎤🎶👠

We are up in the Retreat passing time while our wonderful cabin attendant freshens up our room. She is truly awesome! The Captain just announced we can expect 65 deg, 12 ft seas and swells 🌊💨🌊. He always recommends wearing flat shoes. I started leaving my higher heels 👠 👠 home when we sailed to Antarctica and have continued with that tradition. I just had to chuckle when I saw 👀 two attendants cleaning the windows of the Retreat porch this morning 😅😅. The windows and sliding glass door in our cabin have not been cleaned in many days, if ever, since we boarded on Mar 26. Yesterday when the sun came out I couldn’t take the salt spray and droplets anymore 💧💧💦💦. I grabbed a pool towel and cleaned the sliding glass door so at least we had a clearer view in the center. I also cleaned and dried the upright chairs and the top metal piece of the railing. Everything was wet and caked in salt spray. These details appear to have been overlooked. It’s far from perfect, but at least we can see out of the center and sit down. The windows need a good scrubbing with some vinegar and a squeegee. I do not know if they hosed down the IV windows when we were in port. If you are in one of those there is no way you can clean the glass from the inside.

Day 4 - Sea Day Good morning from the Great Australian Bight. That is the name of this body of water. The sun is beginning to peak out but we are rolling a noticeable amount and it is 61 deg outside. For todays activities: The Caltain’s Club breakfast in Tuscan seemed like the perfect venue for a quiet breakfast bite. To our surprise, we were offered a table by the window in the little back room. It was like private dining 😍. We are not certain what has changed, but our luck 🍀🍀🍀 with dining location has certainly improved! The tiny bagels are hiding in the back of the pastry section on the buffet. I had tea this morning. It may just be me, but I have not been able to pour the tea out of this container without it leaking all over the table.

We were a bit tired as dinner time approached. But, the visions of filet energized me. We were quite surprised to be seated by the window for the first time in Luminae in 2 weeks! What a perfect night to have this happen! We watched the lights of Melbourne fade into the distance as we ate 💕. The dinner menu is now beginning to repeat. I decided on the burrata and the filet. DH had the salmon and the filet. We did remember to order extra vegetables. Otherwise you get a dollop of potatoes and a tablespoon of spinach. DH did devour his salmon before I could snap a pic 😂. I have had the burrata twice now. The cheese is the size of a baseball. I could have easily done with 2 more petite ping pong ball sized portions 🏓🏓 I had the poached pear for dessert 🍐😍. It was so delicious that I dove in and ate the entire thing is a flash! I highly recommend it 👍👍👍. We were not feeling the need to watch the Cover Girls again. We elected to retire early and just put our feet up and read 📖👓📚.

Thanks so much for your review! We sailed with Capt Kirk last year but weren’t fortunate enough to be entertained by his musical talents! We really did enjoy his captain’s talk though. LBH on a quickie cruise… nice. Thanks for sharing.

Wow, what a gorgeous afternoon 😎☀️🌏! Simply ideal conditions for a cocktail by the pool. DH had a Tito’s and tonic and I had the Spicy Margarita. The Melbourne skyline glistened in the sunshine! And finally, Melbourne all lit up! It’s a lovely skyline!

We are currently on board Edge in the Retreat. In this part of the world, we consider the ship to be transportation to beautiful locations and awesome people and history. It’s all about the land portion. If you think the “premium” beverage package includes premium wines you will be disappointed. Plan to pay extra for something that is above low average and drinkable. In our experience Eden has the best food on the ship. Book specialty dining as soon as possible. The Retreat sundeck is nice, and the Retreat lounge can be a quiet refuge, at times. Other times it can be crowded. Not much atmosphere up there, but fabulous views! Our crossing from Sydney to NZ was quite smooth. The return trip from NZ to Sydney was like a washing machine. Book the trip! The experience will be what you make it! Australia and NZ are amazing 🤩.

