Day34 At Sea toward Hobart

Today we crossed the Bass Strait and continued heading south to Tasmania. The sea was very smooth and it has bee a great ride so far.
Being that this is a sea day I wanted to give some details on the ship. It is 115875 gross tons and about 300 yards long and 45 yards wide. It can carry 3078 passengers in addition to 1240 crew when fully staffed. Given its size it can still move pretty fast at a crusing speed of 20.7 knots. From the wake at the back it appears that there are four propellers.
It is a difficult ship to get around in. There are 18 decks, which is a little exaggeration since 18 has only a bar / night club. The biggest adjustment is the number of passengers you need to deal with to get anywhere on board. We have a large contingent of Aussies who are fun to listen to when they are speaking. Sometimes you wonder if we are speaking the same language. One other major difference is that they charge for everything on board. As an example they wanted $175 per person for a ships behind the scenes tour. Wow! you would get to see all of the places where the crew works.
Tomorrow Hobart.

Chris- "Back in the Saddle Again" - As Paul said we boarded the Diamond Princess yesterday and will take 2 segments on it. From Melourne to Bangkok and then from Bangkok to Beijing. I don't have as much trouble with the size of the ship or the ship snob stuff as Paul does because as long as I'm on water and they are feeding, me I'm happy. I can get around fine and the walking and stairs are good exercise. I was even able to find a spot on 12 aft where there are only two dec k chairs in a small alcove that overlooks the water from the back of the ship. It was quiet and I was just a short stirways up from a pool that isn't 100 degrees but about 85. I got there early in the day and had it to myself all day with both sun and shade available. If I can read and work from there...it will be perfect!