Bob and Theresa: Oosterdam (And We) Departs Sydney!

Goodbye Sydney - Hello Oosterdam!

Wednesday we slept in a little, ate a nice meal of cereal and milk in the common area, and headed to the lobby. The hotel arranged for a shuttle bus to the pier for $12 per person. He arrived a few minutes late, but all went smoothly and when we arrived, we waited in que for just a few minutes and before we were allowed entry to the ship. The entry card asked "If you have a fever, do you have a cough?" so we were able to answer "No" truthfully, since we had coughs, but no fever.

So we were allowed to board and proceed to our cabin. Holland America is a little more upscale from Carnival and we ended up with a veranda cabin.

The cabin was spacious and well appointed with a curtain to pull across to separate the bedroom area from the entry hallway/bathroom area. The bathroom had a small tub/shower.

Oosterdam was moored at the international cruise terminal where Spirit had docked with the Sydney bridge just behind

The girls during a walk about

Oosterdam is almost exactly the same size as Spirit but the layout is much different. One difference is the retractable roof over the lido pool - making it much more useable in inclement weather.

One cute feature were these bar stools of fish tails!

The atrium was only three decks high but very elegant.

As we pulled out at sunset, we were treated with some fabulous views of Sydney!

The Vista Lounge was the performing center and was very nice. The floor level seating was cramped however and we eventually leaned toward being in the elevated seats back 2-3 rows.

On the first night out, they had some preselected passengers participate in some games on stage - here the competing couples had to make a bed AND a towel animal in 60 seconds!