The cruise ship has an annual world cruise games which is allot of fun. Doug was persuaded to go for the doubles relay walking event with Cate, our friend's daughter who is young and a runner. Unfortunately, the day of the event, they were told they had no choice as to who their partner would be to make it more fair. Doug was picked to walk with Anne. They did very well and came in third considering the other two winners won with a marathon runner. Doug was pleased with himself and so was I for him.
The Olympics Games started with the participants coming in with their country's flag held by Harry. Then there were speeches and an opening ceremony complete with the lighting of the torch by two former Olympians - Billy Mills who won the 10,000 meter race in Tokyo Japan in 1964 and Jim Ryan who won the silver medal in the 1,500 m race in 1968. I recognized Billy Mills for I was an extra in the movie shot in Edmonton called Running Brave. We chatted after about the movie.
The events are held from March 2 to the 16 and are from swimming laps, (Harry is doing very well in this event), to Scrabble, Gin Rummy, Chess, etc. The seniors are really enjoying themselves and so are we. The metal presentations are wonderful to watch and Canada is far behind the USA in the medal count.
The closing ceremony is to come and I am sure will be great to watch. A fun way to spend our sea days.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
PROBLEMS WITH OUR SHIP
We are experiencing some major problems with the ship. It has nothing to do with the rogue wave that slammed our ship. ( Apparently the event was mentioned in the London newspapers.) The ship is run by two propulsion engines and one of these is not working. After Adelaide, one of the propulsion engines broke down and we were cruising at half the speed. They were trying to fix the problem and couldn't and therefore we arrived a day late in Perth. At Perth, we were met with 4 Rolls Royce experts who flew in to work on the problem the day we were in port. They could not fix it and therefore stayed on board the ship as we cruised at half speed and were told we would be missing Broome. While at sea yesterday, the captain said not to worry but they were shutting down the other propulsion engine so the men could safely work on the other engine. We were to be floating in the Indian Ocean for 4 to 5 hours while they worked. Apparently, they could not fix it for after one hour, we were cruising again at half speed and told that we would be missing the port of Komodo Island and heading instead for Bali where we would be arriving a day late because of our slow cruising speed. At Bali, we are to be met with 4 more experts who are flying in, so that is a total of 8 people who are working on the engine. We are to do our usual tours onshore, and then we are heading directly for Singapore, a day late, and missing another port of Semarang, Indonesia. The worst case scenario is that our ship would have to go to dry dock in Singapore to be fixed and I don't know what would happen to all of us.
Some of the passengers who came only for this leg, are going to miss 3 ports and are understandably upset. We received a letter from the president of Crystal Cruises and have a choice of monetary reimbursement to our visa or a discount to our next Crystal Cruise. Unfortunately, we may not be in this part of the world again and are missing some good ports. But this cannot be helped so we are not complaining.
The poor Captain is getting the brunt of the complaints and we feel for him and told him we are not upset and he was relieved at least some of us are not angry at him.
I will keep you informed as to what is happening, but for now, we are cruising very slowly to Bali.
PS. Saw two elderly people with black and blue eyes and faces from the falls after the rogue wave hit the ship. Many have bruises that are not visible but no broken bones, thank God.
Some of the passengers who came only for this leg, are going to miss 3 ports and are understandably upset. We received a letter from the president of Crystal Cruises and have a choice of monetary reimbursement to our visa or a discount to our next Crystal Cruise. Unfortunately, we may not be in this part of the world again and are missing some good ports. But this cannot be helped so we are not complaining.
The poor Captain is getting the brunt of the complaints and we feel for him and told him we are not upset and he was relieved at least some of us are not angry at him.
I will keep you informed as to what is happening, but for now, we are cruising very slowly to Bali.
PS. Saw two elderly people with black and blue eyes and faces from the falls after the rogue wave hit the ship. Many have bruises that are not visible but no broken bones, thank God.
PERTH/FREMANTLE:
We arrived to another sunny day in Fremantle the port city. It was already very hot. Doug and I decided to tour Fremantle by ourselves since we had been here twice before. We took a hop on hop off bus and toured around. Took some photos of the port and the prison that housed the convicts from England.
We then took a guided tour in the afternoon. The bus took us through the city of Perth, and after an hour's drive, we arrived in Caversham Wildlife Park. It is nestled in the bushland and is a privately owned park that houses 200 species of wildlife. Unfortunately, we only had time to rush around to see a few. We were so so hot so I asked the guide, how hot is it out here? He replied 40 C. We could feel it. It was bloody hot.
First we went to see the Red Kangaroos and the Western Grey Kangaroos. They were not afraid of us at all as we walked beside them as they lay in the dirt in the shade. The young ones are born in the park and are used to tourists feeding them. We were given a handful of pellets and the kangaroos came bouncing up to us to eat right out of our hands. They put their front paws on our hands to help balance themselves as they gently ate the food. They were so so cute and gentle. We could even pat them. They were all around us. I had two who wanted to eat out of my hands at the same time. Someone said, what do you have on you that they are hovering around you. Maybe they could sense that I loved them.
