Posts Tagged With: cruise

Moreton Island Bridesmaids Cruise: Day 5 massages, relaxing and official hens night!

Today started with two of us having a “pamper package” at the day spa while the other two slept in. We then swapped places after lunch with the other two getting “spa-d” while the morning two had a nap. The day spa package was excellent value considering the usual extortionate pricing – $129 each for two focus massages, a facial, a foot spa and other small things as well.

Lunch today was at Salt Grill which was impossible to get into for dinner, but easy to book for lunch! The cover charge was also slightly less for a lunch booking. The food was amazing!! Lana was happy we finally got a decent dessert 🙂

We had originally booked in to a 3:30pm cocktail mixing class but after some more stuff ups on P&Os end (they changed the time and only booked 3 of us in) I cancelled it. Instead we went to a dance class!!

Dinner was relatively early again (so many people booked it out on day one which was probably why everyone was late to the evacuation drill) but because we had enjoyed an early lunch it was all good. The Dragon Lady is another included meal – this time Asian fusion style and definitely had better service than the Waterfront. We all gave the food a thumbs up.

Tomorrow’s disembarkation starts at 7:30am. Our time slot is 9:25am so we have to be out of the room by 7:45am and head off to eat breakfast and waste some time. This means we planned not to have a big one tonight….in theory…..and then it turned out to be my “official” hens celebration.

We participated in a music suggestion class, a salsa dance class, had dinner at Dragon Lady, watched a musical performance, watched an R rated comedian AND danced to some live music….and still made it to bed just before midnight!!

What a fabulous cruise this has been ❤️

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Moreton Island Bridesmaids Cruise: Day 4 shore visit

Today was shore visit day! We booked late tours so slept in until around 9am and then had a late breakfast. We disembarked around 11:15am and it was just a short tender ride over to the island.

Bs auntie and nana came over from Brisbane to say hello to me. Nana Rose met Percy and was a fan.

After some ocean swimming and sunbathing. It was time for shore tours! Our first shore tour was guided snorkelling. The tour idea itself was quite good but unfortunately we got stuck with a selfish family of 24 who refused to be split. So instead of the usual 12, our group had 28 in it! Kinda ruined the fun. I did convince the manager to give us a partial refund despite their “no refunds” policy. The wrecks themselves were amazing, it was just the repeatedly getting kicked in the face that got old fast.

After snorkelling we rested for awhile before the wild dolphins feeding. SO AWESOME! There was canapés and bubbly alongside a really interesting presentation about the wild dolphin family histories in the area. It was then dolphins feeding time!! We fed Echo.

The sunset was also amazing.

After we returned to the ship around 8:40pm, we got ready and headed off the the Bianco White Party for a little bit of dancing and a few drinks.

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Moreton Island Bridesmaids Cruise: Day 3 Gatsby Party

Today started at different times for all of us. Tracey got up to go to the gym around 7am, Jess got up for breakfast at 8am and I got up at 8:30am. Lana managed to sleep in until 10am!

After breakfast, we hung out chatting in the stateroom for a bit and then headed to the pool. We got lucky and scored a lounge spot! Percy was stoked.

There was reading, relaxing and bubbly. We also saw dolphins off the side of the boat!

Tracey and I then went to yoga before dinner at Waterfront restaurant.

After dinner it was Gatsby party time! We went to the 9pm “the velvet rope” cabaret show and then danced and drunk cocktails in the Mix Lounge. It was good although the party was short – 10 to 11pm.

The Gatsby Party finished at 11pm and we headed up to The Dome nightclub to continue dancing. Everything was great except for two poorly behaved and drunk women (not us). It was interesting to watch bar staff and security NOT approach them at all. The nightclub closed at 2am and we had a late night snack (pizza, chips, chorizo and egg wrap, burger) before finally going to bed at 2:36am. Hooray for turning the clocks back and it only being 1:36am!!

The 7am captains wake up announcement the next morning has not been my favourite thing on the trip though…..

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Moreton Island Bridesmaids Cruise: Day 2 BOAT TIME!

We met up with Tracey just before lunch and headed to the embarkation point. We got lucky and this one leaves from Sydney Harbour rather than White Bay Terminal! Easier to get to and pretty views.

