Getting Home

We woke to the surrounds of the beautiful Sydney Harbour. Mostly packed from the night before, we were up around 6am and by 7.30, saying goodbye to Cabin 9538. We waded through crowds of queues, to the back of the ship, grabbing breakfast at our usual spot, before waiting for our 8.30am disembark call.
Alas, a prompt and efficient disembark was not to be. For we were a Category something-something covid ship you see, the port has insufficient staff available and something-something else, meaning lengthy delays, standard shambles and incompetence and clogged exits.
We had a sneaky ambition to tour the aquarium this morning, but with the delays and such, that ambition was laid to rest. I think we were off the ship eventually by around 10. We'd opted for 'assisted luggage disembark' to help with our three jumbo bags, but the problem was, every other cruiser had done the same, and the bag-reclaim spot might as well have been a 1000 foot flaming pile, with no organization or structure to pick up, and cruisers colliding left-right and centre. Bloodied and tired, we finally cleared the ship and its surrounds. Now adept at mass luggage transport, we slowly, but much more surely made our way to the Circular Quay station, picked up some tickets and had our way to the airport by around 11am.
We opted to check in this time with prams taken to the gate. Never done that before, but gave it a whirl. Had it's pros and cons. Clearing security was hectic, but it was handy keeping the kids rested and apart, especially given our flight was delayed from 2pm to 2.50.
The kiddos again loved the airport, and I spent a couple hours wandering with them, showing them the planes. They were both fantastic on the flight back when we got aboard, Axel having his best flight yet (of 4 this year).
It was smooth sailing back in Melbourne, for an hour peak hour drive back to bring our holiday to a close.Read more