dreams_of_travel

Here's another write up/how to do this trip on your own: https://sydneyexpert.com/blue-mountains-itinerary-by-train/ @Tedferg when are you planning on your trip? If all goes well, I should be doing this train trip from Sydney in November after my cruise.

The problem with picking up at port is the super long, slow moving lines. I was cruising out of Vancouver last month, and it took us almost two hours to get through the line to pick up our medallions. They didn’t separate the lines into groups either. It was just one huge line. Perhaps this was just how it is in Vancouver, so YMMV. I’d prefer if they would automatically refund the charge for those with status, or particular package on the booking.

Very true. I was just annoyed at the snails pace, but yes emails had to be exchanged, and followup with the various departments. It did tie up a bit of OBC money, but in the end all the excursions were full, so a bit of moot point by then. yikes, tracking our every movement. all for the marketing, and monetizing departments. LOL!

Put the hotel address for the first night stay as your contact. If they have questions, have your future stay info on hand (cruise ship, other hotels). I have flown in a few times to Australia, each time for a cruise, and I have used the hotel info for the first night (or two), and have not had a problem yet.

Yesterday I did finally get this resolved. The Guest Services person who was working on it called me to let me know it was taken care, and the charge removed. Still have no idea why it took them almost 4 days to clear it up, but I'm happy they followed up with me.

Not medallion related per se, but on the first evening, before dinner I noticed a charge for $108.xx for telephone use. I went down to Guest Services to get the charge removed b/c why would I use the cabin phone to make a 10min phone call when we were still in port, and I could use my mobile phone. That was two days ago, they're are still investigating. *rollseyes* I went to guest services again today, they are still working on it. At least I am on a 10 day cruise. 😛

My cruise is a 10day.

I went back and looked at my bid confirmation email. Correction: I put a $300/person bid on standard balcony, premium balcony, and mini suite. I lucked out with the mini suite.

Yes, I bid on a regular balcony, and won a mini suite. I have no explanation how that happened, but it will be nice to have the extra space and couch.

I placed a bid eons ago to move from an Oceanview/midship, to a balcony on the Crown leaving on Tuesday. Today I got an email about getting approved for a mini suite, not quit forward but not quite mid ship. Bid was $300/person. Very happy about this.

My first visit to Sydney I did use the HOHO bus. It was a great overview, and worked for us being jet lagged but still wanting to see things. It also gives an idea of how far it is to some of the places you'd like to go back to using the public transit. It does go to popular sights, and have frequent enough next buses to catch after you are done. I have not gotten to use the ferry in my last two visits, but I do plan on using them for my trip in November.

I have been very impressed with their communication and timeliness and anticipate that we will be just as happy upon our arrival. I'm curious about this. Does this mean they have extras? Or does this mean only that you and few other people are covered, but nothing available after that?

There are plenty of little shops along the way to the Mountain. It would be easy to pick up a sandwich/snacks after getting off the ship.

I was in Singapore in January. We used the Hop On/Hop Off bus to get around. The Gardens are free except for the special exhibits. (To be fair we were too tired to do much b/c we had just finished a 2 week trip in Australia/NZ, but we did enjoy the famous food hall, and seeing an overview of the city via the bus) We got off the bus near the Merlion, and walked back to our hotel next to Suntec City mall. We did not get over to Sentosa, so I can't comment on that.

Thank you. I will definitely check into this, and let you know how it worked out. It looks like your cruise is about a week after mine.

Super bummed to read of Blue Bus not being able to run to Mendenhall. This had been my plan for my cruise at the end of this month. Of course, all the cruise ship excursions are sold out. Not sure of an alternative that will work for us, I don't fancy walking from the public bus stop to the Visitor center. *sigh*

I'll have to try that. Hopefully it will work for me, and others.

