Crystal Cruise!

 I have taken a couple of long cruises since I posted to this blog - They are separage blogs. 

This cruise is Venice to Istanbul on Crystal. My friend Stuart is speaking onboard. He invited me to come along and I didn't hesitate! This will be the most luxurious cruise I have ever been on! I doubt I would ever go on Crystal again---unless Stuart invites me!

I will fly to Boise on June 7, and spend the night. We will both fly from Boise to Venice on June 8, arriving very late. We will board the ship on June 10. Venice to Istanbul. 

First Cruise Since Covid

First Cruise since Covid - back to Alaska! 

It was okay. Just got back today. The scenery and the ship itself was spectacular. June and I had a restful time. The wait staff and cabin staff were excellent, almost overly attentive. To my surprise and disappointment, I found out my cabin mate cannot go in the Diamond Lounge with me. I was told they cut that many years ago. My last RCI cruise was 2018 and that was not the case. They were not very nice about that and if looks could kill from the Diamond concierge I would be a dead woman. They said the room was too crowded and they had to cut back. There were 4 people in the room. I still had the 4 free drinks a day but none of the bars seemed to really comprehend that. Some days I got the 4, 2 days I was charged. I had to call and get the charges removed and then they took off a real charge that should have stayed, so another call to correct that, but it never did get fixed. The atmosphere of festivities aboard was rather nonexistent. No welcome from the captain or farewell. No Naturalist onboard or anything like that. I realize it is Covid but the Captain or a Naturalist could be on the stage and distanced. Some rooms are for vaccinated only. They only want 4 on an elevator at a time. That was not a problem because there were so few people on the ship. Weather was as expected in Sept. You had to wear a mask in public spots, restaurants until you sat down. It wasn't really a problem. The mask on the airplane was mandatory of course. Also, not an issue but when dragging a suitcase, it would have been nice to get more air!  The shows were 1/2 good, 1/2 not so much. We had a nice variety of old movies for free on our TV. 

                                                               The itinerary:

Negative Covid Test 2 days before Cruise

Random Photos

Amber and Oak Bar

Pretty Skies

Bionic Bar

Our only Towel Animal

Best Coconut Cake ever!

View of ship in Juneau, costs $ to go on that sky thing,

Red Dog in Juneau

Glacier Time

Drones from the ship taking photos

Day 33, October 30

Wednesday, Oct 30: Up and out in plenty of time. Our scheduled shuttle from Jayride did not arrive. I called, left a message, they called back. First the driver said he would be there in 15 more minutes. Then 5 minutes later the company called back and said I should get alternate transportation due to traffic. Believe me, they will not get a good review and it will be posted in several places. The hotel staff called us a taxi and they arrived in minutes. We made it to the airport in plenty of time. Check in and security were fast. John was wanting breakfast so we split a breakfast sandwich, which was really delicious, tasting more like a good lunch to me. As it turned out our plane didn't depart on time anyway. The flight was late arriving from LAX and they needed time to clean the plane and get it ready for us. Our initial departure time was 10:10a but we actually left about 11:15a. We were told time would be made up during the flight and we wouldn't be too late. We did make up some time and landed at 6:45a. Due to the time, customs, and connections we decided to get a wheelchair. It helped a lot. I don't think we would have made our flight without that. Not only did we have customs, but we had to actually leave the terminal from the outside, ride a bus to the other terminal, then go through security again. You would think LAX would be a bit more modern even for these little flights into Fresno. At any rate, we made the flight in time and arrived as planned in Fresno. Just a quick taxi ride and we are home. Thankful for another trip and a  safe arrival home. 

Breakfast at SYD

Day 32, October 29

Tuesday, Oct 29: We were just tired today. Our last full day in Sydney. If only we had the energy to do something significant before the play tonight. What we really did is get most of the packing done this morning. About 2:30p we left the hotel and walked around the Circular Quay area and settled on a place to eat. We planned to sit there for at least a couple hours watching the harbor but the service was a bit slow and eventually John was in the sun so we left. After walking around and looking in several shops we headed to the Opera House to be sure we know where to go when the time is right for our play. We found everything easily and found a nice seat at the Port Side Restaurant, had a drink, and watched the progression of climbers on the Sydney Bridge. I can't really imagine wanting to do this but it is a popular experience.

