Exige

G'day Losnab,

That is the place!

You don't need to book a room for the evening, you just just wander in the door at anytime and enjoy their facilities.

They have public access balconies off the gaming areas.

Hope you enjoy your NYE in Sydney ... we'll be enjoying Champagne in Champagne Bay!

A&C

Rang them today and got 76c conversion rate.

Just a heads up .. added some OBC for our upcoming cruise yesterday .. RCCI still at $0.769.

A&C

I haven't done NYE is the city for a good few years .. lots and lots (and lots) of people.

However .. when we did for a few years running, we found the Sydney Casino a really good spot. Most people seem to try and congregate around the harbours edge, so the casino is fairly empty .. and it has a number of outside balconies that you can watch the fireworks etc without any of the crowds. All that along with cheap drinks and food.

More people may have found out this "secret spot" .. and now all of CC knows :) .. however if you don't have a good view from your accomodation, it's definitely an option

Booked for a NYE cruise and really looking forward to the excitement of getting away.

As a surprise for my partner, (and as she may end up reading this ... hi sweetheart, you can stop reading now) I want to organise Champagne in our suite to be ready as we arrive .. like a private Bon voyage party. We'll bring a few bottles onboard with us, however I assume they wont be cold and ready to go when we are! Seems I can order one of the "Romance" packages .. but don't really want all the rose petals and chocolates and stuff .. or should I just order from the cabin steward when we get there?

Any experiences or best options?

Thanks

A&C

Thanks Di & Ken,

That's some good info. I have emailed my TA with a link to the RCI T&C page that shows the variations for Australia and (hopefully) they'll be able to sort it all out for us.

You said late December; are you on the 26th December? We are on there and will be in GS1060.

 

Cheers

Di

Yep .. we'll be in GS1032. Given we can take a couple of bottles on board with us, drop in for a nice glass of Champagne early .. before it runs out!

Current cruise is booked through a TA that was recommended by some "cruise addicted" friends. The TA is a cruise specialist and has (so far) been great. For example .. when we first booked, we informed the TA we would be interested in the highest level cabin available, at that time everything except a JS was sold out, so we booked a JS. About a week ago, my TA emailed me and informed me there had been a cancellation and a GS was now available and she had reserved this for us. Unless I had been monitoring the RCI booking site constantly (which I wasn't), I would not have know this. We haven't saved any $$ or got any special perks (except the upgraded cabin) from our TA, however as our cruise is booked at probably the most popular time of the year, this is not surprising.

Currently we have another small issue with our booking that I have referred to our TA for fix up .. hopeful that is all sorted and all I had to do was send an email. All this is much easier than myself trying to navigate websites and call centers etc.

A&C

Hi Everyone!

Long time reader - first time poster :)

We have recently booked for a South Pacific cruise onboard Radiance sailing out of Sydney in late December 2015. This will be my partner and 2 kids first cruise .. and my first since I had a wild 10 days on the Fairstar over 20 years ago. I don't remember much about my Fairstar trip, except the name of that very cute brunette .. Kate, or was it Lisa .. never mind, I must have had a good time!

We have booked 2 staterooms ... a GS for us, and a normal interior stateroom for the kids (aged 19 & 15). Booking was made through an experienced & recommended TA. At the time of booking we were advised of the policy of RCI that all bookings needed to have an adult (over 21) for each cabin .. so we booked my partner and daughter into the GS and myself and son into the other cabin. Seemed logical at the time as once onboard we'd just move rooms.

Since making the booking, I have done some more reading and realised that this is not an ideal arrangement. From what I can see .. my SeaPass won’t open my GS cabin door! .. and my booking won’t allow me to take advantage of the Suite bonus extras like Concierge Club, priority boarding/embarkation, priority onboard bookings etc .. and also won’t give the bonus loyalty points from the GS cabin booking.

How can we fix or deal with this issue? I was a bit concerned about calling RCI as .. well .. it is their policy that has caused this issue. Is this something that we can sort once we are onboard?

We are really excited about getting away from everything on a nice relaxing holiday .. and more than excited about experiencing the extra luxury of a Grand Suite. Really hoping their is a way of making sure that this issue does not create a cruise spoiling problem.

Thanks in advance for everyone help.

A&C +kids