Volendam Cruise

Volendam NZ / Oz cruise, 21 Nov.- 5 Dec. 2008. 14 nights.

I am trying to keep this brief, but it’s not easy to condense 2 wonderful weeks into a couple of paragraphs. (This is all my own view of this cruise; everyone’s experiences will of course differ.)

Itinerary:
Auckland - embark
Scenic cruising Mercury Islands, Hole in the Wall, White Island.
Tauranga
Napier
Wellington
Picton
Christchurch
Dunedin
Scenic cruising Fjordland national Park
At sea
At sea
Burnie, Tasmania
Melbourne
At sea
Sydney – disembark

Total distance 3248 nautical miles.

My husband Rick, my Mum and I, and our friends Rick2 and Sandy were part of a group of 11 booked with a gem of a TA. I refer to the other as Rick2 to avoid confusion with my DH Rick. :lol The other 6 in the group were from Honolulu and Arizona. Very nice people, we enjoyed their company. :o)
We 5 Aussies had cabins on Dolphin Deck, midship. (deck 1) Good location, especially when the seas became rough.
Our bed was firm and comfortable, with nice feather pillows; plenty of wardrobe and drawer space. The shower was over a tub in the bathroom, with a NON cling shower curtain; plenty of storage space in the bathroom for our toiletries.

The first half of the cruise along the east coast of New Zealand was smooth sailing, when we got to Fjordland National Park the weather became bad with very rough seas and gale force winds. We had quite a ride for a couple of days! But that is what you get on a ship, and the Tasman Sea is renowned for it’s rough seas, so we were expecting it.

We found Volendam to be elegant, and easy to find our way around. The food was good to excellent; service excellent; shows were good to excellent.
Flautist Viviana Guzman was exceptional. We wanted to purchase one of her CD’s, but she disembarked too soon. Another act we thoroughly enjoyed was Irish comedienne Geraldine Doyle; she even introduced her husband, Horizontal. Too funny!
The Indonesian crew put on a great show one night, seemed like almost ALL the passengers attended; what a wonderful job they did! Very talented, and funny!

Now for my day to day blurb…………….

Left home 8.30am Thursday 20 Nov. for Adelaide Airport. Joined Rick2 and Sandy. Air NZ flight took off at 11.30am; arrived Auckland around 6.30pm. Flight was around 4 ½ hours, and we had to put our watches forward 2 ½ hours as NZ is ahead of us.
Took a shuttle to our hotel, Stamford, which took around 45 minutes @ $15 each. Well priced and convenient. Checked in and left our luggage, went for a stroll around the bay area; Princes Wharf was just minutes away.
Looking for some sustenance we came across a Mexican café which looked promising. So here we are in New Zealand, eating Mexican food, served by a couple of American blokes! :lol

Next morning, embarkation day! Mild and sunny. We wandered out in search of breakfast, found a nice café; Rick & Rick2 enjoyed the NZ bacon & eggs.
Time to explore before heading to the ship. Rick2 and Sandy went their way and Rick, mum and I headed to the Sky Tower. The view from the observation deck was awesome! I couldn’t bring myself to walk on the glass sections of floor, but Rick did. People actually pay to jump off this perfectly good tower. We watched a girl dangle over the edge, swinging in the breeze for a few seconds, before she was let go, screaming all the way! Not me, no way!

Link: http://www.skyjump.co.nz/SkyJump_Ltd/Look_N_Leap_IDL=1_IDT=2594_ID=14950_.html

Time to check out of the hotel, stroll to the wharf and board the beautiful Volendam. After handing our luggage to a porter, we joined the long line and were on board by 12.30pm; so off to the Lido for lunch and a chat before finding our cabins and unpacking. Our bags were in our room by 2pm.
The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring our new home, and we found the smoking designated area aft on Lido Deck, which someone dubbed the Leper Colony, and so it was called for the 2 weeks. “See you later at the Leper Colony” :lol

Sailaway was at midnight and we stayed out on the Sky Deck for quite a while, chatting with others. Off to bed around 2am, the first of many late nights.

Onboard there were around 600 Americans, around 400 Aussies, some Canadians, British, New Zealanders, and a few other nationalities. (I can’t find the exact numbers amongst all the bits of paper I have accumulated.)

Day 2, scenic cruising. Mercury Islands, Hole in the Wall Passage and White Island volcano. We could smell the sulphur from White Island, and the captain kept turning the ship so everyone could get a good view of the steam and smoke rising from the crust.
First formal night.

