Singapore to Sydney Premium Cruise

Singapore is one of the world’s most efficiently extraordinary cities and the embarkation day gives a final chance to move through it before Azamara Pursuit departs. Gardens by the Bay with the Supertrees illuminated at night, the hawker centres at Maxwell Food Centre and Newton Circus, the colonial architecture of the Civic District and Jewel Changi Airport’s vertical rain forest are all within easy reach of the cruise terminal. The city of 5.9 million people operates at a precision and cosmopolitan energy that sets the tone for everything that follows.

A second day in Singapore and the city opens its quieter layers. The Peranakan Museum in Armenian Street, the Botanic Gardens’ UNESCO World Heritage orchid collection, the Tiong Bahru neighbourhood’s Art Deco shophouses and the Southern Ridges forest walk above the harbour give a sense of the city that the tourist circuit misses entirely. Azamara Pursuit departs this evening and the Marina Bay Sands and Gardens by the Bay Supertrees visible as the ship clears Singapore Harbour provide one of the finest urban departure views in the world.

This commercial port, busily exporting the island’s most important products (including of course the beans for your next cup of java), is your gateway to two amazing religious sites. Borobudur is the largest Buddhist monument in the world – a 3D mandala (diagram of the universe), and perhaps a gigantic textbook to guide mortals striving to attain enlightenment. Prambanan is a complex of lofty, sharply sculpted towers honoring the Hindu triumvirate of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. Both religions traveled this way with Indian traders in the early centuries AD.

The city of Surabaya has some fascinating places here to explore. The Arab quarter is like a Middle Eastern medina – a warren of narrow lanes with stalls selling prayer beads next to perfume next to dates. Keep following the lanes to the Masjid Ampel, a historic mosque built in 1421.

Celukan Bawang, Bali, Indonesia. In this important port, you may see numbers of the famous high-prowed Bugis schooners, the traditional trading vessels of the archipelago. They carry timber, cement and other goods

Bali is enchanting – a lush, verdant isle where rice terraces color every available acre with the brilliant green of young shoots, and volcanic peaks said to house the gods tower above. It is a deeply spiritual place, where artful offerings of flowers and incense are ever present, and on any given day at least one of the thousands of temples scattered around the island will be hosting a colorful festival. Culturally rich, each village has its own artistic specialty – music, dance, painting, and sculpture. The beaches are tempting, but if you want the real Bali, head for the hills – the Balinese occupy that middle ground, and demons reside in the sea.

A sea day crossing the Indian Ocean between Bali and Darwin. The Indonesian archipelago falls away behind the stern and the Timor Sea opens ahead. Darwin is two days away and the transition from the Hindu and Buddhist worlds of the Indonesian islands to the Aboriginal culture and frontier character of the Australian Top End is one of the most significant cultural shifts on this voyage.

A second sea day in the Timor Sea as Azamara Pursuit approaches the Australian continent. The water at this latitude in November is warm and the Timor Sea in the wet season approach has a particular quality — humid and building toward the afternoon rains that will saturate the Top End from December to March. Darwin arrives tomorrow.

Darwin is Australia’s most distinctive capital city, shaped by Japanese bombing in 1942 and Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Eve 1974, its multicultural frontier character sitting 800 kilometres south of Indonesia in a way that feels genuinely closer to Southeast Asia than to Sydney. The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory’s exceptional Yolngu collection, the Defence of Darwin Experience in the original oil storage tunnels, the jumping crocodile cruise on the Adelaide River and the Mindil Beach Sunset Market are all within reach. Kakadu National Park, 160 kilometres east, is the largest national park in Australia and one of the finest — the Burrunguy rock art site at Nourlangie holds paintings dating back 20,000 years. November is the build-up season in the Top End, the air heavy with pre-monsoon humidity and the waterfalls beginning to flow in the ranges behind the park.

A sea day heading southeast along the Northern Territory coast toward Queensland as Azamara Pursuit leaves Darwin and the Top End behind. The Gulf of Carpentaria is to the east and the Coral Sea begins ahead. The transition from the ancient Aboriginal landscape of the north to the reef-fringed tropical Queensland coast is one of the most dramatic geographical shifts on any Australian itinerary.

