Trip So Far - Sea Day

I am writing some thoughts about our trip. I am mostly writing this for us (we plan to print our blog out to have a permanent copy of our adventures) but you may find it insightful too.

Australia as a Destination

We have traveled many places for being fairly young (Mediterranean, Northern Europe, Alaska, Hawaii, throughout USA). But if one would of asked us, if you could go anywhere in the world, were would it be? We would of both answered Australia. Australia seems like such an interesting place to visit. It is the Land of Oz, the land down under but it is so far away.

Brian and I talked about it. There are many places we still want to see: Asia, Egyptian Pyramids, Panama Canal but we really wanted to see Australia. So we decided we had to make this happen. It was going to be expensive. It was going to be a lot of work planning everything out. But we knew this was a once in a lifetime experience that we wanted to do more than any other trip.

It was surprising how everything fell into place. I was able to get off work. Brian would only miss a class or two and got off work too. Airfare was somewhat reasonable. They had cruises with the itinerary we wanted when we wanted it. We could spend New Eve’s in Sydney Harbour. (A few years ago we went to Times Square in New York City for New Year’s and it was awesome, but now Sydney Harbour-wow).

Our dream was really going to happen. People who know me, know that I was nervous about this trip. Why? I have been many foreign places, planned and packed for many trips but for some reason this was different. I was going across the world. I was going to be gone a long time, it was going to be a long flight, and my biggest fear: I was skydiving (which no one really knew about).

Our travels to and around Australia were uneventful. All of our flights were good. No airline lost our luggage. No flights got cancelled. We were so lucky (trust me I know about all the horror stories and was afraid we would be involved in one of them). The worst part was driving in Sydney on the opposite side of the road with a GPS that could not tell us where we were. But all and all that worked out too.

I am over half way done with this trip. In about a week, I will be packing to come home. I am not looking forward to the flight home and the 12 hour layover in LAX. (We are going to try and fly back from LAX on stand by somehow. Mom and Dad we will call you once we are in LAX to let you know how that is going).

What do I think about this trip? I think it is amazing on so many levels. If anyone can travel to Australia, I highly recommend it. First going to true summer while it is freezing back home is always a bonus. Sydney is a great city. The sights are amazing. The Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge are just something to see. You can easily walk around downtown which is something we love to do. I loved Sydney and hope someday to come back.

Cairns is another fantastic city in Australia. It was really hot and humid but a nice tourist city with many things to do (rain forest, great barrier reef, etc.). Skydiving is something in itself. Not only did I skydive, I did it in one of the most beautiful places in the world. The scenery features green rainforests with the ocean coast and great barrier reef in a distance. It was great.

Cruising has it pros and cons. The week prior to the cruise was a bit stressful as we had to rent cars, find and check into new hotels, find food to eat, and live out of suitcases. On the flip side, in Cairns we had a nice apartment with internet that we were able to call home using Skype, a washer and dryer, and a kitchen were I could cook. We could spend as much time as we wanted in the city and could do what we wanted. No time worries about being back on board the ship.

The reason we like cruising so much is it takes us to many places in a short amount of time. Usually the cruise ship is moving at night and we are in a new city in the morning. We are doing a cruise here because all the flights that would be involved would cost too much and require a lot of time at the airport. Because of the state of our economy, the cruise was really reasonably priced.

Once we get on the ship, things become predictable. We know what time dinner is, where we are going and when, where to get food, where to get internet access, etc. We have everything figured out within a day. The ship is nice. It is a little older ship (almost 10 years old) but it has everything you would need on a cruise ship. We have enjoyed it.

Review of the Cruise

This is our first time sailing Celebrity and so far I have been happy with it. Some nice things that Celebrity does that we have not found on other cruise companies include: ice and water pitchers in your stateroom, a free cruise newspaper from your home country (you have to pick up if you want it), ice cream bar open daily with fresh ice cream (not soft serve from the machines). They have a great food selection from pizza, salad, sandwiches, sushi, pasta, meats, fruits, and desserts.

The most disappointing thing we have found with Celebrity is there lack of shows on board. Usually there are comedians or singing performances nightly and that really had not been the case. The singers and dancers show that we saw on board one night was not very good and we left. The love and marriage game show was a bit boring (nothing like Melissa and Jonathan’s appearance on the show). At sea days, there really is not much to do. Our highlight has been the Cavs game. We are thankful to ESPN for showing that game. The ship also has a cinema with movies, which can be a fun way to pass the time on a sea day.


The service has been good. We have heard people with minor complaints, but nothing of much significance. You can’t please everyone. Overall we have been happy and found the service quite acceptable and on par with the some of the best cruises we have been on. We will add Celebrity to our list of preferred cruise companies along with Royal Caribbean and Norwegian.

Coming Up Next

The weather has been getting chiller. The highs are in the 60’s and it has been a bit windy. The seas are very smooth right now – no white caps (waves) at all. We are interested to see what New Zealand is like. We hear it is beautiful and many people like it so hopefully it will be as great as Australia. Today (Sunday) we will still be at sea. On Monday we will cruise the sounds of New Zealand and then make our first port of call in New Zealand on Tuesday.