Sydney Cruise Port to Airport

[pink845]

Thanks to everyone once again for all the helpful information, especially Globaliser.

 

Prior to heading off on our cruise to New Zealand, we were going to make sure that our Opal card had enough money on it so that when when we returned to Sydney at 6:30 am on a Friday morning in March, we could simply dash over to the train, and tap our Opal Pass and get on the train. 

 

Is my understanding correct that we would have to have $18 dollars left on the Opal Pass to cover the Airport Station Access fee plus the regular cost of the train itself.  And we would tap pass as we board train at Circular Quay and then tap it again as we exit into the International Terminal at the airport.    Please Please do not tell me you have train subway issues daily as we do here in Toronto with our subway trains!!!!  No other city can be as bad as Toronto.    Is the train a train or a subway metro?    Also, checked with my insurance and they tell me that should I be taking the train to the airport and there is a delay on that, as I am still on my journey from point A to point B, I would be covered should I get stuck on the train.  Oh, the problems I have since my darn airline changed my departure from 12:15 pm to 11:15 am.  Oh,!

[Fosters1951]

4 hours ago, pink845 said:

Is my understanding correct that we would have to have $18 dollars left on the Opal Pass to cover the Airport Station Access fee plus the regular cost of the train itself.  And we would tap pass as we board train at Circular Quay and then tap it again as we exit into the International Terminal at the airport.    Please Please do not tell me you have train subway issues daily as we do here in Toronto with our subway trains!!!!  No other city can be as bad as Toronto.    Is the train a train or a subway metro?    Also, checked with my insurance and they tell me that should I be taking the train to the airport and there is a delay on that, as I am still on my journey from point A to point B, I would be covered should I get stuck on the train.  Oh, the problems I have since my darn airline changed my departure from 12:15 pm to 11:15 am.  Oh,!

It is a train - we are getting a metro system (currently only 1 active line in the northwest).

The current peak fare (you would be travelling in peak time) - per the snapshot is $19.35 (which includes the access fee).

 

[Globaliser]

6 hours ago, pink845 said:

Is the train a train or a subway metro?

 

1 hour ago, Fosters1951 said:

It is a train - we are getting a metro system (currently only 1 active line in the northwest).

 

OT: Apart from the naming, what's the difference? From a passenger experience point of view, the new line's rolling stock looks much like that on the existing Sydney Trains lines, and Wikipedia's listing of the specs doesn't suggest any vast difference. They both look like pretty typical suburban commuter trains. It's not like the "Metro" is using rolling stock like that found on London Underground's deep lines.

[The_Big_M]

9 hours ago, pink845 said:

Thanks to everyone once again for all the helpful information, especially Globaliser.

 

Prior to heading off on our cruise to New Zealand, we were going to make sure that our Opal card had enough money on it so that when when we returned to Sydney at 6:30 am on a Friday morning in March, we could simply dash over to the train, and tap our Opal Pass and get on the train. 

 

Is my understanding correct that we would have to have $18 dollars left on the Opal Pass to cover the Airport Station Access fee plus the regular cost of the train itself.  And we would tap pass as we board train at Circular Quay and then tap it again as we exit into the International Terminal at the airport.    Please Please do not tell me you have train subway issues daily as we do here in Toronto with our subway trains!!!!  No other city can be as bad as Toronto.    Is the train a train or a subway metro?    Also, checked with my insurance and they tell me that should I be taking the train to the airport and there is a delay on that, as I am still on my journey from point A to point B, I would be covered should I get stuck on the train.  Oh, the problems I have since my darn airline changed my departure from 12:15 pm to 11:15 am.  Oh,!

Probably closer to what you think of as a subway, but it's more an amalgam of both. It's not like long distance trains where you need reservations and have reserved seats. It's just our city network is the largest urban network in the world so caters for longer distances better. From the airport to the city you will be almost fully underground.

[pink845]

I am planning on taking your train to the airport from the Circular Quay Station upon debarkation from our cruise.  I think this will be simpler.  Query:  Does your train experience a lot of delays?    Our subway system in Toronto is plagued with delays and I would not trust it to get me anywhere fast, especially at 7 am on a Friday morning.  Royal Caribbean is still selling transfers for my 11:15 am flight.  They assure me, right, that they have done this transfer myriads of times before and they say they would not be selling transfers if everyone buying them were missing their flights.  (Check in Time for Air Canada is 2 hours prior).  Hmmm.  I am still apprehensive about waiting for other people to board the transfer, so I am leaning towards, early walk off and taking the train.   Has anyone done early walk off from OPT lately. 

[The_Big_M]

Delays are not unheard of, indeed I had one the last trip I took on Friday. 

 

That said, at that time of day especially they're likely to be good, and any delays that occur are usually <20 min. It's very rare for anything to exceed that (usually caused by a major fault such as infrastructure failure). Services are also fairly frequent, so that minimises the extent of delays generally.

 

Taking the train from Circular Quay is a safe choice. If the worst were to happen, you'd need to organise a taxi which isn't a major issue.

[pink845]

Sounds good.  I wonder is there an app that tells us of delays. 

[banditoo]

We disembarked via self express taking our own luggage at OPT yesterday about 0800 and walked the couple minutes to the train at Circular Quay. Trains run every few minutes to the International Airport. We were at the airport in plenty of time (in excess of 3 hours and only needed 2 hours) for our 1215 Air Canada flight. 

