Our Northern Explorer Cruise, Australia 2025 Part 1

20 May Our Northern Explorer Cruise, Australia 2025 Part 1

Day 1 April 16th – Boarding Crown Princess & leaving Sydney

On a warm autumn day Maggie and I left home to catch the ferry from Manly to Circular Quay, Sydney. It was forecast for rain and there were plenty of clouds.

Regardless, Sydney was displaying its best form and colour as we approached the cruise ship terminal at Circular Quay.

After our boarding papers were completed and identification tags issued, we boarded the Crown Princess to find our cabin, explore the ship and admire Sydney from a different perspective.

Sydney is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, Australia.

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Day 2 April 17th – At Sea

While this was our fourth ocean cruise, our last cruise with Princess was on the Sapphire Princess in 2013. So we needed to remind ourselves of the important things; where to find food and drink.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner could be found at the ‘all you can eat’ Cafe Caribe and Horizons Court. Most of our breakfasts and lunches were eaten in one of these two facilities.

In addition, one can dine at three Main Dining Rooms (Botticelli, Da Vinci and Michelangelo). Since Da Vinci did not have timed sittings or require a booking, we had evening meals there on many occasions. While the food choice was limited, it was mostly excellent. Room service was also available at extra cost.

The other eight dining options of various styles and types required a cover charge of $80 per person and a booking, so we did not use these.

Entertainment could be enjoyed throughout the day at bars and pools. While the main acts performed in the Princess Theatre at 7.30pm and 9.30 pm.

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Day 3 April 18th – Good Friday in Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital city of the state of Queensland, Australia

Maggie and I have been to Brisbane many times and chose an off ship tour that mostly included sites we had not seen.

The Botanic Gardens at the base of Mt Coot-Tha.

The Japanese Garden within the Botanic Gardens

Leaving Brisbane at Sunset

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Day 4 April 19th – At Sea

Each day we walked around the ship’s open decks 7/8 or 16/17 to help keep our weight in check, given that we were eating a lot more than usual. So we tendered to survey the horizon for signs of land, bird life, whales and dolphins etc, but we rarely saw anything of note. We did see some quite spectacular small flying fish on a couple of occasions, but they were too fast and too small to photograph.

And there was plenty of time to peruse the ‘amazing’ bargains on decks 5, 6 and 7 in the Piazza. Nothing really that we wanted, except I did buy a nice shirt for a bargain price.

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Day 5 April 20th – Easter Sunday Willis Island

While I was searching the horizon for Willis Island, a small group of Boobies kept harassing me for a photograph. The longest lens I had with me was an 85mm so capturing these birds from the ship, at distance, was not an easy task and the results are ordinary. But the clouds offered some extra interest. And it gives you an idea of what was occupying our time that day.

Ah… there it is… Willis Island …. Mind you, we were anticipating its appearance for over an hour. Not knowing how big or small it is, made me think we’d see it sooner on the horizon.

The captain parked our ship as close as he could get: about two nautical miles from this very small pile of rock, sand and coral.

Why was it so important to visit Willis Island? Talk on the ship was that the cruise needed to go there to maintain tax exemption status, for sale of ‘tax free’ alcohol and various other goods on the ship. My research indicates there is some credence to this, as Willis Island is part of the external territory of Australia, called the Coral Sea Islands Territory. (Wikipedia). Regardless many people were out on the open decks and balconies waiting excitedly to catch a glimpse of this mysterious piece of land.

So what is there to see at Willis Island? The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has a weather station on the island with up to four observers living and working there to provide a cyclone early warning service.

The island is about 500 meters by 150 meters, located approximately 450 kilometres (280 mi) east of Cairns, QLD and is the only permanently inhabited island in the Coral Sea Islands Territory. The highest point on the island is 9 meters above sea level.

We had some voice communication from a member of the team on the island, which was broadcast through the ship’s PA system.

Using digital zoom (cropping) of 200%, the above photo became the following image (with no AI or special pixel enhancement algorithms used). At least you get a visual idea of what is there.

Willis Island certainly did capture the imagination of a large proportion of the passengers and added a level of excitement to this day at sea.

Sunset, same day.

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Part 1 of Our Northern Explorer Cruise has come to an end.

Thanks for viewing and reading all about it. Please join us for Part 2, coming soon to you, including our visit to Cairns, Darwin and Kimberley Coast.

Stay safe and well.