This trip was offered via email, the $1 deposit cruise, easy payment later, so why not give the winter in Tasmania a miss and enjoy 30 degrees in Indonesia. Our booking was for an ocean view cabin, it is always nice to wake up with daylight. As a frequent cruiseling I thought I know what to expect. A bar fridge was among those things, soon we realised there wasn't one and later we learned that on level 4 - 6 no one had a fridge. The special our steward offered us for 5 large bottles of water was not taken up by us, At the end of the cruise the onboard credit was partly used to buy booze.The allowance p.p. is 2,250ml, and as we were two people I hoped I would get away with buying 5 litres between us, which was 500ml over the limit. Disembarking in Fremantle at 8 am was swift, I ticked the customs card stating I had more alcohol and was waved into a separate room. There I met 4 very friendly people from customs who tried to set up their laptops without much success, they apologised for the delay, it was only temporary, they hoped to move into a proper building soon. I was told I need to pay duty as i was over the limit, I agreed and asked how much I had to pay. This they could not tell me as their computers refused to work, no Internet connection. I was informed that I have to pay duty for my three bottles, the two bottles my partner had were ok as they were his. Being over the limit meant I forfeited my privilege of duty free goods and had to pay duty on all three. After 25 minutes of getting no result, I suggested to one of the officers that I had been honest and ticked the card, also that two Seniors would appreciate to have a tipple in winter and that their system was not up to scratch, how about they wave us through. After 5 minutes of deliberation I was told that my christmasses had come all at once and I was let go, with the reminder not to do it again. I was somehow a trail blazer I noticed, as friends of ours who had even more alcohol than I had, were not even stopped when they passed customs at about 10am, there was no one collecting any fines.

All in all it was a trip we enjoyed and soon will be looking for another special on any of the many cruise ships we have available.