Rusty1963

If you’re looking for something special oak beach cottage or one of the other villas directly on Oak Beach is highly recommended. It’s about 10/15 minutes drive from Port Douglas.

Thank you, doing a B2B TP..........lots of sea days.

On our wish list, but need to save up some leave!!!

Great! We are "living" on her for 33 days!

Nothing to fear!!!

We were on EoS in Dec 2016 on what was probably a full or near to capacity ship.

At no time did it feel overcrowded (even at the pool on sea days). Yes, it can get a little busy when the theatre is emptying but for no more than a few minutes.

We had no problem with waiting times for the lifts when we used them, and usually managed to find a table in the WJ at peak times (occasionally with the help of a crew member).

Enjoy your cruise :cool:

Will children need to have their passport on returning to the port on a New Zealand cruise? This is the only photo id my son has.Thanks for pointing this out 😊 May have saved me a trip to the ships brig

Would a proof of age card work for a teenager?

Many thanks

A David's Larder Scotch pie is the dog's bollocks -definately don't need dead horse on one of these!!!

I don't remember the dollar figure, but my friends did this on the Radiance and they had a very very hard time spending all of it. It's a good amount.

We were the same on Explorer in Dec last year - struggled and failed to use up our allowance for a party of 3 👍

Ha ha, will get back on it!

 

 

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Was thinking it was much further down George Street than it is. I've never been good with my bearings - my wife will testify to that!!

Enjoy your cruise. I've got to wait until March for our next one, although have a 3 week trip to Blighty before hand!!

I was looking at George Street. Will go back and check out Church St now.

 

I love doing holiday homework [emoji432]

 

 

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Sorry, the George Street property is a little closer - apologies

Thanks again.

Just had a quick look at Meriton apartments and looks like a good price. It is close to Christmas when we sail so was ready for a big price so pleasantly surprised.

 

 

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Hi Kristal Blade

There are 2 Meriton properties in Parramatta- make sure you are looking at the one in Church Street and not the George Street one - it's a bit further away and not shiny new, although it is spotlessly clean.

This link might help with low tide info

http://tides.willyweather.com.au/nsw/sydney/parramatta-river--homebush-bay.html

Cheers

Thanks Rusty1963,

That is brilliant.

Does the bus transport you to a different ferry stop?

 

Think I need to check tide tables now, hadn't considered that!

Cheers

 

 

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Yes, from memory the ferry terminates at Rydalmere at low tide . A bus service then connects between these two ferry stops.

My preference would be the Meriton Apartments with the Park Royal a close second.

We will be staying with friends before joining a cruise in Sydney. We had thought about staying a night in Parramatta before embarking. Will it be easy to take luggage on the ferry? And can you suggest a hotel within a suitcase drag of the ferry please?

 

Thanks very much

 

 

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Hi, yes it would be easy to take luggage on the ferry (Rivercat). Both the Park Royal hotel, Parramatta and Meriton Serviced apartments (Church Street property) are, at most, a 5 minute flat walk along Phillip Street to the ferry wharf. Alternatively the Novotel is on the other side of the river with a slightly longer walk. All properties are very close to a great selection of restaurants and are approximately a 10 minutes flat walk from the train station. It is doable however you need to be aware that the ferry doesn't leave from the wharf at low tide - you will travel part way on a bus!!!

Enjoy your cruise

Thanks for the great info. We are planning on buying an Opal Card. We had planned on taking the train from the airport. Great news about taking the council bus direct to Bondi Junction. Where will we find these buses? Can we use the Opal card on these buses?

One more question, we hope to take the train to the Blue Mountains. We believe that we can also use the Opal Card for this trip. Are we correct?

Hi - you can use your Opal card on the trains to the Blue Mountains. If you use your Opal card on a Sunday you can travel all day for $2.50.

The trains to Katoomba are double decker. There is room to store a few cases in the area as you enter the carriage or you can lug your cases up or down about 6 steps. Upstairs is better for views as you start the journey up the mountain. The seat backs also flip over so that you can face the direction of travel or sit as a group of 4. It's easy to store your luggage in the space created between the seat backs. The secure baggage store at Central Station is never usually that busy if you want to store the bulk of your luggage there.

There is also a hotel at the Jenolan caves if you fancy something a bit different .

I'm also interested in a serviced apartment for our 7-night stay in Sydney pre-cruise in February 2018. The Meriton Kent Street sounds good, but I'm concerned about the George Street construction noise impacting my sleep. Is there construction during the night and in the early morning?

We've stayed at the Meriton World Tower on Liverpool Street. Great views, very central with Coles Supermarket directly below the apartments. There's loads of places to eat and drink in the vicinity and an easy walk to Central Station, Townhall or Museum Stations. Darling Harbour, China town and Thai town are all a few minutes walk away.

