Rinalouise

Hi, I see this thread is a little old now, but hoping someone might see my post. I'm trying to get information on the Spirit and gosh is it hard to come by.

 

 

Hoping someone can help with the following:

- Are all the balcony rooms the same size and the only difference is the size of the balcony, or does the aft-extended balcony room for example have more space inside?

- Is there anywhere you wouldn't recommend getting a room? For example would you avoid getting a room at the front or pack of the boat or would you avoid being above a restaurant or below the pool for example?

- Does it cost money to go on-shore or only if you do an 'excursion' through the boat?

- Do you have to pre-book a tender to shore?

- What can the onboard credit be used for?

- Are the drinks packages worth it? Do they include spirits?

- Do the pools get too crowded?

- Do the rooms without a symbol on the deck plans have queen beds or are all beds on boat twins pushed together?

Hi I can try to help as much as I can

Anywhere to avoid depends on people’s tastes. Me personally deck 1 is a big no no. Especially in rough seas. I always try to stay middle of the ship interior or balcony it doesn’t matter.

To go ashore is free but you can book tours on the boat for a fee or ashore with a private operator. If you want to do tours booking onboard is the best way to do it.

On the day tender tickets will be available at a certain location of the ship you need to collect them to leave. They call by number over the PA system then you need to make your way to the tender disembarkation zone (usually deck A mid Ship). If you go before your number or with out a number you will be sent back upstairs. When you are finished on an island you can go back anytime you want as long as you are onboard before the final tender.

On board credit (OBC) can be used for almost anything on board! Alcohol, drinks packs, shopping, in the steak house/sushi bar even for wifi! I don’t think you can use it in the casino though...

Drinks packs are normally $7-7.50 a day from memory & can only be purchased within the first 24 hours. They include unlimited soda & juice from bars. In Australia alcohol packs don’t exist as apparently we drink a lot! If you drink soda it can pay for itself after 3-4 glasses a day as each soda is between $2-$3.50 on its own.

Pools can get crowded during peak cruises e.g. school holidays Christmas et al. Lucky for us adults there is the the 18+ serenity area which has a pool, whirlpool (what we call a spa) and a bar too. If you want to use the main pools wait until night time (most don’t shut until 8-10 pm) or when the ship is in port. That’s also a good time to use the waterslides.

I know most rooms have two single beds that can be changed to a queen-ish size if you ask the cabin steward. The only exception may be the suites.

Hope this helps!

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After doing 2 transpacific cruises (18/19 days long) I can definitely say they do come with pros and cons...

Pros: longer vacation

Go to ports not many have been to (seriously ask your friends have they ever been to Bora Bora)

Different activities onboard compared to a smaller itinerary. These are culturally based for example a ukulele class a hula class history lessons by a university professor art classes based on location (make a Lei for example)

Regional foods that come on only for that port e.g. Frogs legs or escargot

FIFO (fly in fly out) entertainment and comedians

Normally less children then smaller cruises

Great way to build up points for a loyalty program

Can get good deals in the spa or steakhouse outside of port days.

Cons: days without land. On the carnival Legend transpacific you can stop only at 5-6 ports and have up to 13 days at sea. This can send people stir crazy kinda like how a full moon makes some do stupid things being without land for such a long time can make people nuttsy cuckoo.

Older demographic on board. If you are a youngin (say 18-28) who might be single and think ok I'm gonna live in the night club most nights or I'm gonna party until the crack of dawn you may get a shock. Most bars quiet down on transpacific cruises at midnight. If you go to the nightclub it may be deserted simply because the younger demographic who uses it isn't really there. However this can be an advantage if you like trivia and pop culture as you'll most likely win those trivias.

Can get repetitive. Especially if you go to the piano bar or the house band every night. They have a set number of songs they know and can perform.

Rougher seas. Seas can get rough especially around those 5 or so days between Tahiti and Fiji.

A few people as well were asking is there a cruise one way to/from Hawaii. I know the Legend does one from Seattle to Honolulu (August/September) or Honolulu to Seattle (April/May)which is about 15 days long. It goes around the Hawaiian islands on its way to Seattle or Honolulu.

Hope this helps anyone!

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Bora Bora and Moorea which are islands of French Polynesia are some of my favorites. Carnival only sail there twice a year on the Legend transpacific.

this is from Moorea

and this is Bora Bora.

Fiji is also nice Suva especially. If you head away from Suva City to the coral coast it is quite nice!

