Northern Explorer Cruise

Today marked our hopeful return to the embrace of Princess Cruises, this time aboard the Crown Princess to take us back home to Sydney. Our mission? To see if this particular vessel could exorcise the lingering memories of our decidedly meh experience on the Royal Princess back in March. The stakes were set high, our expectations cautiously optimistic.

First up, we had a few hours to kill as embarkation officially started at 1pm. The plan was to spend the morning at the Fremantle Markets. However, half of it didn't open until 8am and the half that opened at 9am was small with average selection. Fortunately, we did find Eggspot, an egg sandwich store with fancy scrambled egg sandwiches to salvage our morning. Nothing like hash brown, kransky and gloriously cheesy scrambled eggs on Brioche to save the morning. 

Fremantle Markets

Eggspot

My breakfast. SO GOOD. Hash brown fixes everything

Embarkation turned out to be a schemozzle. Bag drop off was chaotic, any type of efficiency or semblance of competency at the port was non-existent. Watching mobility impaired passengers navigate stairs and ramps with their luggage only to have been directed in the wrong direction and having to make a return journey was stress-inducing. After we did manage to drop off our bags, we were all herded en masse into a cavernous shed which looked like geriatric purgatory...A vast expanse of grey and white hair, each face etched with the patient resignation of those awaiting to board their celestial cruise ship. Numbers were thrusted into our hands as we entered, and everybody waited patiently for their bingo numbers to be read out before they could proceed to be checked in. From arrival to port to actually stepping on the ship took us 1 hour and 50 minutes!!

Once onboard, Fi and I managed to get our stuff sorted out like a pro in no time. We had the advantage of relatively functional knees (a precious commodity on this ship!) and made a beeline for the excursions desk to try and get ourselves on the whale shark tour which was disappointingly sold out despite us checking when it was released. Disappointingly none of the other operators who did provide whale shark tours were smart enough to modify their current offerings to accommodate cruise ship passengers which to me made absolutely no business sense. Getting back on track...we did manage to get ourselves on an alternative and newly created whale shark tour with the ship. The premium price stung a little, but what choice did we have? From there, it was a swift detour to the gym to secure our coveted complimentary classes, followed by the urgent acquisition of sustenance in the form of chicken tacos. And then, my friends, the real vacation began: let the liquid merriment commence! We did have 15 drinks per day up our sleeves!

We soon discovered that the ship had to perform a full muster every 6 months. This meant that ALL passengers had to physically present themselves at their designated muster stations. What was supposed to happen at 4:15pm did not start until 4:45pm. It was a challenge to go 5 seconds without encountering someone without a walking aid...we witnessed a few falls and even helped an elderly lady change her phone wallpaper. 

Dinner, thankfully, offered a respite from the day's minor tribulations AFTER a 15 minute wait to get into the restaurant despite having a reservation! The food was… nice enough. Not earth-shatteringly amazing, but certainly palatable. Tonight's entertainment came courtesy of the ship's resident pianist-cum-singer, a jazz multi-instrumentalist who graced Crooner Bar daily. His performance was genuinely enjoyable, a soothing balm to our slightly frazzled nerves. And he was a trombone player to boot! By this time, however, the high winds had decided to join the party, causing the ship to sway with increasing enthusiasm. It seemed a polite suggestion from the cosmos that it was time to retreat to our cabin and call it a night.

Sorry Princess Cruises, you are not endearing yourself to me at the moment but tomorrow is a new day!

Um...why isn't bag drop a 30 second affair like any other port in the world?! And where are people actually supposed to go? There were randoms joining the line at random spots!

Our ride home

Geriatric purgatory

Our lunch. Looks ordinary but was nice

Our tiny cabin

Lots of space for your clothes though

Probably shouldn't use my wide angle lens...bathroom is also tiny!

But the balcony this time is generous! Yay!

When your upgrade bis to a mini-suite gets knocked back, you make your own sitting area

Goodbye Fremantle!

The evening show