My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
Oh boy, was this one a long time coming. Sydney was one of the ports I was most looking forward to visiting, both my first time coming down to Australia and this one- after all, I love a city! On the Golden Princess, we were scheduled to dock in Sydney twice. The first time, I was IPM- I had to cover the activities and stay on board in case there was an emergency. We were docked right by the Opera House. I woke up early to watch the sail in in the dark (it one of my mom’s top three favorite Sail-in’s with San Francisco and Venice), and then gazed longingly at Sydney from the ship. This picture has been popping up on my watch face for almost three years:
The second time we were meant to dock in Sydney was the day I was meant to disembark. I had requested and been approved for local leave, so I reserved an Air B’nB and made a reservation to climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge at sunset. The ticket was about $400 Australian, but I’d been told by several people that it was well worth it. Then the world shut down and I was sent back to the US days before my scheduled climb. All my reservations were canceled and refunded except for the bridge climb. They wouldn’t give me a refund, but they would give me a voucher that would be good for the next three years. Seriously?! When was I going to come back to Australia?! I had just finished my third contract with Princess and this was the first time I’d been out of the Caribbean. I thought the odds of coming back were very slim. I kept the email flagged and unread for over two years, while it lingered as unfinished business that I could do nothing about. Then I got my contract on the Coral. There is one day we come to Sydney that isn’t a turnaround day. I waited until I physically got on the ship to state my case: I didn’t care about the IPM schedule as long as I could have the day off in Sydney. Luckily, I have very nice teammates who understood my request. Joseph made the schedule making sure that I had the day off in Sydney. I emailed the Bridge Climb people to book my climb. They didn’t have a sunset climb available that day, would I like to climb another day? I don’t have another day! I booked a climb for 11am. Then our IPM coverage changed and the schedule changed. Joseph made sure I still had the day off. My friend Clara who was a singer on the Caribbean Princess contacted me saying she lived in Sydney and if I was coming, she would take me around. I told her that sounded great, except I have to climb the bridge! She said she and her partner had vouchers as well– we should climb together! I thought that was a great idea. She took care of the details, which was a huge relief to me. We went back and forth with the Bridge Climb people, trying to convince them that we actually were friends and wanted to climb together and got it scheduled.
My mom and Ron Voyage were coming starting with that cruise. Ron got an email saying the itinerary had been changed. They were breaking up a twelve day cruise into a five and seven day cruise. I waited a couple of days and we were still going to Sydney on the 13th! Then we went to level 2 for crew which meant that we had to increase our health measures and social distancing. When this happened on the Enchanted we lost crew shore leave for a month. I was worried. But the days passed and crew shore leave was granted. Every time I went for my swab test it seemed more and more likely that I’d test positive, but I was still testing negative. The day before we were in Sydney there was no crew shore leave. The guests had to do a self test before getting off the ship. I asked around and it seemed like we would still have crew shore leave the next day in Sydney. The night before there was an announcement from the Captain. In Sydney both guests and crew would have to self test before leaving the ship (and crew would have to test before starting shift with guests). I picked up my test. Could I test tonight? Nope- it had to be in the morning. I woke up early to take the test– negative!
But shore leave had not been granted yet. Luckily, Clara was still stuck in traffic. I ran into the cast, one of them was friends with someone on the bridge. We went to the crew mess to wait over coffee. Finally they sprung up from their chairs and we all headed for the gangway. I showed my proof of a negative test, and I was off! Bri, one of the guest entertainers, had also scheduled a bridge climb, so I invited her to come along for breakfast with Clara and her partner before our climb.
We took our obligatory touristy photos in front of the opera house. I was so excited to physically be in front of it instead of being on the ship!
They told us to reserve three hours to climb the bridge. The first hour was spent putting all of our safety outfits and accessories on.
Our guide was fantastic. He’d been doing bridge tours for 20 years, but it seemed that lately he mostly worked behind a desk. Today enough people called in sick that they needed him to play tour guide. He loved it. We loved it. It seemed like he was having such a great time telling his jokes and stories because this wasn’t something he did three times a day anymore.
The actual climb was slow and steady, and every time we started to breath heavily, we’d stop and take pictures.
The view was spectacular. Clara said that it had been raining for months, but the sun came out just for our climb!
Now every time we sail away from Sydney, I look up at the people climbing the bridge and remember being up there.
Afterward we went to my mom’s favorite pub in Sydney for some cider.
It’s so nice to have Sydney as a home port. There are so many things to do that are so close. This was an epic day to start. Since we’ve come back I’ve gotten together with Clara in her funky neighborhood, we went to the Hijinx Hotel and Clara showed me all the beaches. I love this place, even in short doses.
