Australian Land Tour

[YukonHusky]

Hello I always enjoy getting the latest news and info about Princess and our destinations from here. We are close to our next adventure starting Feb 12th with the Princess Australian land tour that starts in Sydney, goes to Cairns, then Uluru, before heading back to Sydney to join our cruise on the Royal which ends up in Auckland NZ. 
 

I haven’t seen much chatter from others that have done the land tour this season. Anyone out there want to share your experiences? We have tried contacting Bob Woods travel group that Princess contracts this out to with no response yet. We are concerned because we arrive to Sydney a few days early and are not even positive the same hotel listed on the Princess website is the one the tour will use. So we’re not sure when or where to meet up with the tour! Any info on actual experiences would be appreciated. 
Thanks!

[Steelers36]

8 minutes ago, YukonHusky said:

We have tried contacting Bob Woods travel group that Princess contracts this out to with no response yet.

I recall seeing another thread in this forum about Bob Wood and I looked it up.  No good news - the thread was mostly about trying to figure out Covid testing which is redundant now.  The poster that was hoping to hear from others about Bob Wood tour experience had no responses at all.  The Bob Wood website has no information about specifics on cruise tours.  For whatever reason, they seem to be a non-communicative organization and I am guessing you get meet-up info from Princess near or on arrival in Australia.  Sorry, cannot help you more - we did our own land tripping when we went to Australia (combination of flights and driving and public transportation - the latter when in Sydney).

[dreams_of_travel]

@YukonHusky you may find some info, or some comments about this tour if you post over in the Australia/NZ ports of call forum.  They are a wealth of info over there with many locals giving great information.  Often if there is someone who can at least direct you where to better look for the info you need.

[Sarnia 432]

For land tour we booked for South America, we didn’t know the hotel until we stepped foot in the lobby.  We were met at the airport by a princess rep and taken in a mini van to the hotel. We were just starting to panic, when we spotted the princess sign.

[t&atravel]

2 hours ago, YukonHusky said:

Hello I always enjoy getting the latest news and info about Princess and our destinations from here. We are close to our next adventure starting Feb 12th with the Princess Australian land tour that starts in Sydney, goes to Cairns, then Uluru, before heading back to Sydney to join our cruise on the Royal which ends up in Auckland NZ. 
 

I haven’t seen much chatter from others that have done the land tour this season. Anyone out there want to share your experiences? We have tried contacting Bob Woods travel group that Princess contracts this out to with no response yet. We are concerned because we arrive to Sydney a few days early and are not even positive the same hotel listed on the Princess website is the one the tour will use. So we’re not sure when or where to meet up with the tour! Any info on actual experiences would be appreciated. 
Thanks!

We did this tour in early 2020 and it was wonderful.  If I remember correctly The hotels are usually listed in the itinerary section of your travel summary with addresses.  It says the Hilton Regency in Sydney on the website, not sure why you think that I isn’t the hotel they are using. If it wasn’t they would have let you know by now.  They will have people in the lobby to check you in.  We arrived a day before and they still had people to meet us at the airport.  Put your independent air information into the flight data section of the website.

 

 

Edited January 14 by t&atravel

[t&atravel]

It says Hyatt regency not Hilton…sorry

Edited January 14 by t&atravel

[YukonHusky]

Thanks everyone for chiming in. We booked our pre nights before the tour starts at the Hyatt Regency hoping to make our lives easier but I’m worried about connecting up since we’re not doing the transfer from the airport through Princess. 
There is another Ultimate tour we’re not on that includes Darwin that does not specify the hotel on the website for Sydney. 
We did reach out to the Hyatt and they could not confirm a reservation exists for us for the night the tour starts. But they at least seemed familiar with the tour group so it felt like it is still possible we’ll be there. 
Just was hoping for recent experiences. We’re looking forward to the trip!

[skynight]

It was a number of years ago that I took an Australian pre-cruise air/land tour. I arrived early, like you. There was a first night meeting with the tour director. I just showed up for that.

Regarding airport transfers. If I remember correctly I provided Princess with my flight information arriving before the tour actually began. Someone was at the airport and I was transported to the hotel by private car. 