Our room is 5083 and is midship and roomier than we thought it would be for four of us. I have one of the singles, poor Lana drew the short straw and got the top bunk!

After boarding and the mandatory evacuation drill, we headed up to the “adults pool” to hang out and wait to leave. I promptly got sunburnt and we also got delayed by 3hrs from leaving so we went in search of an early dinner (Angelos) before returning to watch the departure through a crazy storm from Deck 12.

We went to the 8pm show performance of “off the charts” and then listened to jazz in the Blue Room until bed time.

Cocktail count: A few on boarding, a few more at the pool, wine at dinner and then a few more afterwards! I really like the toblerones 🙂

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Moreton Island Bridesmaids Cruise: Day 1 arriving in Sydney

Lana had been in Sydney for a few days already, with Jess and I arriving around 3pm today from Perth and Canberra. We met up at the airport and split an Uber to the hotel, Napoleon on Kent. Tracey is spending the the night with family friends so we had arranged to meet up with her tomorrow.

The hotel is a cute little thing directly under a motorway, I will definitely have a bit of trouble with sleep (very light sleeper) but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It is actually road noise more than mororway noise that you can hear in the bedroom. Noise cancelling head phones and a white noise app will be enough.

It’s reasonably priced (about $160 a night) and really close to where our cruise leaves from. It’s also near a main train station and an easy walk to circular quay, darling harbour and the main shopping areas of Sydney.

After sorting out check in, we headed over to Hard Rock Cafe in Darling Harbour for happy hour 2-for-1 cocktails!

After cocktails and food we went to check out sydney harbour at night time.

We accidentally took the long way back to the hotel so it was a long walk….but we made it around 11:20pm. I have done 12000 steps since landing in Sydney at 4pm! Yikes.

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Moreton Island Bridesmaids Cruise: The background

At this time last year, B and I went on a P&O cruise to Fraser Island. It was a lovely experience (although he said never again as he felt mildly nauseous for a lot of it) but was very much a “couples” experience. We had couples massages, read in the lounge, slept in, ate in the nice (pricey) restaurants and avoided any party/dancing stuff as that’s not really his vibe. It was really nice, but the focus was definitely on spending quality couple time together.

This time around it’s my bridesmaid cruise!

The backstory: When we do eventually settle on a wedding date and location it’s likely to be a private, personal thing. We are both pretty private people when it comes to all that romantic stuff. We both also have family drama we want to avoid. But I still wanted a way to celebrate with my awesome girlfriends and say “hey, you would totes have been my BMs if we were having a big-ass wedding because you are wonderful” Once I started looking into visiting them all in Perth (I’m in Canberra), airfares in the school holidays, finding dates that worked for us all, ensuring babysitters or partners were available….well, it got complicated fast.

So I said fuck it, let’s go on a cruise! I paid the cruise cost, they paid their airfares to Sydney + spending money. The cruise cost for a 4 person mid range cabin was $3k which is not far off what I would have spent going to Perth! As a bonus, I was also able to pay it off slowly between January and October after putting down a $1 deposit.

Our cruise group consists of myself, Jess, Lana and Tracey. I’ve known Tracey and Jess for around 15 years (yikes!!) and Lana I’ve known for about 8 years now – she also happens to be my nephew’s mama. I’m child-free while the others have children ranging in age from 3 to 22 so they are REALLY looking forward to this!

So – can you guess what our vibe is going to be?

PAAAAAARTY!!! With some relaxation thrown in.

We all have outfits purchased and packed for Gatsby night, the White Party night and another party night. We also have dolphin feeding and wreck snorkelling booked as shore tours on Moreton Island. It’s going to be epic!

After suggestions from supporters and a final participant vote, the official cruise hashtag will be #nomorechoosingmelsgonecruising with #bridesmaidsgonecruising coming in a close second.

Let the celebrations begin!

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Christmas and NYE 2017 + upcoming 2018 trips

Christmas this year is in Canberra for the first time – just the three of us. After all the stress of starting a new job (and the expensive clusterf**k which was last year’s Christmas) I’m glad B put his foot down and decided we were staying home this year. We plan to meet friends for lunch and then relax in the evening.

It also meant I got to make the house all christmassy for once! Yes, my dog has a personalised stocking. Don’t judge.

