VickieG74

John, I'd like to hear more about the advice you received of Port Douglas vs. Cairns. We're going to Cairns for 3 nights after our Sydney/Fiji/NZ cruise, with the primary goal of seeing the GBR. (currently have a day trip scheduled to Green Island) Family of 4 with 2 kids, we currently have reservations at the Cairns Coconut Holiday Resort in Woree.

We are Cairns locals. Coconuts is nice and great with kids but it is far out of town. It's a 20 minute drive to town or 10 mins to closest shopping centre. It's not really an issue if you have a car but the public transport in Cairns is pretty crap. Just wanted to let you know. It is a nice place to stay though and as I said great with kids. We live about 5 minutes from there. Just MHO. Green Island is nice but outer reef trips are definitely better to see the reef. A lot of the coral around Green Island is sadly dead from everyone walking on it for years. Don't get me wrong it's still nice but if you are coming a long way to see GBR I would do an outer Barrier Reef trip to one of the pontoons. Anyway, as I said just my opinion. Port Douglas is great too, about an hour's drive from Cairns. Nice hotels and you can do reef trips from there as well. Lots of great restaurants and boutique shops. Hope this helps.

493 :o

Hi,

Not sure if anyone can help, but I was curious about the cost for the Family Connected Suite on Ovation of the Seas from Sydney for a family of 5. If you book this, is it classed as 1 room or 2/3 rooms? Has anyone stayed in it? My other option would probably be a balcony and an inside cabin but I am curious how it would compare pricewise.

Any help would be much appreciated. :)

Mmmm...BBC was delicious (though I do love mudslides!). My other tip is when you ask for a Piña Colada make sure you ask for it to be made with white rum or Malibu [emoji12]

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17 now, creeping closer [emoji16]

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73 days now and counting....

Was trying to get ticker to work but just can't seem to do it in the app [emoji21]

Vickie

Hi,

We did Luganville 2 years ago. We got a taxi/tour from the locals off the boat. We went to a beach in front of a resort, don't know the name but it was a nice beach and quite shallow for a long way out. The we went to the blue hole. Nice but water was really cold, had a cool rope swing DH and the boys enjoyed, very busy. We then went to Champagne Bay which was on the other side (and coincidentally we went to on the ship the next day - apparently my MIL and DH were told by e drivers that we were going there the next day but I didn't hear that lol). As it turned out it was really beautiful and really ice to be there virtUally on our own. There were a few locals and a couple of other tourists but it was really nice to have it almost to ourselves without the thousands of other people on the cruise. Was a really nice scenic drive to get there too. On the way back to the ship we went for a drive through the town, not too much there but it was a really nice day and the drivers couldn't have been nice.

I think whatever you do is an experience. Friends of ours did the water music and loved it and also went to see the WWII relics.

Vickie.

Hi Fiona, you're not far from us [emoji12]. We're in 1087 and 1089. From what I've read it's a good deck, fairly quiet and central with good views. I guess we'll see come December.

Vickie

Hmmm, iI did have a signature, wonder where it's gone? Stand by [emoji13]

Too many [emoji22]. Actually 117 which isn't tooooo bad but just can't wait. Second cruise and this time on Celebrity Solstice [emoji3]

Hi, Hideaway Island is beautiful. It's a tiny little island and I don't snorkel but my kids did and said it was great. Make sure you post an underwater postcard back home [emoji3]. We went quite late and there was a great and not too expensive cafe there as well. I am not sure how often the ferries leave but it is quite regularly.

There were lots of taxis waiting at the dock and they can be pretty forceful. I would say work out what you are willing to spend, maybe research what others have paid. I think we got ripped off a bit but then as someone pointed out to me the other day, we are much better off financially than they are so now I don't begrudge paying the extra few dollars we paid.

We also did the Cascade waterfall but found it quite expensive (for 5 of us) and we really didn't stay long, seen one waterfall... If you spent more time there and swam i guess it would be good value.

If i went back to Vila I would just go,to Hideaway Island for the day. I haven't done the other ports but would be interested in the answers.

Hope this helps.

Hi,

I saw on Celebrity's website about the cc boarding day lunch. Should be good if it happens. If lunch is from 11:30am to 1:00pm, does that mean we can board quite early, say around 11:00am? We are on Solstice for the Xmas/New Year cruise from Sydney this year and we would like to get on as early as possible to enjoy every minute [emoji4]. We have done one other cruise on Royal's Rhapsody and loved it! Can't wait to cruise again and try Celebrity as we have heard good things and Solstice looks amazing [emoji4]

Awesome, thanks Clarea. I presumed they would but just wanted to be sure!

Awesome! Thanks :). One more question though - are the kids able to go up to a bar and order drinks or does an adult have to do it? I don't think rhapsody has the freestyle machines (?) so wondering if they can get drinks if they aren't with us??

Thanks Julie, that would be awesome. Will wait to see if I get a reply from Royal Caribbean. :)

Hi,

Yes, yet another drinks package question. I have been reading a lot about the drink packages but haven't come across the answer to this question. I am considering the Royal Replenish package for my 16 yr old (and possibly my other two children aged 13 and 10 - may be their Christmas present from us ;)). Anyway, I am wondering whether the teenagers will be able to use the Royal Replenish package at the "Mocktail bar" in the teen club area. I don't know whether she will even use it or go there, but she will be travelling with other teens and they may like to go there and "hang out". It's our first cruise so it's hard to know. Anyway, just wondered if anyone had any experience with their teens being able to use the Royal Replenish package there. I have emailed Royal Caribbean but since I have been scouring the boards for answers to my many questions, I thought maybe someone on here would be in the know :)

Thanks.

Vickie.