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So a few things you'll notice is first if you are a smoker on AU you can only smoke on deck 9 where as the US boats you can smoke in the casino the nightclub etc. CHEERS program isn't available in Australia but bottomless bubbles is. In the MDR on Aussie ships you will see Tablecloths on all the time. American table isn't available (for obvious reasons). Beers onboard are Aussie local beers. The only time you may find a budlite is on the transpacific cruise from Hawaii as they've gotta get rid of the stock some how. Diamond Platinum parties are open to Gold members in Australia as diamond platinum card holders are as rare as hens teeth in Australia... but they are there if you look hard enough! Trivia is localized to some extent. Bingo is different and very hard to explain. On the transpacific cruises the onboard currency is AUD both ways. Be careful however last year coming home from Hawaii the ATM on board continued to dispense USD. That's all I can think of at the moment...

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Did the transpacific from Hawaii last year on the Legend. Once you boarded in Honolulu you couldn't get off. Learnt that the hard way! The muster was at 10pm local time and the sail away party was at 11pm. Not a fan of the later times as at 10/11pm most either wanted to sleep or were too drunk to stand straight (especially if you've been onboard since 1-2pm) they had to redo the drill for some with young kids the next morning. I remember speaking to a couple who had just flown into Honolulu from Sydney the same day as the boat left and they just wanted to sleep as soon as they got on the boat as they were Jetlaged. They were so out of it they slept past the horns alarms and continuous loud noises associated with the drill and woke up in a panic at 3 am.

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I've had the note in my suitcase a couple of times. My first time was when I was coming back from Miami in 2012. We have a feeling they checked my bags because it was my first time to America and I was only there for 4 days so it may have seemed suspicious. The second time was in 2015 coming back from Hawaii. They randomly selected the bag that had all my dirty undies and clothes in it. I feel sorry for the poor tsa agent who had to go through that bag!

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My apologies for not completing this sooner as I have had a lot of trouble with the app I use for the forums not letting me reply or post anything. So now I have every thing fixed to some extent I will finish my review!

Before we left Noumea the captain informed us that the next 2 days heading back to Sydney will be our roughest as we will be going through a low weather system.

Before I continue I must say this... I have Emetophobia which is a fear of vomit. Being on a cruise ship with several first time cruisers who don't know if they will get sea sick or not and me don't really mix especially if there is rough seas. I don't have a problem with rough seas as I have survived the "Terror storm of April 2015" Wikipedia mentions it on the Spirit & Legend page. Put it this way I was on the Legend in the middle of this storm leaving Sydney and we were listing so bad that I was forced out of bed by the motion of the ocean and rolled from one side of the cabin to the other. The alcohol in the gift shop and bars were all forced off the shelves and smashed on the floor. It was 2 nights of hell I would never ever wish on anyone. Ok a bit off topic but I'll get back to it. Anyway I have a phobia of vomit (which I call a "Reversal of fortune" as even the word creeps me...) and me seeing hearing or smelling it will make me run in the other direction in an instant!

I woke up that morning to go and get some breakfast I go to get into a lift to take me to the lido deck the doors open and here is a kid having a "Reversal of fortune" in the lift. As soon as I saw this I ran back to my room and asked my brother to go and get some breakfast. I had a quiet morning in my room watching tv and sleeping. I woke up at midday and my brother handed me an invitation that was in our mail box...

As Australian cruises very rarely have passengers who are diamond platinum or white card holders gold card holders are invited to the vifp parties.

Here is all the senior staff onboard

Here is Lee with the Entertainment Directors

Tonight was just a quiet night in due to the high seas.

Next post final sea day and arrival into Sydney.

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Last stop before Sydney...! Noumea

Noumea (Pronounced New-Mia or Noo-May-Ah depending on who you ask) is the capital of New Caledonia and the most urbanised of all the ports we have been to. Noumea is one of those places where if you've been there once the second time around will be bland. If it is your first time to Noumea I recommend doing the Tchou Tchou Train. It is a big motorised road train that takes you to all the hotspots of noumea. For the adventurous visit Amedee Island. Those tours sell pretty fast.

For the seasoned visitor of Noumea go to the Casino Supermarket in the middle of town. Before you do make sure you swap any currency to XPF (Pacific Franc). You can do this in the Visitors centre across the street. This is a great place to buy French Wine or alcohol (it will be confiscated when you board the boat and given back at the end of the cruise) as well as stuff like Chips Confectionary and Water... you know those things on the boat that can charge you an arm and a leg! You can also buy souvenirs here too. I remember when I first visited Noumea 4 years ago I saw the "Casino" & thought it was an actual Casino like Caesars Palace. Looking back I was an idiot!

