Having just returned home to Melbourne last Friday evening (after an additional 2 night stay in Sydney with family), I am still suffering post cruise depression with the dreaded thought of a return to work tomorrow.

Nevertheless, I will bask in the memories of a great holiday spent with my wife on board the Carnival Legend that will last a life time.

I will quickly get one negative thought out of my head before discussing the many positive experiences of 12 days at sea. The port of Sydney at Circular Quay is virtually at the entrance to the CBD (a nightmare to travel in to and out of at the best of times). Major infrastructure improvements are currently underway at the port terminal and lengthy delays can be expected with the embarkation process. It did not help that 14/11/14 was about 37 Celsius (nearly100 Fahrenheit for the US readers) and about 90% humidity or so it seemed. My mood wasn't helped as my wife and I decided that we should take on board what we researched as the maximum amount of 24 bottles of 600ml water - heavy in the heat, but a wise choice. Read more