pauletto

I read your helpful information with interest. We will be arriving on Solstice in October, and I was unsure as to what time I could book our homeward flight from Sydney. After reading your comments, I now have some idea of the timing for disembarkation and selecting a flight to suit the schedule.

If you are packed up ready to go the previous night with only your immediate needs for the morning to go into your bags then that should also reduce the pressure of departure. Arrival at Circular Quay in the early morning is a pleasure. As I have said many times Sydney harbour is one of the world's greatest harbours leaving and arriving. If one gets up early to witness the entry and then goes to breakfast a leisurely departure around 8.00 am is easily achievable. I have based my comments on experiencing 3 previous disembarkations in Sydney. You will arrive earlier than planned normally before 6.00 am and the crew will immediately start taking off baggage and reprovisioning the ship. We always self disembark in order to catch the early flight back to NZ and we are normally at the Circular quay railway station before 7.00am getting us to the airport by 7.30 am.

Our ideal choice of cruise itinerary for the South Pacific is scheduled for the end of February. What sort of weather and sea conditions can we expect for visiting ports such as Isle of Pines, Mystery Island, Lifou, etc.

We are interested in joining a cruise leaving Melbourne towards the end of February, and would be interested to hear if cruisers had experienced good weather at this time of the year in the South Pacific.

Many thanks for your helpful comments. Have explored cruises further; the more you read over what is on offer, the better informed you become. I must admit that we're leaning towards a Princess cruise, as we so much enjoyed our last cruise to Fiji and the S Pacific, but NCL have a very attractive itinerary for the places we want to visit. We're in our 70's and am wondering if NCL's style of cruising will match up to Princess. Any thoughts on this?

ps: another factor to be considered on a lengthier cruise is that NCL no longer have self-service laundry facilities whereas Princess does.

We are interested in joining a cruise out of Honolulu, cruising to ports which include Papeete, Bora Bora, and back to Sydney. Has anyone done one of these cruises, perhaps on the Norwegian Cruise Line, Celebrity or Princess? I would be interested in hearing any feedback, especially with regard to weather we may encounter and would these cruise ships are more attractive to the mature travellers.