Wildlife Retreat at Taronga

[TylerRose]

We are considering spending one night post cruise at the Wildlife Retreat at Taronga Zoo in Sydney.

Perks include sanctuary tours, dinner, daybreak walk, breakfast, zoo entry. Room options described as Bushland, Animal, Harbour, & Treetop views.

We have a flight out the next morning at 10:15AM... 😞

Likely, we will be unable to participate in the morning activities...

Is this still a unique enough experience, to do it anyway? 

Thanks in advance for your advice...

 

 

 

[Aus Traveller]

Presumably your flight is international? Check how much before the 10.15 departure time you need to be at the airport. Is it a minimum of two hours, or three hours?

 

Taronga Zoo is on the North side of the Harbour, while the airport is quite a distance to the south. If it is a weekday, it would take longer to get to the airport than on a weekend when there would be less traffic. People who live in or near Sydney could probably give you a better estimate of travel time, but I think you would have to allow at least an hour.

 

This comes back to your original question. Is the experience worth booking when you would have to leave so early? Maybe only you can answer that, but I feel you would be rushed and have to miss out on a lot.

[MMDown Under]

4 hours ago, TylerRose said:

We are considering spending one night post cruise at the Wildlife Retreat at Taronga Zoo in Sydney.

Perks include sanctuary tours, dinner, daybreak walk, breakfast, zoo entry. Room options described as Bushland, Animal, Harbour, & Treetop views.

We have a flight out the next morning at 10:15AM... 😞

Likely, we will be unable to participate in the morning activities...

Is this still a unique enough experience, to do it anyway? 

Thanks in advance for your advice...

 

 

 

Sounds wonderful!  You could make it work by spending the day at the Taronga Zoo before you spent the night at the Wildlife Retreat.  I note there is a daybreak walk, so early breakfast could be available before you left early for the airport.  It would certainly be a unique experience. 

Where does your ship berth?   You can catch the ferry from Circular Quay near the Overseas Passenger Terminal to the zoo. 

[MicCanberra]

It certainly would be a night to remember. As you said, you will likely miss the morning activities and would need to travel directly to the airport to be there by 7am.

[GeezerCouple]

When does your cruise end?  When would you need to decide?

We are doing this in just 2 weeks (our cruise just departed yesterday evening from Auckland, to Sydney), so we'll be able to report back.

 

The Lodge is new, but the tent area (glamping, but with shared facilities) has been there for some time.  We'll be in the new Lodge.

 

(And "Duh on me!"  - I just realized there are *2* sections on CC about Australia & New Zealand, so I'm very late to the party on this one!)

 

GC

[MicCanberra]

We would be interested in your report anyway, people coming and wanting to try the experience would definitely be interested in how you went.

[GeezerCouple]

6 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

We would be interested in your report anyway, people coming and wanting to try the experience would definitely be interested in how you went.

 

I'll report back, but there might be a few day delay.

 

GC

[TylerRose]

19 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

We would be interested in your report anyway, people coming and wanting to try the experience would definitely be interested in how you went.

We don't cruise until Feb... but for now, I decided to put it off.

Our travel agent thought we could the visit the zoo day of disembarkation... (and perhaps take advantage of one of the tour perks)... but would miss out on all morning activities.
Eventually I agreed- it would be too stressful to try to get to the airport on Monday morning in rush hour with a 10:15AM flight.
I remain eager to hear back on your report...