Broome excursion review - Pearl Luggers Museum, Crocodile Farm and Gantheaume Point

We head off in our coach on tour today as Broome puts on a hot but dry day for us.

Michael is raring to go.

First stop...the Pearl Luggers Museum.

..............

We have just left the Pearl Luggers Museum. It was really interesting to learn about the pearl shell and pearl trade in Broome going back to the first settlers. The role of the Japanese as their best divers ever was very interesting and the multicultural history of this town also.

The guide described the diving techniques and showed us all the gear the divers had to wear to dive for the pearl shells. They worked extremely hard in those days and did a job that was very hazardous. The shells are used for making items like buttons for women's clothing and knife handles. This was a very lucrative trade and still is today with Broome being the pearling capital of the world.

Here is our dear son Michael holding a beautiful pearl shell (note the excitement on his face).

As I sit in the bus writing this I look out at the extraordinary red earth outside. Wow!

Next is a crocodile farm..........

It was very hot at the crocodile farm and we just watched the crocodile feeding. Some huge crocs and alligators!!

Now off to a lookout.....hopefully some nice photo opportunities there too......back soon ....

Where else in the world do you see such contrasting landscape as in Australia? Here we are at Gantheaume Point Broome.....see the light blue water, white beaches contrasting against the red earth and rocks.....spectacular ...

A very worthwhile excursion.....

Arrival in Broome, Australia

We have been at sea for two days and have now arrived in Broome. We are in port from 11.30 to 8.30pm. We have been told that entry into this port is dependant on tide. We have come into port on the high tide and won't we able to depart until high tide again this evening.

Here are some photos of the beautiful waters as we entered the port, light green and pristine .....

We are off on an excursion now....will post a review later today....

Beautiful sunset at sea - on our way to Broome

Here we are at sea again on our way to Broome where we arrive tomorrow.

From our balcony I took some great photos of a sunset....

At sea day - 4 October 2013

Today we are at sea after having left Indonesia last night. We have two sea days before we arrive on Broome.

Today we also had to go through a customs and immigration check on the ship. I assume customs officers boarded the ship this morning at sea. They are here all day and have to check passports and incoming passenger immigration cards fir every passenger. To avoid chaos, people were given different times to attend the lounge where the check was being conducted. We assumed they did this on the ship today rather than when we arrive in Broome as there may not be suitable facilities in Broome to check a few thousand people.

This afternoon I went for a long walk around the deck and took my music with me so it was very relaxing to walk around listening to my favourite music and watching the ocean.....

Tonight is international night in the dining room with a menu full of dishes from around the world.

I hope to check out the on board shops tonight for a new handbag. They have Guess, Coach, Ralph Lauren, DKNY and Tommy Hilfiger.

M.U.T.S. - Movies Under the Stars

Last night we went to the movies.....movies under the stars that is! 

At night on Princess ships, the pool deck is transformed into an outdoor movie theatre. The deck chairs are prepared facing the big screen and blankets available if you get chilly.

We watched Star Trek Into Darkness. 

It was a nice experience! If they have other movies we like hopefully we can go again.

A quick look at the changes on Sun Princess since the recent refurbishment

We took a long walk to check out the new features on the ship since the recent dry dock.

Here is the International Cafe on deck 5 this was previously a cafe also but did not have food selections as it does now. The food is changed a few times a day to suit breakfast, lunch and evening snacks. 

They serve really nice panini and croissants filled with goodies and they toast them on the spot for you so they are lovely for a quick snack. This is included in your fare.

Here is the breakfast selection.....

The seating area has been refurbished too with comfy chairs and couches. This area is hard to get a seat on this cruise!

The passenger demographic is largely elderly people. Probably less than 100 in my age group (40) so many of the passengers tend to hang out here most of the day rather than on deck there are many mobility impaired passengers on board too. 

