Peteymil

On one ship this year they did not have trivia in Blu for some reason. The waiter offered to go get some for me during breakfast, but I said no because I didn't want him to have to run to the main dining room. After that I always grabbed a few extra at lunch for dinner the next day. I wasn't taking them home. I agree that that would be rude

A heck of a lot cheaper to just insure your deposit.

I tried to contact the company you used but they are not reachable. I know Covid probably did a number on them! But I did find another good alternative. Thanks for your help!

These are all wonderful suggestions. I will be in Sydney on February 7, 8, 9.

They sent me back a very nice email and said that they would not know their summer schedule until October, and let me know I should check online at that time. I did find a significantly cheaper excursion through Shore excursion group which is a train ride out and then coming back it's on a coach and it points out the highlights of the city and then drops you off for some walk time along the beach at the end before it takes you back to the ship. If the railway is open this is what I would do. It is bookable now, with the understanding that if it doesn't run they will refund your money.

My last few cruises all the ships had pink and yellow but I was most pleasantly surprised that they had green (trivia, like stevia in the raw). I always bring my own, but I didn't need it.

I love going to the zoo so I agree with you that it will take a good chunk of the day. That's what has gotten me thinking that we should stay in Sydney for that middle day instead of venturing outside the city, but I'm just not sure. For reference, we are from the US, this will probably be our only trip to Sydney, and we love to walk.

Thank you so much for that suggestion. I just sent them an email.

I have another question for our trip. We will have 3 days in Sydney after our cruise. The first day we are taking a private tour of Sydney. The last day, our flight isn't until evening so we thought we would go to the Zoo and botanical gardens, plus whatever else we had time for. For those of you with experience, we are looking at that middle day. We were thinking of going to the Blue Mountains, but others suggested we would be better off continuing to explore Sydney-some suggesting a ferry ride to Manly, or walk from Coogee to Bondi Beach. Does anyone have an opinion about this?

I have done searches on line, and cannot find any information on whether the railway is reopening. Shoreexcursiongroup.com will book a trip in January, but I'm not sure that they know it will be open, or if they are just hoping. Of course I know I won't be charged if it doesn't go, but I was hoping that someone from that area would have some information. Thank you in advance for any help.

It has been that way a very long time because having the CC event was probably hard to do on the first night. But now that they don't have the event, it doesn't make sense. We are frequent cruisers, and do not have the drink package. I usually bring a bottle of wine and use it on the first night. I just think the policy is outdated and since so many people do have the drink package, it wouldn't cost them a lot to update the policy.

I agree with you 100%. Love the Constellation and was just on Eclipse which has not been revolutionized, and we still loved the ship.

It’s generally seems to work itself out very well. For every person who wants to eat early there’s another person who wants to eat later. We would come at the very end and I haven’t had to wait in a number of cruises. Very occasionally if you have to wait they will give you a buzzer and you can go to one of the bars and have a drink, because it is first come first served, but as I said this has not happened to us in a long time.

Absolutely! You can have 3 if you want!

Is there a better place to buy them than Amazon?

As far as the portions, you can always ask for two portions if it's something you know you like. You can always order 2 different entrees if you want to. Or several appetizers-they are very accommodating!

I wonder if there will need to be testing on the ship in order to disembark in Sydney. (Embarkation in Auckland)

I'm with you!!!!

I think you have to be prepared for that possibility though!

Is there only one lounger on the balcony? Would it be big enough for 2 loungers if we asked for a second one?