Flight to Melbourne and Vibe Savoy Hotel Melbourne

Officially on holiday as we need to get up early - what's that about!!!!

Up at 5am to be at the airport for 6am with plenty of time for our 8.30am flight.   I like to have plenty of time especially as we are travelling for the first time with my LevoC3 power-chair and in a large box a portable shower commode.

We always park at Auckland International Airport Parking and this time when I booked only covered parking was available which was that much more expensive. Parked in Car park D which is a 2 minute walk to the terminal. (Had a map inserted but things keep changing at the airport so may not be up to date - Aug 2016)


Arrived early so had to wait until 6am when our parking time started!   Access is by inserting the credit card you paid with - easy.     Found a park at the end of a row under a light.

Check in was easy as we had Premium Check-in.   No problems with the large box.   Took our two carry-ons with us to the plane.

Our carrier of choice is Air New Zealand and we were booked on a 777-300 and upgraded to Premium Economy.




Wow - great seats!  We are totally converted to this class as it was so much easier for me to lifted in and out of the seat.   Heaps of room, great service and very nice food.



Plus:
The vast selection of activities on the inflight entertainment will keep even the most fidgety of flyers engaged for the whole flight. Enjoy over 1,700 hours of content - including latest movies, TV box sets, video games, and a dedicated kids section - all on a 10.6” personal touch screen in widescreen format. If you need more, there are always the USB and iPod connections to plug in to


Our flight over was fast and we were told there was a window of 15 minutes for our arrival on the new flight time.    Alas that did not work as we arrived early then had to wait on the 'apron' until our gate became available - 1/2 hour.     Due to the wheel chair passengers (me and others) we could not be disembarked on the tarmac which could have been an option.

Only disappointment was how long we had to wait for my power chair to arrive at the plane - think we waited another 1/2 hour.

Finally we were off and able to get through Immigration - airport helper insisted we use the fast track system, but for some reason it would not let me.  Pete went through and I was taken to the front of the queue to be processed.   Off to get the luggage - all relatively easy.  

I declared 'nuts' on the Agriculture form as we had taken Whittakers Chocolates with us.  Good move as we were sent to the red line which was completely empty and we got straight through!    Actually the Officer was annoyed with me.....    Tough worked for us!

We had been told there was no need to order a wheelchair accessible taxi, so we found the taxi area and the taxi rep ordered up a maxi taxi.    Didn't have to wait long at all.

Ride to to Vibe Savoy Hotel, on corner of Spencer Street and Little Collins cost around $66.00.  So we were glad it was a Sunday and not a week day.    The recommendation came from:
http://havewheelchairwilltravel.net/category/melbourne/




We had an Easy Access Room - not strictly fully accessible but did work for us.  Huge room although bathroom a little small, but no issue when using the shower commode.




Room overlooked the Atrium - bonus being no road or other noise!



Entry to bathroom




Shower stall - portable shower commode fitted.

Across Spencer Street there is an Outlet Store Centre, Foodcourt and Coles Supermarket.   Got our wine and water for the ship from Coles.    Pete had a neck and shoulder massage at one of the shops in the Outlet Centre.

On arrival in Melbourne it was a hot 35 degrees.   We walked into Coles it was that temperature and when we walked out 20 minutes later the temperature had dropped 10 degrees and was really windy.   By 6pm it was raining sideways.

We stayed in the hotel for drinks and dinner and were joined by our brother-in-laws cousins for dinner.   A jolly night was had by all!

Boxing Day in Melbourne

Today we finally slept in, and when Pete drew back the curtain we discovered it was 7.45am and the ship was being turned around for berthing at Melbourne Station Pier.   He quickly worked out we were to be backed in, meaning our cabin would be on the wharf side, so he abruptly closed them again, so we could shower and change in private.

When we did reopen the curtains we found the gangway was right outside our window!!!  

Photo Taken from the Gangway!  Our cabin window is the centre top one.

Time for breakfast, and as we were so late there was no way we could go to the MDR as that was closing at 8.30am, so off to the Buffet again.     Being a port day the Buffet was busy, but we managed to find a seat with a lovely couple from Christy and Eddie from Canberra who were on their first cruise.    An hour and half of chatting later we finally parted on our separate ways.  It is always amazing how often you start chatting to strangers and end up having something in common and a great conversation.    Turned out Eddie is a printer by trade, an industry I use to work in as an Accountant. 

