Have you ever wanted to go on a cruise?
Oh, perhaps it’s just me then. It’s not something that’s ever tempted me. Too many people, too little space. Give me the outback anytime.
Mind you, I wasn’t interested in camping in the outback either, until I met Doc, so perhaps there’s something to the cruise thing.
So when I received an invitation to the finals of the Royal Caribbean InstaFilmFest I thought it was a perfect opportunity to see a cruise ship up close – from onboard – and decide whether I truly was missing out on something. After all, hundreds of thousands of people take cruises every year, they can’t all be wrong.
So off I went yesterday. It was a beautiful day on Sydney Harbour, and the ship looked HUUUGE sitting there next to all the ferries at Circular Quay. As the only time I’ve ever been seasick in my life was on board a large naval ship, in port, I was getting a little nervous.
When the first person I met in the security line up was Allan Dixon, those nerves might have started to show a little. But he was far too nice for me to maintain that desire to punch him for too long, so I graciously (at least I hope it was gracious, in my head I was calling him every name under the sun for taking my perfect job) asked him about his time as the winner of Australia’s greatest jobs competition for the Northern Territory’s Outback Traveller. Unsurprisingly he loved it, but that wasn’t why we were boarding the Voyager of the Sea.
We boarded the ship, got into the lift, and got out again at … Westfields. No, not Westfields, more upmarket than that … Vegas? It was a huge atrium, with a promenade lined with shops, cafes and bars, with lights, and glass and open staircases everywhere. I nearly lost my group as I looked around in open-mouthed wonder. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that. I watched The Love Boat, and there seemed to be a lot more … outside. Even if they were inside there were windows looking out, but this was all inside, with no external windows at all. You could have been anywhere and it could have been anytime.
It wasn’t until we were taken to the ice rink (yes, you heard right), where the announcement of the winner was to be made that I started to feel seasick. Fortunately as soon as I moved away from the crowd and got the cool air coming off the ice I felt better and could go back to being plied with lots of alcohol.
When I started seeing cartoon characters wandering around I thought maybe I’d had enough to drink, but it was all part of the show. The Sea Voyager markets itself as a family friendly cruise, and even has its own Dreamworks experience on board.
The plying with alcohol continued, until we were finally asked to take our seats by the ice rink, where we had a presentation with lots of information about the ship, and were given our own private ice show. Apparently that’s all part of the on-board experience – the ice show that is, not the presentation about the ship. And if going ice skating while out at sea is a dream of yours, then you can do it on the Sea Voyager.
The announcement of the winner, when it came, seemed to go all too quickly. Or perhaps that was the alcohol. There was a quick run through of each of the 10 finalists. The InstaFilms are only 15 seconds each, so it only took 2 ½ minutes before they announced the winner. They could learn a lot from Eddie Maguire about building suspense!
I’m not going to go into the merits of each of the entries, you can see them for yourself at the Instagram links below. I thought the winner was lovely, but more of an “awwww” moment rather than a “wow” moment. But what would I know – I don’t want to go on a cruise, either.
But if you do want to go on a cruise you could do worse than watch out for next year’s InstaFilm Festival. The winner this year got a trip to New York, with a place on the inaugural voyage of the world’s newest superliner Quantum of the Seas.The trip includes the chance to fly in a wind tunnel at sea (RipCord by iFLY), and being suspended more than 300 feet above the ocean and over the sides of the ship (North Star).
Once it was all over we were bustled off the ship, and headed off to the nearest bar where I was plied with more alcohol by travel industry executives. And that’s why this blog is so late going up today. Life’s tough, but somebody has to do it!
Winner
kar1981 http://instagram.com/p/iVdohQr5ni/
Finalists
Daxon (This is the person who took my best job in the world!) http://instagram.com/p/i52kwiQ7Qx/
zdiggtydog http://instagram.com/p/hjb7aElcIQ/
matty7619 http://instagram.com/p/iIvqf_xK4v/
asherkingvisuals http://instagram.com/p/c3EsxRHHVj/
gcimagery http://instagram.com/p/iKITwHu-CQ/
lovethywalrus http://instagram.com/p/hxmTceLCAZ/
chenoa_ http://instagram.com/p/jBljGvDEDc/
dylan___robinson http://instagram.com/p/f9VdxioSYv/
jamesbenning http://instagram.com/p/gCI5qezgZJ/
