colourbird

Yes people would pay $30 for a return ferry to Brisbane City over the $40 for the Princess shuttle bus + additional cost of a ferry ride if they were going to travel on one. White Bay is different as it is closer to the city. I've walked to and from there (without luggage) or just caught the public bus home (it's 20 minutes walk from the ship). It's easy to get a taxi too.

The wharf would be around 15 minutes away from Hamilton. The main benefit would be for cruise passengers being able to catch the ferry into the city and back to the ship instead of having to catch the bus into the city and then a ferry up or down river and return to catch the bus back to the ship.

When we were there a couple of weeks ago Princess didn't supply any maps and they didn't have anyone at Ann Street to assist anyone needing directions. There were no greeters either. Luckily for around a dozen elderly passengers who couldn't work out how to get to the information centre or the river, my wife and I are regular visitors to Brisbane and were able to take them to North Quay ferry terminal via the information centre. You'd think Princess could have had one or two crew members at Ann Street for the duration.

We actually went on the Rivercat from North Quay to Northshore Hamilton on our recent visit and just walked around Ascot and back to Brett's Wharf for the return trip to the city before catching our bus back to the ship.

One solution would be for Brisbane Council to add an additional Rivercat stop after the Northshore Hamilton stop, specifically to use on cruise ship days, and operate ferry services directly to the cruise terminal. By extending the Rivercat service, Brisbane Council can improve the experience for cruise passengers and establish the city as a welcoming and tourist-friendly destination, rather than leave thousands of us on the outskirts of the city.

We had people on our bus who were due to return much later so it probably isn't an issue. Our driver said there were buses running every five to 10 minutes during the afternoon, so it isn't just one bus at a set time listed on the tickets.

We found when using Princess's Brisbane on your own "tour / transfer" recently on the Coral Princess, you didn't have to return at the time shown on your ticket. As long as you had a ticket the drivers would let you on for the return trip to the ship. They weren't checking times printed on the tickets anyway, they just collected them. You could leave anytime till the last bus (and they departed Ann Street regularly).

I've never bought any packages on a cruise so haven't noticed those changes.

Great job on lowering your loan rate! Instead of choosing a Celebrity cruise, consider looking into Princess and Royal Caribbean as they offer great value for the price, especially the beautiful Ovation of the Seas. For us, a balcony cabin is sufficient since we spend most of our time out and about. By saving money on the cabin, we can afford to extend our cruise duration. We typically reserve our preferred cabin a couple of years in advance when the cruise comes on the market. During the two years leading up to our cruise, our travel agent and I keep an eye out for sales. If we find a genuine sale, we can apply the new fare to our booking as many times as we want. However, be cautious of tricks where cruise prices increase when extras or on-board credit are thrown in.

Isn't cost an issue? We are booked on Celebrity Edge to New Zealand later this year and it is much more expensive than a P&O cruise. P&O is cheap and we only sailed on the Adventure for the itinerary and dates being suitable for us at the time. We still had a good time on Adventure but wouldn't sail on P&O again. If you can afford to pay more, it is best to try other cruise lines. They are all a bit different and have good and bad points. In my experience, being on a cruise ship is always good, so anything bad is just another experience. If you don't let any negatives bother you, you will have a great time on any cruise line.

We were on Adventure for 7 nights out of school holidays. We found many places onboard to relax. There are deck chairs almost all around the ship on the upper decks, many not near to pools. They are very quiet and you have ocean views! We found bookings were available at any restaurant we felt like eating at on the night at any time and even spare seats available at all of them. You can even grab food from the Pantry and take it outside and eat it in the adjacent seating area near the paid pizza and paid burger outlets which are always very quiet.