E Day -1

Well here we are the day before we embark Sea Princess.  One wonders why we are embarking on 106 days around the world when you look at paradise this morning from our balcony - the sun coming up over Great Barrier Island in the distance (& Kawau Island to the right).

Oh yes, then checked the temperature - a balmy 4 degrees Celsius (up 1 from 3 yesterday!!)

Marine traffic website shows Sea Princess steaming (no, they don't actually steam these days) at 19.2 knts towards Auckland.  Unfortunately she won't be sailing past us, as the course has a heading around the top of Coromandel and south of Great Barrier.  We will however be sailing through "the gap" (which is roughly where the sun is rising) about midnight tomorrow.  Don't wait up folks.

We understand that there are about 225 passengers boarding in Auckland, which is a pretty formidable Kiwi contingent.  Added to this, our Cruise Director, Corey Moir, is also a Kiwi.  Looks like plenty of fun ahead!

OK, I haven't yet posted our itinerary, mainly because I couldn't find a suitable one to post, but at last found it:

01/06/18	Auckland, New Zealand
02/06/18	Bay Of Islands, New Zealand
03/06/18	At Sea
04/06/18	At Sea
05/06/18	Sydney, Australia
06/06/18	At Sea
07/06/18	Brisbane, Australia
08/06/18	At Sea
09/06/18	At Sea
10/06/18	At Sea
11/06/18	At Sea
12/06/18	At Sea
13/06/18	At Sea
14/06/18	Komodo Island, Indonesia
15/06/18	At Sea
16/06/18	At Sea
17/06/18	Singapore
18/06/18	At Sea
19/06/18	At Sea
20/06/18	At Sea
21/06/18	Colombo, Sri Lanka
22/06/18	At Sea
23/06/18	At Sea
24/06/18	At Sea
25/06/18	Muscat (mina Qaboos), Oman
26/06/18	Dubai, United Arab Emirates
27/06/18	Dubai, United Arab Emirates
28/06/18	At Sea
29/06/18	At Sea
30/06/18	At Sea
01/07/18	At Sea
02/07/18	At Sea
03/07/18	At Sea
04/07/18	Aqaba (for Petra), Jordan
05/07/18	Suez Canal (scenic Cruising), Egypt
06/07/18	Suez Canal (scenic Cruising), Egypt
07/07/18	At Sea
08/07/18	Cephalonia (argostoli), Greece
09/07/18	Corfu, Greece
10/07/18	Kotor, Montenegro
11/07/18	Dubrovnik, Croatia
12/07/18	Venice, Italy
13/07/18	Venice, Italy
14/07/18	Ancona, Italy
15/07/18	At Sea
16/07/18	Sicily (messina), Italy
17/07/18	Salerno, Italy
18/07/18	At Sea
19/07/18	Barcelona, Spain
20/07/18	Barcelona, Spain
21/07/18	At Sea
22/07/18	Lisbon, Portugal
23/07/18	At Sea
24/07/18	At Sea
25/07/18	London (southampton), England
26/07/18	At Sea
27/07/18	Cork, Ireland (cobh - For Blarney Castle)
28/07/18	At Sea
29/07/18	At Sea
30/07/18	Reykjavik, Iceland
31/07/18	At Sea
01/08/18	At Sea
02/08/18	Nanortalik, Greenland
03/08/18	Qaqortoq, Greenland
04/08/18	At Sea
05/08/18	At Sea
06/08/18	Corner Brook, Newfoundland
07/08/18	At Sea
08/08/18	Saguenay, Quebec
09/08/18	Quebec City, Quebec
10/08/18	At Sea
11/08/18	Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
12/08/18	At Sea
13/08/18	At Sea
14/08/18	New York City (manhattan Or Brooklyn), New York
15/08/18	New York City (manhattan Or Brooklyn), New York
16/08/18	At Sea
17/08/18	Charleston, South Carolina
18/08/18	At Sea
19/08/18	Miami, Florida
20/08/18	Key West, United States
21/08/18	At Sea
22/08/18	At Sea
23/08/18	Limon, Costa Rica
24/08/18	Panama Canal Full Transit, Panama
25/08/18	At Sea
26/08/18	Manta, Ecuador
27/08/18	At Sea
28/08/18	Lima (callao), Peru
29/08/18	Lima (callao), Peru
30/08/18	At Sea
31/08/18	At Sea
01/09/18	At Sea
02/09/18	At Sea
03/09/18	Easter Island, Chile
04/09/18	At Sea
05/09/18	At Sea
06/09/18	Pitcairn Island (scenic Cruising)
07/09/18	At Sea
08/09/18	At Sea
09/09/18	Tahiti (papeete), French Polynesia
10/09/18	Raiatea, French Polynesia
11/09/18	At Sea
13/09/18	Cross International Date Line
14/09/18	At Sea
15/09/18	At Sea
16/09/18	Auckland, New Zealand

As you see from the above, Princess has all the free stuff planned for 12th September

 - think about that!

Bags are packed (put in an extra one as no flying required!).  Currently cooking our last 

dinner (a real break for "Chef Pollock" :-).   Boarding is not until 2.00 pm tomorrow as 

the ship berths at 10.00 am, so off to our "local" "Chairs" for a final breakfast.  Shuttle 

is due at 1.00 pm and quite frankly it will be nice to just relax before taking off - not 

that we don't have over 100 days of relaxing ahead.

After some 18 months of planning, suddenly it is here 

- back later when we are onboard!