When we boarded the Sapphire Princess to sail on a thirty-one day cruise from Sydney to LA it was only three months since we had disembarked from our Bangkok to Sydney cruise on the same ship so it was a bit like coming home again! This was our third cruise on the Sapphire so we really knew our way around the ship this time!
This was the longest cruise we have been on and probably the most relaxing because of the many sea days.
Our Virgin flight from the Gold Coast to Sydney took only a little over an hour and we arrived at the cruise terminal at 1.00pm. The taxi from the airport was expensive. The trip usually costs around $35 but this time we were charged almost $60!
Sydney – Australia
Embarkation was smooth and we were on board by 2.00pm.We had lunch in the Horizon Court buffet and then got off the ship to have a walk around The Rocks area of Sydney harbour.
We enjoyed having a drink and a chat with daughter Fiona and fiancé Ben at the Orient Hotel in The Rocks after they arrived there from work.
We bought some wine to take onboard and checked to see that our suitcases had arrived at our cabin. We had a balcony cabin close to midships on Caribe deck and met our friendly and efficient stewardess Christina who would be with us until Auckland.
We met our Cruise Critic friends in the Oasis bar at sailaway and enjoyed the views of Sydney harbour at night with all the lights twinkling – it was a beautiful sight! We were on our way at last on a new cruising adventure!
Melbourne – Australia
After a nice relaxing day at sea we arrived in Melbourne on April 16th – my birthday!
Cruise Critic friends Ray & Mirella from Melbourne had organised a private tour for twenty-four of us with lunch at La Porchetta, an Italian restaurant. It was a well-organised tour but we were glad that we had visited the city centre before as the bus did a tour of the different suburbs around Melbourne and included a visit to the Royal Exhibition Hall.
We all stopped at Dan Murphy’s liquor store on the way back and loaded up with drinks to take onboard.
We had booked into the supper club Sabatini’s for my birthday and really enjoyed the meal and the service. Carnival surprised me with balloons on my cabin door and even brought me another little birthday cake to the cabin later in the evening!
Another pleasant surprise was a note in the door to let us know that friends Des & Dorothy from a previous cruise in Alaska were on the ship so we arranged to have dinner with them later.
The next day was a sea day and Les bought me some lovely pearl earrings for my birthday at the jewellery shop on board. We enjoyed the formal night and the past guest cocktail party with captain Philip Pickford.
Hobart – Australia
After a rainy start the sun came out and it was a beautiful day in Hobart. Cruising friends Roger and Heather, who live there, met us off the ship and took us out through Battery Point to the Huon Valley by way of Kingston & Kettering. It was a lovely day and we had lunch beside the Huon River.
The sailaway from Hobart was lovely and moonlit as we watched the lights fade into the distance.
That night we joined new friends Liz & Ian from Chester for a drink in the Wheelhouse Bar and afterwards in the Savoy restaurant for dinner.
Milford Sound – New Zealand
We had the next five days at sea because we had to miss out on Dunedin due to rough weather. Luckily we were able to sail into Milford Sound in New Zealand. It was misty and rainy with that air of mystery that fiords seem to have and is part of their attraction. We got up early and dressed in our hooded rain jackets to eat breakfast on our balcony and were glad we had because the weather worsened later on in the day and was quite rough and stormy.
Auckland – New Zealand
Everyone was pleased to get off the ship in Auckland after five days at sea! The weather was fine so we took the ferry over to the pretty little town of Devonport. We had been to Auckland before so we decided to spend at least half the day in Devonport. We walked around the town and then along the waterfront with a view of Auckland over the bay.
We went back to the ship for lunch before exploring some new developments that we hadn’t seen before in Auckland city centre.
We got back to the ship in time to see the Maori dance session which was quite entertaining. We ate in the Pacific Moon restaurant together with passengers from Scotland & Guatemala.
Suva – Fiji
It was about twenty years since we last visited Fiji and Suva is not the best place to stay on the island if you are planning a holiday there.
We were welcomed into port by the Fijian police band and they entertained us very well both on our arrival and on our departure.
We did some shopping in Suva as we were told that the other ports we would be visiting in the South Pacific would be very expensive – especially in Tahiti!
We ate lunch on the ship before taking a Princess tour to the Arts Centre at Pacific Harbour for a cultural show.
We remembered seeing the firewalkers years ago but we still enjoyed the show this time and the drive through the countryside.
That night we ate in the Vivaldi restaurant with friends Ray & Mirella and enjoyed the pleasant evening.
We had two April 27th’s as we crossed the International dateline between Fiji and Pago Pago!
Pago Pago – Samoa
This was the first place on our cruise that we hadn’t seen before so we were feeling excited as we joined Tisa’s private tour. This was a tour of the national park followed by drinks and lunch at Tisa’s barefoot bar which is a popular tourist attraction in Pago Pago.
The cost was US$60 per person and we enjoyed it but you can visit the bar independently by taking the bus or a taxi there.
The national park tour was lovely and we enjoyed the beautiful views from our open air bus. The bus was decorated on the sides with the red ginger plant and our bus driver Fred was quite a character! We were all feeling very happy as we sang a Samoan song that Fred taught us on the way back to the port!
We joined a sailaway party at the Outrigger Bar with our friends and dined in Horizon Court. We got into the hot tub and then went to bed early after such a fun-filled day!
Rarotonga – Cook Islands
It was a lovely morning as we sailed into Rarotonga and we were looking forward to picking up our rental car from Island Car Hire and driving around the island with cruising friends Hilary & Mick. It cost only NZ$59 for the Nissan Bluebird rental and that included the cost of a special tourist driving licence (NZ$5) for the day!
