Dawn Escape Our South Seas Cruise

December 3rd 2011. One of these spur-of-the-moment things we felt the urge to

get another taste of cruising. Easy... The Pacific Dawn sails out of Brisbane. No

air travel, no accommodation, no complications, so here we are, and having a

ball!

Check-in was uneventful and we were pleasantly surprised when we found that

we had been given a cabin upgrade. We always book the cheapest (inside) cabin

as we treat the cabin as a place to sleep briefly and to shower and change for the

next activity. This time we had a window where we could look at the side of a

lifeboat.

Out on deck things looked good too, nice deck area for music and dancing, and

that suited us for the sail-away party as we slid under the Gateway bridge with

lots and lots of room to spare. This is a very small, old ship, and lacking most of

the things that are standard on the big ships. I won’t try to compare, as really,

there is no comparison. Regardless, we were there for the good times and found

plenty of that. Out of the river, across to Tangalooma, and then Caloundra came

in view.

We have seen this ship sail by many times before and waved to friends who have

been onboard. This was our turn to wave back.

Unfortunately, the Murtagh’s were not at home. The curtains were drawn. But

we waved anyhow.

A stunning sunset showed our Glasshouse Mountains from a different

perspective.

So, on with the Shows, the music, dancing entertainment and the food. Actually,

the food was pretty ordinary. Not very appetising and not much variety. By the

end of the week we were referring to splodge at the cafeteria. The main dining

room food was slightly better, but their ‘anytime dining’ arrangement was

nothing short of hopeless, and the coffee was undrinkable. It would probably be

useful for dissolving barnacles. I don’t know why I am complaining, still managed

to gain a couple of kilos.

The shows were excellent! The singing and dancing cast were brilliant. Not only

did they put on 4 different shows, they gave dancing classes and ran all of the fun

activities. We are now expert in Salsa, Cha-Cha, Tango, Irish, and Rap.

There was one 3 piece band with a vocalist that provided most of the dancing

music. They were good, and the vocalist was a very powerful singer. They soon

got the idea of the RnR music we liked, and played accordingly. Other dancers

were few and far between so we often added to the night’s entertainment to the

expressed delight of the other passengers. Another 3 piece group played more

sedate numbers so we were able to get our fair share of the more romantic stuff

as well. Another quite elderly couple also graced the floor, and they were always

dressed for the occasion. There is a funny story about them towards the end of

the cruise.

First port of call was Noumea. Not a very exciting town, but we had come

prepared with our snorkelling gear, so we jumped on the local bus and headed off

to the beach. We had a good swim around but failed to find any beautiful coral or

multi-coloured fishes, but the water was nice and we were entertained by a large

group of local men playing bolls with a lot of passion. It started to rain so we

wandered off to the bus stop, and on the way came across some fellow cruisers

who had been snorkelling and seen the most fabulous things. Apparently they

were 50 metres out past the sandy bottom and weed beds. We hadn’t gone far

enough!

A short overnight cruise took us to Lifou. No dock, brought ashore by tender

organized with laughable efficiency. This place is quite unspoiled by

development, and very pretty. Lovely beaches and great for snorkelling, but after

our experience in Noumea we hadn’t bothered to bring our gear.

Lots of pretty flowers and all the tropical vegetation fresh and green.

There was a group of locals building a tiny church high on top of a lookout hill.

The only access was up the rough steps of the foot track. They were bagging sand

for mixing concrete and carrying them to the top. Cruise visitors were invited to

help out and carry a bag. Heavy, hot work, but most of us did our bit.

Next day we arrived at Port Vila. A bit of a grubby dump. We were annoyed by

the relentless approaches of taxi drivers who don’t understand “No thank you” no

matter how loudly you said it. There is a big market with lots of clothing and nick-

knacks and a very large undercover fresh fruit and vege market that looked really

nice.

Snorkelling here was better. Lots of pretty starfish. And the mother of all tropical

downpours. We got drenched!

So it was back to the ship for the 2 day cruise home. For those of you who

haven’t cruised and don’t know about ‘cruise libido’ it is a bit of subtle bragging to

have the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign displayed on your door. We thought we did pretty

well, but the couple in the cabin next to us had the sign out almost continuously.

Wow, what a feat! Must be honeymooners we thought. It was not ‘till the last

day that we actually saw them emerging from their cabin, and it was the quite

elderly ballroom dancing couple that I mentioned earlier. Maybe there is a

message here?

So we cruised back to Oz, picked up the pilot from Mooloolaba at 1am and went

past Caloundra soon after, just as I put my head down, so missed it. The Brisbane

arrival was easy. We only have carry-on baggage so no waiting for anything, and

no delays.

Overall impression? Hey, this is not a Royal Caribbean ship, and lacks many of the

things we are accustomed to, despite the fact that is dearer. The big bonus is that

it is convenient, and so simple to do. The music, entertainment and dancing were

just right for us and provided a very enjoyable change of scenery. Yes, we would

do it again. (After we have done the ‘Allure of the Seas’)