The excitement mounts as more people arrive and the time of the play draws near. Through the bag check and to our seats, great seats! I booked months ago. The theater is not full but almost! The set was simple with greenery and benches. The play has been adapted with a modern twist but with all of Shakespeare's glory still intact. Some scenes were out right hilarious! It was a really nice experience. We planned to have an ice cream after the performance but neither of us were hungry so we just walked back to the hotel. We did the last of the packing and set two alarms for our morning departure. 

Climbers on Sydney Bridge

Much Ado About Nothing

Sydney Bridge at Night

Opera House at Night

Day 31, October 28

Tuesday, Oct 28: Today we booked an all day, all inclusive, small group trip to the Blue Mountains. An early morning schedule! Our pick up point was just a 5 minute walk from our hotel. It was the pickup point for multiple tours to the Blue Mountains. Our bus arrived and he called names to get on the bus, not in the order we were lined up in. Disappointingly, we ended up right behind the large driver's seat and over the wheel well, with an unfortunate amount of leg room. It would have been classified a child's seat I believe. Regardless, we had a decent drive out to the Blue Mountains. Our driver is also the tour guide, also a environmental activist and hater of large companies that are "ruining our world" - well, it would have been better if he kept his personal and political opinions to himself like he indicated he would (but didn't). Other than his detest for over population (mind you, he has two children) and hatred of Coke, Apple, and IBM, he was pretty knowledgeable and a decent guide. Upon arrival at the Blue Mountains we immediately embarked the Scenic World Tram to take us across the gully, viewing a small waterfall on one side and the Three Sisters mountain formation on the other side. After the short tram our guide had driven around and secured our wrist bands for the remainder of the visit on the other side. Next we got on a quite vertical, short, and steep cable car ride taking us through the forest to a walking path, also through the forest. Before we were quite through that area the tram to take us back up arrived and we hurriedly got onto that. Back up we went, with amazing views along the way. Through the ever-present gift shop, restroom stop and back on the bus. Our visit there was pretty brief, driver/tour guide Adam telling us how lucky we were getting away from there before the crowds. Perhaps that is true. We had two more viewing stops in the area and then on our lunch stop. We ate at the Pub at the Alexandra Hotel in the city or town of Leura. There was a nice selection. I had the fish and chips and John had a burger. We had the option to walk into town or relax at the pub until the bus meeting time. There was a pool table there and John found a mate to play so we did that until time for the bus.

Our next stop is Featherdale Wildlife Park. This is a small zoo, almost like a petting  zoo as far as the animals are concerned. The place started as a bird park and evolved. There are a lot of interesting birds and that means a lot of cages, which we are not really used to seeing. The Koala exhibits are very nice and we even got a photo done with the cute little things. They are not very active during the day and sleep about 16-18 hours, more active at night. They look so sweet but up close they have some pretty impressive claws and I am sure they could do some damage if they wanted to. The handler explained about the photos. They "encourage" the different bears to  come to the particular tree for photos. Usually they fall asleep when they get there (like ours did) but if they wake up and want to go back to their on stall, they can just go and they encourage another one of the 3-4 that are used for photos. Nice plan I think.

Now we are done with our tour and Adam is taking us to our boat for the ride back into Sydney. We will be dropped off right at The Rocks, Circular Quay, and we can just walk back to our hotel. This is the first day there has been no ship in port since we arrived. Lunch seemed like a long time ago but we weren't terribly hungry, we shared a plate of pasta. We really liked Caminetto so we chose to go back there. Such friendly staff and the pasta was outstanding.

