39 day Noordam Cruise from Auckland to Vancouver, March 25 to May 2.

[erewhon]

Watching Noordam sailing past, she is well lit up.

[boeckli]

Noordam leaving Port Chalmers (from Royal albatross cam)

[Sea42]

13 minutes ago, boeckli said:

Noordam leaving Port Chalmers (from Royal albatross cam)

What a wonderful photo! Thanks for sharing it!

[ozcruizer]

We've done a few cruises on the Noordam including New Zealand.  We also cruised from Honolulu to Sydney in 2015, its inaugural voyage to Australia.  Love New Zealand and hope to do yet another cruise there when the Noordam returns next season. We like the size of the Vista ships.

[ozcruizer]

We've done a few cruises on the Noordam including New Zealand.  We also cruised from Honolulu to Sydney in 2015, its inaugural voyage to Australia.  Love New Zealand and hope to do yet another cruise there when the Noordam returns next season. We like the size of the Vista ships.

[St Pete Cruiser]

On 4/1/2023 at 2:34 AM, boeckli said:

Noordam leaving Port Chalmers (from Royal albatross cam)

It was a nice sailaway from Pt Chalmers as the ship hugs the port side of the channel leaving. We stayed outside on deck 10 to watch until we came to the ocean where we saw numerous albatross.

[St Pete Cruiser]

We rounded the southern tip of the south island of NZ enroute to Dusky Sound. It was rather rough waters with clouds, but the good ship Noordam under Captain Pieter Bant entered Dusky. We passed in and out a different sound giving good views with limited sun. Much to our disappointment, we could not enter Doubtful Sound as the winds had increased to 50 knots. We continued on to Milford Sound and with less wind and better visabilty, Noordam entered Milford. 

I found deck 9 forward was a great spot for viewing, and the bow was open there, too.

We spun near the end of the deep sound and quickly the wind and heavy hit. Milford is very narrow for a ship the size of Noordam. We saw several small tour boats.

Near the exit to the Tasman Sea,  the pilot left us and to my delight we blew some very good toots as we left New Zealand. 

 

[St Pete Cruiser]

After leaving Milford Sound, our next port was Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Two sea days crossing was a little bumpy, but most of us did just fine. 

Hobart was an enjoyable beginning to Australia and proved to be walkable from the dock. We especially enjoyed the Royal Botanical Gardens. 

[StLouisCruisers]

4 minutes ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

After leaving Milford Sound, our next port was Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Two sea days crossing was a little bumpy, but most of us did just fine. 

Hobart was an enjoyable beginning to Australia and proved to be walkable from the dock. We especially enjoyed the Royal Botanical Gardens. 

 

Ahh!  One of my favorite botanical gardens too!  Do you remember I featured them when Hobart was Port of the Day on the Fleet Report and Daily.  I'm glad you decided on seeing it!

[wdw1972]

Your photos are beautiful - definitely making me put this cruise on my bucket list!

 

Sue/WDW1972

[Aitchgeye]

I am interested in your blog, as I hope to travel from Australia to Vancouver. 

 

But in the meantime, people following the blog may be interested in travelling independently in Melbourne.

Melbourne '"Downtown" is near the port and accessible by tram- need a Myki card

• Attend an Australian Football League game at the MCG (preferably) or other venues.  
• Visit the Botanic Gardens, National Gallery of Victoria, Victoria Market (food and souvenirs)

Day trips- accessible by train

• Visit Ballarat or Bendigo-  train travel in Victoria is super cheap,  and you can purchase Myki cards at Southern Cross station.  Ballarat is known for Sovereign Hill, and also has a decent wildlife park.  Get a taxi when you get there. Bendigo is a lovely gold mining town, that is beautiful to walk around.

 

The Great Ocean Road trip is awesome, but if you choose to complete  the whole circuit that includes Port Campbell  it will be a long and rushed day.  Consider hiring a car, and travelling just to Lorne and back. Over Easter this journey will be very very slow due to vacationers heading to the coast.

 

 

[St Pete Cruiser]

I will be posting pics of Melbourne later as I get wifi. 

