boarding the Oosterdam (Wednesday)
Wednesday morning in Sydney, afternoon on the Holland America Oosterdam
This morning, "J" and I packed up our bags for the transfer from our Sydney hotel to our ship, the Holland America Oosterdam. We didn't have to pack very carefully because our bags only needed to be moved from our room to the bus loading zone, then onto the cargo hold of the bus, then onto the pier, and from there to our stateroom, number 4096.
After dealing with our bags, we had some free time. I down-sampled some pictures on my computer and put them back on my camera's data chip. I gave that to J, and she uploaded some of them to Facebook at the hotel's computer station. I did took care of some e-mail and a little Livejournal.
Late in the morning, we assembled at the bus loading zone, made sure our bags made it onto the bus, and boarded. It was a very short trip to the Overseas Passenger Terminal, and we got out again. We waited for a little while outside the terminal to get our bags to the porters, filled in an Australian "Outgoing passenger card" and the cruise line's health questionnaire, and filed into the terminal. Inside, we waited through a very long (but fast-moving) cattle gate for the check-in counters. We talked to some nice people in line, including some we met at last night's cocktail party and some strangers.
The check-in counter was efficient, handling our papers, taking a security photo, and issuing our cruise ID cards. Australian customs and border security were also efficient, and surprisingly friendly (compared to most US customs and immigration people). The final station before boarding was for portraits; we posed together for a few shots. We proceeded to the gang plank, presented our new ID cards, and boarded.
Update: While checking on and off the ship, we saw that our security photos were pretty good. (Too bad we couldn't keep them.) Our boarding portraits weren't so good, which spared us the temptation of buying photos from the ship's really expensive photo department.
exploring the ship
Since we had eaten very little for breakfast, we sought out some lunch soon after exploring our room. We went to the Lido Restaurant, which serves buffet breakfast, lunch, and dinners during much of the day. We both had good, healthy food.
We spent some time unpacking. Because we'll finally be staying in one place for a while, we moved things into closets and cupboards, rather than living out of our suitcases. Although the room is only about 230 square feet (21 square meters), the closets are so well designed that we have plenty of space for our stuff. (I suppose some people might find the closets small - but if so, it's because they pack absurd volumes of stuff, not because of the size of the closets.) We also checked out the television, watching a cruise welcome video and some election results, which looked like almost all good news.
We wandered the decks getting pictures of Sydney landmarks, particularly the opera house and the harbor bridge. We saw others taking pictures of each other along the railings with landmarks in the background. I said to one such couple, "I'll trade you couples pictures." I took a few pictures of them with their camera, and they took pictures of us with my camera.
A few others saw the couples photography and we did the same with them. While photographing a nice German couple I noticed a life ring on the railing, which made the foreground more fun. We posed again for a shot next to it.
Election results conversation
One couple, from Colorado, wondered whether we knew any election results. I said that CNN, BBC, and Fox had all called it for Obama, and that it looked like Democrats had gained seats in the Senate and the House, but probably not enough to regain a House majority. They looked dismayed, and said that they'd rather star in Australia than go back to the US. (Were they not aware that Australia is well to the left of US Democrats, let alone Republicans?) They said that their granddaughter had considered voting for Obama, but they were please that she switched to Romney at the last moment. (Really? A young woman voted for today's Republicans? Sad.)
They thought the solar eclipse meant the Earth gets in the way of the Sun, which made J smile because it fit with the idea that ignorant people are an essential part of today's Republican party.
At the end of the conversation, I thought about asking whether they were from Colorado Springs (one of the most wingnut Republican cities in the US), but I didn't want to jump to conclusions, or have to answer how I guessed if I was right, since the answer might not be taken as polite. Instead, I asked where in Colorado they were from. "Colorado Springs," one of them replied. But politics aside, they seemed pretty nice.
lifeboat drill
The last event before casting off was the lifeboat drill. They announced several times that it's mandatory, and that people who failed to attend would be removed from the ship. That explains why it took place before casting off; on previous cruises they did the safety drill on the way out of harbor. While we were standing around during the drill, someone said they tightened up the rules a lot after the cruise disaster in Italy. The drill took up about a half hour.
at sea
As the ship was sailing away from the pier and out of the harbor, I took a lot of pictures. Maybe a few are presentable, but I haven't sorted through them yet.
