LIVE: Dec 23 2019, Solstice, 12 Night Holiday New Zealand Cruise

[Boatharbour]

51 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

When we returned to the Marriott at around 2:25 pm, our room was ready. 

 

We had a very nice view of the Sydney Opera House (photo) but the smoke from the nearby forest fires created a haze that marred the view. 

 

The smoke is from bushfires on the outskirts of the city and has prevailed for weeks. We are in a state of emergency for the next 7 days, with a catastrophic fire rating for tomorrow. The western suburbs of Sydney are predicted to reach 47 degrees Celsius. Thinking of all the volunteer firefighters out there putting their lives on the line to protect homes and people. 

Edited December 20, 2019 by Boatharbour

[mahdnc]

1 hour ago, Boatharbour said:

The smoke is from bushfires on the outskirts of the city and has prevailed for weeks. We are in a state of emergency for the next 7 days, with a catastrophic fire rating for tomorrow. The western suburbs of Sydney are predicted to reach 47 degrees Celsius. Thinking of all the volunteer firefighters out there putting their lives on the line to protect homes and people. 

 2 volunteer firefighters died when a tree fell on their tanker. 

 

Our wildlife tour which was set for tomorrow was cancelled today because of the fires. 

 

Depending on the weather conditions, the amount of smoke in the harbor changes. Today, the air was pretty clear. 

 

Edited December 20, 2019 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

Yesterday (Dec 19), it was very hot as the temperature reached 98 degF. 
 

Today was much cooler and the weather was gorgeous. 
 

Our son flew in to Sydney today from San Francisco. So now our family is whole. 
 

We took advantage of the nice weather and visited the Royal Botanical Gardens which is close to the hotel. 
 

The funny thing was that we were looking for the famously large bats that hang upside down in the trees asleep during the daytime. Evidently they have been ruining  the tree canopies and consequently, they have been driven away from the gardens. 
 

 

Edited December 20, 2019 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

We are currently enjoying dinner at the Icebergs Dining Room at beautiful Bondi Beach.....

 

[Suzi66]

33 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

Yesterday (Dec 19), it was very hot as the temperature reached 98 degF. 
 

Today was much cooler and the weather was gorgeous. 
 

My car was telling me that yesterday was 47C and today was 49.  Officially we got to 46.8C today and it is coming your way.
You're welcome 😁

 

 

Edited December 20, 2019 by Suzi66

[ipeeinthepool]

Sydney looks beautiful (when the smoke clears).  I'm glad you were able to navigate the pre-cruise crisis on this cruise.  Your wife lost purse situation, but she had her passport,  reinforces my pre-cruise process of keeping the passports around my neck with a credit card and cash.  My assumption is that as long as I have the passports and a credit card I can recover from almost anything.  Hopefully you won't have any more disruptions along the way.  Enjoy your pre-cruise stay in Sydney.

[mahdnc]

After dinner we visited the Sydney Observatory to look at the night sky thru their telescopes. It is open to the public but you have to buy an amusing ticket. The sky transparency was affected by the smoke and the light pollution from the city lights. Still we were able to see a nebula, globular cluster, and a double star system. None of the bright planets were visible, but we did see Uranus. 

 

[mahdnc]

On 12/19/2019 at 8:05 PM, lovedecruise said:

When you disembark in Sydney, we get on.  Enjoy your trip. New Zealand is a beautiful country.  Have a few things I'd like you to check out, if you have time. Thanks.

just let me know, I’ll look into it

[countess5]

We had the opportunity to cruise around New Zealand earlier this year. It a most beautiful country. I hope your sail into Milford sound is as amazing as ours was!

 

Cheers! 

[BEAV]

Always enjoy your reviews traveling with your family over the holidays. 
 

So sorry about all the pre-cruise crisis and drama. Hoping next year you experience none of it! 
 

Looking forward to following your travels. 😉

[Boatharbour]

11 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 2 volunteer firefighters died when a tree fell on their tanker. 

 

Our wildlife tour which was set for tomorrow was cancelled today because of the fires. 

 

Depending on the weather conditions, the amount of smoke in the harbor changes. Today, the air was pretty clear. 

 

Not sure if you have made other plans following the cancellation of your wildlife tour, but you could take a ferry across the harbour to Taronga Zoo or to Wildlife at Darling Harbour. Enjoy your stay.

