buchhalm

Explorer docked at Circular Quay after 11.30 arrival today

A joke, people. A joke. You realise that, right? 😉

👍🏻 the little cloth must be there to wipe away the tears

I tried it. Stings like hell on my contact lenses.

Queenslanders, your Queen Anastacia, the palace-chuck probable plays a role in this...

Lucy is counting from Penrith. 😁

Lucy, you must have a lead foot. 1 hour Sydney (CBD) to the Blue Mountains is a very good time! 😉

2 comments: 🙂 1: When you purchase wines at wineries in Australia (ships tour or not) they will send it to your home in Australia for a minimal fee or even for free if you spend a bit more. Most will also organise international shipping for you. That is if you don't plan to enjoy the wine on the ship. 2: the good thing with many wines now is that they have twist tops/ screw caps. One might pour out a cheap wine and replace it with nice whisky/gin/tequila.... 😎

Mic is right. Madama Butterfly will be on from March 24, 2023. However not IN the Opera House, but on a floating stage on the harbour nearby. That will be an Opera Australia (the company that performs in the SOH and other venues around Australia) production. Apart from that, there are bugger all performances on the calendar yet. Guided tours should still be going ahead. At times where there aren't any shows on, the tours are actually great, because you are more likely to be shown inside the theatres and/or backstage areas. Naturally they don't show you these parts when performances or rehearsals are on.

I don't see much point of an organised tour of the city. You would just sit in traffic for most of the time. Unless one of you has mobility issues, the city is easily manageable on foot, public transport or a quick taxi ride or two. There is a pretty good Hop on Hop off bus here that will give you a great overview of Sydney and even some of the beaches. Do a bit of research and decide which attractions are a MUST SEE and a touring plan is easily put together.

Number one consideration for me would be what TYPE of cruise you want. Budget(ish), classy, luxury? What's important for you ON THE SHIP? Lots of action, party, activities? Good (gourmet) food? Do you want a mega ship with many thousands of passengers and everything up to and included thrill rides? There is a British guy who has a fabulous YouTube channel called "tips for travellers", Gary Bembridge. Well worth looking at for lots of cruise info.

It is still 6 months to our planned cruise on Celebrity from Sydney to NZL. I realize that things will probably change by then, but I'm interested in what pre-departure Covid tests are actually accepted. It seems that the CRUISE LINES are making up their own regulations at the moment as to what type of test they do or don't accept. As Princess is ATM the only line operating, most comments here are so far relating to that particular company. Have any of you managed to clarify Celebrity's rules? I can only find regulations on their US website that seems to be quite US specific. They seem to accept PCR tests and RAT tests. In the case of RAT, these must ALSO be supervised and confirmed (somehow) by "a medical professional". Is this service even available in Australia? I'll ask this also on the Roll Call for this cruise. 🙂

P.S.: it never ceases to amaze me what subjects are raised in these forums!! 🙂👏👏

I never tried that, but I shall give it a go. However, there is rarely anything TO store, after we opened a bag of chips.

I find this quite extraordinary. The companies (any, not just Celebrity) can take your $ in an instant, but "have staffing problems " in case anything goes wrong. What is also bad is that they advertise these flights as a convenient one-stop service. Great, if it works out. Not so great when it doesn't. Nobody seems to be responsible or interested. The comments by some, 'don't bother on the weekend " is sad (for Celebrity). They are an international business and should be contactable 24/7 . Customers live in different time zones (and Saturday/Sunday) isn't the weekend everywhere.

Great tip with the contact email. Thank you! My cruise line is selling the trip in January next year, but it looks very expensive. I suspect it is similar to a ships tour of the Flam railway in Norway, vs. a direct ticket from the rail company...

And tell us WHEN you will be in Sydney🙂 Taronga Zoo is wonderful . Apart from the animals, it has beautiful harbour and city skyline views. 3, 4 hours go by quickly. You can get a combined ferry-zoo ticket at circular quay. Plus (I believe) a ticket with the option to take the cable car from Taronga Wharf to the gate. There are loads of options for harbour sightseeing. Just the ride with commentary, or lunch/dinner/afternoon tea cruises. Some are excellent, some a bit Meh... I prefer a LUNCH cruise. Dinner sounds nice in principle, but remember that you will mostly looking at your own reflections. It's lit up inside, and dark outside...😉 And I cannot recommend a Harbour Bridge Climb highly enough. It's NOT CHEAP, but worth every Cent.

A friend made the mistake to decant a tin of Sweet and Low into a zip lock bag. WHYYYYY!!!!!???? The customs guys in Bangkok were getting VERY excited.

It sounds like a major pain in the butt. Apart from a quick flight from Athens to Mykonos, there are many ferries from Piraeus to the island. Anything from relatively slow large car ferried to high speed ferries. A cheap and quick taxi ride from the pier to the ferry terminal (or a bit of a walk, depending from where you dock) is all it takes. Time-wise it will probably be much the same. ATH airport is quite some distance away.

Over the years, we have taken cruise company tours and private tours, split pretty evenly. Where private tours most often come into play is during repeat visits to the same port. If you do a few Mediterranean cruises, you are likely to be offered the same cookie cutter highlights tours by (any) cruise line. In such cases we rent a car, do the private organised tour or use public transport. Missing the boat on most Med cruises - especially those up and down the coast of Italy - would not be much more than an annoyance. The ports are SO close together, you nearly coukd ride a bicycle and still can sit on the pier waiting for the ship to come into the next port. As for the famous "pier runners ", this must become a rare event. I haven't seen any "new" clips on YouTube for a long time. 😉

We booked an Australia - New Zealand cruise for January 2023. It is under this "always included " package, so tips (sorry, "gratuities") are covered. HOWEVER, if we want to slip certain people a bit extra here and there, what currency would you use? We are Sydney based, so for us a stack of Australian $ is of course easiest. Or should we get USD from the bank? A hassle, but at least we could get a stack of $1 notes for small tips. Our smallest note here is a fiver....