Another evening event was a sales pitch for the ship's spa, which took place in the ship's gym, and included a drawing for spa services. The spa has some services that sound luxurious (massages, steam room, gym training classes) and some that sound a bit absurd (wrapping one's body in seaweed). While waiting for spa presentation to start, I did a little strength training: leg extensions, triceps extensions, pectoral flies, and leg curls, on machines. (I had also done some abdominal "bicycles" at the hotel.) We didn't win the drawing, but most of the prizes sounded pretty useless anyway, but at least I got in that exercise while waiting for things to start there.
dinner
Late in the evening, we went to the Vista Dining Room - the main restaurant - for a sit-down meal. Dress code was "smart casual". I ordered a fish dinner, and J ordered duck. The food was luxurious, but merely good, not great. We'll have to try other menu items to find whether that's true across all the menu, or just for those items or tonight's meal service.
One very nice thing about dinner was the company: three other couples, all quite nice, and interesting to talk to. We particularly enjoyed the company of a Canadian couple who live in Canberra.
not much news
My final activity tonight was a trip up to the Explorer Lounge - which includes a library that says it's sponsored by the New York Times - to look for more election news. Besides books, magazines, and eight-page mini-newspapers, the library includes a lot of computer stations. They're all connected to a router, which is connected to a satellite link.
On the library computers, one can view parts of the Times web site, but it's unbearably slow, comparable to dial-up, with even slower ping times. I would have thought that, given the Times sponsors the library, they'd at least make the Times web site fast by downloading it to a server on the ship, rather than through the satellite link.
Anyway, the only thing I was able to find out that I didn't already know (Obama won by a smaller margin than 2008, but still an electoral vote landslide, Democrats gained a few seats in both the Senate and the House, but didn't regain a House majority) from television was that marriage equality won in Maine and Maryland, and will be decided in Washington and Minnesota by mail-in ballots that have not yet been counted. Isolated out here, we remain in suspense.
Update: We discovered that we weren't completely cut off from the news. Each day they printed up an eight-page digest of New York Times articles, which were pretty informative about national and international news, but too thin for much detail. Additionally, the room televisions had some news channels (BBC, CNN, Fox, but not MSNBC), but we didn't want to waste time loitering in our cabin watching television. They had the same television stations in the gym, but no subtitles or sound, so that wasn't useful.
This morning, "J" and I packed up our bags for the transfer from our Sydney hotel to our ship, the Holland America Oosterdam. We didn't have to pack very carefully because our bags only needed to be moved from our room to the bus loading zone, then onto the cargo hold of the bus, then onto the pier, and from there to our stateroom, number 4096.
After dealing with our bags, we had some free time. I down-sampled some pictures on my computer and put them back on my camera's data chip. I gave that to J, and she uploaded some of them to Facebook at the hotel's computer station. I did took care of some e-mail and a little Livejournal.
Late in the morning, we assembled at the bus loading zone, made sure our bags made it onto the bus, and boarded. It was a very short trip to the Overseas Passenger Terminal, and we got out again. We waited for a little while outside the terminal to get our bags to the porters, filled in an Australian "Outgoing passenger card" and the cruise line's health questionnaire, and filed into the terminal. Inside, we waited through a very long (but fast-moving) cattle gate for the check-in counters. We talked to some nice people in line, including some we met at last night's cocktail party and some strangers.
The check-in counter was efficient, handling our papers, taking a security photo, and issuing our cruise ID cards. Australian customs and border security were also efficient, and surprisingly friendly (compared to most US customs and immigration people). The final station before boarding was for portraits; we posed together for a few shots. We proceeded to the gang plank, presented our new ID cards, and boarded.
Update: While checking on and off the ship, we saw that our security photos were pretty good. (Too bad we couldn't keep them.) Our boarding portraits weren't so good, which spared us the temptation of buying photos from the ship's really expensive photo department.
exploring the ship
Since we had eaten very little for breakfast, we sought out some lunch soon after exploring our room. We went to the Lido Restaurant, which serves buffet breakfast, lunch, and dinners during much of the day. We both had good, healthy food.
We spent some time unpacking. Because we'll finally be staying in one place for a while, we moved things into closets and cupboards, rather than living out of our suitcases. Although the room is only about 230 square feet (21 square meters), the closets are so well designed that we have plenty of space for our stuff. (I suppose some people might find the closets small - but if so, it's because they pack absurd volumes of stuff, not because of the size of the closets.) We also checked out the television, watching a cruise welcome video and some election results, which looked like almost all good news.
