Pacific Dawn - Saturday 11 September 2010 - Cruise Day!

Well, you just can't image how excited we were when this day finally arrived! We had planned this cruise, what felt years, months and months ago and now finally it was here. Our very first cruise!

We were all a little bit nervous and had our fingers crossed that we wouldn't get sea sick, that was our biggest fear, especially mum. Mum is notorious for getting sea sick even on a BBQ boat!

We are ready!

Seeing as the ship was leaving from Brisbane we decided the easiest way to get there was to drive. We left our car at Portside Parking and caught their shuttle bus straight to the cruise terminal, so easy!

Once we got there we left our suitcases (labelled with our names, cruise number and cabin number) and then headed inside the terminal to see how and when we boarded. This was a little bit 'all over the place' and very busy. It wasn't terrible organised but once we found out what we need to do, get some forms and fill them in, we headed to the queue. This part didn't take too long, you wait to you get to the head of the queue then you hand over your passport, smile for the camera (they take a photo of every passenger which is then linked to your cruise card), you get your cruise card/s and a boarding number and then it's just waiting. There are some shops (a supermarket) and a cafe plus you can also just wait in the terminal. They have large TV screens which show what number is now boarding. Priority is given to suites and frequent cruisers.

We found ourselves somewhere to sit and just stared at the screens! Weehee, there's our number - lets go! Through the doorway and onto another queue, then through customs and...... their she is!

Pacific Dawn - 11 September 2010

The first glimps of the Dawn was magic - she is huge! We knew this was going to be an amazing holiday! We boarded at deck 5 - straight into the atrium, what a welcome!

First stop - our cabin!

Deck 9 - Caribe Deck

 (Not sure why the photo is upside down!)

Once we checked out our home for the next 7 nights we did a quick tour of the ship and then headed up to the Lido Deck and into the Buffet for lunch!

Lunch in the Buffet!

After a wonderful lunch we did some more exploring and then got ourselves a cocktail ready for sailaway! Sailaway is THE beginning of our cruise - there was a band playing in the centre of the Lido Deck (Atomic) who were brilliant plus there were lots of Pacific Dawn Dancers to get the party started. Not that you can tell from the following photo's! We still had an hour or so before departure so the Lido Deck hadn't filled up with people yet.

When you cruise you will soon get use to having your photo taken by the onboard photographers.

(no idea why this photo is sideways!) This is the only professional photo we bought - they are $20-$30 each so with the amount of photos you get taken it can certainly add up if you buy them all! They display all of the photos so you can check them all out throughout the cruise and decide whether or not to buy them. After the cruise it is too late, they are all destroyed - so buy before you disembark.

The sailaway party goes for about an hour but the party lasts as long as you want it to! The Pacific Dawn left Brisbane Port at 2pm and it takes a few hours for it to go up the river and out into the ocean. When the Dawn goes under the Gateway Bridge the captain blows the ships horn - be warned, it is VERY loud!

After we'd finished out cocktails:

we head down to our cabin to unpack. When you leave your suitcase at dockside it is taken onboard and then sorted and put at the door to your cabin - thankfully all of ours made it safely. There are plenty of cupboards, drawers and hanging space and we even had room to store all of our suitcases. It helps if you can put a suitcase into another one, especially when there are four of you sharing a cabin.