Anniversary Weekend Done Right On A New Year’s Eve Cruise On Sydney Harbour

It’s said "The secret of a happy marriage has always remained a secret", and not without reason. And after 50 years of trying to find the key to the same, my grandparents decided to celebrate their arduous journey with a stunning celebration. As their youngest (also, coolest) grandchild I was given the task of finding a spot for us to do the same. As the anniversary falls very close to the New Year, we decided to do a bash on the highly-celebrated New Year’s Eve in Sydney.

New Year’s Eve cruises in Sydney are a thing. With parties of all sort being held on harbour venues, I was sure this was the go-to for a special celebration for our grandparents with the closest of family. With roving fireworks views and elaborate dining options, a catamaran New Year’s Eve cruise in Sydney seems to be the best pick of the lot.

We planned for some activities throughout the day around the harbour with little surprises hidden all around. Right from a relaxing walk around the harbour to a light breakfast at a rustic ferry-like café bang opposite Sydney Harbour, the day started off well enough!

We spent a better half of the day exploring the precincts in and around the harbour and CBD, especially The Rocks. After all the sights, we decided to go for an Asian restaurant to refuel ourselves. With some tangy flavours to refresh our taste palettes, we had a great time sitting in an al fresco restaurant under a cool umbrella. As a group of 10, it allowed us to put our feet up and chill with our grandsies before starting off (Grandpa even managed a quick nap before we started out again).

Our cruise was scheduled right after sunset so we had more time to spare in and around the harbour. We decided to do a quick Opera house tour before starting out on the cruise part. There began the history lesson again! The entire harbour, Rocks precinct and every area around including the Opera House offers interesting snippets about the history that’s fun to know and good enough to rave about later.

With everything else ticked off our lists, all that was left was a stunning dinner on board a luxury cruise! With the entire day’s buildup (I was the culprit here!) the excitement was palpable by the time of boarding. With gorgeous views and courteous crew heralding us in, the night started off quite well!

With a sumptuous buffet laid out for us, we had our fill of tasties before moving on to the vast open decks of the luxury vessel. With drinks in hand, our grandparents enjoyed fireworks views from the cruise and even danced a bit to the DJ’s tunes. Also, our cruise was among the select few to be docked in the exclusion zone which added to the allure of the night with stunning fireworks views.

We loved the experience so much that we decided to go on another Sydney NYE cruise the coming New Year too. We’ve already set our eyes on the vintage paddlewheeler cruise with a show! With Sydney New Year fireworks being the highlight of the night, a delcious dinner with drinks is just what you need to shout out and say to each other the magical words - Happy New Year!

Wish y’all the same too! Signing off after a fun time… Sydney Harbour rocks!

Merlin Jakes traverses the world during her free time, taking her to various exotic places, ticking off her travel bucket list one by one.