What weighs 61,214 tons, has a top cruising speed of 23 knots and serves 200 gallons of ice-cream to more than 1,400 passengers each week? Answer: ms Volendam, one of the Holland America Line (HAL) fleet of luxury cruise ships.
With a topnotch kids’ club, Club HAL, where daily activities might include papier mâché, cookie decorating, fort building, scavenger hunts or volleyball, Holland America Line is determined to show children of all ages a great time. There’s plenty for adults too – a full program of activities and entertainment runs from 7am in the morning to past midnight. So whether you want to improve your fitness, brush up your computer skills, take cooking classes, watch a movie or Broadway-style show or just relax and watch the world float by, you won’t be disappointed.
Life at sea
‘At sea’ days are an ideal time to take advantage of Club HAL, but there are plenty of family activities (including two swimming pools, a tennis court, ping pong tables, giant chess and heaps of board games) for times when you’re together.
Food is family-friendly. Enjoy a water view with every meal at The Lido restaurant, which serves buffet-style breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. The ice-cream sundae station is as tempting for adults as it is for kids. Open from 11.30am-5pm, flavours change daily but typically include exotic temptations such as lime or coconut sherbet as well as the usual favourites. There’s a great selection of toppings and sauces too.
Cruise highlights
Our 14-day cruise sails from Auckland and takes in Tauranga (Rotorua), Gisborne, Wellington, Picton, Lyttelton (Christchurch) and Port Chalmers (Dunedin) in New Zealand, then Burnie, Melbourne and Sydney in Australia. Some of the highlights are:
Fiordland National Park
Keep your eyes peeled for dolphins as you cruise through this breathtaking national park (part of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Area). See valleys carved by ancient glaciers including the 16km Milford Sound and the Mitre Peak, a pyramid-shaped mountain rising from the fiord.
Hobart
If you want to see a Tasmanian devil, you’re in the right place. Take a HAL tour (or ride the public bus if you don’t mind a bit of a walk at the other end) to the Bonorong Wildlife Park. It’s small but offers some unique animal encounters. Feeding the kangaroos (included in admission price), stroking a blue-tongue lizard and meeting Mavis the baby wombat are my favourite moments.
Richmond
My HAL tour travels next to the old convict town of Richmond. Home to historic Richmond Gaol, it’s a pretty place, full of cafés and antique shops plus child-friendly attractions including a maze and Old Hobart Town Model Village. Dropping into The Bakery at Richmond to pick up a coffee and a bag of duck bread, I stroll down to the banks of the Coal River to feed the ducks and enjoy the peace.
Eden
A port day at Eden, 476 kilometres south of Sydney, is the perfect opportunity to stretch those sea legs and take in the history of this sleepy former whaling town. Walk or take the HAL shuttle bus from the port to the Killer Whale Museum where the skeleton of ‘Old Tom’, a killer whale who worked with whalers in the early 20th century, is the prize exhibit. Old Tom herded other whales into the bay to be slain by whalers who rewarded him with the lips and tongues of their catch.
Wanting to venture a little further afield, I take the HAL tour to the Davidson Whaling Station and the coastal wilderness of Ben Boyd National Park. The whaling station offers intimate glimpses of life in a bygone era. I’m surprised to find whale ribs and vertebrae in the garden of the Davidson house and part of a huge skull in the garden shed. Grisly but fascinating.
Homeward bound
Accompanied by a pod of whales breaching on our starboard side, the sailaway from Eden is unforgettable. When my kids ask what I think of the cruise I smile and say: ‘I’m having a whale of a time!’ |
