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Cruisin Sal

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Feb.06 we are planning to cruise Sydney to Aukland. As it is such a long flight we want to see as much as possible. We are seniors with limited mobility and do not swim or snorkel. Is it worth the time and money to go to Cairns and the Barrier Reef? Kuranda? Blue Mountains out of Sydney?

Any help would be appreciated. Hotels? Use Princess tours? Thanks.

Sally

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Scuba diving & snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reefs are the highlights of Cairns, if you are not planning to do them - in my opinion, it's not worth the time & money to travel there. You might want to consider other major cities like Canberra or Melbourne or a day trip from Sydney to Hunter Valley Wineries. Before booking a Blue Moutains tour, you should probably check to make sure that the tour operator will be accommodating to your limited mobility. We don't usually book organized tours so there is no recommendation. You can always search for "Sydney Day Trips" using Google.

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Having dome this cruise 3 times ocne in 2002 and 2003 and just did it again on the Sapphire on Dec 23/04 I would say you simply can't do everything! We have been now 3 times to Sydney and are returning on Jan 8/06 on the Diamond and honestly can't say we've been able to see everything. I would allow as much time as your schedule allows you to. For Sydney alone 3-4 days pre-cruise is certainly enough; however if you want to venture out of Sydney and see the Blue Mountain area etc...you may want to add a couple of days.

 

On our first cruise in 2002 we ended up renting a campervan for two weeks pre-cruise in Australia and 2 weeks post cruise in New Zealand. This was a great way of seeing both countries at our own pace and I would recommend it to anyone.

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If you are going on the February 1, 2006 cruise on the Diamond Princess from Sydney to Auckland, I guess we'll be with you.

We are concerned about the flights in the middle of winter. We will be flying to and from Tampa, Fl, probably to Los Angeles and then to Sydney on either United or Quantis Airline. There are not any direct flights to LAX from Tampa. It may pay to go deviaion for $75 per person plus any difference in flight costs, to avoid the snow cities like Chicago or Denver.

Thus far we have had Princess arrange everything--3 nights at the Four Seasons hotel in Sydney with the Blue Mountain and city tour of Sydney. In Auckland, the Carlton hotel for 1 night with city tour. The cost for 2 at the Four Seasons is $898 and in Auckland $398 for the 1 night. I do not believe any meals are included.

We may explore other options.

Hopefully we will receive good information from others who have taken, or will be taking, this cruise.

 

Ellis

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emeyers...this year we are on the Diamond from Dec 20/05 from Singapore-Sydney for 19 nights and not doing a 12 or 14 day Sydeny-Auckland. The hotels thru Princess are very costly and I have found in teh past that we were able to get much better deals on our own...just food for thought!

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Whether you snorkel/dive or not, Cairns is a wonderful city. If you should decide to visit, you could still take one of the boats out to the reef, you don't have to get into the water. Also, some visit Green Island which is lovely for the afternoon.

 

The town itself is fabulous, I would love to go and spend a week or two there myself. Lots of little shops and a great Australian Casino. I think it was our second favorite stop (with Sydney being our first choice) when visiting Australia. It was so interesting that we returned the following year and did the exact same cruise, just because we were not able to do all we wanted the first time.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

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Sal: We have never taken a cruise to or in Australia, but we did a land trip a few years ago. My nephew and his family live in Sydney and fortunately we were able to stay with them for a visit as well as visiting other places. We did go to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef. We don't do that much swimming, but there are other things to see at the reef. They have

what they call a semi-submersible from which you can see a lot of the underwater fish and coral life. We also visited Kuranda, and the Blue Mountains and those trips were very interesting, especially Kuranda and the Aborginal people. We spent a couple of days at Alice Springs and also a short visit to Ayers Rock. Of course we were there for two weeks so we had lots of time for many things. Since I live in Florida, the trip to Sydney was about 21 hours so we made sure that we could enjoy as many things as we could since I doubt if we'll make that looooong trip again. On the way back, we stopped in Hawaii for a week to get our bodies back on almost normal time again. Anyway, my advice to you is to take advantage of everything you can since you never know if you'll go back there again. ENJOY!!!;)

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Spencer:

 

The airlines will not have their schedules for our dates until late next month. I'll be keeping my eyes open, but our situation is different from yours. You are a hop, skip, and jump from LAX, while we are about 3,000 miles away without any direct flights. I only know that from Tampa, Fl. Princess has a price of $1709 per person which is not far out of line from what I've seen thus far. Remember, January and February is high season in Australia and New Zealand.

Of course, we know it will either be United with Air New Zealand or Quantis to and from L.A. For us, it appears that American Air to L.A. with a change of planes in Dallas, followed by Quantis to Sydney is more expensive than United Air all the way. But, and a big but, United means a change of planes in Chicago or Denver--in the heart of winter? Deviation is $75 p.p. plus difference in costs, but that's the way we will probably go because we determine the times and not Princess. We are 70 miles from Tampa and an 8 a.m. flight is out of the question.

We took the Princess hotel packages--3 night Blue Mountain at the Four Seasons in Sydney--$898 for the 2 of us.

What are your plans?

 

Ellis

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Hi-I have not cruised Sydney to Auckland, but have been to Australia many times-the most recent being Sept/Oct 2004. I have information about tours, some hotels etc if anyone is interested. I also have a photo album posted of our latest adventure. Please feel free to email me for any info. I wouldn't know where to begin and once I get started could take up a lot of space!

