Despite feeling a little overwhelmed whilst I was packing Wednesday night due to the sheer number of outfits required – our comprehensive inventory for the media famil includes 3 cocktail parties, 4 pre-dinner drinks, 4 dinners, 1 show, 1 champagne breakfast + more lol, I couldn’t be more impressed with our initial experience.
The thing that makes cruising different from other vacations is that there is no transit time (if you live in the port city). To make life easier for Dave and Nixon, E and I drove into the city, parked the truck for the 4 days and walked the short distance to Queen’s Wharf.
The size of these behemoth ships never fails to take my breath away, it must be a throwback from the Love Boat glory days of the eighties, but gosh I’m counting my blessings to be able to cross a cruise off my bucket lis right now!
So the whole check in process was a breeze. So chilled and relaxed compared to air travel. Everyone is happy and smiling, the whole process moved smoothly and very quickly.
And then we were aboard!
We found our cabin right away (you may have seen it on Snapchat already (follow @thebestnestnz) and met our super helpful cabin porters Andrew and Ganje. They greeted us by name the instant we turned the corner to our corridor! Brilliant, personal service.
First stop was the Waterfront Restaurant for lunch with our new friends. We enjoyed a beautiful three-course meal with wine pairings from our host Candace from P&O and got to know each other a little better.
I tried the cannelloni, snapper and fresh fruit while Ethan ordered a salmon omelette and the Cookies and Cream Cheesecake – amazing!
Our itinerary is jam-packed with a variety of events over the next 4 days so it was hustle hustle back to our cabin to get dressed for the Nero party on the top deck – all black outfits required. Only slightly hindered by the light rain we enjoyed Pina Coladas, a DJ set and E snuck off to the Plantation restaurant to sample his first buffet afternoon tea of the cruise – first of many I’m sure!
Following the Nero event, it was pre-dinner drinks at The Orient bar. I love the decor in here! Dark, moody and classically elegant – such a great space to relax and chat. Discovered a beautiful Chardonnay here which I will up date you on later.
Dinner was a bit trickier tbh. We were out in open ocean by this point and the swells were picking up. One of our gorgeous hosts had sorted Ethan out with some Sea Legs tablets – which I totally recommend bringing – but it was possibly a little late. He wasn’t ill, just feeling unsettled from the movement of the ship. There’s some seriously good steak in the Waterfront Restaurant guys! I rushed through dinner so I could get E back to our cabin and tucked up in bed for the night.
He was shattered!
It was an early night for both of us and we slept super well. Our cabin is on Deck 6 and right in the middle of the ship both horizontally and vertically. A pretty good place in terms of minimising the effects of sea sickness apparently. We have an ocean view room which is lovely! The porthole (window?) is huge and gives a stunning view of the sea.
First impressions – loving it! I could totally get used to the cruising life!
Follow
