Saturday, 12 November 2011
Well thats all folks !!
Its hard to believe we have been home 4 weeks today, I have taken my time in wrapping this blog up, but lots of stuff has been happening here, most importantly we had a very sick puppy, and only Thursday heard some news to make us smile again. \
The bank has refunded some of our Travel Card money, we are fighting for the rest of it, and costs, amazing how quickly they responded after I contacted the financial ombudsmen !! Amazing, in fact it was less than an hour. We also discovered the loss of almost $900.00 from our Visa card, hacked in Vancouver, still waiting for all of the money, we got $600 out of them, its now been escalated to the top of the tree, so its been 2 months of very stressful waiting ! Just as well we had the memories of a wonderful holiday, and awesome new friends to keep us going.
The entire holiday was wonderful, really really wonderful, was there any bits that stand out ? Oh my gosh where to begin...just too many ! Scenic you really know how to put together a wonderful tour, Heather and Al were the best. Royal Caribbean also treat everyone as their best friend. The ship was just beautiful, and we also made some great friends during our time on board. Alaska and Canada are very beautiful, now where is my list of "words" our Scenic friends made for me ??? Adjectives are hard to find for all we saw ! Every one of our mates along the way helped us to really appreciate and love being alive and the joy of travel.!
Sadly now, its work, diet, work , diet and PLAN !!! Yep, the next BIG one is hopefully the 2015 100th year anniversary cruise from Freo to Rome to visit Anzac Cove on the way. 36 night cruise, google it, it looks fantastic...hey anybody want to come along, plenty of time to save up !!
Thanks again to all who came along and enjoyed reading our news, It was great to have you with us...watch this space, there must be another holiday happening before 2015, surely, but only after I loose a whole lotta cocktails from my hips !!
cheers and keep safe and well every one....btw, lots of pictures now being posted to Facebook and slowly e-mailing to who ever got snapped !
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Thanks again for all the wonderful messages...these posts are a bit random, the ships internet is so expensive, no time to get stuff sorted, just up and post, One day to go, cant belive it, where have those 63 days gone...Jo & Jasoen and Lorraine & Ross, you are not ever going to be a distant memory..we still laugh over our antics with you all, and send our love and hugs to you...Keep safe everyone, and I will wrap this up from home next week...hoo roo and thanks again xxxx
Auckland NZ On a Tuesday in October !!!
This place is frantic with mobs of school kids on holidays, and masses of people here for the World Cup, and 2000 people off a cruise ship, not my cup of tea at all....we started at the Post Office to send our excess baggage home, back to the ship to collect the "baggage" back to the post office to send it off and then to the ANZ bank for a bit of an update on this fiasco with our money, as the bank have not made any form of contact with us at all ! Great work ANZ...so it took them 12 days from when we lodged the dispute form to when they put it over to the fraud squad, and will be maybe another 3 to 5 weeks till we get a reply, meanwhile we wait ...!!!! Thanks to the girl at the ANZ in Auckland, she was blown away by our story, and unlike the contacts in Australia, she was very sympathetic.
We then returned our empty case back to the ship and went off to explore, we walked miles and miles and miles and saw some really awesome "super Yachts" moored here, some people have WAY too much money or maybe jealousy is a monster !!! I tried loads of times to connect with free wifi, but to no avail, so back to the ship to dump the computers, and off to play again !
Kelly and Dan invited us to the Irish Pub so we met up with them and Shazza & Paul, the drink prices were over the top so we had a quick drink with them and headed off to a pub that had happy hour and half the price of the Irish Pub, we enjoyed a couple of drinks, got a meat pie for Kelly & Dan, (their first as they are Yankies) and carried on having a fun time.
