South Pacific cruise; pre-cruise plans: Palisade Hotel history, drinking, eating and sleeping; sailing away from Sydney; fabulous freebies onboard; storage ratios; lack of serious application on the drinking front; keeping it clean; onward to New Caledonia!

South Pacific Cruise – Part 1, Sydney and Sail-away

With our 29-day South Pacific cruise to Northern America on the HAL Westerdam departing from Sydney Harbour, it was a good idea to fly across from Perth the day before and overnight at the heritage-listed Palisade Hotel in Miller’s Point in the Rocks area. From there, it’s just a five-minute walk down to Circular Quay and the Overseas Passenger Terminal.

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Hotel Palisade, Sydney

Overall, it’s a lovely little hotel. I like the way you come through the main bar on the ground floor, and they hand you your key without ceremony. (And with minimal service, to be honest.) We also loved the atmospheric Henry Deane Bar that wraps picturesquely around the fourth and fifth floors and has sweeping harbour views.

History

Rebuilt by the NSW government in 1915-16 after the bubonic plague outbreak of the early 1900s, it replaced an 1880-built hotel of the same name with a pub that was popular with wharf workers. Its architecture is described as Federation Free Style. After serving various social and community functions for nearly a century, including as a port of call for Anzac soldiers bound for Gallipoli, and a brothel (possibly not simultaneously), it was closed in 2008 for renovations and reopened in its current form in 2015.

Cheers to our travels! – from the Henry Deane Bar, Palisade Hotel.

Accommodation

Roy had booked the Noel Banfield suite on the third floor, with a fabulous view of the bridge. I appreciated the quirky décor, but agreed with my semi-disgruntled husband that they could and should have done a lot better for A$365 a night. (Eclectic is as eclectic does.)

Should try harder

How about a corner wardrobe to conceal the crass hanging frame and ironing board? How about cleaning the sofa upholstery, or replacing the ugly dining furniture with something more appropriate and less bulky? And updating the awkward free-standing air-conditioning unit cluttering up the rest of the dining/kitchenette area? It wouldn’t be difficult.

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Dinner at Jounieh

Dinner was at Jounieh, a nice Lebanese joint on the Rocks waterfront: several dips with pita, followed by delicious, slow-roasted lamb shoulder. Interestingly, Sydney prices for food and drink seem, if anything, a bit lower than those in Perth WA.

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Day 1 – Sail-away from Sydney Harbour

We’ve sailed out of Sydney Harbour before, but it’s still an exciting experience. Gloomily expecting to be laid low by the heavy seas lurking just beyond the safety of the harbour – I’m a terrible sailor, generally – I put my faith in the Travacalm ginger I’d stocked up on at Rocks Pharmacy the day before. Somehow, it worked! And no drugs involved.

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Days 2 & 3 – At Sea

By Day 2, the heaving seas were starting to ease off, but I kept up the ginger habit. So far, so good!

Storage ratios

Now to settle down into our comfortable stateroom and strategically divide the various shelves, drawers and other storage hidey-holes between us. The ratio here is roughly 2:1, Verne:Roy. Suitcases go under the bed, with room to spare.

Fabulous freebies

Roy had booked this Holland American Line Westerdam cruise a good two years previously. At that time, the promotional rate included one of the nicest staterooms at this level – located on Deck 7 aft with an unobstructed view of the wake from its bigger-than-average balcony. In addition, we have free wi-fi for the duration of the voyage.

Also included in the promotional rate was the Elite beverage package* that includes barista coffees, bottled Pellegrino, all soft drinks, cocktails, wine, beer, spirits etc. That allowed us 15 beverage items each per day, which we never came anywhere near exhausting.

(*Had we paid, it would have cost us over A100 each, per day!)

Must try harder

Clearly we don’t try hard enough. Pre-dinner cocktails at the Pinnacle Bar (see above pics) are our first alcoholic beverages of the day. (No, Roy wasn’t in dinner dress every night: he got tired of T-shirted fellow-passengers trying to order cocktails from him.)

Other passengers were, generally, considerably more conscientious, downing bloody Marys at breakfast to line their stomachs before laying down the lunchtime lagers. Over an afternoon game of Scrabble, cards or cribbage came the chilled Sauvignon, daiquiris and margaritas… especially for the small but dedicated band of smokers, huddled together under a blanket of haze at their Ocean View Bar hangout on the aft deck.

Keeping it clean

Laundry was not included in the fare, so we paid the extra US$305 for unlimited daily laundry and pressing. The alternative would be to pay a set rate for laundry by the bag; HAL ships don’t have laundry facilities, like the ones I had to use on the otherwise-splendid Viking Sun.  (Yay. I hate those claustrophobic little rooms crammed with elderly ladies anxiously guarding their lingerie from theft on the high seas.)

Now, with clean clothes every day and relatively clear heads each morning, on to New Caledonia. See you there!