Lani and I have been talking about taking the kids on a Cruise. The two of us did this five years ago in Singapore and we had so much fun with it and we thought the kids would love it too. So about 5 months ago Lani and I started surveying the options and contacting travel agents. Our requirements are pretty strict - we didn't want anything long (4-5 days ideally), not too far (within AU or NZ), and that we will not miss any worship service (so weekend is a no-no). Finally, we managed to find one in March and booked it immediately.
Some good mates of ours from church learned of this and said they too wanted in. So we got the agent working and got us decent deals for 3 families.
Fast forward to Sunday and we're off to the cruise.
29 Apr, Sunday
Our day started with church of course. Lani and I performed our duties in worship services, attended officers' meetings, and completed our paperworks. It was also Lani's birthday, so there was a bit of cake celebration too. At around 12nn, we were ready and thankfully brother Jon C offered to drive us to the train station.
With the kids tugged along, we got to Circular Quay at around 2pm and immediately dropped our luggage at the bag drop and lined up for check-in. We queued for about 30mins before we got to the counter. They had 15 counters so the wait wasn't too bad. After about 5mins, we were led up the gangway to Deck 3 of the ship.The rooms weren't ready yet and we were hungry so we went stright up to the buffet area at Deck 9 to meet with the Luzons and have our lunch. After about an hour, the Maduli's caught up with us.
After a very long lunch session, we headed to our rooms to unpack, take photos, and rest a little. At around 6pm, we all headed up to Deck 9 (roof deck) to join the Sail-out party. The kids went straight to the pool. Everything was good until one of the kids got hurt. A big bump on the head after back-flipping and hitting the side of the pool.
We went back to the rooms and met up again around 8:30pm for dinner at the Empire Dining to celebrate Aeron and Lani's birthdays. Plenty of chatter and laughter. After dinner, we headed to one of the rooms to anoint oil to the kid who got hurt. He was vomiting a lot and was sea-sick, but the bump was getting better. After more chatter and laughter, we all called it a night.
30 Apr, Monday
Monday was a "sea day". We all woke up very late and didn't get out of the room till around 9:30am. We all met up at the roof deck where the kids plays mini golf and we toured around the facilities. The kids decided they'd play at the waterplay park, so we all headed down for quick breakfast and changed clothes.
Waterplay at noon, followed up BBQ and Mexican lunch at the top deck, then we're down again at Deck 9 for swimming and then to the Dive In movie theatre to watch "The Greatest Showman". At night, we dined again at Empire and then headed to the Pharaoh's Palace to watch an 80's-themed rock concert.
1 May, Tuesday
We arrived at Moreton at around 6am. The kids and I were up at 6 to play basketball and mini golf at the topdeck. It was too windy though. After breakfast, we tendered out of the ship to Moreton Island to eat, dig on the sand, build sandcastle, play on the waves, and swim in the heated pool. We went back to the cruise ship at around 3pm.
After changing, we headed up to play basketball, then convened again for Elegant Dinner at Empire Dining and some souvenir photo-taking.
The ship left Moreton Island at around 8pm. At night, we watched a Hasbro-sponsored game show at Pharaoh's, then ended the night with a very late viewing of the Last Jedi at the Dive-in Theathre.
2 May, Wednesday
Wednesday was again a "sea day" on our way back to Sydney, and a very busy day for all of us.We ate, watched a Towel-Animal Making show, then a Towel-Animal show, ate lunch, played basketball, looked after the kids in our room, watched an 80's-themed pop concert, watched a kid-friendly stand-up comedy show, ate dinner and celebrated Erin's birthday.
When we finished dinner, the group went upstairs to join the roof-deck party. Lani and I stayed downstairs to wait for the canvass photo we ordered. Just as we were about to go up, we bumped into Ethan and of the boys saying the smallest kid in the group is missing. Apparently, they all went dancing in the floor and the boy, headed back to their table but missed to small kid who wander off elsewhere. Security picked him up and brought him downstairs to find his parents' records. We met them near the security area.
After the reunion, we headed to the buffet area for a light snack (pizza!) and spend the rest of the night there laughing about the incident.
We headed back to the room just before midnight and had to pack up our stuff for the following morning's arrival.
3 May, Thursday
The kids truly enjoyed the experience, every bit of it. We, the adults, spent most of our time looking after the kids, but it was all worth it. We had a blast too.