Tonight on board is the 80's night... no not a throwback Day just 80's night. We went to the 80's trivia party and had heaps of fun!

Here is Lee decked out in his 80's gear!

Our show tonight was 80's pop to the max! I have found a new show that I love! It's fluro 80s pop crazy.

After this we went up to the deck party. Didn't stay very long as again hit was over run by kids who were unsupervised. Plus we lost our hearing too as it was quite loud! I could also tell my autistic brother didn't like the atmosphere as he was acting out. Something he does when he doesn't like the situation he is in.

Up next is sea day 4!

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Mare (pronounced Mah-Rey) is an island of New Caledonia. It is a small island (not as small as Mystery Island) and very humid island! So much so it made my phone crash! It was 28°C but the humidity must have been at 90% or higher!

The only Carnival excursion you can do on Mare is buying a $20 return transfer to a beach called Yejele (Pronounced Yay-Lay). I've said it before and I'll say it again when I "attempt" to swim the butterfly looks more like the BlubberFly. Ok that was harsh but the truth is again I can't swim to save my life so a visit to this beach was out of the question!

So after returning to the boat looking like (and feeling like) a drowned harassed rat we went up to lido deck for the port day matinee movie which was... umm hang on I thought we were watching secretariat I just looked and it was actually seabiscuit. I feel like a goofball! So we sat and watched the movie with a guys burger and an massive helping of pickles with ranch dressing on the side... yeah I'm the girl who'd probably go to McDonald's and order extra pickles on her burgers!

Afterwards we made our way down to the red frog for beer pong! Now I've never played beer pong before but it was fun and I'd totally do it again!

Tonight's show was another one that didn't interest me at all as I've seen her before on my transpacific cruise in September. Her name was Nikki Bennett. She's a singer and to be honest her show was more aimed for mums and dads who "put the kids in camp ocean" for the night. Not my cup of tea! I went to the casino for the night to watch Game 1 of the State Of Origin match. State of origin (for my American folk) is like a state versus state game of Gridiron (instead of wearing padding we go al natural in the padding area... I don't think we even wear Cups! Just short shorts and A jersey) like if it was Seattle vs New England for 3 games and whoever wins the most games gets bragging rights for the next year... It was being shown in the sports bar casino and on lido deck. So I was playing the pokies (Slots for my American readers) winning up a storm having fun watching the game wherever I could until I am on a set of machines nobody is around I'm on my own so I turn the volume up on the machine. Then it really starts paying off! So as all the bells and whistles go off a (much older and ruder by the way) lady sits down right next to me (reeking of booze too) puts $5 in and yells at me to "Stop winning" as the noise is driving her insane! She reaches over my machine pulls out out my sail and sign card and throws it in the floor! Little did she know a security guard was right behind her to escort her out! I picked up my sail & sign card put it back in and in 2 spins I got the minor jackpot of $300. Well if that ain't karma I don't know what is! I started with $20 and walked out with $500. Not bad!

Our next stop is... Noumea (our final stop!)

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My apologies folks I have been off the boat and back home for 2-3 days now sick with the vertigo feeling (hopefully it goes tomorrow ). I have made it my mission to strap myself to the beast and finish this tomorrow. This is also where I'll be posting the fun times and other Various papers I came across on the ship.

Cheers, Rina

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Mystery island!

First I gotta shout out to all of the kind words about my review! This is my first ever review for cruise critic so I'm glad that you like it!

We got up at 7am today so we can make our way to mystery island. The tender over to it takes 15 minutes. Brief background on mystery island is that it is an uninhabited island and locals come from nearby islands every time a cruise ship is in to sell their wares. Mystery Island does have an airfield for tiny planes to land. Legend has it that Queen Elizabeth the second plane made a brief landing here to fill up fuel for her plane.

The island Is my favourite on this cruise. It is quite nice and relaxing even if you stay out of the water! There is a lot of cultural things to do here plus there is a marketplace to buy thing like pens snow globes fans sarongs apparel and more. Most of which is handmade. Australia has tough quarantine laws especially to shells sand and wood products so I keep away from stuff like that.