Nopeity nope nope to vaping. The smell of the vapor due to the "flavor" used is awful, and nauseating. I don't like being in anyone's vapor even when I'm outside. On a Celebrity cruise transfer bus I "caught" a woman vaping on the bus. I was sitting behind her, and clearly saw her try to duck down, and then slowly blow out her vapor. I very loudly called her out about "smoking" on the bus. She told me I didn't see anything, and didn't know what I was talking about. I was so surprised that no on else, let alone the driver said anything. ALSO as a former smoker, I understand the addiction is a real thing, but you can't go on a 20min bus ride without needing your fix?!? I don't go into the casino often, but vaping in there would definitely not make me want to in the future. I do not know what they are thinking to allow any vaping when smoking is not allowed. I do wonder how many people already vape in their cabins.

Going forward, I would be more likely to book a cruise that is giving me double MOBC. That way I wouldn't feel like I am missing out on my SOBC. LOL! I didn't get the email, so I appreciate the linked post above. Playing around with the link, I see that one of my current bookings is one of those offering the double MOBC. I suppose they want me to call to get that applied. If so, I am not bothering b/c I already have both SOBC and MOBC applied, so there is little point to go through the hassle. They would likely take away the SOBC. In related news, I was looking at various offerings via that link, and found a 14 day, as a solo, for $1800/something, and there seems to be a glitch in regards to the MOBC. In the little OBC box, it shows $100 OBC, $500 MOBC, AND another $250 MOBC. So basically I could book this cruise, w/o Princess Plus, and get $850 OBC. So. Very. Tempted. LOL!

Interesting read @Ken the cruiser but I am still foggy about how paying for a cruise with a gift card suddenly can become "lost money", and not refundable. I need to know what the part in #2 means cannot be returned for a cash refund, except to the extent required by law. What law, and where does it explain what happens with your money from the gift card? Why are gift cards this type of thing that won't be refunded, or somehow not saved as a future cruise credit for use? All this makes me not want to cruise Celebrity again, let alone pay for a cruise with a gift card. What regular person would think to read all this fine print, and then find out their gift card used to pay some of a refundable cruise fare is totally lost. This is so many levels of not cool, I almost can't comprehend it. YMMV I suppose I should fully read the verbiage on the Princess gift cards to make sure there isn't some sort of insanity over there too. (except I have used Princess gift cards before, and had them refunded when having to cancel a cruise. And the big one for me, knowing I can use a gift card to put down a deposit for a new cruise.)

I want to thank @HaveDogWillTravel for starting this thread. I never would have submitted my SOBC requests for next year's cruises so early without this thread. It would seem that acting early before the new rule was applied paid off for getting both SOBC and MOBC on my cruises. I did take pics of each cruise's OBC list just in case their IT messes things up.

Thank you for that info. I was hoping that would be the case. I'll give it a try next month. @LeeW I am aware of what OBC, and the various types, and if they are refundable etc. I had not had an OBC promoted as for a shore excursion that's why I asked about it. Your post has a lot of info that will be helpful for this forum's readers. Always good to share info.

I've got a cruise coming up that has OBC designated for a shore excursion. How strict are they about using it ONLY for an excursion? I don't have anything booked yet, but the Alaska cruise is end of next month, so I know I am probably looking at slim pickings. Any data points would be appreciated. (I did try to do a search, but apparently my terms "OBC+shore+excursion didn't turn up anything.)

That's a little bit better than what you are originally (incorrectly) told, but not by much. I do not understand how a refundable cruise, meaning you could cancel and get it refunded, doesn't have a proper mechanism in place to make it truly refundable with GCs. I don't blame you for choosing to not continue buying the Celebrity gift cards. It would make me wary of the whole process.

True, you really didn't have a choice, sadly. I wonder what the truth is with the gift cards. Seems a bit crazy to offer an option to use them, and then not offer a refund option. I hope we get some clarity about this at some point. Meanwhile, July is coming, and I will be buying more Princess GC (which in the past can be refunded to the original GC) to pay off my 2024 Princess cruises. LOL!