December 25, 2025 Christmas Day at sea

 Christmas Day  Sea Day # 3 between Burnie and Adelaide, South Australia

Clocks were moved back 30 minutes to align with Adelaide time.  We travelled north west overnight, early this morning we passed King Island, part of the New Year group, as we departed the Bass Strait area and entered the Southern Ocean.

    Early this afternoon, on the westward course, the ship passed from the waters of Victoria state into the territorial waters of South Australia state, which is 30 minutes behind Victoria state time.

    The overnight voyage was rough. On Deck 1, near the middle of the ship in our inside stateroom, we could feel the ship swaying as we lay in bed. People on the higher decks who have staterooms on the sides with water views feel the motion more. This morning the motion continued. We have ginger capsules and motion seasickness bands which made a big difference to the queasy feeling, first thing this morning.

    At 7 a.m., the outside temperature was 12° C, the wind SSW 21 mph (about 34 km/h), broken cloud, humidity 66% and travelling at a speed of 16 knots (almost 30 kph) into three meter waves.

    The main dining room opened at 8 a.m. There was a line of several dozen people, some people wearing a variety of Christmas clothing and headgear. The waiters were all wearing Santa hats as they did all day yesterday. We sat with two Australian couples - Jan and Arthur from Western Australia and Aire (pronounced Ahry) and Wendy from Sydney. While we were waiting for our breakfasts to arrive, we noticed that we were passing an oil rig in the Bass Strait.  We had a lively table then we all went to the World Stage after breakfast to see the visit from Santa  and Mrs. Claus.  Children and many adults took advantage of a photo with Santa. Children under 17 received a small gift bag. At one side of the stage, a beverage station was set up with two large 100 cup urns of egg nog or hot chocolate, several thermos of hot water or coffee and an assortment of Christmas cookies and Christmas fruit cake.   

    We visited Future Cruises to change our late June Alaska cruise tour. since it ended on the day of a family reunion back home. We can still book for early June as the two mid June dates are full. The cabin is guaranteed, but we might get an upgrade to another cabin category. The cruise part of the tour is only four nights, the rest of the trip will be either by train, plane or bus including Anchorage, Denali National Park, Fairbanks, Dawson City, Whitehorse and Skagway.

    In the captain’s Noon announcement, he mentioned that the waves were between five and six meters high during the night, but were just four meters at noon. There are 304 nautical miles to Adelaide with a planned docking tomorrow at 8 a.m. The winds are Force 8, but should be just Force 5 by tomorrow. Adelaide’s predicted temperature tomorrow is 28°C.

    Looking at the Facebook page for this cruise, someone posted a news article from the local newspaper about the Sunday detour to Botany Bay. “Botany Bay water police evacuated an 83 year-old woman from the 285-metre long cruise ship Noordam at about 7 pm on Sunday evening after a medical incident on board. Paramedics treated the woman on the police vessel before she was taken to a waiting ambulance and transported to Prince of Wales Hospital.” Other Facebook members posted photos and others wondered about her condition. 

    We were back in the World Stage for the port talk about Adelaide and Kangaroo Island, the next two destinations. Then we stopped at the Library Café for an Americano and a Vanilla Gingerbread Latte.

    The whole day the ship was swaying. It was hard to walk in a straight line. The outside Promenade Deck was closed. Even taking the stairs to another deck was tricky. By the elevators there were vomit bags on the railings. On the floor of the elevators there is removable carpet that tells which day it is, but nothing like that on the staircases - one forward, one mid-ship and one aft. There are also interior metal crew staircases.

    We were able to work in a dance in the Ocean Bar on the way to dinner and a couple of dances in the Rolling Stone Lounge after dinner.

    This is the last evening designated “Dressy”. New Year’s Eve is “Festive Attire” while the rest are “Casual”. Also, this was the final dinner with Donna and Barry who are leaving the ship in Adelaide due to their health. On the menu tonight was Roasted Christmas Turkey with apple chestnut stuffing, gravy, cranberry relish, Brussels sprouts, glazed yams, corn and creamed potatoes. Also on the menu were Honey Baked Ham, Beef Tenderloin & Beer Batter Shrimp, Four Cheese Tortellini and Halibut Red Beet Reduction. Desserts were Traditional English Plum Pudding, White Chocolate and Caramel Snowman, Pumpkin Tart, Key Lime Mousse Éclairs and Santa Sundae.

   We listened to the Vivace Duo in the Explorers Lounge after dinner.

   The World Stage show was the return of guitarist Bruce Mathiske, instead of a show by the dancers and singers. The ship was moving too much from wind and waves for the performers safety. The World Stage is located near the bow of the ship.  When we returned to our stateroom we discovered tonight's towel creation was a Christmas tree.

   On the Australian news today was a report of the fire bombing of a Melbourne rabbi’s car parked in his driveway. In Sydney, protests have been banned for the next two weeks.

     Steps 4,566 


an oil rig in the Bass Strait
the World Stage backdrop
the visit from Santa  and Mrs. Claus
Pumpkin Tart and White Chocolate and Caramel Snowman
tonight's towel creation was a Christmas tree

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

December 10, 2025 Pre -trip

Image
  In late November, we struggled through the applications for an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) for both New Zealand and Australia. It took close to 30 minutes in total to get each of the cellphone photographs to be accepted into the online applications. Many other travellers, on both Facebook and Cruise Critic, have complained about the finicky photo insert feature of both applications. Fortunately, the other five countries, that we visit in January, have on arrival eTAs that will be completed by the cruise ship administration.    We leave in a few days for our seven-week trip to Australia and some South Pacific islands. After a few days in Sydney and surrounding area, we plan to cruise for 14 days from Sydney and back visiting places in the Australian states of Tasmania, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Then we will continue on a 28 day cruise from Sydney along the Australian east coast to Cairns before travelling to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islan...
Read more

December 20, 2025 Manly and Sydney

Image
   Our fourth day in Sydney started as a warm 23°C, but cloudy and a possibility of occasional light rain showers. There was rain overnight.   We packed our umbrellas and used them in Sydney and Manly for brief showers.     We departed the hotel before 8 a.m. to indirectly walk to Circular Quay, via the Kings Cross Post Shop mailbox. We meandered through the Potts Point neighbourhood encountering townhouses that reminded us of the iron railing balconies of New Orleans   houses as we walked along Orwell Street and may other streets. We negotiated the 102 step Butler Staircase to get down to Brougham Street then the 25 step staircase to get down to Victoria Street (about 300 m from our hotel). Walking along McElhone Street there was a Christmas display in front of one of the townhouses. We continued to a bridge to cross the M1 motorway tunnel entrance. We followed a paved path and came out by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, crossed the street to walk thro...
Read more

December 14 & 15, 2025 Vancouver

Image
   During our couple of days in Vancouver staying with Cat, we enjoyed a belated birthday dinner at Banter Room, a ten minute walk from Cat’s apartment. On Sunday, we met cousin Murray and Susan on Granville Island for brunch at Tap and Barrel Bridges, just a half hour walk over the Granville Bridge. There was a light rain on our walk home.    Larry completed the electronic checkin for the Air Zealand flights, last evening. We have a bid in for upgraded seats, but are still waiting and assume that we will find out at the airport.   The plane is scheduled for a 6:35 p.m. departure this evening, flying Vancouver to Auckland, New Zealand. At take-off, the time in Auckland would be December 16th 3:35 p.m. and in Sydney, Australia would be December 16th 1:35 p.m.   We will be flying through five time zones. We cross the International Date Line, thus “loosing” a day, arriving in Auckland on December 17th around 5:30 a.m.    The distance between Vancouve...
Read more