The first day of our first cruise we found was a rather difficult experience. When we arrived on board, there were thousands of passengers and friends. It seemed like organized chaos. We were surprised at what we let in. But let me tell you how we should be on our first cruise before explaining our “dubious” start of our first cruise.
I always wanted to try a cruise. Our first cruise was by default. Six months before my 70th birthday, my wife asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I said a new set of golf clubs. Her response was “until you improve your golf.” My golf was boring at the time. Then I suggested that I want to see the Wanaka War Birds show in New Zealand to find out what the show was last week. This happened once every two years. Then I suggested a cruise. My wife in the past resisted this idea. But now I had the opportunity to do it.
So began the planning. With the help of a friendly travel agent, we selected Princess Cruises, specializing in a cruise for our age group. The cruise went to the Pacific from Brisbane in November. Now that you know how the cruise went, let me tell you about our first day on the boat.
Let me start with some of the words my wife told me when the boat sailed along the Brisbane River, and we sat in the Princess Theater with hundreds of others with a life jacket on our circles. "I don't want to be here." How did this happen?
We had no idea what 2000 people would try to get on the boat at the same time. As the first cruisers, we read our instructions, which stated that people who have government rooms on our deck must arrive from 13:00 to 13:30 on board the boat. We did this to find "organized chaos." We put our bags at the loading point and went to the guesthouse to find a tangled mess of people going here and there. Officials told us to go to Portside shopping district and have a coffee and come back in 30 minutes.
We did this by returning to find that the chaos had subsided a bit. Therefore, we joined the zigzag line to go to the entry point. After 30 minutes we had a boarding pass and a boarding pass. Then we had to sit and wait for the call to board. At the same time, hunger began to flourish. We used to have dinner, because we thought that we would have time to do it on a boat. We got a call on board, went through all the checkpoints and arrived at the boat, where our cards were checked, and a picture of each of us was taken. With some instructions, we found our state room, began to unpack after a quick but unsatisfactory lunch, when the call of all passengers to report on their car at the pier approached the ship security system. We were "confused" and struggled to descend with hundreds of others onto our platform to prepare for security drills that were provided for by Australian law.
Now it brings me back to my wife’s words: “I don’t want to be here.” As soon as the security briefing ended, and we returned to our government rooms, slowly unpacking and relaxing, it all began. By the time we showered, dressed for dinner, found our table in a restaurant, met our dinner partners, and our waiter finally finished five hours of chaos. Now we were ready to enjoy our first cruise. This is what we did.
Soon we will go on our fourth cruise. We learned a lot in our first cruise. Now we get to the cruise terminal when the cruise begins. This reduces the mad rush, and there are fewer people around, and the landing process ends quickly. Some more experienced cruisers say that they come on board at the end of the residential period, as they believe that their boarding pass is less of a hassle.
As soon as the landing ends, the real fun of the cruise begins. If it was a fun experience, we wouldn't be going on our next cruise.
