After our exciting (but long) day at the Sydney Opera House, we slept in a little on day 4. We had a late breakfast that morning and then packed up our hotel room and checked out. The hotel called us taxis for the ride to the White Bay Cruise Terminal (about 20 minutes away) to meet up with our cruise ship. When we arrived at the terminal, Oceania reps met us at curbside. We gave them our luggage, next time we saw our bags they were in our cabin! Checked in with our passports, filled out the usual forms, went through customs, and then checked in with the Oceania staff. We were issued our cruise IDs and boarded the ship a little before 1300. Our cabins were not ready yet so we just relaxed, had a snack, and explored the ship. Got into our cabins around 1500, unpacked a bit, then mustered for a safety drill. Ship sailed out at 1730. We had our first onboard dinner at one of their specialty restaurants (called "Red Ginger"), the sushi was to die for.... :)
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| "Walking the plank" - boarding our cruise ship. Cruise line was Oceania. Ship was the MS Sirena. |
View of Sydney Harbour from the Horizon Lounge. |
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| Sailing away from Sydney, believe the structure in the back is the ANZAC Bridge. |
Cruising out of Sydney Harbour... |
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| Goodbye to Sydney! |
Angela on our balcony. |
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| View from the sun deck. |
Wading pool and hot tubs. This was the last cruise of the season for Oceania. Weather was generally great but it was "fall" in Australia so the temperatures were generally cool. Consequently, pools and hot tubs did not see alot of action. |
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| Dining room. |
Ornate hallway, this deck included the theater, casino, and a lounge area. |
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| The library. Also included a few terminals for internet access. |
One of the sitting/lounge areas. |
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| One of my favorite spots... |
Bar inside the ship theater. |
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| Ship theater. |
One of the most important places on the ship, the ice cream shop! |
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| Angela at the "Red Ginger" Restaurant. |
Angela ordered the sea bass, mmm, mmm, good! We ended up ordering this numerous times. |
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| I ordered the beef, it was also scrumptious! |
When in Australia, drink Australian wine, no? |
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| My favorite dessert - coconut, mango, and pineapple sorbet! Reordered at every opportunity!! |