Cruising with the parents this time - mum really wanted to do one of the cruises for the 5 Ship Spectacular and the Dawns cruise looked good, priced well and as the easiest to get to in terms of port. It leaves from Brisbane.
Saturday morning we headed north from Tweed and arrived at Portside Parking in no time at all. It took us about 1 and a half hours. Parking was super easy (just ignore Siri when she tells you to do a u turn when in fact you are right out the front of the parking station!) and before we knew it we were at Portside dropping off our suitcases.
Checking in was fine but was delayed about an hour or so plus they do not use the boarding times you select when you fill out your online check in. No idea why they bother with times, seems rather pointless. I have to say the checking in with Carnival is much smoother.
After queuing up and getting our cruise cards (and getting our photos taken for security) we sat outside in the shade and waited (quite awhile) for our boarding number to be called. Once it was called (about an hour after getting our cruise cards) it didn't take too long to get on board. Cabin 5128 here we come.
After finding our room and freshening up a bit we head for (wait for it) the buffet and lunch - it was lunch time afterall! The Dawn still has the traditional buffet layout which at times can be a bit hectic but if you're patient and remember you are on holidays you'll be fine. Sometimes the queues could be a bit long but if you waited a bit you'd be fine or just join the queue and chat, smile and be patient!
The food was yum, so we're already off to a great start and then before too long the Dawn was on her way. We left at about 2pm with a fabulous sailaway party and even Betty doing the new zipline (she's the oldest to have ever done it, 85 years young!).
The new lounges on the lido are great to relax in and enjoy the evening (or morning or day) and generally we didn't have any problem finding a spare one. We had a pretty low key first night (a bit like every night!), had dinner in the Plantation and back to the cabin for our first night at sea.
We had received our luggage just before muster, which is about 20 mins before sailaway, and unpacked and basically organised ourselves for our 7 night cruise. Our 3 suitcases fitted fine in the open wardrobe (opposite the bathroom) and we had plenty of hanging space and drawers for all of our clothes.
We 'thought' we didn't have a TV remote but when our room steward came in to introduce himself (Ledy) he clearly remembered putting it on the side table next to mums bed. We had accidentally knocked it off while unpacking (how embarrassing) we'd even reported it to the front desk. Sorry Ledy.
Time for some shut eye ready for a relaxing sea day tomorrow.
We did pass the Pacific Pearl anchored off Moreton Island on our way out of Brisbane, we'll be doing that on the way back to Brisbane in a few days time!
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