Tuesday, February 18^th, 2020

Fremantle/Perth

Land at Last

Fremantle may not be the prettiest port we have sailed in to, but in the early morning light it looked good to us.

Ruth and I had breakfast together and then at 8:30 it was time to bid her farewell and for her to head to the Royal Court Theater to await her tour and transport to the airport.

Michael, our new cabin steward, came by at 8:45 to collect all of my belongings and transport them to our new abode on Deck 6.

I went up and checked the cabin out. It is almost identical to our deck 4 cabin, except it looks like it has a new and improved showerhead.

However, the balcony is not new and improved. On embarkation when we checked out our deck 4 balcony it looked like a murder had occurred there. It appeared that there was blood splattered all around. I asked our cabin stewardess, Joanna, if the blood could be cleaned up. She replied that the cabin’s previous occupants had also been concerned about it and that it was actually rust. Her request to have the balcony repainted had fallen on deaf ears. Then several days later there was a strange paint like smell in the cabin, and lo and behold when we looked at the balcony it was gleaming from a fresh coat of brilliant white paint.

The balcony in our new cabin shows definite signs of rust, however I think I’ll keep quiet about it as I don’t want to be known as the woman who requests to have her balcony painted each time she moves cabins.

I spent the morning unpacking. Moving cabins really isn’t too bad. Your new cabin steward will move everything that is hanging in the closets, you just have to throw everything else in to your suitcases. It came as quite a surprise that the suitcases were full despite the closets being full, but I suppose I didn’t pack things very well.

At 10:30 we were advised that all passengers who were still on board and had not cleared Australian immigration and customs had to go ashore to do so, and we would only be allowed back on board once all of the passengers and crew had been through immigration and customs.

The immigration man was very pleasant – and I was though in to the waiting lounge in a few minutes. I thought I would explore the cruise terminal a bit.

There is a large waiting area with free wifi and a little coffee ship, but I didn’t see any souvenir stores or an ATM. After wandering around a bit I returned to the waiting lounge to catch up with my emails. Well, that wasn’t the success it could have been. The wifi there is even slower than on the ship, and I was starting to get quite annoyed, so I decided to abandon this pursuit, and concentrate on people watching.

I was still people watching an hour and a half later when there was an announcement that one passenger still had to clear immigration and customs before we could go back on the ship. We waited another half hour for her to materialize, but no luck. Finally they did agree to let us go back on board.

It’s strange. Two days ago people were moaning because they couldn’t get off the ship, now they are moaning because they can’t get back on.

I finished unpacking my suitcases just as Brian called to say he was about 5 minutes away from the cruise terminal.

Marco, from guest relations, had very kindly offered to meet Brian as he arrived, and to “fast track” him on to the ship. I let Marco know that Brian was in the vicinity and we went back to the terminal, and there was my man in his Panama hat looking all happy and refreshed, not looking at all like he had been in the back of the plane for the past 30 hours on 4 different flights. I know exactly what I would have looked like.

Marco whizzed us through the formalities in about 3 minutes, so I don’t know what checking in was like for the other passengers embarking in Fremantle.

We had lunch in the Kings Court, and then started unpacking Brian’s suitcases. I tend to be minimal with my cabin decorations – my 2 Union Jacks, a few wall magnets, my monthly planner, and shower caddy for my shampoo.

Brian arrived with more wall magnets, the extra bathroom shelf, his over the door shoe hanger, bungee cords, duct tape, zip ties, and super glue. He was ready to move in. We organized everything, and placed one full suitcase containing the “not needed on voyage” items under the bed.

Soon everything was arranged, including our scratch off map which shows up where we have been on recent cruises. It is looking good, but totally lacking in the exploration of Antarctica. We must do something about that.

Meanwhile Ruth was not having a good day. After a chaotic disembarkation, and supposed coach tour of Fremantle and Perth that turned out not to be what was expected, she was stuck at the airport waiting to check in. We had hoped she would be able to join us for drinks with Lauren and Paul, Brian’s cousin and her husband, but she really couldn’t leave the airport until she was checked in.

So we had drinks with them without her. We went to a lovely sea front bar in Fremantle where we sat on chairs in the sand; listening to the waves and watching the sun go down. It was really lovely. I was not one of the passengers who were very excited to be on dry land again after 12 days at sea, but I must admit warm sand between your toes and a cold glass of New Zealand white wine in your hand is hard to beat.

We then went to a very casual seafood restaurant in Perth called Red Fish. I had very fresh red emperor which was amazing, probably the best fish I have ever tasted. I had hoped that Ruth could join us, but she had had problems with her ticket at check in because it still seemed to be linked to an old ticket, and I think by then she just wanted to focus on getting on the plane and going home.

We were the last people to leave the restaurant, and had had a wonderful evening catching up with family news. I was quite exhausted by the time we got to the cabin, but Brian was still as perky as ever despite the fact he had last slept at the airport hotel in Washington 2 days ago.