Link: http://www.whiteisland.co.nz/new/History1.htm

Day 3, Tauranga, in the Bay of Plenty. Mum, Rick and I walked from the ship, along the beachfront to Mount Maunganui. 750 feet high, approximately 3.5 km track to the top. Rick and I set off to climb it, and it was quite steep in places; we were puffing! But the view from the top was worth it. We took a different path back down the steeper side, which was a series of steps and short paths, a bit scary in places. Mum took the safer option and walked around the base of Mount Maunganui; she said it was a very nice walk.
Back to the ship for a late lunch, and because our legs were tired, we decided not to go for another walk, instead spent the afternoon chatting to others at the Leper Colony.

Day 4, Napier. Docked at noon. After lunch we took the free shuttle bus into town; turns out it was an easy walk. Napier is the Art Deco capital of the world, after being re-built in this style following a devastating earthquake in 1931. We wandered around town for a while, came across the Art Deco Shop, which was showing an interesting video about the earthquake, and the re-building of the town.
Time to get back to the ship as we had early dinner booked in the Pinnacle Grill for our group of 11, courtesy of our gem TA. Thankyou. :o)
The steaks were so tender, and the lobster was good too. Yum!

Day 5, Wellington, or I should say WINDY Wellington! We walked into town, and nearly got blown away! This city lives up to its nickname. :lol
We found the museum and spent around 2 hours exploring, but 2 days would have been better; it is a large and interesting museum.
We then headed off in search of the cable car, which took us up to the top of the Botanic Gardens. Great view of the harbour and hills, and still very windy. We then followed the winding path back down the hill, through the gardens, eventually back to the city centre. Rick decided to take a different way back to the ship, and got us a bit lost in the back streets. Mum and I were ready to throttle him! Eventually we found our way back to the wharf, walking quite bent over in the strong headwind.
One bloke put it well, “Before I got off the ship, I had hair!” :lol
By the time we got back to the ship, we had been walking around for over 6 hours, so sore legs again. :lol

Day 6, Picton, a beautiful port at the head of Queen Charlotte Sound. The inter island ferry sails between here and Wellington.
It was cold and wet, so we donned raincoats and walked into town to explore. Back to Volendam for lunch, then off again for a ride in a small float plane. The view of Picton, surrounding hills, bays and waterways was absolutely beautiful. I was pleasantly surprised at how well my photos came out considering the very bumpy plane ride. This was well worth the money.

Day 7, Christchurch. Docked at Lyttleton Harbour, took a 20 minute shuttle ride to the city. Christchurch is often described as the most English city in New Zealand, and has some wonderful old buildings and beautiful big trees.
We took the tourist tram, then looked in the museum. Next we went Punting on the Avon. The Avon River is crystal clear spring water, around 2 feet deep, winding its way past the Botanic Gardens; what a nice relaxing ride. :o)

Thanksgiving dinner tonight; traditional roast turkey on the menu, among other dishes. I also had my first taste of Pumpkin pie!

Day 8, Dunedin. Docked at Port Chalmers, 10 mile shuttle ride to the city.
We stopped at the Information Centre and booked a tour to Lanarch Castle. Wow, what a place! The bus ride was a bit scary at times, up the mountain, over 1,000 feet, but the views were wonderful! The castle itself was well worth visiting. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside, unfortunately, but the craftsmanship was exquisite. Hand carved timber and plaster ceilings were works of art. The view from the master bedroom was to die for. The gardens were gorgeous too, including a specially imported Venetian glass dome.

Back to the city, we stopped at the famous Dunedin Railway Station; a beautiful old building. We then strolled to a nearby café and had real NZ fush’n’chups; cheap and yummy. Even a local fisherman was enjoying his lunch there.

Link:http://www.larnachcastle.co.nz/index.pasp

Day 9, scenic cruising Fjordland National Park. Our day started at 5am when Rick discovered the carpet in our cabin was very wet. Are we sinking? No. Water was dripping from around the sprinkler in the ceiling, so Rick phoned room service, who sent someone to have a look. They said they would come back at 8am to fix the problem, so we showered and went to breakfast. Later in the morning we went back down to see if the leak was fixed, and found 5 blokes with an assortment of tools in our small cabin, and half the ceiling down. We could have had a party! :lol
By lunchtime all was fixed. We weren’t bothered by the situation, just happy it was fixed quickly. J Later in the day we found a plate of chocolates and a note of apology from the guest relations supervisor. How nice. :o)

