NEW fleet of visitors sailed in to Newcastle yesterday and found plenty of reasons to return.
Cruise liner Volendam stopped off as part of a 34-day cruise around Australia, the first time a ship from the Holland America fleet has visited the city.
Seasoned cruise passengers Bill and Gloria Denny, of Wenatchee, the United States, were on their fifth cruise holiday, having visited South America, the Mediterranean, Iceland and Greenland, and the Panama Canal on previous tours.
They were impressed with Newcastle, after taking a leisurely walk past The Foreshore to Nobbys.
"It's a beautiful park," Mrs Denny said.
The couple said the friendly, helpful locals, and proximity of attractions, was appealing.
"We'd come back here," Mr Denny said. "There's a whole bunch more stuff we'd do."
In the meantime, they can sample the region's chardonnay, semillon and shiraz on board.
Hunter Valley Tourism marketing manager Heidi Duckworth said six cases were delivered to the ship yesterday after a special request from the ship's beverage manager, who expressed interest in sourcing more local wine when the ship returned next year.
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