The first glimpse

For even the most experienced of cruisers, the first day onboard a new ship allows just a glimpse of her and what lies ahead. For a new cruiser, the first day can be hectic, sometimes chaotic, even disappointing to some. On the first day, we have to get to the ship from wherever, get onboard, get some lunch, get possession of our luggage, find our cabin, try to unpack in the face of competing requirements such as attending the ship’s safety lecture and the sailaway party – perhaps meeting friends, getting ready for our first dinner onboard. It would not surprise me if some first time cruisers would not want to get off the ship at the end of their first day. Indeed we observed a few in the queue in the buffet around 2 PM who were already expressing such sentiments. But, from the second day onwards, things usually start to look up for them.

Our boarding of Pacific Pearl today was quite uneventful – and considering that almost 2000 people have to be boarded, P&O AUS seems to have it all down to a fairly fine art. We arrived just a little before our appointed time  - to find that “open boarding” had been announced , so we basically went straight on and to our cabin. The hardest part of the whole day was dragging our luggage from the ferry terminal in Darling Harbour to the ship. Our first impression of her was that she was very small – but considering that our last two cruises had been on P&O Arcadia (approx 90,000 tonnes) and Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 (140,000 tonnes) – perhaps this was only to ne expected. Everything inside the ship also seems small. But I am sure we will get along with “Pearlie” just fine over the next 28 days on our way to Tahiti.

For this cruise, we have broken one of my cruising “Three Commandments” – which are 1. Never sail south of Brisbane in Winter, 2. Never sail north of Brisbane in Summer and 3. Never sail across the Great Australian Bight from East to West. Having broken the first of these, we sailed in cold windy conditions and intermittent rain – with a warning from the Captain that the seas would be “lumpy” once we got outside Sydney Harbour. But, P&O AUS always put on a good sailaway party – especially for cruises from Sydney – regardless of the weather