Noordam - A Passage to New Zealand

[richwmn]

I have been having problems uploading my Sydney Pictures, here they are

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

Wonderful pics of Sydney, Rich.

 

They bring back many great memories 🙂. What a great city, it is 😄 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great pictures of Sydney.

[forwardho]

Lovely pictures. Can you tell us what the name of the beach was?

[Himself]

Nice pictures.  I see today you are in Melbourne.  Have a great day!

[richwmn]

6 hours ago, forwardho said:

Lovely pictures. Can you tell us what the name of the beach was?

The beach is Bondi Beach, home of a TV show Bondi Beach Rescue. It is a popular beach but I was warned it has large rip tides and the lifeguards are busy. There was a jet ski out in the water carrying a lifeguard.

 

[richwmn]

As mentioned by Himself, we are in Melbourne today. Shipboard activities for today are -

 

[erewhon]

Thanks for the photos.

Hope you are enjoying your day in Melbourne.

[zelker]

Just leaving Melbourne and the Captain announced there’s a Noro outbreak on the ship, on top of the insane amount of people who’ve had the upper respiratory “crud” pretty much since we left Vancouver.  Sigh.......

[GeezerCouple]

5 hours ago, zelker said:

Just leaving Melbourne and the Captain announced there’s a Noro outbreak on the ship, on top of the insane amount of people who’ve had the upper respiratory “crud” pretty much since we left Vancouver.  Sigh.......

 

Oh dear - that is NOT good news!

 

Would you please keep us posted?

We are concerned for everyone, of course, but we are on the next cruise, and will board the day you arrive in Auckland.

 

We've only been on one ship (thus far) that had just ended a "Noro episode", and that had taken several continuous cruises to get under control... 

It is so contagious, and most regular "disinfectants" do not work for it.

 

GC

 

 

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Hope they can keep the Noro in control.

[richwmn]

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
It is hard to compare my day in Sydney with today in Melbourne. Sydney was a
day with a friend showing me his city. Today was five hours on a HOHO bus
listening to canned descriptions of the city. Don't get me wrong, I like to
use HOHO busses to get an overview of a city, but it is just not the same.

Also interesting about the HOHO bus today was its structure. Like many
cities serviced by City Tours, the Melbourne HOHO bus has two routes that
connect at Federation Square. When I paid for the ticket I was shown where
to pick up the bus, which was on the black route. As it went around the city
it did a good job of showing off Melbourne. When we got to Federation Square
we were advised to stay on the bus, as it was going to do the red route
next. Most everyone stayed on and we proceeded to see the rest of Melbourne.
When we got back to Federation Square most got off, but I heard someone say
that our bus was switching back to the black route so I asked the driver and
it was. The only glitch was a wait of about 45 minutes for another bus to
arrive so all ship passengers were on the same bus.

As with Sydney, the city was very pretty with lots of parks and green space.
The beaches were very nice, partially because we had a good day to view
them. The architecture was nice to view, and the people friendly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richwmn]

Today at sea between Melbourne and Tasmania. As @zelker mentioned, major differences in the Lido this morning. Everything served, nothing self service except juices. It looked like several members of the Lido staff were stricken because the staff was noticeably smaller. Since last night they have had someone monitoring the Purell stations in the midship lobby during meal hours.

Today's activities at sea:

 

[Molly 1976]

We too have been on a ship that contracted Noro, it doesn't matter how careful you are there is always someone who will bring it on.  One of the senior crew explained to us that instead of letting the crew know that you are not well a lot of people self medicate and still mingle with other guests therefore spreading the infection.  Apart from cleaning your hands 500 times a day it's a real dilemma to know what else to do.  We are sailing on the Noordam from Sydney on Jan 4 to NZ and back, fingers crossed it will be "clean" by then.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank you Rich for your wonderful postings each day and also all the others who have contributed I have really enjoyed your comments and hints.  This will be our 6th cruise and we are just as excited about this one as we were our first.

[richwmn]

Report on entertainment.

Last night the World Stage Entertainment was Martin Ralph. He was billed as a comedian, but his act consisted mostly of tricks with YoYos and Tops. He had a reasonably good patter going on while doing the tricks, but it was not the best entertainment of the trip.

Billboard On Board was silent last night because both pianists were under the weather. It has been going on with one for a couple of days, and now the other was also not feeling well. Chris (Cruise Director) hosted two quick games of Trivia between his chore of announcing the act on the World Stage.

Lincoln Center - a trivia partner attended and was well pleased with the performance.

BB King - was not scheduled, they get a night off out of every 7 or 8.

 

[erewhon]

Thanks for the photos of Melbourne.

So sorry to hear that  the Noro is on the Noordam, hope you manage to stay clear of the infection Rich.

[Lovely other]

On 11/10/2019 at 7:37 PM, richwmn said:

The beach is Bondi Beach, home of a TV show Bondi Beach Rescue. It is a popular beach but I was warned it has large rip tides and the lifeguards are busy. There was a jet ski out in the water carrying a lifeguard.

 

 

I nearly became a victim of those riptides when I lived in Bondi. For this reason and an incident with a jellyfish in Antigua I no longer sea swim alone 😬

[richwmn]

Late afternoon on Noordam. It has been an interesting day. Because of the Noro outbreak, Lido has gone to a no self service model. In some ways I find that very nice. It appears that the staff has had some Noro as well, as some people seem to be missing. Billboard On Board will be dark again tonight, but extra trivia has been scheduled. BB King and LIncoln Center both have performances scheduled.

Tonight's offering in the Main Dining Room

 

 

[richwmn]

The World Stage entertainment tonight was Monique Montez an Australian singer. She had a nice choice of songs and a voice with a very wide range. She performed a good version of "Diamonds are Forever", and also "I Will Always Love You" in the style of Whiteny Houston complete with the full vocal range.

Billboard On Board I am told they had a very nice set tonight, Not personal experience, that of a trivia partner.

BB King was rocking and rolling a little before 11pm,

World Stage had a good crowd, but not filled (but close to it).

Nice show overall.

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for the reports especially about the Noro.  Sorry to hear that it sounds like some of the staff is also ill.

 

Love the Melbourne pictures.

[richwmn]

Good morning from Hobart, Tasmania, Australia - our last stop in Australia.We are still on what used to be called Code Red, and I expect it to continue for at least a couple more days. Despite the additional work, the crew still seems to be in a good mood, cheerful as always.

Today's activities:

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Code Red -- know that term quite well.  Too many things are closed down during that time.

[richwmn]

It is getting close to dinner time on Noordam. We will be docked in Hobart for another 5 hours so still plenty of time to do things ashore.

We just had two announcements, the first one was that the pianists from Billboard have recovered and will be playing tonight. That will make the entertainment options better. The second one is that the World Stage entertainment has changed from the to violinist Chris Watkins who was originally scheduled for Saturday.

The ship is still operating under Code Red, we have been having the announcements to please check with medical if you have the symptoms and about washing your hands. I doubt that we will get any notice when the situation has returned to normal, just all of the sudden the extra precautions will stop. 

Hope everyone has a great day!

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Are they serving you everything in the dining room?  Like bread and butter?  Are the pools closed?

[St Pete Cruiser]

On the just completed TA crossing on the N Statendam, there was a lot of coughing in the World Stage.  At the Captain's Chat, several comments about it and why weren't staff more pro active in hand washing/sanitizer as in the past.  Captain DeBoer said HAL is in the hospitality industry and expects its guests to take care of themselves.  Maybe some of our fellow guests still need to be frequently reminded for the protection of all of us.