It Started with a Kiss, Our First Overseas Trip

Steve and I had both travelled a little, separately. We both went to Bali many years ago, me in 95, 96, and 97, and Steve in 88. We had also snuck some time away together, between 2004-2006 to Margaret River, Albany, Busselton and Dunsborough and flown to Melbourne a few times between 2007-2010. But we had never been overseas together. That was all about to change when a good friend asked us to accompany her on a cruise and our first overseas trip. I’ll never forget that day, 23rd August 2010 when a Facebook message pops up from my friend asking if we would be interested in taking a cruise with her and her hubby for the next year. Ooh excited, I had never been on a cruise, and Steve and I had never even been overseas together. The initial suggestion was to fly to Sydney and do a 14 day cruise to Fiji, Noumea and assorted islands. But Steve was self-employed and over two weeks away meant over two weeks without income.

I was really excited at the prospect of going on a cruise, at the possibility of heading to Sydney, and really just to be getting away. Earlier in the year in March we had a terrible storm in Perth resulting in extensive damage to our brand new dream home. Then in April after a very long battle with cancer my Father passed away. The time seemed right for some happiness.

So I put my thinking cap on. If it wasn’t to be the Pacific Islands, then where? A cruise out of Fremantle would cut down the time away, but my friends’ husband is not keen on Bali and most voyages from Fremantle port in Benoa, Bali. Hmmm, thinking, thinking. We joked maybe we could leave the boys behind and just us girls go on our own.

I was preoccupied after work each evening researching cruises, as was my friend, trying in vain to find the cruise that suited us all. Messages went back and forth, updating each other on our progress. Utilising all my resources I found a cruise that sailed ex Fremantle and was during the last 2 weeks of the financial year, a period that historically Steve’s business was always quiet… and it did not include Bali. Bonus! It was also an early bird special saving $400 per person, sailing 18th June for 11 nights on Sun Princess to Phuket, Langkawi, Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Our friends came over for drinks and some cruise chat in September. After a bit of back and forth and through the powers of persuasion, it was agreed this was the cruise we would book. We had to get all the details sorted. We were so excited. A cruise? Yes, we were going on a cruise. 🙂

Now, to do a bit more research and we’ll be armed and dangerous. But with more information, comes more questions. Where did we want our cabin to be on the ship? Mid-ship on lower decks was the recommendation for ‘virgin’ cruisers as you don’t feel the movement as much. What is included in the price? Where shall we stay for our three nights post cruise in Singapore? Which airline will we fly with? Will we get bored on the Ship? What if we get lost in port, will the ship wait for us?

So many questions. We were jumping with joy with the thought of going on our first overseas trip, but full of anxiety. We got online and looked at the ship’s layout and what facilities were onboard, etc. How exciting, 3 pools, lots of restaurants, many bars, etc, etc.

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Now as if I wasn’t excited enough, a month after we finalised which cruise we would go on, something even more exciting occurred. Monday, 4th October, I came home from work and Steve did it. Finally. He proposed. He asked me to be his wife!! I was so elated, eyes shining with delight and crying tears of happiness, my heart was jumping with excitement. I could not sit still, I had to phone my son, my Mum, my friends.

Oops, I got sidetracked, sorry, back to the post.

Now Steve not being one to make decisions lightly, decided he wanted to get married sooner rather than later, so we set March 2011 for our wedding. Now it seemed obvious that we would take the cruise and our first overseas trip as a belated honeymoon. We’d arranged a small engagement party or as Steve called it, a “viewing of the ring” for 28th November. We’d been living without a ceiling in the huge living area of our home since the storm in March and we were finally getting the ceilings fitted just 5 days prior to our party. Phew, talk about timing, that was good news. Then, as we were preparing for our guests, more good news. My very best friend had come over to give me a hand with preparation and in conversation tells me about a cruise her and her hubby are taking. Talk about luck. Turns out it was the same cruise we were going on. So we had more reason to celebrate. Not only were we taking a cruise, but now four of our very best friends were coming to celebrate our honeymoon with us.

