January 4, 2026 Sydney

Noordam arrived in Sydney this morning. It is turn around day for the ship which was ending the Tasmania and southeastern Australia cruise and beginning the Australia and South Pacific Islands cruise. There are 144 passengers staying onboard for this cruise too. Some of the new passengers will be just beginning a 42 day cruise, at Auckland they will be continuing along the southern New Zealand coasts and Milford Sound ,then returning to Sydney.

After a morning stroll through the Royal Botanical Gardens with Janine and Mae, we said goodbye at the ferry wharf, then walked over to the Rocks Market which takes over at least three streets on Sundays and Saturdays. We found a Gelato kiosk, near Argyle Street and Playfair Street, with good gelato before returning to the ship. The temperature was 28°C, mostly sunny skies and a light breeze.

We used our “in transit” card to pass the checkin line. We were back on the ship by 12:30 p.m. having left the ship, with over 1,800 departing passengers, just after 8 a.m. this morning. Steps to date 16,012.

There was the usual welcome aboard paperwork on the bed and an invitation in the stateroom advising to take it to the Lido Market for a complimentary sparkling wine. There was the daily program and a letter about the Lifeboat muster and advertising for different ship shops and services. We climbed up to Deck 9 to the Lido Market and enjoyed sparkling wine with our lunch salads.

As with every cruise, we needed to view the television Safety at Sea video. Unlike our previous cruise, this cruise occurs at the 180 day mark that requires an in person Lifeboat Muster which was announced at 3:45 p.m., and every five minutes for the next half hour, instructing passengers to assemble at the lifeboat stations at 4 p.m. We did not need to take our life jackets. However as in the past, there were some stragglers who caused everyone to remain on the Promenade Deck in groups of about 150 for ten or fifteen minutes longer than necessary while a brief thunderstorm occurred. Fortunately, the tenders (lifeboats) sheltered most of the passengers from the rain.

At 5 p.m. we went to the Deck 3 main dining room to our assigned table #95 and just like the first cruise we were the only ones to show up for dinner at our table of eight. We had a new waiter, Erik and new assistant waiter, April Joy. Nono and Ali were now serving in the Deck 2 main dining room. The Maitre d’ came over to chat and advised us that we should have received notification that our table assignment was changed to #44 also a table of eight at which just two women were seated this evening. We will join them tomorrow. We had very good service from Erik and April Joy.

The captain welcomed aboard everyone in his announcement just after 5 p.m. that the ship would be leaving soon but it was after 6:15 p.m. before we departed on our way to Morton Island on Tuesday. We will have the first time change before arriving there, since the state of Queensland does not change to daylight savings time in the summer like the state of New South Wales. The distance is 480 nautical miles. We will travelling at about 17 knots. The ship will be exiting the Tasman Sea and entering the Coral Sea overnight. Tomorrow we might see waves of six meters.

We went to the Library Café for our after dinner Caramel Lattes. The barista, Jane recognized us and knew our usual order. The Library Café was quiet, but as we left more people arrived.

Tonight’s show in the World Stage was called The Welcome Aboard Show with the DAM band, and singers and dancers performing. Robbie Conley, the Cruise Director, introduced his Entertainment team and the show cast.

After we returned to our stateroom, our steward, Slam, delivered two canvas tote bags and two tumblers, inscribed with Holland America Legendary Cruise.

We added only about 3,000 more steps once on the ship.