New Year’s Eve 2018 In Sydney

[Baynanno1]

We were docked overnight at White Bay on 7 February this year on Journey.

Attached are views from the ship (docked at White Bay) taken at 8.26pm and 8.45pm that evening.

Looks like a fair amount of the NYE fireworks display will be visible this year from the Quest at White Bay.

 

[Grandma Cruising]

You’re a lot nearer the fireworks than we were in Venice in July for the Redentore festival and we saw a great display in the sky. Looks to me like you’ll have a great view.

[jo-b]

3 hours ago, Baynanno1 said:

We were docked overnight at White Bay on 7 February this year on Journey.

Attached are views from the ship (docked at White Bay) taken at 8.26pm and 8.45pm that evening.

Looks like a fair amount of the NYE fireworks display will be visible this year from the Quest at White Bay.

 

Thanks for the photos which are really helpful in getting a true idea of what can/cannot be seen. This with some fireworks tendency to head upwards is very encouraging!! 

I hate crowds so the idea of being on the top deck of the ship and getting some feel of what is going on is great, plus the ability to toddle downstairs to bed straight away instead of going tens of thousands of revellers all trying to get home. 

Edited November 15, 2018 by jo-b

[Baynanno1]

Glad to know my photos have been found useful.

[ozwatto]

It is very disappointing for  all the passengers on the Azamara Quest who were misled into thinking they would be in the prime location in Sydney on NYE and yes it is true that no ships will actually be docked as the Overseas Passenger Terminal (the main vantage point) on NYE due to so much water traffic on the harbour that night. Unfortunately, it is very unlikely that Azamara or any similar sized ships will ever be docked at the Overseas Passenger Terminal due to the fact that there are just so many ships visiting Sydney each year that they can't possibly accommodate them all, hence all the smaller ships will always be docked at White Bay because all the large ships visiting Sydney do not fit under the Harbour Bridge which is what is required to go to White Bay. The Overseas Passenger Terminal always has all the very large ships, i.e. Ovation of the Seas etc. and the smaller ships, Azamara, Seabourn, etc. will go to White Bay no matter if it is NYE or not.

[Stickman1990]

So how did it all work out? 

Sorry about the weather - but that's Sydney for you

Interested in what ended up happening in terms of staying onboard and viewing it from White Bay and for those who ventured out 

It's a spectacular display isn't it

 

[ShazM]

On 11/15/2018 at 5:49 AM, flyingshoes said:

Hope someone posts how this all turns out.  Just booked Pursuit, Perth - Melbourne 2020 NYE in Sydney.  

There are numerous places you can prebook, will cost a fair amount but usually worth it. Yes there is Taronga Zoo. At the cruise terminal at Circular Quay there are two places you can go there. At the southern end is the cruise bar which has 3 levels. The ground level is a bar area and will be the cheapest, the middle level has a restaurant and gives access to the ground level for the fireworks and the top level will obviously be the dearest. At the northern end is I think Quay restaurant which is a 5 star. The prices for that for NYE were around $1200 per head which included all food and drink. There is the restaurant in the Opera House and one in Fort Denison which is in the middle of the harbour and you would pass on the way in and you will get an unobstructed view, not sure of the prices for that this year. All the big (5 star) hotels have functions that give you picture perfect views and many other places. We live in Sydney but only go in when we have somewhere booked because there are usually around 1 million people around the length of the harbour and it gets crazy and so busy and what goes in has to get out and we usually just stay in there for the night. The casino at Darling Harbour also has many NYE functions with good views. 

[Grandma Cruising]

7 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

So how did it all work out? 

Sorry about the weather - but that's Sydney for you

Interested in what ended up happening in terms of staying onboard and viewing it from White Bay and for those who ventured out 

It's a spectacular display isn't it

 

Same here - it looked as if you’d have a great view from most places as there was so many sky high fireworks, but I’d really like to hear from those onboard.

Edited January 1, 2019 by Host Grandma Cruising

[LizaJane78]

Am currently on board, having just experienced New Year. This has very much become the “ship of discontent “ among the passengers, with dinner conversations reflecting sheer disappointment at the way the cruise was falsely marketed. 

Recommending vantage points on shore for optimal viewing, I feel, was to sell the big ticket dinner at Taronga Zoo and was in Azamara’s best financial interests. 

