Category Archives: Travel

Perhaps not the liveliest of versions, however non-Aussies like us need to see the lyrics to better understand this great folk song. e.g. a billabong is an isolated stagnant pond, a jumbuck is a male sheep. There was a proposal to make Waltzing Matilda Australia’s national anthem. No wonder. When we saw it performed live on board Edge and it brought tears to our eyes.

Leaving Solstice, we got an Uber to our 54 floor hotel, Meriton Suites in the heart of the commercial district. We could not figure out how to operate the elevator to get to the 39th floor. Duh. It turns out you must place your room card on the scanner and then an elevator is assigned and pre-programmed to take you to your floor and not to any other ones. Welcome to new hotel security technology! Our room was spacious and well equipped with a kitchenette. If we ran out of anything, we called down and it was delivered in minutes. We highly recommend this superb chain!

We were overlooking George Street which is like Toronto’s Yonge and Bloor Streets combined, jampacked with restaurants, high end shops, food stores and coffee bars etc.. The first day we walked around the magnificent St. Mary’s Cathedral, the iconic Opera House, visited the Aquarium and then did some shopping. We found everything we needed including delicious Australian wine very cheaply priced, just footsteps away. There were dozens and dozens of of Asian style restaurants filled with patrons. The streets were teaming with people, many of them young and Asian. It felt exciting to be there.

Next day Marie’s colleague from nursing school, Maureen and her husband Joe visited us. They took us on a delightful harbour cruise and a walkthrough the historical Rocks district near the harbour. Then we went for a lovely seafood lunch in a pub, thoroughly enjoying the company and the conversation. They live in a suburb of Sydney and took the transit system train back and forth easily. Sydney has a an extensive tap on, tap off transit system and an LRT right down the middle of George Street that works!

Next day we hit the beach. We hopped on a tap on, tap off ferry for a 20 min. ride to Manly beach. We walked around the shops and beach area marvelling at the surfers everywhere. We continued exploring the ocean path and found a tranquil little beach protected by large rocks. It was absolutely gorgeous there! We had a dip followed by snacks and beer in a sunny surf-side restaurant. Truly a great place to live and play we were thinking as we headed back by boat to our hotel.

The next day we went to Bondi Beach which you have probably heard of. It is very long with even bigger surf. Lots of surfers again, people exercising, walking dogs, sunning on the beach, happy. On the way home our bus stopped at the mall just before a tragic mass stabbing was to take place inside. We were shocked next morning when we head the sad news of this.

Perhaps the highlight of our whole visit was attending a standing room only, solemn Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral. There were 2 Archbishops, a huge men’s choir, and dozens of priests and lay in the processing party. We chatted with a parishioner who had come to Sydney from Malta and noticed a lot of young families there. It was a great send-off before embarking on our next cruise later that day.

(You will very likely be happy to know this is the last posting about this cruise.) Our last sea day on board the Westerdam was enjoyable. They offered an Alaskan king crab with salmon lunch for previous Holland America (HAL) cruisers which was excellent. They gave us nice ceramic HAL coasters as gifts. Then we did a 5k walk for cancer research (10 laps on the Promenade deck). The captain gave an interesting talk about bridge controls and ship features. We learned that the Westerdam cost $450M to build 15 years ago and weighs 86,000 metric tons.  It has 2×13,500 HP azipod stern thrusters which can rotate 360 deg, 6 bow thrusters to help in docking and 2x25x8ft stabilizers which act like wings to level the ship. On our way out we saw the moment on TV when Torontonian Bianca Andreesku beat Serena Williams in the 2019 US Open Tennis final. Yeh Canada! ‎

Overall we enjoyed this Holland America (HAL) cruise but perhaps not as much as past Oceania and Celebrity Cruises we have taken. Holland America is a mass market cruise line that draws cruisers who tend to prefer the more traditional ways of cruising. There is less buzz. Founded in 1873, Holland America has a long history and a steady following. Opinions abound that ever since Carnival Corp’s takeover of HAL years ago, quality seems to be sliding in an effort to cut costs.

Keeping everyone healthy onboard is always a big challenge. We noticed there was no enforcement of hand sanitizer use upon entering the Lido/MDR nor was there a personal health disclosure form that each passenger had to fill in upon boarding. Both these practices were in force last year on Oceania Cruises on our Baltic cruise. We appreciated that there was a Catholic priest onboard offering daily Mass. This a common practice on HAL and very rare elsewhere.

People were calm and polite onboard. Staff were extremely friendly, polite and well trained. They really try hard to please and seemed generally happy working for HAL. The itinerary and weather were generally good. The food in the Lido (buffet restaurant) was disappointing. Eg, all types of fish tasted the same and was overcooked, side plate salad appetizers looked rather unappetizing. Food in the dining room was good to excellent, arriving just a bit cool sometimes.  The Westerdam ship was adequate and very clean but at 15 years old, is showing it’s age in our view. We absolutely loved our aft balcony cabin which gave us a 270 deg view. Highly recommend aft balconies!  Pool and hot tub were good as no one else was usually there.

By the numbers:

• 7 nights Anchorage to Vancouver
• 3 ports, 3 sea days
• 2600 kms, 125,000 USG fuel (bunker and diesel)
• passengers 1900, crew 783
• best‎ day – Glacier National Park (10/10)
• worst day – pulling out of Seward in the rain
• respiratory illness alert while we were on board (many were coughing with some fever for a day or 2)
• excursions our group had arranged were average to good, say 6 on average (no bears, did see lot’s of salmon, eagles and a few whales, best was to Meldenhall Glacier and falls)
• really enjoyed the train ride from Anchorage to Seward
• Anchorage itself, so-so due to the location of our hotel and high prices
• the trolley bus tour we took there was fun and excellent
• the drive to Mt Aleeska resort and tram ride were excellent
• this was more like a river cruise than an ocean one as you are close to shore which is probably one reason Alaska cruises are extremely popular
• best moment of the whole trip was when the sun came out in Glacier National Park‎, totally unexpectedly
• even the captain Vincent Smit remarked how lucky we were that day!

Ratings (Marie’s – Dave’s)(out of 10)

• ship 6 – 6.5

• itinerary 6 – 7

• food 7 – 7.5

• shops/activities 7 – 6

• service 9 – 9

• cabin 8 – 9

• overall‎ 6 – 7 (Our previous HAL cruise on the Zuiderdam we rated 8)

Would we cruise on HAL again (this was our 2nd)?

– not likely, but never say never

Would we cruise Alaska again?

– not likely (too much like NFLD for Marie and like YVR for Dave) plus, we prefer warmer climate cruises.

Thanks again for travelling with us. If you haven’t cruised yet, perhaps you would like it too.

Hope to see you out and about soon.

Marie and Dave XOX