We wandered the decks getting pictures of Sydney landmarks, particularly the opera house and the harbor bridge. We saw others taking pictures of each other along the railings with landmarks in the background. I said to one such couple, "I'll trade you couples pictures." I took a few pictures of them with their camera, and they took pictures of us with my camera.
A few others saw the couples photography and we did the same with them. While photographing a nice German couple I noticed a life ring on the railing, which made the foreground more fun. We posed again for a shot next to it.
Election results conversation
One couple, from Colorado, wondered whether we knew any election results. I said that CNN, BBC, and Fox had all called it for Obama, and that it looked like Democrats had gained seats in the Senate and the House, but probably not enough to regain a House majority. They looked dismayed, and said that they'd rather star in Australia than go back to the US. (Were they not aware that Australia is well to the left of US Democrats, let alone Republicans?) They said that their granddaughter had considered voting for Obama, but they were please that she switched to Romney at the last moment. (Really? A young woman voted for today's Republicans? Sad.)
They thought the solar eclipse meant the Earth gets in the way of the Sun, which made J smile because it fit with the idea that ignorant people are an essential part of today's Republican party.
At the end of the conversation, I thought about asking whether they were from Colorado Springs (one of the most wingnut Republican cities in the US), but I didn't want to jump to conclusions, or have to answer how I guessed if I was right, since the answer might not be taken as polite. Instead, I asked where in Colorado they were from. "Colorado Springs," one of them replied. But politics aside, they seemed pretty nice.
lifeboat drill
The last event before casting off was the lifeboat drill. They announced several times that it's mandatory, and that people who failed to attend would be removed from the ship. That explains why it took place before casting off; on previous cruises they did the safety drill on the way out of harbor. While we were standing around during the drill, someone said they tightened up the rules a lot after the cruise disaster in Italy. The drill took up about a half hour.
at sea
As the ship was sailing away from the pier and out of the harbor, I took a lot of pictures. Maybe a few are presentable, but I haven't sorted through them yet.
Another evening event was a sales pitch for the ship's spa, which took place in the ship's gym, and included a drawing for spa services. The spa has some services that sound luxurious (massages, steam room, gym training classes) and some that sound a bit absurd (wrapping one's body in seaweed). While waiting for spa presentation to start, I did a little strength training: leg extensions, triceps extensions, pectoral flies, and leg curls, on machines. (I had also done some abdominal "bicycles" at the hotel.) We didn't win the drawing, but most of the prizes sounded pretty useless anyway, but at least I got in that exercise while waiting for things to start there.
dinner
Late in the evening, we went to the Vista Dining Room - the main restaurant - for a sit-down meal. Dress code was "smart casual". I ordered a fish dinner, and J ordered duck. The food was luxurious, but merely good, not great. We'll have to try other menu items to find whether that's true across all the menu, or just for those items or tonight's meal service.
One very nice thing about dinner was the company: three other couples, all quite nice, and interesting to talk to. We particularly enjoyed the company of a Canadian couple who live in Canberra.
not much news
My final activity tonight was a trip up to the Explorer Lounge - which includes a library that says it's sponsored by the New York Times - to look for more election news. Besides books, magazines, and eight-page mini-newspapers, the library includes a lot of computer stations. They're all connected to a router, which is connected to a satellite link.
On the library computers, one can view parts of the Times web site, but it's unbearably slow, comparable to dial-up, with even slower ping times. I would have thought that, given the Times sponsors the library, they'd at least make the Times web site fast by downloading it to a server on the ship, rather than through the satellite link.
Anyway, the only thing I was able to find out that I didn't already know (Obama won by a smaller margin than 2008, but still an electoral vote landslide, Democrats gained a few seats in both the Senate and the House, but didn't regain a House majority) from television was that marriage equality won in Maine and Maryland, and will be decided in Washington and Minnesota by mail-in ballots that have not yet been counted. Isolated out here, we remain in suspense.
Update: We discovered that we weren't completely cut off from the news. Each day they printed up an eight-page digest of New York Times articles, which were pretty informative about national and international news, but too thin for much detail. Additionally, the room televisions had some news channels (BBC, CNN, Fox, but not MSNBC), but we didn't want to waste time loitering in our cabin watching television. They had the same television stations in the gym, but no subtitles or sound, so that wasn't useful.