February 17, 2016 – Sydney, Australia

Crystal Serenity arrived well before sunrise the morning of Feb 16th and anchored in Sydney Harbor. Once the sun came up we had a beautiful view of one of the world’s great cities – downtown Sydney, the Opera House and Harbor Bridge – all from our cabin’s verandah. Captain Vorland explained to us yesterday that he would be deploying eight anchors in the morning to keep us stable in this busy harbor. 

Although it would have been much easier for all of us if we’d been docked at Circular Quay, adjacent to the Opera House and many of the prime attractions in Sydney, that wasn’t possible this year. There was already a very large ship docked at the one pier at Circular Quay (called the Overseas Passenger Terminal). We also saw later that the location where our Holland America ship had docked three years ago (Barangaroo Wharf, near Darling Harbor) is no longer a viable option, as a giant development of high rise buildings has been constructed there, and the Barangaroo Wharf is now gone.

Crystal came up with a good plan for transporting us into Sydney by arranging for large local ferry boats (capable of carrying approximately 200 passengers at a time) to pull up alongside the ship every 30 minutes or so and transfer us to Dawes Point, on land, just under the Harbor Bridge. Then there were shuttle buses to take us over to Circular Quay. This system worked very well for us both days in Sydney. However, we imagine it was probably stressful for those passengers leaving the ship at the end of Segment 1 of the World Cruise to head to the airport, and for new passengers arriving for embarkation onto the ship as well. 

Our travel agent back home is a member of the Signature Collection which arranged for a private tour for us the first morning in Sydney. It was an easy transfer via our ship’s tender station onto the ferry boat, and we traveled on one of the first runs to shore (leaving the ship at 8:30 am). Our car, driver Fred, and guide Lara arrived at Dawes Point at 9:30. The 4-hour private tour was great. We asked them for primarily a sightseeing tour of city highlights. There was a proposed schedule, which we all agreed to modify just slightly. We drove all around the bustling city, stopping first at the Observatory for a pleasant nature walk and view of the Harbor Bridge.

Lara described the story of the first British colonization of Australia, in Sydney, by convicts shipped from England starting back in 1788. She continued with many of the highlights of the following 230 years’ history and was a wealth of information. The city of Sydney now has a population of 4.8 million, not counting the growing metropolitan area. The entire nation of Australia just passed the 24 million mark, which is less than some of the largest cities of the world (such as Tokyo, Delhi, and Shanghai).

As we traveled around this energetic and exciting city, we marveled at the large number of attractive areas, tall modern skyscrapers, and many historical, golden sandstone buildings that we passed by. It’s a large city with a lot of interesting features. Specifics are too numerous to describe in detail. We visited the Rocks (oldest part of the settlement, down along the waterfront), Royal Botanical Gardens (including Government House and the views from Mrs. Macquaries Point), Hyde Park, King’s Cross, Woolloomooloo Bay and inner city housing, as well as Bondi Beach, a very crowded beach area just 15 minutes outside from the city center (by car).

Part of the day included an excellent group tour of the Sydney Opera House – one of the architectural wonders of the world – which lasted for more than an hour. As you probably know, its white-tiled roof was designed to give the appearance of billowing sails. There are five performance halls, and we visited four of them – opera hall, concert hall, drama hall, and studio. The 10,154 pipes of the organ in the 2,500-seat Concert Hall were especially impressive.

Fred and Lara delivered us back to Dawes Point where we caught the next ferry ride back to the ship docked in the harbor. The day and private tour were fantastic. Especially nice was the pleasant weather with temperatures in the mid-70s. We made it back to the ship by 2:00, had lunch, and rested for the remainder of the afternoon. There were many visitors on the ship. It’s interesting how many passengers have friends and family in Sydney. This included Jerry and Karen, our table mates in the dining room.

Our second day in Sydney was equally great. We had signed up for an excursion to Featherdale Wildlife Park (our chance to cuddle a koala), but the tour was cancelled due to lack of signups; that was strange, but it did save us some money. So, instead, we set off on our own and repeated the ferry boat ride to Dawes Point; but this time we caught a shuttle bus for the short ride to the harbor’s focal point – Circular Quay. This is a busy confluence along the waterfront of six ferry boat wharfs, a major train station, bus terminal, and the “Overseas Passenger Terminal.” It can get crowded here, with both local people and visitors from all corners of the world. But it’s very pedestrian-friendly, and everything is clearly marked with good signs.

After spending the day in town yesterday, we decided to get out of town today and take a roundtrip catamaran ride on a River Cat boat from Circular Quay along the Parramatta River, as far as the community of Parramatta (Australia’s second oldest settlement) about 15 miles west of the city. We understand that the land along this river was occupied by Aboriginal peoples for thousands of years. But now the ferry service along this river seems to be used by commuters and leisure travelers from fairly wealthy suburbs into town at Circular Quay.

We left on the 11:07 River Cat which made nine stops at wharves along the way, including one for the Sydney Olympic Park area. We saw public parkland and walkways along both sides of the river, several rowing clubs and sailing/yachting clubs, large, beautiful homes (closer into the city), and forests of new high-rise apartment and condominium developments.

We enjoyed the roundtrip ride, which took about 2½ hours in total. When we returned to Circular Quay, we did a little shopping, and then Ginny returned to the ship via shuttle bus and ferry. Jim walked around the area adjacent to Circular Quay, known as The Rocks, Sydney's historic old town. This is an interesting area for exploring, with many old buildings, including some of Georgian and Victorian architecture, lining the historic cobblestone streets and back lanes. It can be a little hilly here, but manageable. The convicts and colonists landed and started settling in Australia right here back in the 18th and 19th centuries. Many of the old warehouses still survive but have been converted to stores, cafes, hotels, and other uses to fit modern times. After wandering for a while, Jim found a very pretty walking path along the waterfront that led right back to Dawes Point and caught a ferry ride back to the ship.

Departing passengers were leaving and an equal number of new passengers were arriving on board the Crystal Serenity most of the afternoon. Interestingly, these transfers were being done by ferry boats leaving from the opposite side of the ship from the in-transit passengers (that’s us) who were coming and going for sightseeing in Sydney by ferry to Dawes Point. The arriving and departing passengers were being transported to/from a different location – the White Bay Passenger Terminal – for customs/immigration processing and transportation to/from the airport. The picture below gives you an idea where we're located in the harbor, to the left of the screen:

In our opinion, the best part of Sydney is the beautiful natural harbor. Of course, the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge are magnificent structures which greatly add to the beauty and appeal of the harbor. But we also enjoyed simply watching the many sailboats and ferry boats crisscrossing around us as we sat in the center of things. Our departure between 10:00 and 11:00 last night, with the moon shining and all the lights of the city visible was a memorable experience. In summary – a wonderful visit.

We now depart for Brisbane on Segment 2 of the World Cruise. This segment is titled “Australian Discovery Cruise" and will end in Bali, Indonesia on February 29.

Jim & Ginny