CRUISE CONTROL

© Sally Hammond 

It’s the ‘do you come here often?’ opener, beloved of cruise passengers.

“Have you been on many cruises?”

Not quite a pick-up line, but certainly a legitimate ice-breaker.

I answer it twenty times before our ship, the Pacific Princess, has cleared the heads at Sydney Harbour. I’m almost within sight of my house, and here I am admitting that this is my first ‘real’ cruise.

I’ve hardly begun cruising yet. I don’t even know if I will like it.

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This article continues with details of the P&O Pacific Princess cruise along Australia’s eastern seaboard to Cairns and the Whitsunday Islands. It includes information on the accommodation provided, seafaring language  (staterooms, not cabins), the abundant food and even a peek at the galley, as well as the various shore trips, and an updated factfile.

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(finishes…)

We get up early for our grand entrance into Sydney Harbour in the pearly light of a summer dawn. The slight movement of the vessel feels as natural now as my own breathing.

Our bags are packed, ready for offloading as soon as we dock. The domestic staff are in fast-forward mode. They have to clean all the cabins (oops, staterooms), and strip and remake all the beds in time for the first excited passengers who will board at 1pm. 

I have a pang of regret that it is all over and consider stowing away. Or at least signing on, as we have been urged to do for the last few days, for the next cruise heading off this evening for New Caledonia. 

“Have you been on many cruises?” people ask when we get home.

“Enough to know I want to go on more,” is my revised answer.

©Sally Hammond 2006

(Sally and Gordon Hammond travelled as guests of P&O)

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• Currently the article runs to approximately 800 words plus Factfile (fact-checked and updated free on sale of this article).

• The length of the article may be changed according to editorial needs, and the Factfile may be expanded, however if additional work is requested it will affect the final cost of the article.

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