March 22, 2018 arrived in Sydney end of the cruise

March 22, 2018

The ship arrived in Sydney at 6 am and docked at 7 AM.

We had breakfast in the dining room as we were not scheduled to disembark until 9:30am so we had plenty of time to eat and have coffee.

Around 8:30am we went to our meeting place and we called to leave around 8:45am. We grabbed our carryons and left the ship to collect our luggage.

Once we collected them we proceeded to the terminal exit where we waited for the car service to pick us up.

We arrived at the Radisson Blu at 9:45am and were able to check in early as they had a room near the elevators ready.

We went down to Circular Quay for lunch at the City Extra cafe where we had a hamburger and chips for A$25.00. Lunch was good. 

We then went to the Opera House and bought tickets for the tour. Since we had 1 & 1/2 hrs before the tour started we walked to the Botanical Gardens and took a 30 min. train tour of the gardens which were very beautiful and very large in area.

https://us.sydney.com/destinations/sydney/sydney-city/city-centre/attractions/royal-botanic-gardens-and-the-domain

Headed back for the Opera House tour. We saw all the theaters and common areas in the complex. Very nice in decor and design. We saw them setting up the props for an opera in the opera house.

We walked around the wharf area and ended up eating dinner at one of the restaurants.

Circular Quay reminded us a lot like Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco except it had a lot of different restaurants and shops.

https://www.sydney.com.au/quay.htm

Back to the hotel- have a busy day planned tomorrow.

March 21, Last day at sea and heading for Sydney

March 21, 2018

Our second day at sea and heading to Sydney.

In the morning we went to a cooking demonstration and directly afterwards for a tour of the galley. Very interesting.

In the afternoon we started some packing .

We just chilled out for the rest of the day.

Went to the evening show, put out the luggage for our arrival tomorrow.

March 20, 2018 A day at sea- formal night

March 20, 2018

We had rough seas today.

We just chilled out until 3 pm when we went to a formal tea at 3 pm.

It was formal night and most people dressed very nice.

Menu featured lobster and king prawns. After dinner all the waiters were in a parade holding baked Alaskas. Later our waiter told that the desserts they held were not real and that the ones served were large sheet cakes that were sliced up and served to the guests.

We went to show tonight which was musical featuring the dancers and singers - Born to be Wild.

Lots of rock and roll hits and a pink Cadillac was on the stage as a prop.

Great show.

At 10:30 pm we gathered in the atrium for the balloon drop. It was lots of fun-guests were dancing, others catching the balloons and others taking photos.

March 19, 2018 cruising the Fiordland National Park

March 19, 2018 cruising the Fiordland National Park

Weather today is going to be cool and windy and possibility of 4ft waves.

Not much going on in the morning so we decided to do one load of wash. The cost was $3.00 to dry.

Afterwards we went to lunch and then went to a lecture by a retired Park ranger on the Fiordland National Park. He showed a lot of nice slides of the landscape and the wild birds that our found in the Park.

https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/fiordland/places/fiordland-national-park/


The weather is cold and drizzling and we hoped the weather would clear so the ship could cruise the Park.


At 2:15 the ship entered Milford Sound and for one hour the ship sailed in and around the sound exiting at 3:15. The sky cleared so we could see the mountains and lots of waterfalls on the mountain side.

The water was calm so we had smooth sailing.

Once we got out on the open water the winds picked up so much that the doors leading to outside were blocked off, it started raging and the seas became choppy.

After dinner we went to the Nikki Bennet show in the theater. She is a well known cabaret singer in Australia.

Tonight we turn the clocks back one hour.