Ever since enjoying a one-night fundraiser excursion on board the Rhapsody in April last year, my wife and I had promised ourselves a more extensive cruise on this beautiful ship! I started watching the online pricing and destination packages, and finally came across an 8-night deal to Tassie that sounded like it really suited us. The price was right and so we booked it back in July...then waited impatiently for February to arrive!

With just my wife and me travelling I was hoping to keep the luggage down to a manageable amount, but alas, it ended up more than the two of us could manage on public transport to Sydney from Lake Macquarie, near Newcastle! Happily, it worked out that our son was not working on either the embarkation or disembarkation days, so he was able to drive us to and from the ship. What a relief!!

We eagerly arrived at the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Sydney around 11:40 am ready to board the ship. Everything with this process went extremely smoothly, and we were aboard and heading to the Windjammer Cafe by just after 12:00 noon. The beautiful and amazing array of food, that we remembered from our previous overnight cruise experience, lived up to its reputation, and we remained in the Windjammer until our cabin was available to us a little after 1:00 pm. After dropping off our hand luggage, and somewhat re-familiarising ourselves with the ship, we went back up to Deck 9 and relaxed whilst watching the activity in and out of Circular Quay on Sydney Harbour. This passed the time for us until lifeboat drill took place at 4:00 pm. Read more