We had a bit of time to make a few last minute purchases before heading across the street to the coffee shoppe for breakfast for Hope and some of that strong Australian coffee, for me. The coffee is so strong that I actually have to pour the entire small pitcher into the enormous coffee cup. The place was kind of nice. Nice atmosphere and great spot to people watch.

As Hope and I sat, we noticed a guy, obviously of African descent, digging through the rubbish can, on the corner. It didn't take long, for him to find something in a container. He went over to the building behind him, to have a sit on the ground and eat. I didn't know if the food came with the chopsticks or if he had them already in his pocket. I didn't even know if what he was eating was in fact, Chinese. Hope didn't finish all of her meal, so she asked for a carry-out, to pack up her leftovers, to hand to the guy, as we passed him, heading back to the hotel.

When we got back to the room, the baggage handler had come to take away our luggage.

I forgot to comment on the hotel and the rooms. The hotel was nice and all the employees were extremely friendly and helpful. Our room was nice, but I did notice that there were no dressers, to put clothes in, just a closet. The bathroom had nice toiletries and both a tub and a shower, both separate. The windows opened, but we did not open them, as we didn't know if it was mozzie season or not.

After everyone met in the lobby, we loaded up on the bus to take us to Circular Quay, to the ship.

It was about a 30 or so, minute trip. We were dropped near the baggage area. After nabbing our luggage we headed over to the ship's baggage handlers. A gentleman asked me, "do you have alcohol?' Of course, I said, "no." Why would I incriminate myself? LOL.

The check-in process was quite smooth and we headed onto the ship; however, when we arrived to our floor, the doors were shut and indicated that we could not get to our cabins until 1 P.M. We headed up to the purser's office to try and book the "Great Barrier Reef" tour, but unfortunately, it had been sold out months ago. So we walked around a bit and headed up to the Windjammer for lunch. Food, food and more food.

Hope asked me what tour, was I thinking about for Brisbane and of course, I thought that there would be the possibility of someone conducting private tours, when we got off the ship.

We headed back to our cabin in hopes of our luggage being there. NOT. After a while, I looked out and saw a bunch of luggage down the hall. I walked down and saw that our luggage had just been dropped off on our floor and left in a central area. Told Gigi, as she was sticking her head out of her cabin. She couldn't believe that they would leave us to fend for our own luggage. Anyway, we got our luggage into the cabin and immediately cleaned out the drawers to begin unpacking. I suggested cleaning out the drawers, because I found a pair of nearly new tennis shoes in the drawer by my bed and some of the drawers had unknown particles in them. The beds, like in India, was pushed together to make one. Agnes, our cabin steward was in the hall and we asked if she could have the bed split. My luggage was probably gasping for air, as it had been packed over a month ago.

After a bit of trying to organize, we had to head up to our Muster Drill. I know it's for our own safety, but I hate these. Again, Hope wanted to open up her special pint sized can of "whoop ass." She'd asked a little girl to move over, so that she could sit down and the little rat bag (naughty children) said, "no." I didn't hear nor see this, but Hope said that her mother was quite embarrassed and made her move over. The ship is teeming with children. School's out, we assume and everyone's on holiday. Way too many kids for me, but they're not mine, so I kind of obliterate them from my eyesight.

Many travelers are rude and obnoxious. Americans, in my opinion are not the rough heads (ugly), it's the other countrymen. There was so much talking during the muster drill, it was unbelievable. Hell, it would be every man for himself, because these idiots would not even know what to do. Just way too much talking, talking and loud.

The crew seemed to be quite new. A manager was trying to instruct the muster guides on how the people should have been led into the room and separated. If it was an actual emergency, people would be scattering everywhere.

After that, it was time for dinner and we headed up to the Sapphire. The menu had changed drastically, in that now, you have to pay for filet mignon, room service, specialty coffee and lobster tails. I was still a bit full, so I just had a Caesar salad, shrimp cocktail and escargot. Everyone was kind of quiet this evening. Some of us had travelled together before, but most had not. The dinner was enjoyable anyway, as we watched the ship sail away.

We headed back to the room, as I was still exhausted from 22 hours of flying and our extensive touring of Sydney. Hope, the party animal, was tired too. It was too cold tonight, to sleep with the balcony door open, so we kept it closed and called it a night.