The_Big_M

A mixture of lower Australian dollar, and enough high spending US based customers means those cruise prices out of the US keep rising.

P&O is Aust based so their ships sail year round here, they're not going to park them in the off season. But evidently yields aren't as great as can be made elsewhere for those which sail elsewhere.

Yes, you'll always see many people going to/from the airport stations with their luggage, so it's not uncommon or difficult, just not custom designed. There's always lots of luggage on trains going to/from Circular quay, for cruises.

Ships go where the market is, and there's substantially less demand here in Winter. Most people don't want to cruise then.

True. Some try to trick you in by making them clickbait like as well, but that's just a turn off as well, and I move right along.

Agreed, I didn't know about them until I read threads here.

Yes. I pour some glasses and let them sit when onboard, for the chlorine to evaporate, though don't notice any major difference in taste. An upside is that with the warmer water we have here, it also cools the water down, which can be often quite warm otherwise.

Haven't we all.

But if they don't search, do they read past threads either?

Guessing the prices haven't been equally shortened.

I like Sun Princess. But it doesn't have the bells and whistles of the newer ships. So if you're comfortable with that limitation, I think the food, service and overall package is a good one. In that respect though, I do feel its age as features have moved on. It's somewhat left behind, for example it also doesn't have the past cruiser meet up due to size, and as mentioned above even Stirling is added as a compromise. As for that review... not sure what the poster's expectations were if only one star. I've seen a lot of 2-3 star establishments that are A LOT worse!

Not major for that run in the scheme of things.

Probably took the ED exit to avoid the traffic, which would have added about $12 in road tolls alone, plus airport fees. But not a good run for whatever reason.

I would say there's not a lot of places likely to want to stop at for the drive from the city to say Penrith, aside from maybe Featherdale at Doonside. The rest of the trip is just heavy city driving, then on the freeway, so not a lot to look at or stop at. The train is also comparatively fast for that route to Blue Mountains so no advantage. But if stopping/diverting in the Blue Mountains that could be of benefit.

If interested, the same deal the other way as well, but on Nov 19.