The island was just as you would imagine a South Pacific island to be with turquoise blue sea and beautiful white sand beaches. The people were friendly here and the island was relatively unspoiled by tourist attractions – it was very natural.
We drove along by the beach around the island which doesn’t take long. We visited a waterfall and a pearl factory and ended up at a place called Trader Jack’s for lunch. We had cheese pizza bread and drinks at a cost of NZ$31 for the four of us. The petrol cost only NZ$12 as we didn’t need to drive too far on the island.
We went back to the ship around 3.00pm after looking at the stalls near the ship selling souvenirs. We thought they were expensive and didn’t buy anything there.
There was an Island party by the Calypso pool that night and a good time was had by all!
Bora Bora – French Polynesia
Bora Bora is a magical island! It is incredibly beautiful but it is very expensive!
We took the local Le Truk ( US$5 ) to the lovely Matira beach where we spent the morning in and out of the water. We then boarded the bus to go to Bloody Mary’s Bar – a big tourist attraction and a must-see in Bora Bora! Just be prepared for the drink prices if you ever go there! It cost US$19 for a Pina Colada and wait for it – US$10 for a diet coke!!!
We went back to the ship for lunch and then walked around in Vaitape where the ship was docked. Everything was very expensive there so we just window shopped!
Hilary and Mick celebrated their wedding anniversary in the Savoy restaurant so we and many of our Cruise Critic friends joined them for dinner.
Papeete – French Polynesia
We had a bit of a hitch at this port because the guide that Hilary had booked didn’t turn up so we waited until 10.00 am and then set off to do our own thing.
We walked around the town and bumped into Ray & Mirella at the marketplace. Things close down in Papeete at midday on Saturdays so we decided to find a taxi to take us around the island.
I must say that we didn’t find the French Polynesian people very friendly or helpful to tourists! We spoke with one lady taxi-driver who wanted 8000 francs for two hours but said there would be no stopping anywhere! We declined her offer and eventually met up with Hilary & Mick so the six of us rented a nice air-conditioned vehicle to explore the island for two hours. Our driver William was quite happy to let us stop wherever we wanted to and we had an enjoyable drive around the island.
We had four sea days between Papeete and Honolulu and crossed the equator during that time. Princess put on a fun ceremony for crossing the equator and everyone got a certificate at the end of it to say that they were now Shellbacks not Pollywogs!
Honolulu – Hawaii
We took the courtesy bus to Hilo Hattie’s and did some shopping there before going into Waikiki. It was a long time since we had visited Waikiki and we saw quite a few changes! We had a walk around the Hawaiian International resort on our way to the beach and took photos around the place.
We walked along the beachfront and visited the International Marketplace as well as the Pink Palace. We took a taxi back to the ship and decided that we would return to Waikiki for a stopover on our way back from the US next year.
Hilo – Hawaii
This was the last port on our cruise before the final four sea days and then our disembarkation in Los Angeles. The time seemed to have gone much more quickly on the last half of the voyage than on the first half!
We had arranged to share an Alamo rental car for the day with Phil, Donna, Sultan & Lourdes. I think it cost only around US$100 plus the petrol so it worked out very economically when split between the six of us.
We went to the Volcano National Park and viewed the crater, the lava and the lava tube. It was very interesting and we popped into the visitors centre while we were there to find out more about the volcano. After a quick lunch of hot dogs we went on to visit the Mauna Loa macadamia factory and then to Rainbow Falls.
It was a nice day although a little cool up on top of the volcano so we were glad to have our sweaters to put on!
We enjoyed our last sailaway of the cruise and looked forward to some relaxing days at sea!
On Mothers Day we had a wonderful lunch( organised by Ray & Mirella) in the Savoy restaurant together with Cruise Critic members from our Koalas group.
Lorraine & Tom did a great job of organising the group and planning tours and activities so we were happy to meet them on this cruise as well as many of the other Koalas who brought us all together.
Los Angeles
We said goodbye to our cruising friends and the Sapphire Princess as we disembarked at 8.30am on the last day of our cruise. It felt good to know that we would be cruising again in August – so not too long to wait for the next one in northern Europe!
We had arranged to rent a car for the day as our Qantas flight didn’t leave until 11.20pm. Everything went smoothly at the Hertz depot and we were soon on our way towards San Diego which is one of our favourite cities in the US. However our plans changed when we decided to stop off at San Juan Capistrano to see the mission.
We ended up spending most of the day there. We had a nice lunch at the New York café and visited the historic centre.
San Juan Capistrano is a pretty place with beautiful flower gardens at the mission and in the old town. It’s well worth a visit if you are ever in that area.
I haven’t gone into many details about the ship as I did this on the last review when we sailed on the Sapphire Princess.
This time we had two cabin stewards Christina and Elmer who were both excellent – especially Elmer who went out of his way to make things special for us.
We enjoyed the anytime dining as we did on the previous cruise but the table service in the restaurants was sometimes lacking on this cruise. Most of the time it was very good.
The Princess production shows with talented singers and dancers were excellent and the Westenders singers were very good. The rest of the entertainment was mediocre and a few of the entertainers were so bad that people walked out of the show after the first ten minutes!
In conclusion this was a wonderfully relaxing cruise and very different from the shorter, port intensive cruises that we do in Europe. I like both types of cruises but I’m beginning to enjoy the longer cruises now! I’m looking forward to 49 days cruising in South America next year!
1 Comment
July 23, 2008 at 10:18 pm
You’ve been busy. Nice Post!