Day Two Wednesday October 22nd

Our adventure started at 3.am yesterday when we finally gave up trying to sleep
and both decided to repack the suitcases for about the umteenth time. Didn’t help, still overweight by 4 kilograms. Gave up and sat about waiting for our friends Roy and Paula to wake up and drive us to the airport in Brisbane for our 90 minute flight to Sydney. On the road at 5am - airport by 6.30 - in the air at 8.10 and on the ground in Sydney at 10.30 daylight saving time
.Princess Cruises were very well organized at the airport and had us underway by a little after 11. We arrived at the enbarkation hall at 11.45, expecting to be one of the first groups onboard, to be greeted by the site of at least 500 people milling around in the hall and an announcement that embarkation would commence at 12.30. We were assigned our boarding numbers, group 5 ands settled down for what looked like a long wait. Princess again showed how efficient they are when we were called at 12.50, were onboard about 10 minutes later and were sitting down in the Horizon Court for lunch at 1.30 after having dropped our hand luggage off in the cabin. And after lunch we took a quick trip around the ship, up and down the elevators and got lost several times.
WOW!!! What a ship. I had no idea we would be so impressed. The last time we cruised, the only other time , was on the SuperStar Gemini last year and we thought that was a ship. Very nice to be sure but nothing compared to this beauty, The Sun Princess weighs in at an impressive 77,000 tonnes, it has 8 restaurants and cafes, 4 swimming pools and 5 spas, 7 lounges and bars, a library with over 600 books plus an internet café, 2 formal dinning rooms that can seat 900 people plus a 24hr bistro, a show lounge/theatre that seats 600 and in total the ship can hold 2,022 passengers.
Our cabin is on Deck 10, the Baja Deck. The top deck, the Sun Deck is Deck 15, and the lowest deck we can visit is Deck 5, the Plaza Deck.
We were assigned to the Marquis Dining Room for the early dinner time and found that our requests to Princess Cruises to put us on the same table with Peter and Evon (ella 2) and Deb and Vern( Angelwingsflys) was successful and we had a table for 6. Mary and I both came on the cruise determined not to put on too much weight. After last nights dinner I’m convinced that that will be difficult. Of course one does not have to eat all 5 courses at every meal, but which one do you leave off. The food is out of this world. 5 class meal served in a 5 star room by 5 star waiters. And tonight is the first of our formal nights. Beginning with the Captains cocktail party.
The weather so far has not been marvelous. Overcast and a bit breezy but ,according to the announcement from the bridge about 15 minutes ago, tomorrow will be better Another full day at sea tomorrow before arriving at Noumea on Friday. I’ll write again on Saturday and tell you all about it.