Need suggestions for postcruise tour

[Moonglow]

We are taking the Princess cruise from LA to Sydney Aug 2007. As of now Princess is not offering a postcruise tour so I need help in arranging one myself. We are interested mainly in seeing Sydney, Ayers Rock, and the great barrier reef. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Carol

[CamelliaCity]

Hi Carol,

 

We are planning the same thing except we will be in Sydney in April 2007.

 

I used expedia to book flight&hotel package to Cairns from Sydney and return.

 

I feel that I have gotten some great fair quotes with some nice resorts.

 

Also, I've gotten tons of great info from Trip Advisor. Try that if you haven't already.

 

Good luck.

 

'Brenda'

[Aussie Gal]

Here are a couple of websites which may help you with some tours.

 

http://www.ayersrockresort.com.au/experiences/

 

http://www.aatkings.com/au/

 

http://www.aptouring.com.au/content.asp?Document_ID=17

 

Jennie

[travelnnana]

Are you sure Princess is going "down Under" in August 2007 - that is the height of Alaska

[PIGSKIN]

I Have Been Syndey 3 Times..the Last Time I Was There I Climbed The Harbour Bridge And That Was Great. I Also Took A Hunter Valley Wine Tour And The Blue Mountains Tour. Syndey Has Alot Of Things To Do And Tons Of Good Places To Eat.

The Great Barier Reef===i Was There For 3 Nights And We Took A Tour Out To Green Island And I Liked That. We Also Took A Bus And Train Tour To I Think Its Called Krurunda In The North.

Ayers Rock===now When I Was Planing My First Trip To Aus. I Was Talking Over Things With The Qantas Person And They Told Me That The Only Thing There Is The Big Rock And To Watch Vidios.

Oh In Syndey I Also Took A Tour Of The Olympic Sites...

[obriendan]

By all means take a harbor tour in Sydney. It is a wonderful way to see the city!

[SheilaNC]

There are tons of short tours both of Sydney and out from Sydney. We stayed in Syd. and did several one day private tours on 4 wheel drive vehicles (Blue Mountains, down the coast, etc.). Also could do (and I recommend) several days in the Great Barrier Reef area - Port Douglas, Cairns - with snorkel trips to the inner and/or outer reef. Check out the Quantas airlines brochures or contact a TA whose specialty is Oz...there are several to be found online. Have a blast.

[Globaliser]

As of now Princess is not offering a postcruise tour so I need help in arranging one myself. We are interested mainly in seeing Sydney, Ayers Rock, and the great barrier reef.

How long have you got? My recommendation would be to make sure that whatever you see, you see properly. Australia is a big country (it's roughly the size of the continental US), and just getting from one place to the next takes up a significant amount of time.

 

My advice would be to allow at least a week to see Sydney properly. (You really need a month, but few of us have that luxury.) Until you've done that, don't even think of going elsewhere. Even if you don't go back to Australia again for a while, you'll have a better time and better memories if you stop long enough to see one place properly.

 

If you have the time to go elsewhere, then one search option you should use is to price flights on the airlines' websites: http://www.qantas.com and http://www.virginblue.com. (You may see JetStar flights offered by Qantas; JetStar is a cheap and nasty low-fare subsidiary which I wouldn't recommend using unless you have to.) As you book on the Australian sites doing this, you often get access to special fares which are not available for sale in the rest of the world, but the websites will happily take overseas credit cards. The downside is that you have to pay the Australian Goods and Services Tax on the air fare, but you're often still saving significant amounts by doing it like this.

 

Of course, you may get packages or other deals more cheaply elsewhere, so this is simply one option.

[aussie52]

August is a great time to go to Darwin and see Kakadu (awesome) or Alice Springs and see central Australia and Uluru. Also a great time for the Great Barrier Reef. All these places are just 4 hour flight from Sydney. I have travelled to all of these places so ask any questions. Went to Darwin and down to Alice last July.