I know!! We said no more blogs but a few people have asked to do a blog when we are doing major trips. So here goes. Just ignore it if you are not interested, or un-follow if that is more appropriate.

It’s 23 March and we are headed for Sydney where we will spend the night before embarking tomorrow. After an easy morning at home we commenced taxiing at Adelaide airport, got half way down the runway then noticed that we slowed down again. The pilot announced that he and the first officer saw a red light indicating that a fuel pump was faulty. “We’ve had a chat about it and decided it’s not a problem so we’re going around and will start again.” OK, who needs a working fuel pump when the plane is up in the air? That’s a good start to a holiday.

Well we did arrive safely in Sydney and settled in at the Fullerton Hotel on Martin Place. We have stayed here before so they offered us an upgrade and a late checkout so now it’s a good start.

24 March. It’s exciting to be cruising again, this time on Celebrity Edge. This is one of Celebrity’s newest ship sand the first time we have been on this class of ship. The checkin process has been streamlined since COVID19 forced changes to reduce crowds and queues, so we were comfortably in our room and unpacking very quickly. Up on deck we took a photo of the Opera House, then got talking to new best friends while looking at the amazing Sydney Habour and forgot to take more photos.

The ship is certainly spectacular, with many familiar features and lots of new facilities. There must be about 20 bars, cafes, restaurants and lounges and lots of staff waiting to attend to every need – and take your money. Meals are included but drinks are extra. The prices are more expensive than Australian prices, and then you remember that quoted prices are in US dollars so it’s twice as expensive in Aussie $’s. Our room package includes a drinks package, which of course we paid for, but at least we can forget the price of drinks.

With so much happening I forgot that we had a drinks package and bought a bottle of wine on the first night. That’s an expensive mistake !!

Instead of one big dining room the Edge has 4 smaller dining rooms, Tuscan, Normandie, Cyprus, and Cosmopolitan (Italian, French, Greek and US cuisine) and we can dine at any of them at no additional cost. The food is great. If we want to upgrade to a better restaurant and are happy to pay huge prices for that privilege, there are lots of options. Not us, we are not that silly.

25 March. At sea all day, with blue skies, even more blue in the ocean very light breeze and calm water. It’s pretty good. There is lots to do at sea – breakfast, morning tea, lunch, welcome cocktails in the Captain’s Club, dinner and lots of walking around trying to find our way around the ship. I even found time for an hour in the gym.

Jo, feeling a little queezy, needed salt biscuits but all I could find was salt and vinegar chips for $14. A bit expensive I thought but she’s worth it. Then I remembered it’s in US $’s. Hope she doesn’t need any more.

26 March, With 2,900 passengers you’d expect everywhere to be crowded but that’s not the case. Sure there are many people in all the popular places at popular times but its quite easy to find quiet places.

The pool deck is another example of quiet in the morning but packed in the afternoon. Too crowded for us. Much better to set up in the Magic Carpet, which is a 40m x 8m structure hanging from the side of the top deck. It slides up and down the side of the ship but we haven’t seen that yet.

Travelling Concierge class is supposed to begin with an early checkin and Welcome Lunch but Celebrity made a mistake and we had been unable to check in until 2 pm so we were promised a substitute lunch during the cruise. After some debate we were able to have our substitute lunch today, a very nice meal in Le Grande restaurant, one of the specialty restaurants. This would normally have cost us an extra $140 so we enjoyed the complimentary lunch even more.

Tomorrow morning we will be in NZ, ready to start the first of our shore excursions.