To be perfectly honest, the view of the fireworks from the upper decks was rewarding, and the floating barges added to the spectacle. You just couldn’t see the lower part of the bridge. Am yet to hear how it went at the zoo but we were happy with our evening on board. 

[Chris86]

I agree it was unfairly advertised by Azamara. I still think they should have created the azamara evening for NYE and  taken pax to premium ticketed locations. Such as Opera house, Taronga zoo, harbour cruise etc. After all they charged quite a premium. With that said looking at that view it isn't all that bad (minus the port). Not all that different from Taronga zoo which is actually much further away. Seeing the top of the bridge is the best part and you clearly saw that. I just hope they had some onboard atmosphere perhaps a deck top band or white night??

[richb823]

We are also on board, to be fair the view from the ship was much better than we expected, we had considered various options but in the end were really glad that we stayed on board.

I can’t imagine that we will ever experience a better firework display than what we saw, did London a few years ago and Sydney was so much better!

 

As regards the zoo trip.....I will leave that for someone who attended to comment on how it worked out in the end., all I can say for certain was that there were 16 people out of 60 that attended that demanded to be brought back early due to the poor facilities, we saw some of them at around 11pm just after they had returned and to say a few were furious wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

 

I should also add, overall this has been an absolutely fabulous cruise, great mix of people, superb service and a great itinerary, and we still have 4 days to go!

 

 

 

[Grandma Cruising]

Thanks for posting. Glad to hear the view of the fireworks was good and that the cruise is going well.

[excitedofharpenden]

Sometimes the best laid plans and all that. I'm currently on Pursuit and we were at Copacabana for NYE. We had a great anchor spot and it is a spectacular place. I was really looking forward to it. The weather was great, but in the end and once the fireworks were up and running and with no wind quite a bit of the display from the ship was obscured by firework smoke. 

 

I got some nice shots early on, but after that it was frankly disappointing. Nothing Azamara could do. The other side away from the sea was better having seen the photos. However I've seen them!

 

Phil 

 

First shot from BBC website from Christ the Redeemer side (with a ship in shot). Amazing. A couple from the ship not so much. 

[travelberlin]

2 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Sometimes the best laid plans and all that. I'm currently on Pursuit and we were at Copacabana for NYE. We had a great anchor spot and it is a spectacular place. I was really looking forward to it. The weather was great, but in the end and once the fireworks were up and running and with no wind quite a bit of the display from the ship was obscured by firework smoke. 

 

I got some nice shots early on, but after that it was frankly disappointing. Nothing Azamara could do. The other side away from the sea was better having seen the photos. However I've seen them!

 

Phil 

 

First shot from BBC website from Christ the Redeemer side (with a ship in shot). Amazing. A couple from the ship not so much. 

Those pictures look amazing! It brings good memories to us...

Ivi

[albertb]

We are on board too and would not call it a ship of discontent, had Az head office been more upfront and then said what was happening on the evening well in advance it would have settled a lot of qualms. 

 

The view from from the ship was good, there was a deck party planned and all the tables put out when there was a tremendous thunderstorm just before the kiddies 9pm fireworks. The staff had to work doubly hard to move tables etc but it did clear up the deck party carried on and other than a few short showers it didn’t rain again. 

 

The catamaran ran people had a great time, as did the Opera House folk we haven’t spoken to anyone’s personally who went to Taronga but rumour has it there are some discontented day people. certainly those who went for the picnic option would have got soaked in the storm. 

 

The numbers of people watching was phenomenal so getting home for them was lengthy. 

 

Super Cruise overall. 

[Lookyboy]

On ‎1‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 7:42 AM, Stickman1990 said:

So how did it all work out? 

Sorry about the weather - but that's Sydney for you

Interested in what ended up happening in terms of staying onboard and viewing it from White Bay and for those who ventured out 

It's a spectacular display isn't it

 

We were also on board and very happy with the view of the fireworks. Only one couple mentioned this  issue (alleged miss selling) to us and that was very early in the cruise, and, if we picked them up correctly, they  had cancelled when they saw the docking position, got loads of compensation and rebooked using it all, thus having a cruise that cost them quite a lot less????? Is this  possible?

 

It was a lovely cruise - as said before, service, meals, staff officers and crew fabulous - Azamara as it always has been, in our view..... the best in the cruise business.

