Day 103 - Sydney, we have a problem :)

Day 103 – Bay of Islands to Sydney – Monday 27/8/2012

Weather – Mostly cloudy 11C – 18C

Sunrise – 6.09am

Sunset – 5.36pm

Time difference – plus 1 hours ex Sydney (back an hour last night)

Throughout the day Sun Princess followed a westerly course towards Sydney. At noon we were 205 miles west of Three Kings Islands. Three Kings Islands, or Manawa Islands are a group of 13 islands 55km north west of Cape Reinga, the northern most point of New Zealand, where the South Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea converge.

An interesting start to the day today , the ship lost its power. I was woken at 5am, and the first sign to me that something was not right was the toilet did not flush. Out in the corridor only auxiliary/emergency lights were on, as was the case in the Atrium. As the ships engines were not running, it was very quiet, and we were just bobbing around in the ocean. Clearly the ship does not want the World Cruise to end either :)

The Captain came on the PA for a follow up announcement ( I must have been asleep during the first announcement) to advise that engineers were working on the problem, and that we will be stopped whilst they do so, and that there was no cause for alarm. Donna went out on the Promenade deck where the pitch black of night still held court, and the ship was making that creaking metal noise of a ghost ship ooooooooooooooh ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Nothing was gunna stop the early morning jogger doing his best to wake up the folks sleeping in the cabins on deck 6, below the Promenade deck. Every morning since we left Sydney 14 weeks ago, he is out there at 5.30am – 6am banging the boards.

About 5.45am all the lights came back on, and daybreak was upon us, so the eeriness dissipated, and then it sounded (or felt) like engines were running. At 6.05am the Captain reported that the systems were being gradually being turned on, as power was restored to each component individually, and that he expected that we would be underway shortly.

6.30am, and it was now full daylight, though the cloud was hiding the sun. We were still bobbing round in the ocean, though the normal ships sounds were returning, air conditioning vents were humming, and the glorious sounds of the vacuum toilets sucking away the things that need to be sucked away. The lifts were all disengaged at deck 7, with doors ajar. I had visions of hordes of people at every foyer on every other floor forlornly waiting for those darn lifts to come :)

At 7.35 and away we go again. The Captain reported that systems continue to be staged on, and that we would be back up to normal speed shortly, and does not anticipate any delay to our arrival in Sydney. He was spot on, within 10 – 15 minutes we were running as if nothing had happened.

The problem was that the transformer which converts 6000 volts of power down to 440 volts blew a sausage (my technical term). Given that, it was quite remarkable that they were able to have it fixed so quickly, full credit to the crew.

The rest of the day was much less exciting, our usual sea day routine, but with more indoors than outdoors as it was a tad chilly on deck.

And so the packing begins eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You kinda collect the odd bib and bob over 14 weeks, so now the challenge of packing. Space is not the major hurdle as we brought an extra case with us. Our limiter is the airline luggage allowance, so it is about now we get a little jealous of our Sydney friends who have just kept buying extra suitcases without a care in the world – One couple in particular, who shall remain nameless have the luxury of 9 suitcases, lucky doers :)

Our last formal night tonight, so a full dining room, as you would expect.

One last day tomorrow !!!