If it is your first time to mystery Island I suggest going to the cannibal soup. It is a photo opportunity near the market place for $5AUD

Also there are locals with these iguanas which they put on you for a photo opportunity for $5AUD as well. They are harmless and cute.

After a good 3 hours here we made it back to the boat. Tonight's show is the love and marriage show. I'm not a fan of this show maybe because I'm single like a Pringle I don't know! I kinda wish they did like a perfect match show as well which would have been fun.

We had an early night tonight as we were both exhausted after today.

Up next is Mare.

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Singing karaoke in a shanghai piano bar wearing a sombrero...

The ship pulled anchor from Lifou at 5pm local time. I should also mention Lifou is a tender port so no watching for pier runners... (we save that for Noumea)! Tonight was Mexican night everyone donned their sombreros and fake moustaches and let the tequila flow like water! Tonight's show in the show lounge was Martin Ralph who is a juggler. I've seen him before on the legend and walked out halfway thru. Simply because I am friends with a juggler who does cruise ships here in Australia and does much much more complex things than him.

So I went up to the shanghai piano bar for karaoke. I love the decor of the piano bar it actually makes you feel like you've stepped into a little bar in the back streets of shanghai. Our karaoke hostess is Cheeky Charlie from England. From 7-8 it's family friendly then after 8 for an hour it's adults only. In that 8pm block Charlie does a song about her life. Tonight's song was "I will survive" as she talks about the time her boyfriend dumped her 2 weeks into her first contract and she drank 3 bottles of wine at 3am with this song on repeat. Charlie is a character!

Before this I got up and sung the Cups song from Pitch Perfect. Charlie and 4 other people got plastic cups from the bar and started doing the Cups song right there on the bar! Charlie said as a Pom there is only two instruments she can play... Cups and Spoons. I will endeavour by the end of the cruise to get Charlie some Spoons to play with!

After karaoke I was hungry (I completely forgot about dinner) so I got bonsai sushi before it shut and ordered a bento box. The sushi here is totally worth the price! I paid $13 for 9 sushi a salad miso soup & edamame. I would pay near $20 for that on land!

I forgot I took this in bonsai sushi...

After this we went up to the lido deck for the Mexican Fiesta! They did the Macarena/chicken Dance (why they mashed the chicken dance with the Macarena is beyond me) Cha Cha Slide and one other called the Wiggle (never heard of that one!)

Halfway through it was overrun with kids so we left for the Adults Only comedy show. The comedian was Greg Sullivan. He used to do Breakfast Radio in Brisbane many years ago. This is the 3rd carnival cruise I've been on and the third time he's been in the comedy club. Mr Sullivan I swear I am not stalking you it is just fate... will I see you on the legend at Christmas? Maybe! If Greg is on your Aussie Cruise please go see his Adults Only shows!

Up next: Mystery Island (That is its actual name)

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Those lines are really long for the fiesta.

Surprised it wasn't as crowded for us... I guess cause they didn't announce it or people didn't want nachos at midnight (I find that hard to believe because nachos are a great drinking food! Lol)

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A wee bit off the timeline but we are in the empire dining room again and well the whites are always out! I find it gives it a luxury feel to your dining experience... underneath is like a white marble by the way!

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we had the Mexican fiesta last night on the spirit and they had a nacho bar set up. 4 different types of nacho chip sour cream salsa and a spicy red sauce. As for midnight buffets they are reserved for the journeys cruise.

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I feel a bit butt hurt after reading all these awesome gifts and comparing it to what I got in 2015... I just got a card that said "we didn't get you anything for your birthday so we tried to get the dolphins to sing" and it had a picture of a dolphin in a birthday hat... that's all I got and my mum who was traveling with me told carnival's special events team 3 times before hand even on the online check-in! She was so upset she was hoping for something nice like a cake or desert like P&O AU had done for her in the past.

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Lifou day 4:

Lifou (Pronounced Lif-Foo) is an island of New Caledonia. It was recently hit hard by Tropical Cyclone Donna and it was visible. Lifou is an island great for snorkelling and swimming but as I can't swim I really couldn't do much here. The temperature would have been 25-27°C (Sorry I don't speak Imperial or Fahrenheit). I really didn't do much here as there was not much to do unless booked on a tour or you can swim. I did however check something off my bucket list and that was to get my hair braided! $25 dollars gave me my hair braided and a massage too.?

Here is what Lifou looks like:

And the spirit:

Coming up next: Mexican Fiesta featuring Sushi?

