The Occasional Cruiser: Tasmania cruise January 2015 on the Diamond Princess

Thursday 29 December 2016

Tasmania cruise January 2015 on the Diamond Princess

Our first cruise for 2015 was on the Diamond Princess in January 2015. This was the only year where we have managed 2 cruises in the same calendar year. The second was the Vanuatu cruise on the Pacific Aria in December.
We decided to do this cruise as we hadn't been to Tasmania and we were keen to try a larger ship than the regular ones leaving from Brisbane.

The itinerary departed from Sydney, with an overnight stay in Melbourne and port stops in Hobart and Port Arthur. It was a short 8 night cruise and I would have liked if an extra night was included with a call at Burnie, but alas I'm not the cruise planner person.

Sydney
We flew in to Sydney and used the Princess shuttle direct from the baggage carousel at Sydney airport. Super easy. We just handed the luggage to the bus driver and the next we saw them was in our cabin.
My parents joined us on this cruise and they caught the train to Sydney the day before and stayed overnight.

Sail away from circular quay in Sydney is spectacular. We left at dusk and the lights were lovely.

Sydney Opera House

Holland America Lines' Oosterdam sailed past whilst we were still at the OPT.

The Sydney harbour bridge with Luna park behind it as we backed out from the OPT.

Melbourne

Our first port was Melbourne for an overnight visit. We had only briefly visited the airport at Melbourne back in 2009 for a country Victoria land based holiday so was looking forward to having a good look around.

Wineglass bay, Tasmania

Leaving Melbourne, the next day included a half day of scenic cruising of the east coast of Tasmania. Spectacular views and photos really don't do it justice.

We saw some seals on a tiny island (or large rock).

Hobart, Tasmania

We arrived in the early morning to Hobart. My plan was to pick up my pre-reserved hire car and we would drive up to Mount Wellington and then take in as many sight seeing options that we could possible fit in before returning the car at 5pm. Unfortunately, all good plans can come un-stuck. I was phoned by the car hire place at 7am with the news that they didn't have a car available. Apparently cars had not been returned on time and that left about 8 of us on the ship without transport. Who would of thought that at least 8 people failed to return a car at the end of their holiday. Anyway, appreciated the early notification (car hire office didn't open until 8am) and we hastily made alternative arrangements.

We walked around to Salamanca markets. They weren't open but there were some shops that were.

Maritime museum

Salamanca place

Government building

Mawson replica hut

Cascade brewery

We decided to hire a taxi to take us out to the Cascade brewery. Husband did a tour whilst I rested and sampled a cider in the lounge area. Taxi wasn't very much, maybe $10-12 from memory. We caught a local bus back which was only a couple of dollars each.

The gardens at Cascade brewery

Port Arthur, Tasmania

Port Arthur is a tender port and we had booked a tour through the ship to the Tasmanian Devil park and Federation chocolate factory.

The tour ended at lunch time and we made our way back to the ship for lunch. Unfortunately it poured rain in the afternoon so we never made it back for a good look around Port Arthur itself. Looks like we will need to make another trip to Tasmania.

Diamond Princess

Just a few photos from around the ship