Back home to have a rest...yeah right !!! No we met in the Schooner bar and had a bit of a night with our mates, had a chat to mum, found out our baby is fine, and spoilt as ever, and home after dark, as our ship was moving "camp"
There has been a catastophic oil spill near here, cut a long story short, we had to move to be able to take on fuel to get us home...Shazza had visions of me wandering back to the wharf and looking up and saying "bullsh*t, where is our ship gone?" but I beat the system, I got home before the big move ~!!!
Another fantastic day, sadly we are running out of this most amazing journey days, but I think I need the rest, and the refueling of the bank account !
Cheers till next time ...take care xxxxxxxxxxx
This place is frantic with mobs of school kids on holidays, and masses of people here for the World Cup, and 2000 people off a cruise ship, not my cup of tea at all....we started at the Post Office to send our excess baggage home, back to the ship to collect the "baggage" back to the post office to send it off and then to the ANZ bank for a bit of an update on this fiasco with our money, as the bank have not made any form of contact with us at all ! Great work ANZ...so it took them 12 days from when we lodged the dispute form to when they put it over to the fraud squad, and will be maybe another 3 to 5 weeks till we get a reply, meanwhile we wait ...!!!! Thanks to the girl at the ANZ in Auckland, she was blown away by our story, and unlike the contacts in Australia, she was very sympathetic.
We then returned our empty case back to the ship and went off to explore, we walked miles and miles and miles and saw some really awesome "super Yachts" moored here, some people have WAY too much money or maybe jealousy is a monster !!! I tried loads of times to connect with free wifi, but to no avail, so back to the ship to dump the computers, and off to play again !
Kelly and Dan invited us to the Irish Pub so we met up with them and Shazza & Paul, the drink prices were over the top so we had a quick drink with them and headed off to a pub that had happy hour and half the price of the Irish Pub, we enjoyed a couple of drinks, got a meat pie for Kelly & Dan, (their first as they are Yankies) and carried on having a fun time.
Back home to have a rest...yeah right !!! No we met in the Schooner bar and had a bit of a night with our mates, had a chat to mum, found out our baby is fine, and spoilt as ever, and home after dark, as our ship was moving "camp"
There has been a catastophic oil spill near here, cut a long story short, we had to move to be able to take on fuel to get us home...Shazza had visions of me wandering back to the wharf and looking up and saying "bullsh*t, where is our ship gone?" but I beat the system, I got home before the big move ~!!!
Another fantastic day, sadly we are running out of this most amazing journey days, but I think I need the rest, and the refueling of the bank account !
Cheers till next time ...take care xxxxxxxxxxx
Tahiti to New Zealand
So, our first sea day we celebrated Wazzas birthday, what a fantastic way to celebrate, we were joined by bunches (my new best word) of mates in our day of mayhem, Wazza & Steve played volleyball ....hmmmm ok next story please !! we did trivia, Frank, we are not all together winners, but we are having stacks of fun, and we think of you and Norm, every day, we miss you heaps...I drive Kim nuts...hows Franks Kim...oh dear sorry Kim !! somewhere in these days we had our very spectacular pink luncheon, it was very well attended, and a real hoot, we raised $540 for make a wish. what fun it was, again, thanks to the hard work of Kim.
After our lunch we had our cabin crawl, that was fun too, thanks to Penny, Scott, Terry, Sarah and your wonderful partners for your hospitality, we also had the troops check out our digs, and we fed the Yankies vegemite, Scot gave the thumbs up, George, not so impressed...what a fun day, have I said today how much fun this is ????? Ok onto dinner we booked the murder mystery night at Giovannis, the meal was wonderful and the night was just such fun, how lucky is Warren surrounded by such awesome mates having such a bloody great day...Rascals, you all are the best.....
Now what else has happened, as its been a few days, my memory is a bit hmmmmmmmish..we did swim every morning, we played trivia, we ate, we drank, and we partied and we now have 1800 new best friends. Its hard work, I have to tell you, and we raise a glass to our Rhapsody Rascals as we also had such a wonderful time with you all, a time in my life I will NEVER forget...I love you all loads.