 

[mahdnc]

7 hours ago, Boatharbour said:

Not sure if you have made other plans following the cancellation of your wildlife tour, but you could take a ferry across the harbour to Taronga Zoo or to Wildlife at Darling Harbour. Enjoy your stay.

 

 

Thanks. We went to the Taronga Zoo during our visit to Sydney in 2018. We ended up doing something far more costly: we shopped at The Rocks Market and then headed over to the CBD for more financial damage. Even our son bought a bunch of clothes at his favorite store, Uniqlo. 

 

[NMTraveller]

13 hours ago, countess5 said:

We had the opportunity to cruise around New Zealand earlier this year. It a most beautiful country. I hope your sail into Milford sound is as amazing as ours was!

 

Cheers! 

We did the same Christmas cruise several years back.  Milford Sound is beautiful.  Our best excursion of the trip was when we got off of the cruise ship by boat in Milford Sound and did a land tour for two days.  Milford Sound is the most scenic portion of the cruise.  We got to walk through the scenic part vs cruising around it.  That was one of our best excursions ever.

Edited December 21, 2019 by NMTraveller

[mahdnc]

We are now at the Park Hyatt for Afternoon Tea. Nice view, too. The Norwegian Jewel is docked today at the Overseas Passenger Terminal. 

 

Edited December 21, 2019 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

 

Afternoon tea was very good at Park Hyatt. I think it was a little better at The Tea Room at the Queen Victoria Building because of the room devour and china.

 

On the other hand the harbour view from Park Hyattis unrivaled. 

Edited December 21, 2019 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

The bush fires in the areas around Sydney have forced the cancellation of a wildlife tour that we had booked for yesterday afternoon and evening. That was unfortunate because we were looking forward to seeing platypus in the wild. Of course there are far more serious consequences to the fire than that. 

 

The tour was to include dinner so last night we had to figure out last minute dinner plans. So we let our kids decide and after consulting the Yelp app on their smartphones, they selected a Korean Barbecue restaurant, named Sydney Madang Restaurant.  It was my first time to this type of restaurant and it was excellent although I always like to fake complain about going to establishments where you pay to cook your own food. 

 

 

Edited December 21, 2019 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

So today is the solstice. I mean the actual astronomical solstice, not the ship (which is tomorrow). This is the first time in my life that I got to enjoy 2 summer solstices  (aka, two longest days of the year) in the same calendar year!

 

When I woke up this morning, I received this email from Celebrity:

[mahdnc]

 

This is the full current view out of our hotel window on the 23rd floor here at the Marriott. Today will be our coolest day in Sydney as the high is forecasted to be 71 degF. It reached 99 degF on the day we flew into Sydney (Fri Dec 19)

Edited December 21, 2019 by mahdnc

[lovedecruise]

Thanks so much for your review.  I am following with great interest.  I hope your embarkation goes well tomorrow and that you have a wonderful cruise to our lovely country.  If you have time, could you please see if the Aqua Spa cafe in the Solarium, is open for lunch.  I don't think it was on our embarkation day when we boarded Solstice on our last trip. I checked back through our dailies and it wasn't advertised as being open.  Many thanks.

[mahdnc]

Good morning. We get on Solstice today. I woke up at about 530 am, just in time to see Maasdam sail by the Opera House from our hotel room window. 

 

[mahdnc]

Half an hour later, Solstice sailed by the Opera House. 

 

[mahdnc]

10 hours ago, lovedecruise said:

Thanks so much for your review.  I am following with great interest.  I hope your embarkation goes well tomorrow and that you have a wonderful cruise to our lovely country.  If you have time, could you please see if the Aqua Spa cafe in the Solarium, is open for lunch.  I don't think it was on our embarkation day when we boarded Solstice on our last trip. I checked back through our dailies and it wasn't advertised as being open.  Many thanks.

 

I will look into it and will post what I find

[KAE27]

This is a fabulous review already.  Looking forward to the rest!

[mahdnc]

Here are current screenshots from two Sydney Harbour webcams:

 

 

Edited December 22, 2019 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

Yesterday was a lazy day for us. We slept in and then we went to movie theater to watch the new Star Wars film.