I did a quick pass in Blu to get a photo of tonight’s menu. We have enjoyed our meals in Blu when we sail in Aqua and I know others do as well. It feels lovely and intimate in Blu on Edge. Tonights menu:

I do have a question for the E Class experts. Getting on and off the ship and the location of the gangways seems a bit odd. I do not remember this on Apex. Today there was one skinny gangway on deck 5. You use the same tiny walkway getting on and off. The security was set up in the Casino. In Sydney, it was through Raw on 5. The area is very small and gets quite congested. It seems as though it’s a lot of work to move all the scanner and metal detector equipment into place and then break it down when we sail. It must be a pain for Raw on 5 when the ship sails late. Is this the same situation on the newer E class ships? Or, did X design a better solution/location for the gangways?

We had a nice time exploring Melbourne on our own. We heard that while Sydney is the tourist capitol, Melbourne is the business capitol of Australia. We found this to be true. By my watch we walked about 6 miles! Lots of walking because the public transit isn’t as seamless as in Sydney The city has a unique blend of old and new architecture. We enjoyed the contrasts as we walked. We were able to find the Victoria Market. Since we didn’t wish to wait 30 minutes for the free zone city tram, we walked. The rain was light and we enjoyed the fresh air. The market was amazing. It was quite large and comprehensive. The produce was beautiful. You could buy everything from merino sweaters to baby clothes! We even saw gas cans ⛽️. Who knew there were so many types of eggs 🥚🪺🥚? It was certainly a world of colors and flavors. We noted the extensive use of shipping containers for stores and restaurants as well. You could buy culinary delights from all parts of the world. We had never seen fried potatoes on a skewer before! 🥔🍟🥔. Photographs of your iris, who knew this was a thing? If I remember correctly, your eyes 👁️👁️ are like fingerprints and DNA, so this one makes me nervous… We continued our adventures and took in the sights and sounds of Melbourne. The best part was that after 2.5 days the sun finally came out! By this time noon had come and gone. 🕛 DH wanted to eat, but couldn’t decide what 🙄🙄. I knew he wanted something Asian, which is risky for me. I finally ate my protein bar which gave him a green light to stop for food. 🍲🍱🥘 He was delighted with his Singapore Noodles. I’m still not sure why we didn’t eat at the market? 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️ We caught a tram and made our way back to the ship 🛳️.

I might add, “I will try to endure the plentiful dining options and live music. I may seek a massage to relieve these stressful conditions!” Hope the pilot packs a small essentials backpack when conditions are iffy for return.

Day 3 - Melbourne Good day from Melbourne! We awoke early (or so we thought 😅) just as we were pulling into port. My phone said 5:30 am. It’s nice of the Aussie Navy ⚓️ to welcome us! As you can see, the jury is still out on the weather. When we turned on the TV, it indicated one hour later than the devices we synched to Melbourne time. There was no notice to change our clocks ⏰ ⌚️last night. All of my devices show a different time 🤪. OK… auto synched the devices and they now all agree it’s 8:05 am. We have no organized excursion here today. DH has found that there is a public transit station close to the pier. We plan to go into the business district and then to the Victoria market. After that we are flexible based on the weather and how we feel. We will have a leisurely breakfast 🍳 🥯 🍉 since we are in no rush to get off the ship. It’s very nice to be able to take our time today.

We decided to go to the Officer’s soirée in the Retreat this evening. It was packed! The one noticeable omission was a lack of any bridge ⚓️⚓️⚓️ officers. We did learn the fate of the harbor pilot leaving Sydney. Due to the very rough and windy 🌊💨🌊💨 sea conditions the pilot could not leave the ship 🚢. That is actually not a surprise as we saw the pilot boat being tossed about. The pilot got a bonus cruise to Melbourne! Then he will fly 🛫 back to Sydney. Tonight is Eden for dinner. This is our third and final time. As usual, we had a superb meal. There was a slight tweak to the menu. The Lobster Casserole was renamed Australian Rack Lobster 🦞. We started with the amuse bouche. DH had the Tandoori beef, soup, and the filet mignon. I had the risotto and the salmon. Everything was delicious 😋♥️😋! For dessert we both selected the lemon tart 🍋🍋. After dinner we decided to listed to the music 🎶 duo playing in Eden 🎸🎻 It was very relaxing and they were quite good. At this point we were both quite full and had shared a bottle of very nice Australian wine from the Margaret River region. We wandered back to our cabin. Yes, the weather was dismal, but we had a very relaxing day. That is what vacation is all about 💕🥰💕. Upon returning to our cabin we found a gift from Eden. This was new! We had dined there twice on the previous segment with no acknowledgment. It was a very nice gesture 😊👍

I have watched Deal or No Deal on other cruises for the entertainment. Truthfully, I have no idea how the “cards” or audience participation works with this game. It is simply fun to watch the participants and the dynamics. Unfortunately, there was limited space in the venue today.

