Thanks Princess (updated)

You know that we missed our port of Dunedin and the Fjordlands due to weather.  We've cruised enough that we know these sorts of things happen, and while disappointing, that is just part of cruising.  The company refunded our port taxes to our onboard accounts and we thought that was that.  After all, we have still had excellent accommodations, food and entertainment for two weeks, plus our land tour of Australia is still to come.

The ship is about half-filled with New Zealand and Australian citizens, and they have all told us they took the cruise especially to see those two places that we missed.  Most had seen the Milford sound from land, but wanted to approach from the sea. (Which is not easy in a region that gets an average of six meters of rain a year).  And the Taeri Gorge is another spectacular sight, and again is not easily accessible for many unless they happen to live there or make a special trip just to get there. So there was a lot of disappointment in missing out on both of these on our itinerary; the other ports were lovely, but they were nothing like the scenery missed.  Apparently Princess realized and agreed with this because last night we received a letter notifying us that Princess has given everyone onboard a cruise credit of 25% of the fare paid.  

And this credit already appears online in our Princess accounts, to be applied to our Baltic cruise as soon as we return home and call the travel agent. This, of course, makes us very happy campers who will just have to add the southern half of the South Island of NZ back on the travel list 'someday'.  (Note to Leslie!)

Meanwhile, we are tired from our busy and long day yesterday, but as we get another sea day today for our run from Hobart up to Melbourne, we will recover...and read, attend a couple of lectures and of course play golf and trivia.  We've added one magnet clip, two handmade cards, a bingo dauber and a woven ribbon lei bracelet to our stash of free souvenir junk since our last report.   

One thing I have noticed today, as we sail between Tasmania and the mainland part of Australia, is that every now and then we pass a small cabin cruiser or pleasure boat.  They are apparently out for the day, perhaps fishing, perhaps just boating, perhaps traveling, but it seems so odd to see them so far out from land in such a small boat.  Here's one that I just noticed as we passed by:

While I am meandering here, I wanted to add we have met a very interesting lady onboard.  Kathy was born and raised in Hawaii but now lives in California with her husband of 46 years, Bob.  Kathy loves cruising, takes about 5 or 6 a year, and Bob goes on only about 3/4 of them because he hates cruising.  Kathy is an eccentric gadfly, knows just about everyone onboard and has absolutely no filter, whatsoever.  Fortunately she is a very happy person, and makes many friends, even if they don't share a common language.  You can easily spot Kathy around the ship, she is about 4 foot 9 inches tall, wears a muu-muu every day (adding long underwear when the weather is too chilly or wet to be wearing a muu-muu) carries a cane wrapped in glitter ribbon topped with a yellow sunflower and today is wearing a plush Tasmanian Devil ski hat "so she will be noticeable".  I'll ask if she will allow me to take her photo.....

And she did....