Back to the scenic cruising. We were supposed to sail into Dusky Sound, but were unable to as the weather was quite bad; rough seas, strong winds and rain. The captain kept us up to date on the conditions, and by some miracle, the weather eased enough in the afternoon to enable us to sail into Milford Sound. WOW! Absolutely awesome! It was cold and wet, with clouds around the mountain tops, but still a wonderful experience. 2 of our group kindly invited us to view Milford Sound from their deck 7 balcony, including afternoon tea. Thank you so much. :o)

Day 10, at sea. Even rougher than yesterday. Cold, grey, raining, gale force winds and seas up to 9 metres (29 feet) Ahhhhh, the motion of the ocean. :lol
Today everyone has to go to the Customs inspection in the Hudson room. Some people didn’t look very well, after such smooth sailing the first week, the rocking and rolling was taking its toll. Thankfully Rick, mum and I haven’t had the misfortune of becoming seasick so far.
Second formal night, and we had dinner in the Pinnacle Grill again with most of our group.

Day 11, at sea. Cool and mostly cloudy, the sun made an appearance in the afternoon. The seas still rough in the morning, but settled to a reasonable rolling later in the day.
We had a leisurely day, mostly eating and chatting. Lunch in the Pinnacle Grill with the whole group, again thanks to our gem TA. :o)

Day 12, Burnie, Tasmania. A VERY long line to get off the ship. After the rough crossing of the Tasman Sea, everyone wanted to get their feet onto solid ground. We took the shuttle into the town centre, then another bus to various attractions. I developed a thumping headache, so went back to the ship and slept until 4pm, but still had a bad head. A nice lady at the Leper Colony kindly gave me some Panadol, and I was fine within 30 minutes. Thank you. :o)

After dinner was the dessert extravaganza around the Lido pool. A lot of time and effort would have gone into this, but we were still too full from dinner to sample any of the yummy looking fare. Maybe they shouldn’t have offered dessert in the dining room that night, then we could have tried some of the treats by the pool. Well, we should have checked our daily program more thoroughly, so our fault.

Day 13, Melbourne, Australia. Crossing Bass Strait overnight the seas were a bit rough again, which I expected. Pacific Sun was docked beside us, and Spirit of Tasmania in front.
Cool and cloudy this morning, the sun appeared by midday.
We took a tram into the city and wandered along the riverside, and through the casino, then took a free bus around the city. Melbourne is nice to visit, and we have been there a few times in the past, but we didn’t like driving around with the heavy traffic and trams on all the roads, so seeing the city by bus was good.
Eureka Tower is one of the tallest residential buildings in the world, and I was dizzy just looking up at it! Lorraine and Arthur from England went up to the top, and into the little glass room thingy which slides out the side of the building. They said it was terrific! I would be slightly scared, no, terrified, to do that! See the link below.

Link: http://www.eurekalookout.com.au/the-edge.asp


Day 14, at sea. Mild and sunny with smooth seas. Packing day. L We spent a leisurely day eating and chatting, again, and saying our goodbyes to all the nice people we had met. This night was the Master Chef’s dinner. All the waiters looked like they were enjoying themselves, it was a fun dinner to finish our cruise.

Friday 5th December, Sydney, Australia. Cool and grey, light rain. They made us get off our home. :o(
Taxi to the airport, we were there by 10am, and our flight wasn’t until 3.20pm. We asked nicely, and got an earlier flight, 12.30pm, so that saved us from hanging around the airport for an extra 3 hours. Thank you Qantas.

Final thoughts: Everywhere we stopped in New Zealand was well kept, clean and tidy. A beautiful country, with interesting history. I could have written a whole lot more, but it would have become too boring. But I am sure if something is of interest, a google search would source more information. :o)
We would love to go back for an extended motorhome tour.

Some passengers, particularly from Britain, were a little disappointed by the weather on this trip; they had expected to experience a DownUnder summer, but mostly it was cool and overcast. We weren’t at all bothered, just happy to have had the opportunity to sail this great itinerary.

The hallway dance: it took us a couple of days to figure this out. :lol We drive on the left, and keep to the left on footpaths and in hallways etc. Other countries drive on the right. While walking around the ship, especially in hallways, we would be on collision course with some others, until it dawned on us. :lol

A very BIG thank you to our TA for getting us on this wonderful cruise, and all the generous and thoughtful goodies she provided.

Thank you Captain Pieter Visser and all the crew of Volendam.