No helipad on E Class 🥺

Well, it’s not limited to Beyond! We are currently on Edge in a MC SS. When the seas are rough and the wind is 90 degrees to the cabin we get squeaking, rat, a tat, tat and clicking all night long. Then add what sounds like a bowling ball on the ceiling. A “joiner” came and greased and tightened the sliding door. We were told midship creaks more. The cabin has a shim on one side of the ceiling, but there is no noise in that spot.

I don’t recall them mentioning any excursions at the meeting.

We are slowly making our way through the available lunch location options on Edge. We just wanted a little nosh for lunch. DH suggested Eden. Great idea! I braved the creepy hallway. We sauntered back and found the reading chairs had been replaced by some small dining tables during the meal time. There were several light lunch options to include sandwiches, soup, salad, and cookies. This was perfect for us! Given the weather conditions, Eden was well populated. We had to hunt a bit to find seats. DH selected the walnut cookie for dessert. I passed on the baked goods and went to the OV for ice cream. I ate it in the Solarium. It was surprising to find many available seats 🪑🪑🪑. We went down to the Club to watch Deal or No Deal. There were no seats to be had and we didn’t want to stand 🧍‍♀️. It would have been nice to have this game in the theatre to allow for more participation. Many of the outdoor activities have been washed out and everyone is inside. Plan B, we went back to the room to play cribbage ♠️♥️♣️♦️. I found a very lightweight travel cribbage set and this was a great opportunity to test it out! It is still gray and wet outside, but the sea state is much improved 😊.

Rain to the left 💦, rain to the right💦, it appears that much like aircrews do, the bridge crew is threading the needle between weather in hopes of providing a better ride. It’s still rather damp and gray with no sun 🌞 in sight. We are making progress as we sail toward Melbourne. We opted to go up to the gym and burn a few calories before lunch and another dinner in Eden. I decided the Elliptical 👟🏋️‍♀️💪 would be prudent today. At least you can hold on to something while you are swaying up top! Now it’s time for lunch 😉. It’s a bit like my DH’s old Navy ⚓️ days, eat till you are tired and sleep till you are hungry! However in the leisure cruise version you can quench your thirst with a large selection of tempting concoctions 🍺🍷🍸🍹🥂🍾🥃☕️🍵! A quick note about ship’s laundry. DH has been quite creative with how much you can stuff into a bag. We had a free bag 👍, but it would have cost $140 for all the items he stuffed in 😳. We have used laundry on lots of cruise lines. I was a bit surprised everything you send out on X comes back in a bag. It’s wash and fold. I’m not sure what would happen with a jersey dress or thin dress slacks. On other lines we have received items back on hangers or neatly folded in a basket. So, my self service laundry continues for more fragile materials. An overnight soak with gentle ship provided agitation 🚢🌊🧺! IMG_6768.mov

Day - 1 Tasman Sea The view from our room this morning 💨💦🌊. It is looking as if today may be another inside activity day. However, it does appear to be getting a little brighter out. We are hopeful that conditions will improve 🤓😎😊.

Well, it was quite the night. We were rocking and rolling as expected. Unfortunately, the noises we experienced on several nights around NZ in our cabin returned. The “rat-a-tat-tat, click, click, and bowling ball from above” continued most of the night. It was not a good night’s sleep again. I finally rolled over and decided to record 🎙️🎤🎙️ the sound. I’m not fond of fumbling with my phone in the dark, but I did record the symphony of sounds for the staff. It was acknowledged that we are mid ship 🚢 and it creaks more here. Then we met Joana the new Retreat manager who just boarded in Sydney. What a breath of fresh air! She seemed very proactive and energetic! She apologized and said she would move us, but no other suites are available. At present we are waiting for “a joiner” to come investigate the suspect areas in our cabin. We will post our cabin # on the E Class cabin spreadsheet and the noise thread after our cruise.