There is a difference between the balcony discount for platinum and above which applies to every sailing and C&A discounts that are only applied to random sailings and are available to all members.

Thanks for clarifying - either way, still very happy with the saving.

Once you reach platinum (30 points) you start getting the balcony discount. After that the next biggest perk us when you reach diamond (80 points) and get lounge access with the free drinks nightly and a few other minor perks.

RCI's IT Gremlins must be at it again - I checked my sailing on Ovation in March 2018 on Friday night. Was able to change from a D3 on deck 10 to a D1 with a larger balcony on the same deck. Saved myself AUD1050 which included an AUD267 C&A discount as a gold member. Happy days!!

:cool:Hi - The school in Mare is directly across from the tender jetty.

Have a great cruise

We were on the Explorer on the 11 Dec for 11 nights. Formal nights were on the 2nd Night and again on the 9th Night.

There was also a Hawaiian theme night mid way through the cruise. The Brit pop night on the 10th night was more the entertainment team getting dressed up

Hope this helps.

Have a great cruise

Hi Tingyyy

The cruise was originally diverted from Fiji to Port Vila and Mystery Island, however as the illusive tropical weather depression (cyclone)started moving towards Vanuatu, mystery island was cancelled as the forecasted swell was deemed outside parameters for safe use of the tenders- hence we spent 2 days at Port Vila - Unfortunately Isle of Pines was not on the itinerary.

Good news - Graham Seymour remains on board until around July 2017, then in the words of the great man "he's off".

If Patrick McMahon (think that's his name) is still one of the headliners he's not to be missed- he's a singer come impersonator with loads of energy!!

Enjoy your cruise 🚢

Sorry for the delay in replying.

Yes, we really enjoyed the Ports. Booked excursions through RCL as we were first timers. Disembarkation at all Ports was easy and no passports or other ID required.

Cannot comment on Lautoka or Suva as the weather redirected us to Port Vila, Vanuatu 🇻🇺

Excursions in Fiji were cancelled and automatically refunded to our Sea Pass account. Rebooked excursions on the TV in our stateroom.

In Port Vila we took a 1960's sailing boat trip to a coral beach to snorkel. Loads of fish, eels and Coral mostly in good shape.

Second day in Port Vila went Ziplining with my 14 yr old whilst my wife had some pampering in the Spa.

Also loads of taxis and mini buses to take you from the port into town - cost around AUD10.

Really good duty free port

Mare was then by tender - left on one if he first tenders - no queuing getting off ship or returning. Paid AUD15 pp for the bus ride to the beach - get there early if you want shade. Plenty of stalls set up behind the beach selling food, drink and the usual souvenirs.

Last stop was Noumea- booked the trip to Amedee island which was about 45 mins away by fast ferry. Fantastic beach with snorkelling, great buffet and glass bottom boat trip included in price. Saw plenty of fish turtles and a few sea snakes - venomous but pretty harmless!! Trip was expensive but good value for money.

Hope this helps

I'm sure you will have as good a time as we did - enjoy

Sorry, just back from 11 night cruise on Explorer - unfortunately it looks like our copies of the cruise compass have accidentally gone in the bin!!

Had a fantastic time - spent 2 days in Port Vila, Vanuatu instead of Fiji - we were redirected due Bad weather and a potential cyclone over Fiji.

Great entertainment particularly the headline acts.

Food good in Winjammer and always managed to find a table. Learnt that if you snoozed you loose very quickly although waiters always on hand to find a spot. Waiters constantly clearing tables and serving drinks. Food and service good in the main dining and excellent in Chops Grille. Enjoyed Izumi but less impressed with the Italian.

Despite there being hundreds of children on board (including our 14 year old) there was plenty of space around the pools and other decks.

Now looking forward to our next Cruise on the Ovation!!

Think we are now hooked :)

The Harbour Rocks hotel is a reasonably priced hotel just few minutes walk from the OPT. It's a nice boutique style hotel with a small bar, restaurant and friendly staff.

What about travel insurance, what is recommended and what is the type of cover we would need as I am not concern too much about theft since we do not plan on taking any jewellery or 4 ipads?

 

Just basic cover for health or injuries or if we need to visit the onboard medical facilities

 

Ideally I would like an answer from local Aussies who use and take travel insurance

 

PEACE

Kosti[/quote

 

 

I am using the complimentary international travel insurance that comes with my ANZ Platinum Rewards credit card. Cover is automatically applied provided you spend at least AUD 250 towards the cost of your holiday using the card. It covers myself, spouse and all dependant children travelling together.

 

Other Ozzie banks have similar cards.

 

Enjoy your cruise

The Pullman Grand Quay is also very nice - just a short walk from Circular Quay station. If you choose a harbour view you are facing over to the OPT so will wake up to see your ship docked.