alibabacruisers

Thanks for the info Bay. It will be interesting, with that in mind, to see how they deal with that.

When we boarded QM2 at Garden Island , Cunard had the following as their procedure. It may very well change , but they will advise well in advance.

White Terminal was not constructed at that time so we reported to a very large and glamorous marquee at Glebe island, (next door to White Bay). From there , everyone was processed through Customs and Immigration and then directed onto private catamarans that were specially chartered , and ferried to the ship at GI. Upon boarding we were directed to the Ballroom and the cruise cards were issued there . Once all the processing was complete and we had our cruise cards, we were passengers in Transit and could come and go from the ship as we pleased, by checking through security with our cruise card.

 

However Cunard choose to organise the embarkation , I am sure you will be well looked after, as is the Cunard way.

 

Have a great cruise.:)

 

 

 

Thanks for your experience David. I am just glad that we will already be on QE prior to Sydney. According to the Sydney port website guy, the ship will be at GI so we won't have to add WBT to our mix.:o

There are no regular ferry services to Garden Island, it is after all a naval base and not a public area. There is a bus stop just outside the entrance gate of Garden Island in Cowper Wharf roadway which I would presume has buses which would take you up to Kings Cross ( if your that way inclined:D) but you could then get a bus into the city proper from there. Cunard may have some sort of courtesy bus operating into the city, as they will have coaches ferrying passengers from White Bay and they pretty much have to pass through the city on the way. Not a whole lot of much else of real interest around the immediate area although the Botanic Gardens are not that far away.

Another person has said that there was a ferry to GI because of a Naval Museum and that you take the Watsons Bay ferry? But the thread she linked to was from 2011. That would be great if there was a ferry. I also read in earlier threads where people were discussing how GI used to only allow 3 ships (QM2, Radiance and one other) to dock, but obviously that has changed if they are allowing QE to dock there next March. I just hope they straighten things out for the better soon.

Thanks for your info gbenjo!

Hi all, for our cruise on QE next year, I checked the Sydney port website and saw that it said QE (Passenger Processing) would be docking at White Bay. I decided to email the port website to get the scoop. A very nice gentleman answered my inquiry by saying that QE will be docking overnight March 2015 at Garden Island. Passengers boarding in Sydney will be processed at WBT and then Cunard will transport passengers and luggage to GI. I remember back in 2010, I think it was, we were in Sydney and saw that QM2 was docked there so knew that occasionally a cruiseship could dock there.

My question for all of you is..do you know if there is actually a ferry that regularly goes there? How close is public transport? What else is in the immediate area of interest? Any information will be appreciated!

Deleted post...my mistake.

My niece is a college student and wants to travel to Europe on QM2, possibly by herself, and as a student she's on a budget and wants a less expensive inside stateroom, but it has to be midships because she gets seasick if it's rough.

 

She's choosing between an Atrium Inside on Deck 5 and a regular Inside on Deck 11 which is midships. Is the Atrium stateroom better?

If she gets seasick then she needs to be lower in the ship. The higher, even though midship, you feel more motion.

Nice pictures Sarah! Can you tell me what that place is ..the garden through the gate? It is very pretty.

Kathi, thank you for your thoughtful review. I, like others, followed the Roll Call thread as well as your daily personal and found them all easy to read, full of good information and interesting. I know that it must have taken a lot of your time and I really appreciated it all! I remember that you were a bit worried about taking on a new challenge of writing a blog and I am here to tell you that you did a wonderful job! I look forward to using much of the information you described, on our cruise on QE next year.

We booked the Queen Victoria for 19 day from San Francisco to Sydney on Sunday July 6th and they debited my credit card 3 times in error for the down payment of $2217CDN. They acknowledged their mistake and as of today July 17th I am still waiting for them to credit my card back. Cunard said it could take up to two weeks for the the correction to show up . It only takes one day for them to debit a card so I am very disappointed with this process.

Ontario Cruiser

Sorry that this happened to you. I have never understood why thy can take it so quickly and then need 1-2 weeks to credit it back.

You can tell how old they are by the depth of the dust I think! I'm on QM2 on Monday so I suppose I could take some TV snaps. I always fill up the space behind the TV with the cans from the fridge to leave room for the champagne!

Oh good Capn, are you doing your usual blog (I hope so)? How long are you on for this time?

Just went and checked for our cruise next January on QE and did not see anything out of the ordinary.

Thanks Barry! I can't wait to do a Med cruise again!

I have been on 8 world cruises with HAL.

 

The average ratio is about 450 to 650 being on for the full 120 days or so. However one year (2008 if I remember well), over 1,000 persons were for the full cruise creating headaches for the dining room staff when compatibility problems started to develop.

 

In the last 2-3 years, the WC has not been to capacity with average 950-1,100persons depending on the segment

Happy, wow 8 WC! That is amazing!

Also amazing to me is that so many do the full WC. That is so great that people can do the full WC. We did a segment on a WC last year and will do another longer segment next year. Our first cruise was 11 days and each cruise tends to be a bit longer. I have to laugh because everytime my husband says, "why longer? you may not like it"...LOL. Next years is 74. Maybe one day a full WC........I can dream...but until then I will love reading of anyone's experiences and blogs of their WC!

Bon Voyage Everyone!

Thanks for the link Under....love youtube but I often forget about the wealth of knowledge found there!:)

A person on here suggested that people use these bags in order to pack. Decided to buy a bag or two and test them out. They are brilliant. An American invention i think. Put 14 of the other half shirts in the large packet it halved the volume; left it for two days just to see how they looked, if anything they had less wrinkles. Thank you who ever it was.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Do you have a picture? Love to see good solutions with regards to packing!

@a-b-c-:

I'm very sorry to read that. It works 100% of the time for me using Safari, and about 90% of the time using Chrome. What browser are you using?

IE....trying adblock plus....still have floating white boxes with the little x on them.....I think I tried Chrome a month or so ago but had problems on some website with it. Any suggestions?

I think #1 is a classic and is very pretty. #2 for formal night would depend on the cruiseline and as I haven't been on RCI I will have to let others comment. #3 is very elegant and a pretty color and would be a nice dress to keep for future cruises or other events.

I had never heard of them Barry. Thanks for the link.

Welcome home and I look forward to your review.

HAL ships don't return to Port Everglades until October. The sailaway viewings can begin again. :)

 

I thought that was what I remember:o. Let the countdown begin (again). Thanks Sail!

Thanks Chief, for the information although I have yet to visit Port Everglades. Well, at least not until we sail in and sailaway next January! I can't wait to physically see where all of the sailways focus on! BTW I sure am missing the sailaways.:( When do we begin again?

Thank you for your wonderful review and pictures! We have been on QM2 and QE but can never find just the right itinerary, price and time for QV.

AdBlock works well for me.

 

I get a blank strip of white down the right-hand side, but that's only worth mentioning to say how minimal the inconvenience is.

I tried adblock but ad (blank white screen with x) floats around the screen in diff areas still. Not minimal inconvenience.....everytime I want to click on something have to deviate the process. Very frustrating!!