My thoughts are with my darling friend Colly Wolly, I wish you could be here, get better soon, and know that I love you, and wish you good health quick smart !!
Janis, Tony, Jimmy, Bob and the darling Carol, we miss you so much, we showed pictures of you mad loons today, you are legends, and I thank you so very much for being our mates...Tony what can I say....BULLLS**T !!!!!
Our awesome mates from our Scenic tour, you are always here in our thoughts, Heather I have spread the Scenic word, and I wish I could replay this most amazing time of our lives......less 15 kilos !!!
Its 1.15 and I should be asleep, but today we had such a hoot, we took part in the talent show, we sang a brilliant song composed by Sir Don and helped by his wonderful wife Janine, we took to the stage as a mad mob, and wow we had such a hoot, we brought the house down, the applause was thunderous, we ended up doing reruns in the Pub for hours after, Wazza was our captain, and we were the Radiance Rascals, too much fun...way too much fun.....;how did I get so lucky ?? Our dear and wonderful mates Pauline & Steve shouted us some bubbles on our balcony (not home brand but good stuff !!) and this nanna had a snooze....quick feed up at the Winny and down to find some friends to play with, the Colony club was the place to be...what a blast...Rock and Roll night....Trish and your amazing team "Zig Zag" you rocked our world once again, their music is fanbloodytastic, and I hope that Trish and Jason will be friends for life too...I seem to think our christmas card list has grown.....
I know I am missing stuff but its got a bit hard now...toooooooo busy.....I reckon I did ok of the past 8.5 weeks, so I can relax and adlib now !!! still no word from the bank..thanks ANZ you sh*t heads..., as always, I send my love and I thank you for joining us on this adventure...keep well Cheers xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
So, our first sea day we celebrated Wazzas birthday, what a fantastic way to celebrate, we were joined by bunches (my new best word) of mates in our day of mayhem, Wazza & Steve played volleyball ....hmmmm ok next story please !! we did trivia, Frank, we are not all together winners, but we are having stacks of fun, and we think of you and Norm, every day, we miss you heaps...I drive Kim nuts...hows Franks Kim...oh dear sorry Kim !! somewhere in these days we had our very spectacular pink luncheon, it was very well attended, and a real hoot, we raised $540 for make a wish. what fun it was, again, thanks to the hard work of Kim.
After our lunch we had our cabin crawl, that was fun too, thanks to Penny, Scott, Terry, Sarah and your wonderful partners for your hospitality, we also had the troops check out our digs, and we fed the Yankies vegemite, Scot gave the thumbs up, George, not so impressed...what a fun day, have I said today how much fun this is ????? Ok onto dinner we booked the murder mystery night at Giovannis, the meal was wonderful and the night was just such fun, how lucky is Warren surrounded by such awesome mates having such a bloody great day...Rascals, you all are the best.....
Now what else has happened, as its been a few days, my memory is a bit hmmmmmmmish..we did swim every morning, we played trivia, we ate, we drank, and we partied and we now have 1800 new best friends. Its hard work, I have to tell you, and we raise a glass to our Rhapsody Rascals as we also had such a wonderful time with you all, a time in my life I will NEVER forget...I love you all loads.
My thoughts are with my darling friend Colly Wolly, I wish you could be here, get better soon, and know that I love you, and wish you good health quick smart !!
Janis, Tony, Jimmy, Bob and the darling Carol, we miss you so much, we showed pictures of you mad loons today, you are legends, and I thank you so very much for being our mates...Tony what can I say....BULLLS**T !!!!!
Our awesome mates from our Scenic tour, you are always here in our thoughts, Heather I have spread the Scenic word, and I wish I could replay this most amazing time of our lives......less 15 kilos !!!
