Dec 20-21 -- Onboard Regatta
Today we boarded the ship. About mid-day we walked to the Circular Quay dragging our suitcases and bought two ferry tickets. The first took us from Circular Quay to Barangaroo, and the second from Barangaroo to White Bay, the backwater industrial port where Regatta was docked.
Another ferry ride past the Opera House
Leaving Circular Quay
Bridge and Opera House as we turn into Darling Harbour
Our attentive captain on the White Bay Ferry
Regatta berthed in White Bay
The ferry to White Bay, operated by Captain Cook Cruises, is well advertised and mentioned in cruise critic. But when we got off the ferry we were faced with an uncertain path to our ship. There was no signage and it took two tries to find someone who could point out the path.
There were two ships in White Bay at the time, Regatta was the furthest, so we had to walk around the first ship. Fencing required us to walk all the way out to the street, down the street and then into the cruise terminal, about 600m as measured by my GPS.
Across an black asphalt parking lot in 35C harsh sunlight with no shade. Dragging suitcases. I was soaked in sweat when I arrived. The other Regatta couple on the ferry, about 10 years older, fell far behind and I don't know what happened to them. It was every man for himself across the desert asphalt wastes. Take water.
I told several Oceania people about the problem and suggested that something should meet the ferries and transport the people to the cruise terminal. They all made nice noises, but I watched the ferry arrive an hour later and four people walked/stumbled/struggled across the parking lot just as we had.
Thus my conclusion: Oceania doesn't know how to embark people. We had a miserable time boarding the ATW cruise in Miami in Jan 2016. (http://drdavebradley.blogspot.com/2016/01/january-5-on-board-and-underway.html) This is mismanagement by Oceania or the Port Authorities that could cause harm to arriving passengers.
But once aboard, all was well, temporarily. We ate lunch, met our friends, unpacked in our room and went to the mandatory lifeboat drill. There was a thunderstorm underway, and in the middle of the call to the drill the public address system went dead. It came back to life in a couple of minutes and everything proceeded as normal.
But a failing PA system is cause for alarm in the cruise industry, so a full technical evaluation was required. After ships technicians found and fixed the problem a master surveyor from Australian Maritime was needed to certify the fix and approve the ship for departure.
Then the pilot and tugs needed to be scheduled. So instead of sailing away at 6pm, we left after 3am. I don't know the exact time, I was sound asleep.
The 9+ hour delay in departure meant that there are no pictures of our sail away. Fortunately, ATW sailed away on time, so look at those pictures. (http://drdavebradley.blogspot.com/2016/05/may-10-sydney-second-day-tuesday-dawned.html) It also meant that our arrival in Brisbane, scheduled for 7am, is now 1pm. Most excursions have been cancelled. No effect on us as we just planned to walk around.
Why are we even stopping? I think it's because the ship is scheduled to fuel (or "bunker") at Brisbane, so we had to make the gas station stop.
They just announced that the schedule will now have us spending the night in Brisbane to allow passengers to attend the "Friday night before Christmas" shopping extravaganza in the CBD. To accommodate that we're cancelling the stop at Kingfisher Bay, a beach resort kind of place. Unfortunate for our Aussie friends, Peter and Jennie, for whom Kingfisher Bay was the primary reason for the cruise.
A poor start by Oceania. The PA problem was probably lightning/storm related and drives all of the remaining schedule problems. I'm surprised that there was so little slack in the schedule -- the captain said we had all four engines driving us as fast as possible, allowing us to gain back 3 hours in a 36-hour run from Sydney to Brisbane. (I leave my GPS out on the verandah at night, tracking our path. In some segments it's easy to see that they're stooging around, going in circles, so they're not always this tight for time.)
While waiting to get underway, the thunderstorm did provide some inspiration
Sunset was beautiful with a foreground of industrial clutter.
Lights of Sydney from White Bay
Regatta is decked out for Christmas
Today we boarded the ship. About mid-day we walked to the Circular Quay dragging our suitcases and bought two ferry tickets. The first took us from Circular Quay to Barangaroo, and the second from Barangaroo to White Bay, the backwater industrial port where Regatta was docked.
Another ferry ride past the Opera House
There were two ships in White Bay at the time, Regatta was the furthest, so we had to walk around the first ship. Fencing required us to walk all the way out to the street, down the street and then into the cruise terminal, about 600m as measured by my GPS.
Across an black asphalt parking lot in 35C harsh sunlight with no shade. Dragging suitcases. I was soaked in sweat when I arrived. The other Regatta couple on the ferry, about 10 years older, fell far behind and I don't know what happened to them. It was every man for himself across the desert asphalt wastes. Take water.
I told several Oceania people about the problem and suggested that something should meet the ferries and transport the people to the cruise terminal. They all made nice noises, but I watched the ferry arrive an hour later and four people walked/stumbled/struggled across the parking lot just as we had.
Thus my conclusion: Oceania doesn't know how to embark people. We had a miserable time boarding the ATW cruise in Miami in Jan 2016. (http://drdavebradley.blogspot.com/2016/01/january-5-on-board-and-underway.html) This is mismanagement by Oceania or the Port Authorities that could cause harm to arriving passengers.
But once aboard, all was well, temporarily. We ate lunch, met our friends, unpacked in our room and went to the mandatory lifeboat drill. There was a thunderstorm underway, and in the middle of the call to the drill the public address system went dead. It came back to life in a couple of minutes and everything proceeded as normal.
But a failing PA system is cause for alarm in the cruise industry, so a full technical evaluation was required. After ships technicians found and fixed the problem a master surveyor from Australian Maritime was needed to certify the fix and approve the ship for departure.
Then the pilot and tugs needed to be scheduled. So instead of sailing away at 6pm, we left after 3am. I don't know the exact time, I was sound asleep.
The 9+ hour delay in departure meant that there are no pictures of our sail away. Fortunately, ATW sailed away on time, so look at those pictures. (http://drdavebradley.blogspot.com/2016/05/may-10-sydney-second-day-tuesday-dawned.html) It also meant that our arrival in Brisbane, scheduled for 7am, is now 1pm. Most excursions have been cancelled. No effect on us as we just planned to walk around.
Why are we even stopping? I think it's because the ship is scheduled to fuel (or "bunker") at Brisbane, so we had to make the gas station stop.
They just announced that the schedule will now have us spending the night in Brisbane to allow passengers to attend the "Friday night before Christmas" shopping extravaganza in the CBD. To accommodate that we're cancelling the stop at Kingfisher Bay, a beach resort kind of place. Unfortunate for our Aussie friends, Peter and Jennie, for whom Kingfisher Bay was the primary reason for the cruise.
A poor start by Oceania. The PA problem was probably lightning/storm related and drives all of the remaining schedule problems. I'm surprised that there was so little slack in the schedule -- the captain said we had all four engines driving us as fast as possible, allowing us to gain back 3 hours in a 36-hour run from Sydney to Brisbane. (I leave my GPS out on the verandah at night, tracking our path. In some segments it's easy to see that they're stooging around, going in circles, so they're not always this tight for time.)
While waiting to get underway, the thunderstorm did provide some inspiration
2 comments:
Sorry you got off to a rocky start. Beautiful photos of weather, sunset, and Christmas on board. Do they have the never ending holiday cookies by the ginger bread village?
yes, the magic plate of cookies that keeps on giving! Well, what can you expect....it is the season of miracles....now if the calories would just disappear they would be perfect!
Post a Comment