[St Pete Cruiser]

After Hobart, a day at sea and then Melbourne. Crossing thru a rather narrow entrance you must sail to the far side to see Melbourne. We docked at Port Melbourne and walked into the city along a mostly green space walkway. Melbourne features a free zone CBD tram, which many of used as a hop on hop off tram. Melbourne is a city of 5 million and you must target what you want to see. Our favorites were the Art Museum and Royal Botanical Gardens.  At 6:30 , the good ship Noordam left for our final Australian port, Sydney. 

[boeckli]

2 hours ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

After Hobart, a day at sea and then Melbourne. Crossing thru a rather narrow entrance you must sail to the far side to see Melbourne. We docked at Port Melbourne and walked into the city along a mostly green space walkway. Melbourne features a free zone CBD tram, which many of used as a hop on hop off tram. Melbourne is a city of 5 million and you must target what you want to see. Our favorites were the Art Museum and Royal Botanical Gardens.  At 6:30 , the good ship Noordam left for our final Australian port, Sydney. 

 

 

Thanks for sharing your photos.

Are you saying you walked all the way into the city centre? Why not take the bus or tram?

Hope you're enjoying your stay here in Sydney today. I see you were lucky and docked at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, which is so much more convenient for sightseeing than the alternative (White Bay).

[St Pete Cruiser]

1 hour ago, boeckli said:

 

Thanks for sharing your photos.

Are you saying you walked all the way into the city centre? Why not take the bus or tram?

Hope you're enjoying your stay here in Sydney today. I see you were lucky and docked at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, which is so much more convenient for sightseeing than the alternative (White Bay).

Thanks! We needed the exercise and enjoyed seeing the city on foot.

[colbe]

1 hour ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

Thanks! We needed the exercise and enjoyed seeing the city on foot.

The Sydney Harbour was so busy today. So many different craft. 

[StLouisCruisers]

9 hours ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

Thanks! We needed the exercise and enjoyed seeing the city on foot.

 

We have walked to downtown Melbourne before using that mostly pedestrian walkway.  It's along the tram tracks most of the time as I recall.  You really do need the exercise once in a while to combat all that food on the ship!  Good for you!

[#55worktoplay]

@St Pete Cruiser Your pictures are absolutely stunning. I will be interested in following the rest of your journey. Thx

Edited April 9, 2023 by #55worktoplay

[St Pete Cruiser]

After Melbourne was Sydney, the real Sydney, not the one in Nova Scotia that I have been to several times.

We got up early to watch the sail in at 6am. Magnificent!

It was a beautiful clear day. The Opera House, the Botanical Gardens, Hyde Park, Darlington Harbour and the Overseas Terminal area, which is the prime dock between the Bridge and Opera House with all the ferries coming and going. 

Sailaway was the best ever with Captain Pieter Bant using the horn to the max as it echoed off the high rise towers of Sydney. 

I'll try to post the pics as I can.

[St Pete Cruiser]

From arrival to sailaway,  a beautiful day in Sydney. 

The best way to see Sydney your first time!

[erewhon]

Yes,  it's well worth getting up to enjoy the sail into Sydney, pleased that the weather was good for you.  Thanks for sharing your photos.

[boulders]

Thanks for your report! I'll be doing the reverse cruise (San Diego to Auckland) in the fall.

 

What are the fixed dining times in the evening? 

[highscar]

Fixed dinning is 8pm.   We have tried on each ship to have an earlier time to no avail. 

[cunnorl]

Thanks for the report and the pictures. Brings back great memories. I was on the Noordam in the fall  for 85 days. Loved the ship and hard working crew. 

[St Pete Cruiser]

22 hours ago, boulders said:

Thanks for your report! I'll be doing the reverse cruise (San Diego to Auckland) in the fall.

 

What are the fixed dining times in the evening? 

On this cruise it is 5:30 and 7:30. We have the later, with excellent service. Our server has been with the company many years. Wine sommelier started on Rotterdam V over 30 years ago. 

Many of us asked cruise director for port talks to resume and they have!

Fiji today, and I will try to post pics if I can get good wifi, which is not easy here in the South Pacific.