Its 1.15 and I should be asleep, but today we had such a hoot, we took part in the talent show, we sang a brilliant song composed by Sir Don and helped by his wonderful wife Janine, we took to the stage as a mad mob, and wow we had such a hoot, we brought the house down, the applause was thunderous, we ended up doing reruns in the Pub for hours after, Wazza was our captain, and we were the Radiance Rascals, too much fun...way too much fun.....;how did I get so lucky ?? Our dear and wonderful mates Pauline & Steve shouted us some bubbles on our balcony (not home brand but good stuff !!) and this nanna had a snooze....quick feed up at the Winny and down to find some friends to play with, the Colony club was the place to be...what a blast...Rock and Roll night....Trish and your amazing team "Zig Zag" you rocked our world once again, their music is fanbloodytastic, and I hope that Trish and Jason will be friends for life too...I seem to think our christmas card list has grown.....
I know I am missing stuff but its got a bit hard now...toooooooo busy.....I reckon I did ok of the past 8.5 weeks, so I can relax and adlib now !!! still no word from the bank..thanks ANZ you sh*t heads..., as always, I send my love and I thank you for joining us on this adventure...keep well Cheers xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Auckland day 2
Auckland Day 2
Up and at it early as we had organised to hire a car today to go on a road trip, we got an 8 seater Toyota, it was to be collected at 8 am, what a fiasco getting this car was, it was freeeeeezing cold, wet and miserable. We got shuttled to a spot in the middle of nowhere, at peak time and taxis were like hens teeth, never mind we got our car and headed off.
Shazza, Paul, Kelly & Dan joined us on our day out, as it has been 8.5 weeks since Wazza has driven a car, he almost needed lessons !!! On the advice of the lady at the information centre we went to the Murawai Region, and we all really loved the scenery, and the amazing foliage of this area. We visited the gannet colony, where we got lucky as its nesting season, there were thousands of them here, although still blooming cold, we pressed on and visited a black sand beach where stacks of mad surfers were in the water, waiting for the next big wave !!
Next up was a lunch stop, we ate at a lovely cafe, the prices were really reasonable, unlike everywhere else I looked ! then on our way back to Auckland as Paul & Shazza had to take care of their post pack home. We dropped the car back a couple of hours early as the traffic was busy and headed back to the ship for a bit of a rest. Sail away was a bit of a fizzer, the band played up on pool deck, but most people were tooo scared of the cold and stayed inside..I had a bit of time up there and then came back to our lovely balcony to watch us leave our very last port of all till we get home.
We are told to expect some rough seas over the next day or 2, suits me fine ! As I type this I am looking out over the balcony every so often and seeing some great stuff, a pod of dolphins hooning along in our wake, some really fantastic sea birds, and sadly loads of clouds !!!
The last of the Islands are behind us, the sky in front is looking very bleak, we have now travelled 4776 kms on this leg, and we are travelling faster than I have seen our ship go, at 22.9 knots, maybe Captain Claus is trying to out run the bad weather ! The sea depth is only 70 feet, very shallow compared to some.
Off now to have some time on the balcony, and remembering Alaska as I freeze . A bit of a party night tonight with the Quest, not sure if I will make it.
See you all
Up and at it early as we had organised to hire a car today to go on a road trip, we got an 8 seater Toyota, it was to be collected at 8 am, what a fiasco getting this car was, it was freeeeeezing cold, wet and miserable. We got shuttled to a spot in the middle of nowhere, at peak time and taxis were like hens teeth, never mind we got our car and headed off.
Shazza, Paul, Kelly & Dan joined us on our day out, as it has been 8.5 weeks since Wazza has driven a car, he almost needed lessons !!! On the advice of the lady at the information centre we went to the Murawai Region, and we all really loved the scenery, and the amazing foliage of this area. We visited the gannet colony, where we got lucky as its nesting season, there were thousands of them here, although still blooming cold, we pressed on and visited a black sand beach where stacks of mad surfers were in the water, waiting for the next big wave !!