Back to the cafe, the coffee is great. Really nice cappuccino and hot chocolates! I really like that Princess provides table service in their coffee venues. Royal Caribbean should consider this Their coffee venues are awful. You have to line up for  ages for take away coffee in cardboard cups. Somehow coffee is not the same that way... 

After a lovely cappuccino, Trevor and I ventured out to deck 7 where you can walk around  the deck. We took some photos of the tender vessels heading ashore. 

Then we checked out the new Sushi Bar. I took a photo of the menu for those of you who might be interested.

If anyone would like to see any other areas just comment on the blog and I will check it out for you....

Lombok, Indonesia

We have arrived in Lombok this morning to warm humid weather which was to be expected. This is a tender port so the tenders will be operating all day going back and forth to shore.

We are staying on board today as we could not find any tour we wanted to do in this port and decided against venturing out on our on on this occasion.

Today I hope to get in some exercise walking around the ship. Hopefully it will be a bit quieter on board today. 

Tomorrow Lombok, Indonesia

On the second night after dinner we went to a comedy show. It was a comedian called Mike Harris. The show was funny and worth a look for a chuckle for an hour or so. 

We are again at sea today. We have had good seas for the last few days luckily. Weather is getting warmer and more humid (not my favourite!).

Tomorrow we arrive in Lombok, Indonesia. Lombok is a tender port. We are not going ashore tomorrow. 

Last night was formal night. We have three on our cruise.

Interesting combination of dress. Trevor, my husband, was concerned as he cannot wear a tie and thought it would be a problem. He wore his suit but with no tie. Well, we saw all sorts of dress from topcoats with tails, suits with and without ties and just slacks and shirts with no tie for men. Clearly there are many options....no problems however you choose to dress. We like to observe the dress code when we can and if we don't want to then we will go to the buffet or have dinner in our suite.  Women have far more choices......

After dinner, Trevor and I went to a show in the Princess Theatre. It was a broadway style show with singing and dancing called 'Piano Man'. A tribute to great piano men like Billy Joel, Elton John and Barry Manilow. The show only went for 30 minutes but was good entertainment. If you have never been on a cruise and are considering it, I recommend you go to the shows. Remember the entertainment is included in your fare so why not? How many of us have time when we are at home to go out to shows? I know we don't. We tried a yummy mocktail called Chococobanana at the show too. Yum!

Today I went to the Lotus Spa and had my hair done. I like to try our the salon on ships. I rarely get time at home to spend hours in a salon to get the full treatment so I did this today. I had a head of highlights done, cut and blow dry for $205. It took over 2.5 hours. Not bad price considering you are at sea and they could charge the earth if they wanted to!!

I enjoyed the scalp massage too.

Trevor and Michael are going tomorrow to have haircuts too...

Trevor is off shortly to go to a wine tasting. 

Sea days on board Sun Princess...

We have three sea days until we reach Indonesia, the port of Lombok.

On the first night on board we were informed that we had an offer of a complimentary dinner in the steakhouse onboard, we took up the offer and had a very nice meal there. The meat is of top quality and always well prepared. The service there is impeccable.

On the evening we left Fremantle we had some rough seas and some rocking on the ship. Michael, our 9 year old, was feeling sea sick. The next morning he was very sick and ended up visiting the medical centre on board to get an injection of Phenergan (not sure of spelling?). After a long sleep he soon perked up and later that day he was eating again and feeling much better. So day one was a write off for us as we spent the day in our suite, we watched DVDs with Michael and had our meals brought in. It was relaxing. This is where having a mini suite or suite really pays off. Imagine  being stuck in a smaller cabin all day, the three of us! Having  the balcony also offers the option for fresh air even if we have to stay in. If you can get a good sale fare a mini suite or suite, they are really worth it for the space especially if you have children and don't fancy roaming the ship all day. Later that evening we ventured out for dinner in the dining room with Michael now feeling better. 

