Bodogbodog

Crystal do - typically 5% for B2B

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Bon Voyage - thanks for taking the time to post from onboard

Looking forward to your updates

Good to get an insight into life onboard Princess - there'll be no marking the bottles come August!

Way more than I’d be prepared to pay for a luxury line - Crystal who probably don’t fit your small category but are luxury and all inclusive run from Aust $332 to around $880 a night on their ocean ships but for their yacht that operates in the Bahamas it’s $732 to $1308 a night (all per person)

The minimum solo surcharge is 25% but it can run a lot higher up to 100%

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Check out this brand-new Luxury cruising article from Cruise Critic:

 

Crystal Cruises Alcohol Policy

What’s new about it?

The comments on the article are over 1 year old

We have a thread on Included alcohol on Crystal @ https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2251753 which people may be interested in

Just received a reply from Mr Twynam. very impressed with the speed of the response and hopefully this will allay some concerns:

Sincere thanks for emailing me. Allow me to update you on the position around the Sydney Fireworks. There are 3 mooring spots in Sydney, the most iconic being Circular Quay, right next to the Opera House.

He never did get around to mentioning the third option - Athol Buoy which is right in the middle of the harbour just east of the bridge - it would provide an exceptional view of the display - but that isn’t going to happen as no ship would be allowed to moor there on NYE as it would block the view for thousands onshore

White Bay is the only viable option for cruise ships - with either on shore tours for better viewing (wouldn’t be my preference) or charters to take guest out on the water - being in the Parade of Lights give you a great view - typically those charters run at A$1000 a head. If you choose a good one that’s well worth it. However a bad one can be very dissapointing. We did it on Crystal for NYE 2016/2017 and they got it wrong (although the experience of being out on the water was still very impressive) - so even the top lines can mess up....

Like Rio this ship will getter. Overdue to Anchor spot for the show

 

 

 

Give Tim for surprised

That is simply not going to happen - Sydney harbour is tightly controlled on NYE

No ships are allowed to berth at the Overseas Passenger Terminal or at Athol Buoy

If they fit under the bridge they will be at White Bay

I don’t believe Keith1010 catches public buses/shuttles - but it presents an interesting option

Saturday or Monday at 8.30am - in theory as quick as 30 minutes but I’d allow at least an hour for the journey to the international airport. Traffic delays aren’t uncommon so allow some flexibility in terms of timing

Week day or weekend? During the week it’s still peak traffic time

Am I right that Sydney is two hours back from Auckland? I know I can look it up but haven't yet

Yes that's correct - for almost all of the year. The exception being a few weeks at the time that both countries move to and from Daylight Savings time - the dates for each country vary by a week or two

And I probably should have listed the city we were flying from.

 

I booked the flight yesterday.

Many think NZ ends at the Bombay Hills...I don’t but did assume it was Auckland - was I correct? - and if you’re comfortable saying, who are you flying with - and why?

They .Genting and NCL , are also tied up in some way with Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania Cruises.

NCL owns 100% of Regent and Oceania - but as noted earlier Genting have reduced their ownership in NCL

There's definitely consolidation in the industry - perhaps being bought out is one strategy to make money....

It is involved in cruise and resort businesses through Star Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line and Resorts World Manila.

The ownership of NCL has been reduced - I think the Wiki article is a little out of date

Here’s an article relating to that from last year @ https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2017/08/14/genting-hk-and-partners-cut-stakes-in-norwegian-cruise-line/

It certainly will.......lets hope they head this way....

...just adding for those who may not be aware ;

 

• Genting Hong Kong is headquartered in Hong Kong. It is involved in cruise and resort businesses through Star Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line and Resorts World Manila.
  

Plus the parent company owns Crystal Cruises, the luxury line headquartered out of the US

Where have all the beautiful ships gone?

Oh well - eye of the beholder [emoji83]??

Agree - it’s butt ugly!

According to an article @ https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/18677-dream-cruises-to-get-2020-newbuild-sail-globally.html

The article says

The 5,000-guest, 204,000-ton ship will join the Dream Cruises fleet starting in 2020. Genting Hong Kong has a sister ship set for a 2021 delivery as well, which could also be poised to join Dream Cruises....

The ship will sail from China during the summer season, and will move to Australia or the U.S. during the winter season.

Now that would put the cat amongst the pigeons

Thanks for posting these shots

Crystal do a good job with webcams on their fleet - including ocean and river yachts - they're all accessible @ http://www.crystalcruises.com/cruises/cruise-guidebook/our-ships/crystal-symphony/live-views/

 

I find though that they both typically use 737 aircraft, which I find less than ideal for a 3 hour flight, particularly the number of toilets.

 

I travel to NZ fairly often on business, and I'm with 'The_Big_M' and prefer Emirates (to AKL & ChCh) - the A380 is much better suited to 3 hr flights.

See my post above- the A380 to Auckland is no more...

That same article I linked to notes that Qantas will fly some of the flights using the Airbus A330s which have better J class seats than the 737s

If cost was not an issue flying from NZ to Sydney, I'd fly Emirates first ;-)

Good luck with that strategy - Emirates cancelled the A380 service Syd-Auck last July....

https://www.ausbt.com.au/emirates-axes-sydney-auckland-airbus-a380-flights

I still say it depends what airline consortium he has status with - that's about the only differentiator otherwise both are very similar and it's only a 3 hour flight

We have on occasion booked Qantas and its been on a Jet Connect flight.

Jet Connect operate the aircraft but you would have flown on a QF flight and purchased your ticket from Qantas or one of their sales agents. Jet Connect is not a commercial airline

And you could also book Virgin Australia and end up on Air NZ metal and vice versa - with reciprocal rights for lounge access

It’s very simple in my opinion - it very much depends on your affiliation and status with the airline groups ie One World and Star Alliance as that will determine how they treat you

If you hold One World status go with Qantas

If you hold Star Alliance status go with Air NZ

It’s only a 3 hour flight so it’s not a big deal and the service levels and seating is very similar on each of them

Always a big challenge buying one way airfares - but in this case cant you get an open jaw booking to go to Abu Dhabi and then home from Singapore - a TA could sort that out for you. Or is that scenario working out to be expensive?

Wait til you experience Uber’s “surge” pricing multipliers and you might reconsider taxis - when surge (usually 1.5x up) is applied you may as well be in a taxi in terms of cost

The Rocks/OPT to Sydney International Airport using Uber - according to their estimator