ausjackaroo sailing

 Embarkation Day. Thursday 13th April 2023

Coral Princess Northern Australia Cruise

Thursday 13th April 2023

Adelaide to Fremantle via Qantas and taxi.

Ugh! Early start for us today. Our taxi collected us at 4.15am to deliver us to the airport in time for us to board the 6.10am flight to Perth, WA. Oh my goodness, I think age definitely has an influence on my inability to stay asleep last night. I think I managed to get 3 hours initial sleep but then the brain started to go over what was needed for our 17-night cruise around the top end of Australia. Have I watered the pot plants sufficiently? what about the need for a double adapter? Yes, have I packed the rechargers? Yes, all the necessary documentation, do I have it? Yes. Blah blah goes the brain. By 2.30am I decided to get up and get ready as I certainly wasn’t about to get that hour sleep until the alarm goes off at 3.30am.

My Darling Husband now has a blood disorder which leaves him breathless and tired due to low hemoglobin production which necessitates the use of wheelchair mobility. I had organized assistance through Qantas to transport the wheelchair and provide the use of a wheelchair on departure and arrival. The company and staff were great in their service.

It was a 3 hour plus uneventful flight served with choice of a hot or cold breakfast dish. I did manage to have a couple of minutes sleep, enough to keep me sane. Once in Perth we collected our 1 suitcase and Paul’s folded wheelchair then spent 2 and a bit hours’ wait to taxi to the ship. We had an easy embarkation in Fremantle, having to show our double vaccination certificate, photo ID and proof of negative RAT (which showed date and ID of whose test).

Once on board we dropped off our hand luggage and headed to the restaurant for a sit-down lunch. I think the ship’s cruise organizer had mistakenly posted the restaurant would be open as normally the restaurant would have been closed on a port day. Not complaining. Nowadays embarking passengers just need to report to their muster station and watch the emergency drill on the TV.

Whilst having dinner the captain announced due to rough seas and high tides our visit to Geraldton would be cancelled. Bummer, Bum and Bum. We had arranged to catch up with my nephew who lived there and for him to show us around his adopted home-town.

Once having left Fremantle the seas became quite ‘bumpy’ and I was grateful to call an early night considering our start time of our day. The movement of the ship during the night wasn’t too bad considering we needed to two-step shuffle walking to the bathroom or around the cabin.