Next up was a lunch stop, we ate at a lovely cafe, the prices were really reasonable, unlike everywhere else I looked ! then on our way back to Auckland as Paul & Shazza had to take care of their post pack home. We dropped the car back a couple of hours early as the traffic was busy and headed back to the ship for a bit of a rest. Sail away was a bit of a fizzer, the band played up on pool deck, but most people were tooo scared of the cold and stayed inside..I had a bit of time up there and then came back to our lovely balcony to watch us leave our very last port of all till we get home.
We are told to expect some rough seas over the next day or 2, suits me fine ! As I type this I am looking out over the balcony every so often and seeing some great stuff, a pod of dolphins hooning along in our wake, some really fantastic sea birds, and sadly loads of clouds !!!
The last of the Islands are behind us, the sky in front is looking very bleak, we have now travelled 4776 kms on this leg, and we are travelling faster than I have seen our ship go, at 22.9 knots, maybe Captain Claus is trying to out run the bad weather ! The sea depth is only 70 feet, very shallow compared to some.
Off now to have some time on the balcony, and remembering Alaska as I freeze . A bit of a party night tonight with the Quest, not sure if I will make it.
See you all
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Happy birthday to my friend who made this all possible
How do I explain what I feel, I am so so lucky, Wazza had an awesome birthday, day one AU in Bora Bora, day 2 at sea, with the company of so many wonderful friends. the blog is a bit behind, but the stories are written, this journey continues to be just a blast I think of the friends who are unwell, miss Bonnie and send love to you all, I promise we will behave tomorrow ??? maybe, good thing you dont believe me !! Happy birthday Wazza xxx
Sunday, 2 October 2011
Honolulu to Tahiti, all wrapped up..yep Im cheating now !
Day 1 part 2 Honolulu to Sydney
We have another 6 days at sea, so I will condense all the news into one blog, as I am a bit behind the 8 ball, and the internet is so expensive, I will need to sell my kidney to pay the bill soon !! Most seas days are spent with an early (or not so early) swim in the beautiful solarium, followed by a leisurly brekky somewhere nice, then we head off to Trivia, we have named ourselves 'Franks Yobbos' we are still not ever going to win, but we learn something every day, most days we learn how bitchy some people can get !! Hey Frank....Its ONLY A GAME hey !!! We walk the deck, then get together for the scavenger hunt. Our first night at dinner was a fiasco, so we have not been back to the main dining area since, we so miss our friends and wait staff from our first leg, come back you Canadians !!!
Royal Caribbean have offered us a 'deal' 4 specialty dining options and a galley tour for $70. Day 3 we went to Samba Grill a Brazilian steak house...WAY too much food, but a really lovely experience, you have 9 different meats served at the table side, all very nice, but some way too rare for our liking !
Yesterday we were informed of an out break of noro virus, so lots of activities for the kids have been cancelled, library shut, and all the self serve eateries are now not self serve ! The rumour is that we may miss Tahiti if the outbreak is not contained ! Please Mr Noro, I dont need that !!! Our meet and mingle was well attended, we got to meet all those people we had spoken on line to for so many months, it was great to catch up with the familiar faces also. Kim presented me with a Rascal T-Shirt from Frank and Norm, I was so touched by that act of kindness, and guys, yes it will be treated like gold, and its going straight into the pool room !!!
Still no word form the bank ....hello ANZ, are you even a weeny bit concerned for us ??????????
Last night we crossed the equator again, in the morning we had the King Neptune show by the pool, the weather was fine, but today its back to being a bit scrappy and overcast !
Tonight we have booked into Chopps Grille, the 2nd of our 4 restaurants, and our galley tour has been cancelled, I guess it wont happen now with the Noro outbreak !