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Ah sea day 3... fun today! I was back to my normal self after laying off the booze! Started the day with a hearty helping of bacon! For the record they serve two types of bacon American Bacon (over cooked like leather) and Aussie Bacon (can be classed as undercooked to some but with rind still in tact) and yes the bacon police are in force onboard (as is the roast police too at dinner time).

We went down to trivia after breakfast and won it again. The topic was Aussie States and territories. Pretty easy stuff if it was American states that would have been fun too! Years of watching wrestling pays off for once!

Tonight's show was the hasbro show. We went to the first sitting at 7:30pm. I have a lucky hotdog hat that I bought from party city in Honolulu last year. As a joke I wear it to the hasbro shows onboard and I'm guaranteed getting picked... (I mean you too would pick someone with a giant hotdog on their head right?) anyway the two games in my session was Yahtzee Bowling and Operation Sam Dunk. I got called up for Sam Dunk and the final score was Blue (me) 2050 Red 2100. It was the closest game of Sam Dunk I've seen! We were pipped at the post but had heaps of fun!

Here is a close up of the hotdog hat from September...

We went up to the lido for ice cream and popcorn then retired for the night!

Next up our first port of call: Lifou!

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Sea day two: bit of a quiet day for me as I partied too hard the night before. So I slept until midday. Got some fat jimmys BBQ for lunch (pulled pork kransky and jailbird chicken...DROOL! A must for all carnivores!) and enjoyed the sea breeze on deck 10. It was also formal night but I wasn't feeling the best (Not Seasickness btw but a hangover with the life span of an everlasting gobstopper) so we went to check out the seafood shack. The legend had a version of it called Freshies and nobody seemed to use it. The prices were quite good for the product! For $5 I got the New England Chowder in a Bread bowl (DROOL!!!) and $13 got me the seafood basket:

Tonight's show was epic rock. It was the only show that is the same on the legend. I didn't go as it would have been predictable for me! However if you haven't seen it before please go and see epic rock!

Up next sea day 3!

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Ok where was I... Island night! We went for dinner in the empire dining room (MDR of the ship) the staff were dressed in their aloha shirts and the food matched the occasion I don't remember what I ate as I was a bit intoxicated but I do remember ordering a banana split from the kiddies menu for dessert. So some pics of the dining room:

Kids menu (the wait staff thought I was crazy for asking for it... they also gave me a crayon to do the activities inside!)

And the banana split:

After dinner we went to the pharaoh lounge (main show room) for getaway island! I've never seen this production before and I was amazed! They threw 3D aspects into it and had great music! I wish it was on the legend! Before the show they had some playlist preshow fun with Lee our cruise director!:

After the show there was an after party in the pub with music Manila! They are a great band! After that we retired for the night!

Up next sea day 2!

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Day 1:

Woke up and went straight for bacon! Had a light breakfast and then went down to the red frog pub on deck 2 for the live morning show! It is so weird to see a live morning show as the one on the legend is basically a camera on a tripod in the cruise directors cabin... this is the Spirit Set Up:

I'm in the front row watching and all the sudden a lady from the nouveau restaurant comes on with a tuna Tartare. Never tried it before so I threw my hand up to volunteer to try it... next thing I know Lee is doing a Choo Choo train with a fork full of tartare to my mouth on live tv ...

I am eating the dish off camera in amazement. It was delicious!

Next we head to trivia First was slogans trivia... I hate when they "Aussie" trivia like this as my knowledge of American slogans is quite high! After that was Dr Seuss Trivia which we won a Dinghy on a Swingy Thingy... thank god my brother is a librarian!

We headed up to the lido deck to registrations for the mixology competition. I signed up and thought I'd have no chance of getting through But I did! My drink was called the Legit Boss (Shoutout to all those Wrestling Fans who may have got that reference!) so I go up to make my creation and was hoping for a purple colour... I failed art class by the way so I ended up with a murky sewer colour almost grey! Lee put it in words for everyone "It may look like Ship but it tastes legit!". It by the way had coconut rum blue Curacao raspberry liquor and a splash of OJ. After seeing this monstrosity I thought I had no chance of winning but the fates were with me... the two tequila drinks made the judges spit it out (too much sours mix me thinks) and the other rum recipe was labeled "Lolly Water". When it came to judgement I got to the final two when I though "Holy Foley I could win this!" Then Lee called my name as the winner I was glad I wasn't wearing white undies as they would have been brown by now... after getting my prizes I made my way to my room for a nap and to get ready for theme night 1 which was island night...