The next few months flew past. We were married, survived the suspense of finalising our plans and before we knew it, it was time for our cruise. Our first cruise, our first trip overseas together and our very first trip as Man and Wife.

With a combination of fear, suspense and excitement of our first overseas trip we were driven to the port by my son. I’ll never forget as we drove towards the cruise port in Fremantle when I got the first glimpse of the ship. It was huge! I could not believe the size as it towered over the port building. We went through the embarkation process quite quickly and before we knew it we were onboard. The ship was amazing, the spectacular 4 storey atrium, glistening and shiny with gold and bright lights everywhere. In contrast The Wheelhouse bar was rich with timbers and very subdued lighting. There were lots of smiling faces on fellow passengers boarding and the staff greeting us. And then there was lovely food. Lots of food. As we made our way through the heads departing Fremantle we attended the sailaway party and the ships’ bridgecam transmitted the view on the giant screen for those not out on the bow. It was both strange and amazing, going to sleep that night, being gently rocked by motion of the sea and then waking up onboard the first morning. We went out on deck to enjoy the fresh air with no land in sight. There was lots to do, ice carving demonstrations, cocktails, demonstrations on making animals from towels, cocktails, a crossing the equator party, fruit carving demonstration, chocolate martini demonstration and Steve got up and participated in the Bond Martini shake. Did I mention there were lots of cocktails?

We watched them as they built a champagne waterfall from 540 glasses. This was the start of the party atmosphere, complimentary champage and canapés on the first formal night. So we dressed up to the nines in our formal gear, sipping champagne as we travelled the glass elevator for pre-dinner drinks and a welcome from the Captain. That night at dinner our waiters sang to us and presented us with cake for our honeymoon.  They sang “Happy honeymoon to you” to the tune of happy birthday and afterwards we found they had put balloons in our room.

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Our first sighting of land was 6 days later. As we were approaching Phuket ready to dock most of the passengers were out on deck getting our first glimpse of land. Back on board that night the six of us dined at the exclusive Sterling Steakhouse under the stars serenaded by Pavarotti on the big screen.

The next 3 days were full on, early mornings, departing and spending the day in ports. On our last sea day the Executive Chef & Maitre d’ hosted a culinary demonstration showing their artistic flair and culinary genius. This was followed by a great opportunity for our very own behind the scenes tour of the Sun Princess Galley. Here we saw the precision involved in preparing all those luscious and scrumptious desserts they had been serving up every night. The last night of the cruise Steve celebrated his birthday where he was sung to by our waiters and presented his very own birthday cake with candle to blow out. Again we had balloons in the room.

Before dinner on the last night all our bags had to be packed and placed outside the door for collection early the following day, ready for departure. It was quite a sombre mood eating in the dining room on the last night. Then the lights go out and all the waiters start to parade around the room with trays of flaming bombe alaska, twirling napkins in the air. Everyone joins in, raising their napkins and the mood lifts. The waiters then serve us at the table our delightful final dessert.

The following morning the ship displayed all the nautical flags and we made our into Singapore, our final port. We disembarked and made our way to our hotel, the Novotel, Clarke Quay. As we open the door I was amazed at the spacious, well appointed room and secretly think we may have been given the wrong room. Time to make the most of the next 3 days, time to explore Singapore. Onboard I loved the cocktails, the Dirty Bananas, the Mudslides and Steve couldn’t get enough of the Pina Coladas, but the best of all was the Singapore Sling at the Raffles.

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Overall, we had an amazing time and saw a lot in a short space of time. It was such a delight waking up in a new port each day after the first 6 days of total relaxation. Such a special time, our first cruise and our first trip overseas together. It started with kiss and became our first trip as Man and Wife, an experience shared with our 4 best friends.

In April 2015 we celebrated our 4th Wedding anniversary onboard our 5th cruise. Have you celebrated a special occasion whilst overseas? Where was your first overseas trip?