The meals were very nice, selection was less than I remembered and I think Royal Caribbean has more selection on their menus. Nonetheless we found something that we all enjoyed and had lovely service. Our waiters were very nice and we got a lovely table for four overlooking the ocean. We are allocated first sitting for dinner so that means we need to be there at 5.45pm each night. I wish Princess would introduce anytime dining here in Australia as they do elsewhere. It is really handy to be able to dine at a time that suits you each evening depending on your daily schedule. I know many of you would say that you could go to the buffet anytime you want but we prefer to have dinner in the dining room rather than fight through hoards of people at the buffet. It is not very relaxing. We do eat there sometimes too, don't get me wrong, we are not buffet snobs but as we rarely eat out at home due to our work commitments, it is nice to go to a restaurant and have wonderful service and be looked after.....what do you all think?

Today we explored the ship some more. The refurbished atrium was nice with the International Cafe...I will get some photos of it and post them over the next few days. I bought a coffee card. You get 15 espresso based coffees for $35 which is a saving of about 50c each. We also get free hot chocolates! That is good as Trevor (my husband) normally gets those, a big saving for us.

Interestingly I had read on the Princess website that they has created a 'dedicated' space for the Sterling Streakhouse or at least that is how I read it. Not true. They still section off part of the buffet to create the Steakhouse at night. No difference in the meals regardless we had a great meal but I was expecting something else based on what I had read.

Tonight is formal night so we might get dressed up and get some pictures taken.

We are on board Sun Princess!!

We just boarded the ship in drizzly weather. Embarkation was a bit chaotic in Fremantle but we are here now and have checked out our suite C749 on deck 9. Some photos below.... Looks like new carpets and recovered furniture as I don't remember this furniture when we stayed in this suite last time...the balcony is huge and overlooks the back of the ship.

Today we board Sun Princess in Fremantle!!

We have just woken up, at the crack of dawn (not used to Perth time!!), had breakfast and are now getting organised for boarding day!!

We are happily catching up with our friend Maria Byrne and her kids Aiden and Caitlin, I think Darren (Maria's husband) is away working. Maria is picking us up at 10.30 this morning for a quick catch up before we take a taxi to Fremantle to board the ship.

I always love boarding day, the anticipation of getting in the ship and looking around, getting unpacked and settled in for the cruise adventure ahead! 

This time we are somewhat familiar with this ship as we have sailed on her before however we will be interested to see any changes as a result of the recent dry dock refurbishment.

I have read that there are quite a few changes that are worth checking out like the new atrium area with international cafe, the new dedicated area for the Sterling Steakhouse and many more.

Sun Princess is an older ship in the Princess fleet but a really nice one, not too big and crowded but elegant.

We just worked out that the suite we have been upgraded to is the same one we have stayed in before so we know what it will be like. I will post a heap of photos once we have boarded so you can all share our excitement!!

Princess has lots of benefits for suite passengers. Their fares are a little more expensive than Royal Caribbean in my opinion though.

As we have sailed many times before with Princess, we have moved up a notch in their loyalty club. As Platinum members we look forward to free Internet packages so that will be one less expense we won't have to worry about.

I thought I would quickly also review the hotel we are staying at in Perth.

I got a good sale room rate online using hotelscombined.com.au. I got a room with two double beds and full breakfast included for the three of us for $179 at Holiday Inn in the centre on the city. I had to pay immediate upon booking but it was worth it. I would recommend you stay here if you ever have the opportunity and are looking for good but affordable accommodation. The hotel has its own restaurant or you can just go for a walk to find others down the street.

Here we go....Sun Princess 17 night Australia/Indonesia cruise!!

While I sit here thinking of last minute things to do before we leave for our next cruise, I am contemplating what this next holiday will be like.......

We booked a mini suite on a good sale fare for Trevor, Michael and myself. 

Two days ago I got an email from our travel agent to say we had received a free upgrade to a suite! Not too shabby.....17 nights in a suite being pampered!!

I hope to report on all the fun!!