The weather forecast was for showers/rain high of 20 degrees, and it looked rather gloomy outside.    We had Martino hunting around the cabins nearby for an umbrella, which is supposed to be in each cabin (Thank you to the residence of 5053 we pinched yours!)  We got ourselves together and disembarked onto the gangway and then I felt the chill and sent Pete back to the cabin to get my wool jacket.    We had originally thought about going into the city to experience the Boxing Day sales, but decided against that as it was 11am by the time we were ashore and the city would be bedlam.    Instead we thought we would walk along the waterfront to Bay Street, the main street of Port Melbourne.  At the end the Pier we bumped into Myra and Louie who were on there way back having walked to Bay Street.  They had discovered a large wine shop ‘1^st Choice Wines, and had a couple of ‘cleanskin’ wines stashed in their backpack.   

Not far from the pier we came across a beautifully restored 1954 FJ Holden two tones black and silver (grey).   Pete could not resist knocking on the window and getting the owners attention to have a chat.   Turned out the owner had purchased the car 3 weeks ago, but had only taken delivery of it an hour ago.   Of course he was very proud of his new acquisition.  (Sorry Pete didn't get a photo)

The walk was quite chilly until we got into the main street.   Only the cafes were open plus the Supermarket and Pharmacy, which was good as I needed tweezers.   The chatted to the shop assistant who advised us against going into the city as it would be total madness.     We walked a little further then turned back and decided to find one of the nicer cafes to have a coffee.    We found one doing a deal - coffee and muffin for $5.30.     Boy the muffin was a meal in itself!!!   On the walk up we had heard a father telling his two four years old they had created the world record for the most mess made with a muffin!!

From Port Melbourne - we took a similar picture of the Diamond on 24.12.2011

The rear bottom two rows of large windows are in the Grand Dining Room

The weather seemed to be clearing on the way back about 12.30.    We dropped our bits off at the cabin and I thought is was time I did some walking, so walked up to Cova Café (the long way) which felt so good.    A bit of a walk but my calf muscles needed stretching.    Pete had a cappuccino and I opted for a mint citrus tea.   My Naturopath had recommended I have mint and lemon as a stimulant to improve my absorbency of nutrients.   It was very refreshing.   The Cova Café is a good place to hang out and do my Blog, but as with last time, we had Ccer’s come along and join us for a coffee and chat - this time ‘noisy nanny’ Jo and hubby Graham.   Despite the temperature Jo was in a sun frock!  But that is what this holiday is all about, is chilling out and doing little.

After my walk we went back to the cabin and changed to the chair from the walker.  Somehow we had had lunch so we called by The Grill and got an Angus Burger, at 3 in the afternoon!

As it was getting closer to Sailaway we decided we might as well get a table on the Sunset Bar - Aft of the ship as the rain had moved off and the weather was clearing and the sun came out.     I sent a text to Patty, and she and Colin were walking along the beach having been in the madness of the Boxing Day Sales.    Merilyn called by at one point and we had a long chat while Pete was elsewhere.

Before long Jo and Graham reappeared so joined us at the table, so then we extended the table so there was room for Patty and Colin.  Pete being a tiger for punishment ordered a bucket of beer, in readiness!!  

View of Melbourne from the Sunset Bar Aft.

A Bucket of Beer - 6 for the price of 5, in this instance Grolsch

When Colin and Patty turned up they arrived thirsty and hungry.   The Sushi Bar in the Buffet is close by so Colin returned with a pile of sushi!!!!  (and went back for seconds)   The first bucket of beer disappeared so Colin purchased a second, at which point I put Pete on rations

Sailaway out of Melbourne was spectacular.   The Spirit of Tasmania came in just before we departed.    Although the weather had improved it was still very windy.     We stayed on deck until just before 7pm, when it was time for the first show in the Celebrity Theatre - An Illusionist.     I was not that enamored to the idea, but the show was actually quite good, and only lasted 50 minutes.

Being buzzed by the Police Helicopter

Dinner time.  We had a table for two in the dining room tonight, but the couple who came to the next table were rather chatty, which was nice.    The meals have been very nice and the service good, although I was disappointed in the small number of wines sold by the glasses, with one being ‘out of stock’.     We don’t normally eat so late, so it was 9.30 by the time we finished dinner.   We did a detour to the jewellery shop as Pete would love an expensive Citizen watch.   The prices are quite good but…..

As we wanted to rise early we went to bed with the curtains open.