pl281 Posted January 29, 2020 #1 Share Posted January 29, 2020 Hello all - we are going to be on Celebrity Eclipse in December. The docs say we "dock" at 6:30am - I've been on enough cruises to know that typically you can get off the ship by 7:30/8am in that instance (assuming you get in on time etc etc) I'm looking to see what if anyone recently cruising out of Melbourne could tell me what time you were able to get off the ship. We are looking at flights and considering options which might involve a connection in Sydney but would require an early flight out of Melbourne. Thank you for anyone who can provide feedback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsmiths Posted January 29, 2020 #2 Share Posted January 29, 2020 Have not docked in Melbourne, but know the city reasonably well. The airport is approx 27 kilometres from the cruise terminal and traffic can be heavy in morning peak times - often the travel time can blow out from 30 minutes to more than an hour if there are roadworks, etc. If you are catching an international flight you also need to check in 2-3 hours before the flight. So you will need to take this into account when booking flights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
possum52 Posted January 29, 2020 #3 Share Posted January 29, 2020 I have docked in Melbourne twice but as a local didn't have to rush to catch flights. We were certainly docked around 6.30 am both times. If you walk off with your luggage, it will save you time. How are intending to travel to the airport - taxi, airport shuttle? There will be taxis available . What time were you thinking of booking your flight for? As woodsmiths said in the post above the traffic can be very heavy early in the morning. Weekends are not so busy. There are a fair bit of roadworks and infrustructure building happening around Melbourne and this will be ongoing. Are there direct flights from Melbourne you can take? Leigh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DogLover Posted January 30, 2020 #4 Share Posted January 30, 2020 As possum52 suggested, you might want to consider flying out of Melbourne for your international flight instead of connecting in Sydney. The domestic and international terminals are not connected at Sydney, and one must take a transfer bus between the two and clear security again before boarding the international segment. Honestly, it's a pain in the patootie. Would highly recommend avoiding a connection in Sydney, especially inbound! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pl281 Posted January 30, 2020 Author #5 Share Posted January 30, 2020 @DogLover Thank you - If we do the connection in Sydney we will probably stay over night as it leaves at 11:15am and I don't think there will be enough time to get to the airport in Melbourne and get in on time to make the connection Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
possum52 Posted January 30, 2020 #6 Share Posted January 30, 2020 4 minutes ago, pl281 said: @DogLover Thank you - If we do the connection in Sydney we will probably stay over night as it leaves at 11:15am and I don't think there will be enough time to get to the airport in Melbourne and get in on time to make the connection Thanks No, there would not be enough time to catch a flight to Sydney to make your connection. So if you need to stay overnight in Sydney, there is really no rush to get to Melbourne airport for your flight to Sydney. There are flights to Sydney every 30 minutes or later in the morning up to 60 minutes. Leigh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pl281 Posted January 30, 2020 Author #7 Share Posted January 30, 2020 @possum52 Leigh - Yes I saw the flights every 30-45 minutes or so between 2 airlines - For whatever reason points tickets on US Airlines are only through Sydney - they don't even do codeshare / flights to Melbourne The window for booking our flight is just about to open up and I'm looking at various options Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
possum52 Posted January 30, 2020 #8 Share Posted January 30, 2020 That's disappointing re connections. I guess it depends whether you want to do any sight seeing in Sydney to what time you plan to arrive there. Good luck with your plans. Leigh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DogLover Posted January 31, 2020 #9 Share Posted January 31, 2020 3 hours ago, pl281 said: @possum52 Leigh - Yes I saw the flights every 30-45 minutes or so between 2 airlines - For whatever reason points tickets on US Airlines are only through Sydney - they don't even do codeshare / flights to Melbourne The window for booking our flight is just about to open up and I'm looking at various options It must be because you are limited to using points. There are multiple options from Melbourne to the USA. Delta/Virgin Australia fly Melbourne to LAX, then you can connect to the East Coast. Qantas also flies Melbourne to LAX with codeshare connections elsewhere. If you are limited by your points availability, that's another story. We avoid connecting in Sydney - been there, done that. If you spend the night in Sydney, the Rydges Sydney airport is a great option - easy access into the city but perfect for next day flight. We've stayed there and were very pleased. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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