[The_Big_M]

5 hours ago, pink845 said:

Sounds good.  I wonder is there an app that tells us of delays. 

 

Website will tell you the time due including whether delays or on time.

 

https://transportnsw.info/

 

[Fosters1951]

On 1/28/2020 at 8:39 PM, Globaliser said:

 

 

OT: Apart from the naming, what's the difference? From a passenger experience point of view, the new line's rolling stock looks much like that on the existing Sydney Trains lines, and Wikipedia's listing of the specs doesn't suggest any vast difference. They both look like pretty typical suburban commuter trains. It's not like the "Metro" is using rolling stock like that found on London Underground's deep lines.

Just to clarify - There is a bit of difference. Current Sydney Trains are double deckers whilst metro is single deckers.

 

Metro is more standing than seating and are like those in Singapore. And whilst no quite as many door, has a bit more in common with the Tube Carriage than the Double Decker Trains on the rail network.

 

Sydney Metro:-

Waratah (Latest Sydney Train) upper deck:- (Gee certainly looks different to me)

Edited February 11, 2020 by Fosters1951

[Globaliser]

19 minutes ago, Fosters1951 said:

Just to clarify - There is a bit of difference. Current Sydney Trains are double deckers whilst metro is single deckers.

 

Metro is more standing than seating and are like those in Singapore. And whilst no quite as many door, has a bit more in common with the Tube Carriage than the Double Decker Trains on the rail network.

 

Thanks - that's really helpful. I think that I was coming at this from a different perspective, comparing both of these categories to long-distance trains like the XPT.

[pink845]

Banditoo,  

 

Hope you had a wonderful cruise.  What time did the ship get in?  6:30 am?  Were you able to get off earlier than 8 am or was 8 am the earliest for self walk off?  Very curious to hear from you.     We of course were originally supposed to be on that 12:15 pm flight to Vancouver, however, as of March 12, that flight is NOW departing at 11:15 am.  Boo hoo.    

[banditoo]

9 minutes ago, pink845 said:

Banditoo,  

 

Hope you had a wonderful cruise.  What time did the ship get in?  6:30 am?  Were you able to get off earlier than 8 am or was 8 am the earliest for self walk off?  Very curious to hear from you.     We of course were originally supposed to be on that 12:15 pm flight to Vancouver, however, as of March 12, that flight is NOW departing at 11:15 am.  Boo hoo.    

Our B2B cruises were great. Ship was at terminal before 0600. People were walking off by 0700. You can easily get off with self express earlier than 0800. They suggested 0700-0830 for self express. We didn't rush as I didn't want to be sitting at the airport even longer. We had a leisurely breakfast before disembarking. It was a seamless process to disembark, pass through Aus immigration, walk a few minutes to Circular Quay train station, buy our airport link tickets from machine, board train and arrive at International Airport. Airport did not have any significant lines either when we were there. SYD airport suggests 2 hours before International flights. 

Edited February 11, 2020 by banditoo

[pink845]

Thanks Banditoo,  Do you recall if there was an agent at a counter where the ticket for the train could be purchased.  Or were there only the machines that take your Canadian credit card.   Any issues using Canadian credit cards during your travels in New Zealand, Australia as well.  

[banditoo]

11 hours ago, pink845 said:

Thanks Banditoo,  Do you recall if there was an agent at a counter where the ticket for the train could be purchased.  Or were there only the machines that take your Canadian credit card.   Any issues using Canadian credit cards during your travels in New Zealand, Australia as well.  

There was a transit info agent but not sure if train tickets could be purchased there as we just used the machines. Very simple to use and easily worked with Canadian credit card. We have traveled a number of times in Australia and never had problems using our Canadian Visa and Mastercards. Also used the credit cards in various locations throughout New Zealand and there were no problems. No issues withdrawing cash at ATMS with our RBC debit cards either. Very easy to spend our money. 🙂 

[Middleager]

We had used our Canadian CC's at many shops in Cairns and Sydney, no problem.

 

As for taking train in Sydney, if you don't have opal card, you can use a CC that has Wave technology, and most CC's these days would have that.  We took the train 2 nights ago, to the Circular Quay station.  At the entry station turnstile we waved a CC, and at the Circular Quay station exit turnstile we waved the same CC.  It automatically calculates your charge.  So, if you don't have opal card, no problem to just use a CC.

 

But we'll probably use uber ourselves.  This morning I checked the price of uber at a bit after 10am (forgot to check earlier) and it would've been AUD$33 from Marriott hotel (by Circular Quay) to airport.  I don't know what the cost would be at say 8am, morning rush hour time.  The big difference is the uber car comes right by the OPT.  You just come out of the terminal and the road is right there, so you don't need to lug the luggages to the Circular Quay station.  This morning while pushing our wheeled luggages, several times a wheel would get stuck in the holes of the brick road.

 

For my wife and I, taking the train would be AUD$39.  Even if uber is a few dollars more, we'd still take uber for the convenience.

 

[Middleager]

Just a followup.  On Feb. 28, my wife and I disembarked at OPT.  Right after walking out, we got a 4-p uber to go to the airport, for AUD$28.  That would be much easier than dragging the luggages (and those bricks had lots of holes on the way) to the Circular Quay terminal to get on train at AUD$39.

 

So, take uber between SYD airport and OPT cruise terminal.

[banditoo]

Good to know for future! Thanks for sharing Middleager.