Visitors day 3, Cruise day 1

The excuse for our get together is Fd and my birthdays which are one day apart. Fd is one year and one day younger than I am. We have booked on a short cruise Sydney to Brisbane all of 38 hours in duration. It amazes me that a short cruise like this would attract something like 1,950 passengers but there you go.

There are all manner of passengers aboard. A number go 'hen's' groups one of which all wear identical tutus and blonde wigs and another group wearing identical caps identifying each member as 'Mum of the bride', 'bridesmaids' etc. There is a group of about 20 who look like a team of footballers and their 'WAGs' (wives and girlfriends) all wearing identical tropical shirts. There are young families with babies in prams and elderly passengers with walking frames. Looks like everyone loves cruising.

We are travelling on the Pacific Jewel. It is not the newest or the most luxurious of cruise liners but perfectly acceptable for a journey like this. We were on board by about 1pm and 'sail' time was scheduled for 4pm however this was deferred until 6pm because 'hundreds' of passengers were delayed arriving by a power failure at Sydney Airport during the morning.

We started with a lunch in the general smorgasbord dining room but frankly didn't fancy the quality or choice very much and (it transpired) that all subsequent meals were to be taken in the formal dining room which we enjoyed far more.

We spent a few hours exploring the ship and the layout during this afternoon until it was time for the mandatory safety drill.

The evening's activities included a go at the Guess the Famous Faces Trivia quiz which we did reasonably well at. We popped into the evening show at a moment when a magician was tearing up a passenger's bank notes but we didn't stay.

Then it was back to our cabins for some conversation and finally bed.