[BBMacLaird]

3 hours ago, Lookyboy said:

We were also on board and very happy with the view of the fireworks. Only one couple mentioned this  issue (alleged miss selling) to us and that was very early in the cruise, and, if we picked them up correctly, they  had cancelled when they saw the docking position, got loads of compensation and rebooked using it all, thus having a cruise that cost them quite a lot less????? Is this  possible?

 

It was a lovely cruise - as said before, service, meals, staff officers and crew fabulous - Azamara as it always has been, in our view..... the best in the cruise business.

Hi Lookyboy, I've not heard of compensation being doled out due to the docking location. If that had been the case it would have been across the board. Maybe the couple did cancel and their agent enticed them back with lots of OBC? Hard to say.

But a big THANK YOU for your loyalty and your kind compliments to our shipboard staff. I'll pass them along.

[Lookyboy]

3 hours ago, BBMacLaird said:

Hi Lookyboy, I've not heard of compensation being doled out due to the docking location. If that had been the case it would have been across the board. Maybe the couple did cancel and their agent enticed them back with lots of OBC? Hard to say.

But a big THANK YOU for your loyalty and your kind compliments to our shipboard staff. I'll pass them along.

Thank you, Bonnie. ...it was great to spend time with every one again  and to enjoy another great Azamara experience. Looking forward and counting down the days until our next one already! (I just wish that each of the chefs, on each of the ships, would STOP SHRINKING MY CLOTHES!) 🙄

[TxnAquarian]

On 1/1/2019 at 2:11 PM, richb823 said:

We are also on board, to be fair the view from the ship was much better than we expected, we had considered various options but in the end were really glad that we stayed on board.

I can’t imagine that we will ever experience a better firework display than what we saw, did London a few years ago and Sydney was so much better!

 

As regards the zoo trip.....I will leave that for someone who attended to comment on how it worked out in the end., all I can say for certain was that there were 16 people out of 60 that attended that demanded to be brought back early due to the poor facilities, we saw some of them at around 11pm just after they had returned and to say a few were furious wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

 

I should also add, overall this has been an absolutely fabulous cruise, great mix of people, superb service and a great itinerary, and we still have 4 days to go!

 

 

We were on this cruise and went on the evening excursion to the Tauranga Zoo. We had a lovely time. The venue was quite nice and the dinner was lovely. We had views of the whole harbor, although it was a bit far, and looks as if the views from the ship would've been a bit more impressive. Yes, there were a group of people on this excursion who demanded to be driven back to the ship early, and these same people carried on for days about what a nightmare the evening was. I finally confronted one of them outside The Living Room and told them they should be more thankful for being able to be in Sydney and have this wonderful trip. This ship had a very entitled, complain-prone contingent and nothing annoys me more than people on an expensive trip, complaining about everything that they can think of. It was a great cruise and we enjoyed our two nights in Sydney very much.

 

On 1/1/2019 at 2:11 PM, richb823 said:

 

 

[ellbon]

Good for you Micheal for saying something. I just need a different main and would of been fine.

 

my first choice would if been the Quay or Opera House.

[SiamCruisers]

      In that no cruise ship can park by the bridge on New Year's Eve ...White Bay is all you can get.  So choices were to stay on the ship or go out and get somewhere with a better view of the fireworks at whatever cost or inconvenience.  Maybe Azamara could have handled the advertising better, but it does sound like many people had a great evening on the ship watching the show.  I found a photo of the view of NYE fireworks from White Bay from a previous year.   

 

Edited January 11, 2019 by SiamCruisers

[Grandma Cruising]

That looks pretty good to me! 

[jo-b]

For the sake of clarity and in case anyone looks at this thread for info about the view from White Bay the photo Siam cruisers have found on the web looks like it is from the grassy park area at the mouth of the bay ( which was packed from early on) Lisa post number 84 has a phot from the ship itself. Still a good bit but not quite as much of the bridge in sight. 

[SiamCruisers]

     Additional clarity......the shot I posted is from Pirrama Park as jo-b says which is about the same distance to the bridge,  directly across from where we moored at entrance to White Bay last month.  The photo is a wide angle shot meaning the bridge looks farther away in the photo than it does in real life but it shows a wider field.  Lisa's good photo shows the distance to the bridge more accurately but the camera lens limits the field of vision compared to what we actually see with our own eyes.  In any case.... lots of nice fireworks. 

[vino123]

This video was taken from the ship. Hopefully it will clarify how near we were to the fireworks. I thought we had pretty decent view.