Goin’ Cruising #2
Day One – Departure
We’d never been on a cruise before, so our first glimpse of our floating holiday home was an exciting moment. Pacific Dawn was docked at the Portside Wharf Cruise Terminal at Hamilton, just a few kilometres from the mouth of the Brisbane River.
The embarkation procedure was very efficient and soon we were on board. After a delicious lunch in the Waterfront Restaurant we had time to explore and discover the most important locations – the restaurants and bars, coffee shop and ice cream stand.
Waterfront Restaurant
Atrium
Lido Deck
Dome
From Deck 14 we had a beautiful view of the city of Brisbane and the Brisbane River.
The ship set sail, slowly making her way downriver under the twin spans of the Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges.
The reflected lights of the Port of Brisbane on Fisherman Island merged with the glow of the setting sun as we sailed from the mouth of the river into Moreton Bay.
As darkness fell, the decks of the ship lit up for our first night on board.
The Eternal Traveller 
Heavy sigh. This looks so gorgeous and so relaxing. 🙂
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It was the perfect way to relax, Miriam.
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Sounds idyllic, Carol. Just what I need 🙂
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I see you got your priorities right! Bar, tick; restaurant, tick; ice-cream shop, tick! I look forward to the trip now I am nicely settled in my cabin. I do have a cabin don’t I? Although those sunbeds look OK 😀
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Yes, I booked a cabin for everyone, with ocean views no less! Did you see Justin Beaver’s ocean view? Yours is just like that! https://theadventuresofjustinbeaver.wordpress.com/2016/07/08/opposites-attract/
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I’m with the elephant – no way could I look at moving water… one thing that does put me off a cruise, though I suspect you don’t actually feel much movement on the big liners?
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I don’t like looking at the water moving either. We hardly felt any movement while we were sailing between the reef and the coast but it wasn’t too bad outside the reef either. What got to me was the weird feeling I had when we were home again and my brain was still trying to allow for the motion. I had the weirdest feeling the next morning that I was sliding off the bed. It took a couple of days to go away.
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Amazing you got such wonderful shots with no people in them. 🙂
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Most of these were taken when we first boarded so there were not a lot of people around. It got busy later in the day.
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Fun! Always on the go even when you are relaxing! 🙂 Looking forward to the next installment of the story!
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Compared to most of our holidays this one was very slow and easy. You can’t go far in the middle of the ocean!
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Yes, I’m sure it was. I think cruises are fun the first time. After that I think they are a little too slow. I like to get out and walk too much. I do like the different stops, and the great food! 🙂 I was skinny when I went on cruises! 🙂 hehehe
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We went for several long walks around the top deck. It was blowing a gale so we had some wind resistance too. I even managed to lose a little weight on this cruise, which is a miracle considering all the delicious desserts I ate! Maybe I burnt off all the calories at the many trivia quizzes we did.
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NO WAY! I can’t do less than +10. Yikes! 🙂
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Now this looks like fun!!
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Oh CC, it was the best week. We booked this cruise a year ago with another couple, so by the time sailing day arrived we were really looking forward to a relaxing week. We were counting down all year.
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I can imagine the build up – it sure looks worth the wait!
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It was, and the week went by all too fast. We are already talking about the next cruise we would like to do but it won’t be for a while.
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Fabulous. I love cruises and yours looks great. Eager for more information and photos.
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This was our first ocean cruise and we really enjoyed it. More posts coming soon!
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I wasn’t ever on a cruise ship but this one looks huge, fab & cool! What a fun experience for you all! xxxx
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You chose the perfect adjectives, Sophie. It was a fun week.
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🙂
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That’s a very big cruise ship. Sounds like you enjoyed it immensely. Great sunset shots. 🙂
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The ship can cater for 2000 passengers. I’m not sure if it was filled to capacity for this cruise but we certainly didn’t feel overcrowded and there was plenty of room for everybody. Glad you like the sunsets, because there are more to come.
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How lovely – the views of the river and the buildings are terrific. I might have to disagree with you on the order of checking out the most important locations on board … I think my order would be ice cream stand, coffee shop, restaurants and bars. 😉
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That’s a very good point!
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How exciting! It must have been so lovely 😀
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It was a special treat, Dianne.
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Have loads of fun! I can’t wait to read more about your adventures 😀
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It was a great week, Lorraine.
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What an adventure!!! Looking forward to hear more about it 🙂
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It was a fun week.
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I can only imagine!!
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Woo hoo! It’s rather bizarre- I adore boats but I’ve never much fancied cruising. 🙂 🙂 I’ve always promised myself the Baltic one if I live long enough to be old and rich 🙂 Our Algarve neighbours are going there next month. SO jealous 🙂 🙂
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We weren’t sure either, but it turned out we loved it. My parents have done a Baltic cruise.
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