sigsky

On 9/25/2019 at 2:03 PM, sigsky said:

I never responded to this.  They say they will take us to the door.  White Bay is nowhere near anything!  Our cruise will end at OPT and since a cab ride to White Bay seemed unavoidable it didn't really seem to matter much where we stayed.  Thus the Holiday Inn for both nights.  Haven't decided what we will do but I will try to remember to report back mid November.

Well, I found another couple on our same flight to Sydney who are staying at the same hotel overnight before the same cruise.  We will share a cab to the hotel and to the ship the following day.  Therefore, I have cancelled the shuttle reservation and there will be no follow up to my little adventure.  That is all.

On 9/18/2019 at 10:03 PM, Chiliburn said:

Make sure they will take you to the door.

So have you worked out how to get to white bay?Its nowhere near circular quay.

I never responded to this.  They say they will take us to the door.  White Bay is nowhere near anything!  Our cruise will end at OPT and since a cab ride to White Bay seemed unavoidable it didn't really seem to matter much where we stayed.  Thus the Holiday Inn for both nights.  Haven't decided what we will do but I will try to remember to report back mid November.

We are arriving at 8 am on October 16, a Wendesday and leaving from White Bay Cruise terminal.  The cruise ends at OPT so I figured we might as well use the Holiday Inn for both.  I just got a lengthy reply from the shuttle company (Sydney Airport Arrival Shuttle), so that is encouraging.  If they don't show up, I can always take a taxi at that point and pay $25 for the lesson.

The big problem with the train guys is the bags.  We're headed for a 30 day cruise.

Sorry it's the Holiday Inn, not the Hilton

I found a recent website (GetYourGuide.com) which is advertising shared shuttles from the airport to CBD hotels for very reasonable prices, for my wife & I, less than 25 USD.  You have to go to a pre-determined location and look for a guy with a sign, OK, been there, done that.  I know these could mean we have to sit on a bus while we stop at a bunch of other hotels to let people off but we will have plenty of time and it's one way to see the city.  Not sure what taxi fare is but I have seen everything from 25-35 USD all the way up to 120 AUD. I'm sure GetYourGuide is a broker using local providers but that's not necessarily bad.  Is anyone aware of this operation and is it safe to use?  I'm going to email to see what response I get.

Thanks in advance

We want to do this tour on July 14, yes, a Sunday.  I would book in advance but I don't know the time of the tour to pick because we are doing other stuff.  Am I likely to be able to purchase a ticket on the spot or are the tours likely to be fully booked.  Thanks for any help!

Uh, I don't know if I'm supposed to disclose this, but a HAL rep told me today that if you book a ships tour in advance using a credit card that when you get on board, before the tour occurs, you can have the excursions desk reverse the credit card charge and put the charge on your onboard account.  I never knew this.  Please don't blame me if this turns out not to be true, I'm just relaying what I was told.

OK, I'm convinced on beverage card and donating any overage to the crew.

1 hour ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

Since you don't drink a lot, you can always buy the regular Beverage Card(s) once on the ship and use that for drinks.

Am I right that this doesn't save you any money, just means you don't have to sign every time?

We are on the Rotterdam in July and want to make sure we don't leave money on the table.  We tend to book our shore excursions early before boarding which means we can't use our onboard account to pay for them.  We actually forfeited money on one cruise because we were comped tips, internet and a drink package.  We don't do spa or specialty dining.  We don't have any of that this time so I assume we can use our onboard account for gratuities and internet.  We don't drink enough to make the drink package pay.  I guess we will postpone booking as many shore excursions as possible so we can use our shipboard account and hope none of the tours we postpone are sold out.

Is this essentially correct or am I missing something?

I was aware of the term "CBD" but it did take a few moments.  Never hear it in the US.

Very gratified by all the responses, but especially The_Big_M for a very thoughtful response with careful consideration of the details I included.  Will be researching with that in mind.

Thanks to all.

Based on the following facts, which area of Sydney should we choose for our hotel?  We have been to Sydney before and have done the opera house, bridge, harbour cruise, tower, Blue Mountains.  Just looking for a spot where activities are going on that's good for people watching with eating options and everything within easy walking distance.

We will fly in Wed 10/16/2019 arriving around 7 a.m. (early check-in?).  We will board our ship about 1 p.m. the following day at White Bay Cruise Terminal.  Our cruise will end Sat 11/16/2019 at the Overseas Passenger Terminal at 7 a.m. and we have decided to fly out the following day around 9:30 am.  Because of luggage considerations we have decided to use taxis for ground transportation so it seems like anywhere in the city would work.

What part of the city would you suggest?

On 9/17/2018 at 6:39 PM, dkata said:

You didn't specifically ask, but I'm going to pass on my experience regarding the White Bay Terminal Ferry from King Street Wharf.

We took the White Bay Ferry going to our cruise ship. The cost was $9 p/p, so $18 total. It was a convenient way to get to White Bay as we were staying in Darling Harbor. Once the ferry arrived at the ferry dock at White Bay, we still had to walk a flat but tedious .10 mile wheeling our luggage from the dock to the street and then along the fence line to the Terminal Building. You cannot take a short cut because of the fences.

On our return, we took an Uber from the cruise terminal to our hotel at Hyde Park and it only cost $20.

When my wife found out that the difference was only $2, she said in that "I told you so" manner "For $2 more, we could have taken an Uber to the White Bay Terminal and had them deal with the luggage and saved ourselves the walk."

Just something to consider. My wife will never let me forget it.

Wow, I can Identify with this.  Will be doing this next fall and was considering a similar strategy until reading this.  So where did you stay in Darling Harbor and would you recommend it?  Great story.

The Celebrity Silhouette is moored in Port Everglades today (Jan 12) but doesn't have a "scheduled" cruise until Jan 19. It is however scheduled to depart for Labadee tomorrow at 11:00. Cruise ships do not depart Port Everglades at 11:00. Usually 16:00 and after. I had never heard of Labadee, but now know it is a private retreat in Haiti leased by Royal Caribbean. It sounds like a great place to spend a day. So what's up with the Silhouette? My first thought was routine maintenance but now I'm thinking maybe some grand private cruise for about 3,000 folks. Maybe the Secret Service, Trump pre-inauguration celebration, Celebrity employee enrichment program. Not my business, but I want to know, so I'll be tracking this voyage to see where they go and what the ship looks like leaving Port Everglades on the webcam.

Anyone know what's up with this?

Hi, do you know about what time she will be passing under the brigde?

or even a ballpark of a time?we will be watching as well

Thank you

Only a guess, but I would say between 17:30 and 18:00. You can follow progress on the little port map below the video stream.

Be watching you guys go under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge on the PTZtv streaming webcam. Give us a wave off the port side.

Good morning folks. I for one am finding this fascinating and am trying to imagine how I would feel having gone through your experience. I love cruising and have been in some bad weather but nothing anywhere close to what you've gone through. So keep it up and I will continue to lurk.

since 10/20/2015 at about 6:00 am. No idea why

sorry, missed earlier report