After the wonderful time spent with the kangaroos, we headed towards the wombat. When we spotted him, we couldn't believe how huge he was. He was asleep in the arms of a wildlife park guide. She held this 29 kilogram in weight wombat, as he lay there with his eyes closed. We were allowed to sit on either side and rub his leg for photos. He was so cute. If he were awake, he would be hiding in a burrow, but asleep we were able to see him up close. What a cutie.
Off we went to see the camels. I took a ride on one which was a rough ride. I think Doug said it is alittle harder on men to ride the camel then on women. I wonder why?
Then it was off to my favourite, the koala bears. They were housed in a netted area and were given their special eucalyptus leaves to eat. We were quite surprised how active they were crawling around and eating the leaves. We were allowed to pat them here. You see a picture of one koala who was so tired that he lay on his stomach on the bough of the tree. They sleep a large portion of the day. They were as big as stuffed teddy bears and so so cute. We could have stayed all day here. I kept snapping photos and have so many pictures as a reminder of our visit. These poor koalas have suffered in the heat and Marge from Adelaide told us that they have come up onto people's yards for water. Her cousin had one come to their front lawn and she brought water out. They normally do not drink water but get all their water from the leaves. But because of the terrible drought conditions, they have been drinking water. This poor koala bear drank the water and lay on the lawn for awhile to gain some strength back before retreating to the bush. Many have died in the fires around Melbourne. So sad
Off onto the bus, to the winery. This particular winery was huge and had big named stars performing on stage in the winery such as Diana Krall. They even had tables set out under the grape vines with the Arizona mist coming out of the pipes to cool off customers. This is the same type of air conditioning used in Arizona outside shopping malls. It was a lovely winery with many bottles of wine to taste with crackers and cheese and an air conditioned shop. Beautiful facilities.
Then off for a one hours drive through the countryside, then through Perth and finally Fremantle our port. I did not enclose any photos of Perth because I think it is like any other city but wanted to show more photos of the beautiful Australian animals.
Four days at sea while we slowly cruise towards Bali.
We then took a guided tour in the afternoon. The bus took us through the city of Perth, and after an hour's drive, we arrived in Caversham Wildlife Park. It is nestled in the bushland and is a privately owned park that houses 200 species of wildlife. Unfortunately, we only had time to rush around to see a few. We were so so hot so I asked the guide, how hot is it out here? He replied 40 C. We could feel it. It was bloody hot.
First we went to see the Red Kangaroos and the Western Grey Kangaroos. They were not afraid of us at all as we walked beside them as they lay in the dirt in the shade. The young ones are born in the park and are used to tourists feeding them. We were given a handful of pellets and the kangaroos came bouncing up to us to eat right out of our hands. They put their front paws on our hands to help balance themselves as they gently ate the food. They were so so cute and gentle. We could even pat them. They were all around us. I had two who wanted to eat out of my hands at the same time. Someone said, what do you have on you that they are hovering around you. Maybe they could sense that I loved them.
After the wonderful time spent with the kangaroos, we headed towards the wombat. When we spotted him, we couldn't believe how huge he was. He was asleep in the arms of a wildlife park guide. She held this 29 kilogram in weight wombat, as he lay there with his eyes closed. We were allowed to sit on either side and rub his leg for photos. He was so cute. If he were awake, he would be hiding in a burrow, but asleep we were able to see him up close. What a cutie.
Off we went to see the camels. I took a ride on one which was a rough ride. I think Doug said it is alittle harder on men to ride the camel then on women. I wonder why?
Then it was off to my favourite, the koala bears. They were housed in a netted area and were given their special eucalyptus leaves to eat. We were quite surprised how active they were crawling around and eating the leaves. We were allowed to pat them here. You see a picture of one koala who was so tired that he lay on his stomach on the bough of the tree. They sleep a large portion of the day. They were as big as stuffed teddy bears and so so cute. We could have stayed all day here. I kept snapping photos and have so many pictures as a reminder of our visit. These poor koalas have suffered in the heat and Marge from Adelaide told us that they have come up onto people's yards for water. Her cousin had one come to their front lawn and she brought water out. They normally do not drink water but get all their water from the leaves. But because of the terrible drought conditions, they have been drinking water. This poor koala bear drank the water and lay on the lawn for awhile to gain some strength back before retreating to the bush. Many have died in the fires around Melbourne. So sad
Off onto the bus, to the winery. This particular winery was huge and had big named stars performing on stage in the winery such as Diana Krall. They even had tables set out under the grape vines with the Arizona mist coming out of the pipes to cool off customers. This is the same type of air conditioning used in Arizona outside shopping malls. It was a lovely winery with many bottles of wine to taste with crackers and cheese and an air conditioned shop. Beautiful facilities.
Then off for a one hours drive through the countryside, then through Perth and finally Fremantle our port. I did not enclose any photos of Perth because I think it is like any other city but wanted to show more photos of the beautiful Australian animals.
Four days at sea while we slowly cruise towards Bali.
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