Melbourne... and more...
First view of Melbourne, Australia. Beautiful tall buildings not far from the white sandy beaches…. our weather is PERFECT! With only one other small ship in port and ours only 2/3 full, it should not be too crazy portside.
As soon as we touched ground, we saw a HoHo bus. Only twelve US dollars a piece, it was a no-brainer. The first stop was a giant gaming complex in the center of the city. Surprise, surprise, we didn’t get off here. We were told it has all table games and slot machines, as well as, many shops and dining venues. It was a beautifully manicured and cared for part of town…
As usual, we head for the coffee first thing. On this day, it was especially important as we were still in a state of shock over news we received last night during dinner. Due to the Coronavirus fear, our long awaited, long planned cruise was being canceled in Perth instead of Singapore. We had kind of figured we would miss the ports of Penang and Kuala Lumpur but didn’t expect half the trip! So disappointing! But also worrisome. We are just now realizing how GIGANTIC Australia is… and we now have to figure out how to get from Perth to Sydney. We have to cancel reservations made in Singapore and make some hard decisions. We are given the option to disembark in any of the ports… We could have left the ship at this stop but we wanted to see Melbourne so…
UPDATE:
So… it’s impossible to post pictures… the internet is being stretched to capacity with everyone trying to make arrangements from Perth instead of Singapore. There are some angry people… some weepy people… and there’s us. I guess losing everything in Hurricane Harvey helps to put thing into perspective. This is definitely NOT the worst thing in the world… it is unexpected but an adventure.
We think we have a plan in place. We had a nice day in Adelaide and are back sailing toward Margaret River *Brusselton” which is supposed to be quite a nice wine region. We will have two sea days and then reach the next port.
The cruiseline is providing every passenger with 24 hours of free internet to make arrangements. That, added to the free time we get for our status has allowed us to book a flight out of Perth. We decided to stay a couple of days so we can meet up with our friend Erwina, from Radiance of the Seas (formerly from Ovation and soon to be Exlorerer). She arrives on the 25th.
We have researched where to stay… looking for the pedestrian areas we prefer… and then heard through the grapevine that Princess would allow us two extra days, free of charge, on the ship, in the port of Perth.. That’s an generous offer… so we will in Perth, the ship as our accommodation… visit our friend and head back to Sydney!
Not quite the vacation we planned but things could be worse. Our hotel reservations at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore were cancelled without charge due to the lenient policy of booking.com. We were also able to cancel one night in the Singapore airport.
If I can find a better internet onshore, I will post some pictures of Melbourne and Adelaide…
Just know, we are safe… happy…and REALLY looking forward to the two days with the crew, onboard a nearly empty Majestic Princess!