[skents]

I just completed this land tour, December 30 - January 5.  The actual sites, tours, and hotels were very good. 

 

The logistics were terrible. (Sorry, but this may get long.)

 

I am copying an email I received from Princess on December 10th listing the literary and hotels.

 

HOTEL INFORMATION

Date	Duration	Hotel Information
Friday, December 29, 2023	- 1 Night:	Hyatt Regency Sydney 161 Sussex St Sydney, Nsw, 2000
Saturday, December 30, 2023	- 1 Night:	Hyatt Regency Sydney 161 Sussex St Sydney, Nsw, 2000
Sunday, December 31, 2023	- 2 Nights:	Pullman Cairns International
Tuesday, January 2, 2024	- 2 Nights:	Desert Gardens Hotel Yulara Drive Yulara, Nt 0872
Thursday, January 4, 2024	- 1 Night:	Hyatt Regency Sydney 161 Sussex St Sydney, Nsw, 2000
Friday, January 5, 2024	- 13 Nights:	Majestic: Roundtrip Sydney

 

My wife tried to get a couple of questions about the tour answered by the Bob Wood group before we left home.  Her emails were never answered.

 

We arrived a day early,  booked through Princess with transportation to the hotel.  We are at the airport for an hour - transport never showed up.  I called the number given by Princess in my travel summary and it went to voice mail, I left a message and no one ever called back. We ended up taking an Uber to the hotel. (I addressed this with the Princess Service Desk once I got on board and the transfer charges were credited to my account.)

 

We had our meeting with the tour guide on December 30th at about 4 p.m. and he told us the schedule had changed and the tour would run backwards. Instead of leaving Sydney for Cairns - where we had plans for New Year's Eve - on December 31st,  we would spend New Year's Eve in Sydney with no plans and we had to meet in the lobby at 6:30 a.m. on January 1st to catch our flight to Uluru. While it sounds good to be in Sydney for New Year's Eve, the  short notice and tight schedule did not make for much of a celebration. 

 

We adapted and had a good trip. The tours at Uluru and Cairns were well done and very nice.  The hotels were fine.

 

Then we were told on January 4th, that we had to have our luggage out on January 5th by 3:15 a.m. and meet in the hotel lobby at 4 a.m. to get to the airport for our 6 a.m. flight to Sydney.  (So we had to get up at 2 a.m.)

 

There was no direct flight , so we had to make a connection through Brisbane.  Everything worked out with the flights and we made it to Sydney on time.  As someone who always flies in a day early - our original tour schedule had us back in Sydney the 4th - this was unacceptable. 

 

So with the unresponsiveness of the Bob Wood Tour Group, the no notice reschedule of the tour and the completely ridiculous timing of the last flight to Sydney, l don't know that I would do this tour again.

 

 

 

 

[coco2/27]

We just finished the land tour with Bob Wood tour group, with Leonie as our guide, and it was fabulous in all ways!!!  
Busy, and tiring, but fantastic!

[SargassoPirate]

Our best land tour in Australia was a fully independent rail adventure that I booked myself with a stay in each city:

 

Sydney to Brisbane by train

Brisbane to Cairnes by train

Cairnes  to Darwin by air

Darwin to Alice Springs by train

Alice Springs to Adelaide by train

Adelaide to Melbourne by train

Melbourne to Sydney by train

Sydney to Seattle by cruise ship

 

All told, we were on land in OZ for six weeks if memory serves, and that included a week in Alice Springs since the train only ran once a week from Darwin to Adelaide.

 

The internet makes independent travel much easier than in the olden days.

 

Edited January 17 by SargassoPirate

[shamrock47]

looking for excursions in Melbourne....Princess and Viator appear to be full.. This cruise seemed so far off when we booked ......we're a little late getting excursions booked.  We are arriving in Sydney on 2/16.   We were on an Azamara New Zealand/Australia cruise back in March 2020.  We didn't make it to Australia.   We were able to complete the NZ piece before we were sent home & the world came to a halt!   Looking forward to seeing the small portion of Australia on this cruise.  Thanks in advance.  We have been loyal cruisers with Princess for eons!   Looking forward to this cruise!

We live in  Murfreesboro, Tennessee....30 miles southeast of Nashville.