The Blue Mountains

Featherdale Wildlife Park

Caminetto Restaurant

Day 30 - Oct 27

Sunday, Oct 27: We have a fun day planned. We are so excited to see Thiago and Karol his wife. It has been some number of years (4-5 or more?) since we saw him in Clovis. Even though we knew he lived in Australia we did not know he lived in Sydney! On our cruise he contacted us and we have a luncheon engagement set for today at Braza Churrascaria Restaurant at Darling Harbour. Our taxi was unsure where to go exactly, even though I had the address. After being dropped off we could not locate the restaurant. My maps app was so slow in loading. I decided to send Thiago a text that we were a little lost but close. We knew we were close. Thankfully, he sent me a map and when I clicked on that it worked on my app immediately. We were there seeing their happy faces in just minutes! We had such a e had such a nice visit. They confirmed how well organize public transportation is. In fact, they took the bus here from their home near Bondi Beach! Much faster than driving and you don't need to search for a place to park! We should have done that instead of the HO-HO bus the second day. We had a delicious lunch then they headed off to a birthday party and we walked around a bit. It was warm and we went back to Braza and had another Caipirinha - So refreshing. Now we need to rush along to make our cruise of the harbor this evening. We thought we only went to the ticket office so when we picked up our ticket we were told we had to walk down several piers to get to the boat. We made it with a couple minutes to spare. Ours was a "cocktail" cruise. I had a glass of wine and John had whatever the cocktail was they offered. After collecting that we headed to the top deck because this is our chance for terrific views of both the bridge and the Opera House. As we rounded the bend coming from Darling Harbor, the Celebrity ship in port today was just leaving. We held in place for some time for that ship to reverse from the dock and head out. It is a busy port. The views on this little tour were not to disappoint! What a beautiful city and harbor area. We got a taxi back to the hotel, well close to the hotel anyway. That was fine and we watched the festivities still going strong at the Oktoberfest!

Memorable Lunchtime

Sydney Harbour Cruise

Oktobertfest

Day 29 October 26

Saturday, Oct 26: Today we got up with many plans for the HO-HO bus. It is a quick walk to the bus stop. It is apparently Oktoberfest here in Sydney, LOTS of celebrations around the city. A nice set up here at The Rocks for later today. So arriving to our stop a bit early, 2 other couples were waiting as well. Finally the bus came but it just drove right by us. Another 1-15 minute wait and the next bus did stop. We decided we would do the "blue" line today and go out to Bondi Beach and stop at a couple more bays after that. I forgot to say it started to sprinkle and it is humid this morning. The sprinkles didn't last long. With some confusion because our bus changed from the "red" line to the "blue" line with no real explanation. It was fine with us because the necessary switch to the other line didn't have to happen. No worries, we arrived as planned at Bondi Beach and walked around the shops in the area, had lunch, looked for a particular shop we never found and decided to get back on the bus. Keep in mind, they run every 15-20 minutes. We, and many others, waited over an hour in the hot sun before the bus arrived. No explanation but we were told if we were unhappy to contact the company. People were pretty peeved and one man in front of us said he called the company and there is no answer. Well, we are on the bus now. Thankfully, we all made it on the bus. We were cautious about getting off at the other two stops we wanted because the driver could not say when another bus would follow. Regardless, we were pretty drained from the long wait standing in the sun. We got off at the point to switch back to  the "red" line and back to The Rocks area where our hotel is. This stop has staff that was exasperated and shell-shocked with unhappy passengers. They assured everyone the next "red" bus was only 10 minutes out. At least our 25 minute wait had partial shade! By now all we can think about is getting back to our hotel room. It seems most of our day has been spent waiting for buses, that is not accurate but it started to feel that way. We dropped into the EZ Mart and got some cheese, crackers, and fruit to have later, with wine or without. Regardless, of the unplanned waits, we enjoyed the experience at Bondi Beach and consider this a successful day! 

A Royal Caribbean ship was in port today. They departed about 6p. The Golden Princess left last night at 7p

The Oktoberfest fun is going strong this Saturday night. It is great hearing people having fun and seeing them in their fun hats, etc. 

Lunch with a Bondi Beach View

Fish and Chips - at Lamrock

These Beautiful Purple trees are all over Sydney

View of Sydney Coming from Double Bay