A second sea day and Azamara Pursuit is now in the Coral Sea, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park beginning below the hull. Flying fish are visible from the upper decks in the morning and the water has shifted to the vivid turquoise that signals the reef system. Cairns arrives tomorrow.

A third consecutive sea day and the Queensland coast is now fully visible to the west. Cairns arrives tomorrow and the two days there will cover the outer reef and the Daintree. The Aqualina and the Prime C are both worth reserving for this final evening before the Australian reef ports begin.

Cairns is the primary gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and a full day here gives genuine time to reach the outer reef and engage with it properly. The outer reef, accessible by high-speed catamaran from the Cairns marina, is where the most spectacular coral formations and the greatest marine diversity are found. Sea turtles, reef sharks, giant clams, Maori wrasse and fish in colours that seem impossible in nature are all present in the warm November water. The Scenic Railway to Kuranda through the Wet Tropics rainforest and the Daintree Rainforest north of the city are both excellent alternatives for those who explored the reef on a previous visit.

A second full day in Cairns and the port’s range becomes fully apparent. The Daintree Rainforest, the oldest tropical rainforest on earth at 180 million years, begins just north of the city. A full-day tour to Cape Tribulation, where the rainforest runs directly to the beach and the Great Barrier Reef is visible offshore, covers two UNESCO World Heritage areas in a single day. The Kuranda Skyrail gondola over the rainforest canopy, the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park and the Cairns Aquarium are all excellent half-day alternatives for those who explored the reef yesterday.

Airlie Beach is the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands, one of the most beautiful archipelagos in the world. Whitehaven Beach, 7 kilometres of pure white silica sand consistently ranked among the finest beaches on earth, is accessible by water taxi or scenic flight. A scenic flight over the islands reveals Hill Inlet’s swirling turquoise in one of the most famous aerial views in Australia. The Whitsunday Passage’s protected waters are excellent for sailing and snorkelling in November conditions.

A sea day heading south along the Queensland coast as Azamara Pursuit leaves the Whitsundays behind and makes for the Sunshine Coast. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park continues below the hull as far south as Bundaberg and the water colour holds its vivid turquoise through most of the day. Mooloolaba arrives tomorrow.

Mooloolaba is one of the finest beach towns on the Queensland coast, its position on the Sunshine Coast combining an excellent patrolled surf beach, a working fishing harbour and the Underwater World aquarium complex in an immediately accessible waterfront setting. The Sunshine Coast hinterland, with the Noosa National Park headland 30 kilometres north and the Glass House Mountains volcanic plugs visible inland, gives the region a natural backdrop that the Gold Coast entirely lacks. November in Mooloolaba means warm water, excellent surf conditions and the Sunshine Coast operating at full summer pace.

A final sea day heading south as Azamara Pursuit makes for Sydney. The New South Wales central coast is visible to the west and the headlands and surf beaches of the mid-north coast give way to the Central Coast during the afternoon. Sydney arrives tomorrow morning and the harbour entrance at dawn is worth setting an alarm for. Tonight is the right moment for a farewell dinner at Prime C or Aqualina.

Azamara Pursuit arrives at Sydney’s White Bay terminal and the harbour crossing from the Heads to the berth gives full views of the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and the CBD waterfront. Sydney in early December is the city moving into summer, the jacaranda season just past and the harbour at full operation with ferries, water taxis and weekend sailing. The Rocks historic precinct, the Royal Botanic Gardens, the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk and the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb are all within easy reach of the city. The Rocks Saturday market, if the arrival day falls on a Saturday, is the finest market in central Sydney.

A second day in Sydney and a final farewell to a voyage that began in Singapore’s gardens 20 nights ago. The city’s Museum of Contemporary Art on the waterfront, the Paddington terrace house galleries, the Surry Hills restaurant precinct and the harbour ferry network give Sydney almost unlimited options for a final day. Ask your Cruiseabout specialist about a post-cruise Sydney hotel stay before flying home.