 

Cruisin Sal-how much time do you have to spend? My hubby does not do any water activities and we spent a week up in the Barrier Reef area-Cairns, Kuranda, all worth while. It's all worth a look in my opinion and you should be able to find good airfares, no matter which area you choose to spend time in.

 

 

I am not sure where the Four Seasons is located-will have to look it up. We stayed near Darling Harbour this time-our room rate for the Crowne Plaza Darling Harbour was 180 AUD which is approx 138 USD. From there it was easy to get around. The Blue Mountain Tour was good-this time the only tours we did in Sydney were the Opera House and we went out to the Hunter Valley on a winery tour. We also went to Melbourne, Tasmania, Adelaide, Fleurieu Peninsula, Coober Pedy and Kangaroo Island.

 

Anyway-if I can help any of you, please let me know.

 

Bev

bborgford@hotmail.com

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Hi All,

Just a few thoughts from an Aussie. I live in Brisbane (Queensland) but I was born in Sydney

We did the Sapphire cruise JAn 6 from Auckland to Sydney and spoke with a lot of yanks and others on their experiences.

1. Sydney is a magnificent city (esp the harbour) and you can get some great deals on accommodation esp on the internet. Don't miss a mini cruise on one of the harbour cruises. I recommend a dinner cruise which is magnificent.

2. Hunter Valley is 100klms nth of Sydney and there are tours aplenty. If you have time i would recommend a stop over - there is an abundance of top class accommodation. Ozzie wines are now world famous and if you like reds there is nothing better than Tyrrels in the HV.

3. The Blue Mtns are ok...but I find them a bit tired. Good scenery, but don't expect anything "Alpine".

4. Off the normal track you will find Australia huge but remember the outback is not for everyone, and in the summer it gets a tad hot ! I have to recommend Queensland (Beautiful one day marvellous the next). From Brisbane to Cairns there are thousands of destinations.

5. Airfares in Australia can be cheap if you shop round (Internet). We also got a great deal flying Air New Zealand from Brisbane to Auckland on New Years Eve - better rate than the cut price outfits! There are deals available from Qantas (Pls note spelling) as well.

6. If you can, plan some time in New Zealand - easy to get around (a traffic jam in Auckland is where there are more than 10 cars at any time :D ).A visit to Rotorua is very rewarding.

 

cheers

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Another Aussie here, live in Melbourne.

 

Sydney is a must, very pretty and exciting.

Melbourne is also nice, know as the shopping destination. Also worth a visit is the Great Ocean Road, can take a tour or rent a car and drive all the way from Melbourne to Adelaide (allow at least 3 days). Adelaide is a beautiful city and the Barossa Valley is a great wine growing area..

Cairns is also a very popular area to visit, a few days relaxing on a island off the coast or the Daintree rainforest are both good alternatives to swimming - don't forget Cairns has a 'stinger' problem for some of the year so the beaches are off-limits anyway.

 

New Zealand is also nice, Auckland is interesting but definately get out of town to bay of islands, Rotorua or Cormandel (i think that's how you spell it) - all a worth a visit...

 

Feel free to post any questions, i'm happy to help....

 

jessica :)

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Good Morning to Borgy and everyone else !

 

Priceline has great prices for 4* & 5* hotels in Sydney. Check out http://www.biddingfortravel.com.

 

Okay you are all making me miss my daughter who is living in Australia with her Australian fiance. They in fact are doing the Great Ocean Road drive this week.

 

Enjoy reading this thread...I had her take pics of Sapphire Princess for me when it was in Sydney...

 

Emmy

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Thanks for all the great input. We are still doing a lot of research. I hope to fly non-stop from SF. Customs in LAX is very tiring, especially if you have to pick up you luggage and check it in at another terminal. LAX is big!

Our TA recommends Australian Pacific Touring group to put together your own package. Does anyone have any lists of hotels that don't cost an arm and a leg?

Sallt

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We have used Australian Pacific/AAT Kings several times to set up our out of city touring. Their tours are good-most of our APT tours this time were out of Melbourne and they were all good. We did the Hunter Valley Tour out of Sydney with APT this time as well-great day and good wines. Our in Aus flights were all with Virgin Blue this time, except for the one up to Coober Pedy. We booked on the internet-very good prices for all flights.

 

I agree with both the Aussie opinions. There is lots to see and do-it is an amazing country. I love the outback but it isn't the place for everyone and it does get hot! We skipped the Blue Mountains this time-definitely wouldn't do the scenic tram car again if we did go back. It also included a stop at one of the wildlife parks, but you can always go to Taronga Zoo in Sydney. We did the Sydney harbour cruise that included the tour of the Opera House-I think it was 39 AUD, and we could use the cruise portion all day...It was a good tour-hadn't done it before.

 

So many choices.....oh Emmy-the Great Ocean Road is awesome-we did the helicopter tour out over the 12 Apostles-great views. Your daughter probably had a great day touring! Lucky girl!

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We'll be in Sydney in less than 3 weeks prior to the Sydney to Bangkok cruise on the Sapphire. We have booked a pre-cruise tour to Ayres Rock (Uluru) with APT. They have use booked into the Sofitel Wentworth (for one night only) at a cost of $55 CAD. The website for the Sofitel is http://www.sofitel.com/sofitel/fichehotel/gb/sof/3665/fiche_hotel.shtml.#

 

Just found out today that the reason we don't have the vouchers yet is because the TA hadn't told them the flights we are on so they had to tie them in with getting picked up.

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