Gonna leave it here I'm falling asleep just typing! More to come soon!

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So as I write this it's just turned midnight ships time (gmt+11) so let's review so far...

Woke up at 4am Thursday 25th of may to board our flights to Sydney (I by the way am from Brisbane) we fly 1 1/2 hours south to Sydney on the most quintessential Aussie airline QANTAS. What makes it even better is that both our flights are complementary from carnival (saving me almost $400). I should also mention I am traveling with my autistic brother on this cruise and it's our first time ever on the spirit! We get off the plane at T3 and there is a carnival Rep waiting at the carrousel who says we've gotta go over to T2. For those who don't know it's quite a hike when you have to pull your luggage almost a kilometre and you have 2 dodgy shoulders from working in retail for 10 years. We board our shuttle and make our way to circular quay in the heart of Sydney!

We had the first boarding time of 12Noon and the process of getting to the ship was pretty straight forward. One thing that surprised me is they didn't confiscate our passports like they have done before on the Legend... maybe it's a transpacific thing I don't know!

First thing I do is make a b-line straight to Guys Burger joint! I order the Pig Patty... if and when they add Guys to the legend I'll be one happy chappy! (She's going into dry dock this time next year so I can only hope so) I then go check out the Cantina and the tequila and rum bars (another 3 things missing on the legend that I want!). I head up to deck 10 to Fat Jimmys. Unfortunately he is closed today but they have seats up there with unrestricted views of the harbour...

Our rooms weren't ready until 1:30pm so we just chilled on deck for 1/2 an hour for it to happen. We are on deck 6 midship in an interior room right opposite the suites. This is the first time I've ever been in an interior room so this is all new for me. First impressions were it was homely and that is still my impression today.

After dropping our hand luggage in the room and such we went back up to the lido deck and grabbed a few drinks! As soon as we knew it it was mister time. We went to the muster area and waited for people to come with these IPad things to scan our cards to confirm we are at the right area and the muster. Muster didn't go too long and we went up to lido again for our sail away party! Now it wasn't much of a party (not what I'm used to I expected more to be honest). We did like 3 dances that is it then everyone scattered like cockroaches when the light came on. It was almost 7pm so that may have something to do with it...

We had a light dinner at the buffet and got ready for the welcome aboard show with our Cruise Director Lee! If you have never been to a welcome aboard show go to it! I will not spoil it here but one thing when they are looking for people to do the "Game" you need to be husband and wife. Apparently brother and sister are not good enough... :(

Well that is day 0 done done as after that I crashed in bed! I'll add the other days underneath.

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I have no choice when sailing carnival... it's either Sydney Sydney Sydney or I win the lotto and go to Florida... lol

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The OP might want to go to Australia Zoo in particular, but I agree with the suggestion that the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary is excellent with a wide variety of animals. However, it isn't at Daisy Hill. Lone Pine is at Fig Tree Pocket, a suburb of Brisbane. The Daisy Hill Koala Sanctuary is a koala habitat at Daisy Hill, south of Brisbane. This is much further out of town than the Lone Pine Sanctuary. For someone wanting to see a wide variety of Australian animals, Lone Pine is excellent. To get there I suggest that a taxi from the centre of Brisbane would be best.

 

 

 

Another point - I am not sure which ship the OP will be on. Unless it is P&O or one of the smaller Princess ships (Sun or Sea Princess) they will dock at the Grain Terminal at the Fisherman's Island wharf. This wharf is about 45 minutes' drive from the centre of the city, but it is reasonably conveniently located for someone wanting to travel on the Bruce Highway north of Brisbane. The wharf is not too far from the Gateway Bridge that leads onto the highway. At the wharf there will be taxis there and a shuttle bus to the CBD but there are no rental car depots anywhere in the area.

You're right it's fig tree pocket... I get those two confused... can you tell I only stay on the north side! Lol

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I too agree with what Bronte has written... being a Brisbane girl myself who more or less has the Bruce Highway as her back yard driving it can be a nightmare at the best of times... I recommend doing a Ship Organized Excursion by the Cruise Company. Simply because you will have that peace of mind to know that if for any reason you are late to the boat the boat won't leave. Where as if you choose to go solo then you risk being a pier runner should you be late.

Another option if you want to be closer to the boat but still be around animals is the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary at Daisy Hill. Don't let the name fool you it's not just koalas there are other wildlife as well.

Hope this helps! [emoji846]

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