On Boxing Day we will drive Bear to his dog hotel for 10 days as we head off to Singapore. Lots of fun stuff planned there so far including: cocktail drinking in the resort pool, dinner at NOX restaurant, a cooking class and visiting Universal Studios. It’s going to be a good mix of exploring and relaxing.

Not long after we get back from Singapore, I fly to Sydney to meet up with my 3 lovely girlfriends for my bridesmaids/hens cruise! Eeeeeeeee!! We are going on a 4 night cruise from Sydney to Moreton Island and back. It will be a great opportunity to drink, be merry, explore Moreton Island and relax together. When B and I do formalise things, we won’t be doing any of the usual hoopla that comes with “weddings” so this is my time with the ladies so they know how important they have been in my life ❤️

After returning from the cruise we have the following trips planned so far for 2018.

  • Late January we are heading to Sydney for the weekend to see the Foo Fighters
  • In February we are doing a quick 3 day visit to Perth for a special event with friends + family catch ups
  • Easter will be spent at Tomakin Beach letting Bear run amok at the dog beach
  • April school holidays = the Melbourne International Comedy Festival again! Woohoo. We booked a better hotel this time
  • July school holidays will possibly see us visiting Brisbane/Gold Coast to meet a tiny new family member…or perhaps a snow trip to Thredbo? Nothing is locked in yet
  • At the end of the year we will probably look at another overseas visit. Japan was always somewhere we wanted to go back to but B shattering his wrist means that may be off the table in snow season now. We are tossing around a Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand visit as well. We have both pretty much agreed that we will save anymore really big trips (like the Northern Lights!) until B has his long service leave on a few years. Although if we don’t go back to Perth next Christmas either that’s a 7 week chunk of leave for me….we could do a lot in 7 weeks!
  • At some point we will also have to choose a Honeymoon destination. Argh.
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Day 28: Turning 30! A picnic at the Eiffel Tower, dinner cruise on the Seine and Moulin Rouge 

After a leisurely wake up (I resisted the urge to yell WAKE UP WAKE UP IT IS MY BIRTHDAY WAKE UP at 5am) we went on a mysterious Eiffel Tower birthday picnic adventure.

 We arrived at a spot down one end of the Champs de Mars and B had arranged for a guy (Australian!) from Paris Picnics to meet us with bags containing Chardonnay, cold meats, different cheeses, salad, fruit, a baguette and cookies. We even got a picnic rug….it was AMAZING! Delicious as well.

   
  

It was a wonderful experience. Big birthday brownie points for B! The card he got me was beautiful and I almost cried like a big sookie-lala. The sun even came out for pretty much the entire picnic so we spent an enjoyable couple of hours eating, cuddling and people watching. According to Facebook, it seems that at least 40 people were waiting for B to propose….lol. Good thing I wasn’t one of them then 🙂

After some resting time at the hotel (to digest all that food) it was time to get all fancied up for our dinner cruise on the Seine River and Moulin Rouge show. I booked this months ago with Paris Tours and we have both been looking forward to it for quite awhile. We got all dressed up with B in a lovely collared shirt and chinos (wow…not jeans) and me in my blue galaxy maxi from black milk and wearing my Murano glass bracelet from Venice.

   
   

The cruise was lovely, with delicious dinner service and some beautiful views out the windows.

    
   

Our driver took us on a tour of Montmarte before the cabaret show and we are both now very excited to visit Sacre Couer cathedral tomorrow and eat famous chicken in a restaurant nearby. Beautiful area! Amazing city views. 

Moulin Rouge was fabulous. The performance, the dancing, the free bottle of champagne (which I drank 90% of….weeeee!), the mini ponies and just all of it was brilliant! B’s only minor comment was that as we are so crammed in it gets a bit uncomfortable. So be prepared. Even with good tickets, you are basically a sardine.

   
  

What a fabulous 30th birthday I have had! 

Thank you my love 🙂 and thank you to all my friends and family who sent their best wishes via text, email and Facebook.

Sorry for trolling you on Facebook Lana hehe. It was fun though! 

Mel 

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Awww lovely photos :)

Shenanigans on the boat!

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Categories: Europe 2012 | Tags: , | 3 Comments

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