It’s a bit of a change up for dinner this evening. We are hoping to avoid the first night crush at dinner in the usual venues. DH really wanted to try Raw on 5 🎣🍤🐠🐟. I am not a big fish person. I eat shell fish, but anything that tastes like fish is a no go for me. So, keeping with the spirit of compromise, I will give it a go. Sanjay, the Host was a delight. He is very friendly. We were seated by the window. This was perfect because we were just leaving the dock. We had a unique night perspective of the Sydney Skyline and the Opera house 🥰. Dinner is all ala carte. We selected the “The Chateau” and then DH followed with Green Roof Tuna rolls. DH was quite happy. I used a lot of lemon and applied the sauces liberally 🤣. Harmony 😘😁😘. We were already beginning to rock and roll as we cleared the channel out to the Tasman sea. We could see the pilot boat pounding in the swells and taking a lot of water over the bow. We have no idea if/when the pilot was able to jump off the ship. Since we expect very heavy seas, we popped up to the OV so I could get some rolls in my stomach. I usually go light on bread on land, but at sea, I find bread 🥖🥯🥖🥐 keeps my stomach calm. We also selected a little sweet treat 😋. We were bouncing a lot and we decided to turn in early.

@TheHawk1, happy to give your our thoughts! We have experienced what you describe in different pats of the world on different cruises 🚢🚢🚢. Sometimes, the locals, or nationals of the particular cruise line do change the vibe of the cruise. This can be true when it comes to language, and crew interaction. From our perspective, this is not the case in Australia/NZ 🇦🇺🌏🇳🇿. We have found the locals to be quite engaging and welcoming. We haven’t noticed any issues with dining times. The ship is full, and staffing may be an issue, but the passengers all appear to blend harmoniously. Everyone is eager to learn where you are from and will engage you in conversation. The passengers in elevators and in lines are quite polite. If it wasn’t such a LONG trip, we would definitely cruise down under more often!

It was a pleasure to meeting you at the Sydney pax terminal today! I only wish we could have arranged better weather to greet you and lain 💦⛈️💦. We look forward to following your adventures across the pacific! Safe travels and calm seas 😀☀️🛳️.

We were about to step off the ship and venture out into the rain when we spotted Giuseppe near the security point. In an unusual move, DH casually said, “Go get a pic with him.” If you have followed along, I like to focus on the ship, food, scenery, shows, etc. 🛳️🍱⛰️💃. DH and I stay in the background. But, Giuseppe is the best 🥇CD we have ever had on our Celebrity cruises 🛳️🛳️🛳️. And so, a break from tradition! Off we went on our trek about the town. Yes, it was wet 🌧️💦🌧️, but not chilly. We managed to stayed dry. Gotta love Marmot! We collected our Aussie soccer shirts for the little boys ⚽️⚽️⚽️, a stuffed Kangeroo 🦘for the little girl, and 2 bibs 👶👶 for the babies. Pressure is now off for grand kid gifts! We wandered about and enjoyed the sights, even in the rain! We felt a bit like this little guy! We spotted these giant cookies and DH couldn’t help but pick one up for after lunch 😋. We decided it was time to head back closer to the dock. The sights look a little different in these conditions. Still grand, but not quite optimal for for lingering. As we approached the passenger terminal, I spied someone whose cruise commentary we have followed for years! We were quite surprised to find @Jim_Iain who will be joining the Solstice TP in a few days. He has a very large following on cruise critic and has such an enjoyable writing style! We had a lovely chat and I can’t wait to follow his transpacific adventures 🛳️🌊🐬. DH thought we should take a pic 📸. So today is rare indeed… 2 pics with 2 superb cruise gentlemen 📸📸! Our B2B transit passes worked well and we were back on board after queuing through security. We swung by the room to get our new keys, and popped up for lunch. At the risk of being repetitive, DH had the lobster roll and I had kale salad. The lobster roll was much fuller than on the last embarkation lunch! We were delighted to have a seat by the window! We accomplished our mandatory safety briefing, and decided it’s an ideal day to hunker down inside. There is a severe weather warning for heavy rain and gale force winds this evening. 🌊🌫️⛈️☔️💨🌬️. Hopefully we will sail clear of the weather as Edge moves south 🤞🤞.