Today is Saturday and we learned Geelong beat Collingwood in the Grand Final, woo hoo ! Warren also won Gold in water volley ball, and we won gold in the scavenger hunt, we talked a couple of young girls into joining us, they were very reluctant as we looked a bit "old" for them, I promised them they would not be sorry !!the team close 2nd were some really cute kids, so we gave them our medals, and they were stoked ! Back for the progressive trivia as a part of Franks Yobbos !! I dot think we win gold here ....mate, where the heck is Frank !! Oh and yesterday we won gold in the video scavenger hunt, Norm was a strong team member last cruise, this time we were joined by Karen & Kevin, friends from just near home in Brissy, they were stoked, we had such fun and won GOLD !! How good are we ! It can take us half an hour to walk down 2 flights of stairs now, we have met so many people, all so lovely.
Our Scenic friends are still close by as are our great mates from Canada, we will alway cherish this time we have spent with you all..Heather, I talk about you all the time !
OK, we are off now for dinner, I will get back to you all in a few days, thanks for coming along. Keep safe and well everyone, oh and happy birthday Steve Boughton !!!
We have another 6 days at sea, so I will condense all the news into one blog, as I am a bit behind the 8 ball, and the internet is so expensive, I will need to sell my kidney to pay the bill soon !! Most seas days are spent with an early (or not so early) swim in the beautiful solarium, followed by a leisurly brekky somewhere nice, then we head off to Trivia, we have named ourselves 'Franks Yobbos' we are still not ever going to win, but we learn something every day, most days we learn how bitchy some people can get !! Hey Frank....Its ONLY A GAME hey !!! We walk the deck, then get together for the scavenger hunt. Our first night at dinner was a fiasco, so we have not been back to the main dining area since, we so miss our friends and wait staff from our first leg, come back you Canadians !!!
Royal Caribbean have offered us a 'deal' 4 specialty dining options and a galley tour for $70. Day 3 we went to Samba Grill a Brazilian steak house...WAY too much food, but a really lovely experience, you have 9 different meats served at the table side, all very nice, but some way too rare for our liking !
Yesterday we were informed of an out break of noro virus, so lots of activities for the kids have been cancelled, library shut, and all the self serve eateries are now not self serve ! The rumour is that we may miss Tahiti if the outbreak is not contained ! Please Mr Noro, I dont need that !!! Our meet and mingle was well attended, we got to meet all those people we had spoken on line to for so many months, it was great to catch up with the familiar faces also. Kim presented me with a Rascal T-Shirt from Frank and Norm, I was so touched by that act of kindness, and guys, yes it will be treated like gold, and its going straight into the pool room !!!
Still no word form the bank ....hello ANZ, are you even a weeny bit concerned for us ??????????
Last night we crossed the equator again, in the morning we had the King Neptune show by the pool, the weather was fine, but today its back to being a bit scrappy and overcast !
Tonight we have booked into Chopps Grille, the 2nd of our 4 restaurants, and our galley tour has been cancelled, I guess it wont happen now with the Noro outbreak !
Today is Saturday and we learned Geelong beat Collingwood in the Grand Final, woo hoo ! Warren also won Gold in water volley ball, and we won gold in the scavenger hunt, we talked a couple of young girls into joining us, they were very reluctant as we looked a bit "old" for them, I promised them they would not be sorry !!the team close 2nd were some really cute kids, so we gave them our medals, and they were stoked ! Back for the progressive trivia as a part of Franks Yobbos !! I dot think we win gold here ....mate, where the heck is Frank !! Oh and yesterday we won gold in the video scavenger hunt, Norm was a strong team member last cruise, this time we were joined by Karen & Kevin, friends from just near home in Brissy, they were stoked, we had such fun and won GOLD !! How good are we ! It can take us half an hour to walk down 2 flights of stairs now, we have met so many people, all so lovely.
Our Scenic friends are still close by as are our great mates from Canada, we will alway cherish this time we have spent with you all..Heather, I talk about you all the time !
OK, we are off now for dinner, I will get back to you all in a few days, thanks for coming along. Keep safe and well everyone, oh and happy birthday Steve Boughton !!!
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