We sailed on the Oosterdam out of Sydney to Auckland from Feb. 6 through Feb. 20th. We left from Barangaroo Wharf and not the OPT. A large white tent was the site of the staging area for the embarkation. Although everything went fine, there seemed to be a little conflict of information that was being told to us by all different staff as to what time we could check in and what time we would board. We were there early enough to grab a table and sit and play cards as we waited for boarding to begin at 12:30.

Once on board, I immediately went to the Front Desk to sign up for the 2 cooking classes that were scheduled. I was surprised that there were only 2 as we had 6 sea days. Nevertheless, we were signed up. We also made our PG reservations for Valentine's Day dinner. We were good to go!

We had an SS stateroom on Deck 8 centrally located and were very happy with our choice. The room was typical of others that we had stayed in on other HAL cruises -- no surprises for us. Although we had been told that during the drydock Deck 8 had been refurbished, we didn't notice it. We also didn't notice the need for it although from a decorating point of view it needed it. Our room stewards came to greet us and I had requested a second bathroom since there was only one in our room. It took 2 days to fulfill that request. We found that we had ample room in our SS category stateroom, more room that we needed. I will say that several of us found that the hairdryers that HAL provided seemed to overheat quickly and turn themselves off. I used one for a few minutes, put it down (which means that it is not on since you aren't pushing in that little button) and I could not turn it back on again for about 15 minutes. Happened a second time as well. I quickly learned not to take my finger off that button. Another person in our roll call had the same problems. We utilized the bag for unlimited laundry for $20 per bag but after we did it once, we were never given another bag. Read more