January 2, 2026 Sea Day #7

   Final Sea Day on Noordam, for this 14 day cruise, en route to Eden, New South Wales.  At noon the ship was half way between Melbourne and Eden. Just 206 nautical miles to Eden at an average speed of 12 knots.

    When we checked our Messages this morning, Scott and Mia had successfully arrived in New Delhi, India after their New Year’s Day flight. They were in line at Indian Customs and Immigration, then catching a flight to Amritsar in a few hours.

    We had a light breakfast at the Library Café before going to the World Stage for Coffee with Robbie and his interview with five members of the production cast. Most passengers agree that the five production shows so far have been great quality. The Dance Captain, two dancers the Voice Captain and one other singer answered Robbie’s and  passengers questions over 35 minutes. Holland America has switched talent agencies to Blackburn International in London. The choreographer of the shows has worked on London’s West End productions.

    Then we walked seven laps of the Promenade Deck. We returned to the World Stage in time to catch the end of A City on the Sea, the story of the crew and what it is like to live and work on the ship.  It ended with a thank you to the passangers for joining them on the cruise.  At 11 a.m , two of the dancers introduced passengers to waltz steps in the Rolling Stone Lounge. We had logged 6,593 steps so far.

    At noon the captain announced that the ship was half way to Eden from Melbourne. We were rounding Wilsons Peninsula Natural Park and were passing the Hogan Islands.

   Up on Deck 9 Lido Market was celebrating Cake Me Away with dozens of different cakes. We stayed for lunch before going down to the World Stage for Oceania Up Close: the Great Distance which explained the great distances of Australia. Australia is larger than Europe.

   At 3 p.m. we went back to the World Stage for Bernie’s Port Talk about Eden.

   Before dinner we danced to the music of the DAM band in the Ocean Bar. We joined Elizabeth and Colin in the dining room. They enjoyed their dinner last evening at Canaletto Italian Restaurant much more than their dinner several nights ago at the Pinnacle Grill.

    The Show tonight was the return of New Zealander Will Martin, vocalist and pianist. It was another good show. The DAM band had another set at 9 p.m. in the Ocean Bar, but they were not playing ballroom music. We did dance to a few melodies. At 9:45 p.m. the pastry staff and dozens of waiters flooded the Deck 2 bars, lounges and Casino with “Chocolate Surprise”. There were trays of individual small samples of chocolate covered goodies, like peanuts or raisins, cocktail size chocolate cupcakes, and half a dozen other delights served on Chinese style soup spoons.


 Total steps 12,221

the end of A City on the Sea
Deck 9 Lido Market's Cake Me Away



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