Sydney - ship to airport advice - 11.30am flight too aggressive?

[aclay]

Hi folks

we are looking to disembark in Sydney from the Sapphire princess on Jan 11th 2007 (arrives 6am, disembarking begins sometime after) and we are looking at the ideal flight for us at 11.30am- is this enough time? Anybody had experience?

cheers

Alex

[Girl from Oz]

Hi Alex,

 

Stumbled onto your post whilst wandering around the boards (I know, I know, I promised not to, but our Beijing / Osaka board is a bit slow at the moment).

 

Getting to the airport on time is really only limited by how fast you can get off the ship. The airport is less than 30 mins away, and even tho it will be a week day, January is holiday time in Sydney, so the peak hour traffic is a little milder than normal. Given the right traffic conditions, the trip from ship to plane could be as little as 15 mins, but don't count on it.

 

So the next question is ........... what happened to a couple of days on Bondi Beach??

 

Gai

OZ

 

PS How are the bookings going for the flights in October - OK I hope

[MVPinBoynton]

We were off the ship by 7:30 AM. You won't have any problem at all getting to the airport. If there is anyway you can spend a couple days in Sydney, you will be glad you did. It is an awesome city.

[aclay]

for your answers and advice..

Gai - I didn't want to upset others on our Beijing- Osaka rollcall by asking you about Sydney when they would not be visiting it ;-(( Sorry if you feel that I 'passed you by'.....

As you know we've been to Sydney before and loved it, but our FF miles options for flying out of Sydney back to Europe on the dates we want are very scarce and zero for business class. It must be all these bl@@dy Poms visiting relatives over the holiday period..;-))

However there are two tickets business class from Auckland back to Zurich (Thai Airlines) on the dates we want... Last time we were in NZ we only got to see the South Island and loved it, so we figured we could visit Auckland and the surroundings for a few days instead of Sydney...

As for the Beijing and Osaka flights- they are looking much less problematic for Business class (I'm tempting fate here) and should be booking those tonight with FF miles - I'll check in with the rollcall and let you know - keep fingers crossed ;-)))

Thanks again to you and Mike for your advice

Alex

[Girl from Oz]

I can understand your decision making processes. Last time I travelled to the UK was in economy on Thai in 2001, and business class would have been a HUGE improvement.

You should really enjoy Auckland. A bit like Sydney, but much smaller and in a bit of a time warp in some ways - not necessarily a bad thing. New Zealanders are almost as nice as Aussies!!!

 

Gai

OZ

 

PS Remember my new motto - NO WORRIES. So definitely no feelings of being passsed by, happy to chat on any thread.

[MVPinBoynton]

Alex,

Makes sense to me. Good luck on getting your flights and have a great cruise.

[aclay]

Hi guys

back to this old chestnut:rolleyes:

via my travel agent:

Princess have advised passengers for our sailing that their flights post cruise from Sydney should not be earlier than 1.15pm..

even though we are scheduled to arrive in Sydney at 5am. So I guess I would be really chancing it if I booked a 11.30 flight - what do you think?

cheers

A

 

PS - we managed to get all of our other flights with FF miles - whooppee!

[Aussie Gal]

aclay,

 

The airport is only 30 minutes away from Sydney, actually a lot less than that, we have done it in 15 minutes.

 

I am not sure why Princess is insisting on a later flight. You do need to allow at least 2 hours before the flight but if you are travelling Business then you will have plenty of time.

 

I am wondering if Princess are factoring in weather conditions etc. at that time of year and perhaps are thinking that you could have a rough trip to Sydney either over the Tasman sea or through Bass Strait and not arrive at 5am as expected.

 

You would need to be off the ship around 9am at the latest as you have to collect your luggage and find a taxi.

 

If it were me I would choose another flight or perhaps go the next day as I wouldn't like to have the stress hanging over me of whether I would make that flight or not.

 

When we have disembarked in Europe or the U.S. from a cruise we have always spent an extra day or so there, just in case of hiccups.

 

Jennie

[aclay]

Thanks Jennie!

sound avice - I think we'll reconsider and do without the stress ;-)) It will only be an economy flight with AirNZ to Auckland and there are several over the day, but as always the schedule doesn't quite fit ours:(

What we may do is consider a flexible ticket- more expensive but then no worries.

cheers

Alex