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For the last 20-some-odd years, I have saved airline miles and joked they were to be used for a business class upgrade to Australia. Well, I finally have a enough to qualify (if available) and turns our our 25th Wedding Anniversary is in December of 2019, so looks like maybe I wasn't joking after all. After reading numerous threads and looking at itineraries (and expected itineraries--thanks for the Princess dates), I think that we are looking at the Celebrity Solstice on Dec 2 with a crazy added self-planned RT to Cairns in hopes of getting one day on the GBR and one day in the Wetlands. (I know, it's crazy and not enough time, but I am doing everything I think I can as I don't know when, if ever, I will get a chance to get back.) We will have our official anniversary dinner at a French restaurant in Sydney on the 17th, the night before we fly home.

 

So, in the next year-and-a-half, tell me everything I need to know! ;p I haven't even started looking at port options and shore excursion planning, but I am sure that is coming. This will be our first non-U.S. departure cruise, and I am terribly excited. I know that people say you can't really see the AU/NZ via a cruise and that you shouldn't try to do both at one time, but I prefer this to packing up every morning and hitting the road throughout the day. I have accepted that I won't be able to see it all and will miss far more than I would like to.

 

My first questions, of which there will probably be many more are:

 

Should we fly out on Friday evening and arrive Sunday morning giving us a day in Auckland to recover? Or should we risk it and arrive Auckland the morning we leave? This impacts exactly how much vacation time we have to request which is why I am mulling it about now.

 

Am I completely crazy to port in Sydney on the 14th, fly to Cairns, and return to Sydney on the 17th? I looked at flying straight from Cairns to home, but it doesn't look like I have a lot of options there.

 

If this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip, is there anything on this route that we absolutely should not miss? I'll want to start budgeting for it now if it is expensive!

 

I haven't booked yet, so tell me now if I'm making a mistake!

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Arrive early, definitely don't risk it, one delay could put your whole trip at risk.

 

Assuming everything runs smoothly, I think your Cairns plan is very doable. You will have had some sea days before porting in Sydney, so time to rest up and ready to be on the go again.

 

How exciting - happy planning!!

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Rally comes down to how much me you have available.

 

But In any event no way I’d fly in the morning of the cruise.

 

1. To much can go wrong

 

But more importantly

 

2. Think of the Jet Lag.

 

Yo say RT, to GBR, you don’t mean road trip do you, it a loooooong way.

 

Also which wet lands are you referring to.

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Arriving a day early is sort of what I am thinking. I hate adding the extra day, but I would be a nervous wreck I think if I were arriving the day of the cruise. We will likely connect through LAX from DFW, so there *shouldn't* be any weather delays, but weather can always be unpredictable.

 

And, I looked at driving and a train, and the winner is a 3 hour flight to Cairns! I always knew Australia was big, but I am learning a bit more in depth about the geography for sure. I saw that Virgin Australia flys SYD CNS. I liked Virgin America (before it merged with Alaskan Airlines), so that is looking like a decent option. Qatas looks more expensive, and I am unfamiliar with some of the other airlines.

 

So, it looks like I need to research a hotel in Auckland, a hotel in Cairns, and a hotel in Sydney. Or for Auckland should I go with whatever the cruise ship recommends? I know they sometimes will offer a hotel option on either end?

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Arriving a day early is sort of what I am thinking. I hate adding the extra day, but I would be a nervous wreck I think if I were arriving the day of the cruise. We will likely connect through LAX from DFW, so there *shouldn't* be any weather delays, but weather can always be unpredictable.

 

And, I looked at driving and a train, and the winner is a 3 hour flight to Cairns! I always knew Australia was big, but I am learning a bit more in depth about the geography for sure. I saw that Virgin Australia flys SYD CNS. I liked Virgin America (before it merged with Alaskan Airlines), so that is looking like a decent option. Qatas looks more expensive, and I am unfamiliar with some of the other airlines.

 

So, it looks like I need to research a hotel in Auckland, a hotel in Cairns, and a hotel in Sydney. Or for Auckland should I go with whatever the cruise ship recommends? I know they sometimes will offer a hotel option on either end?

 

 

Ahhh OK I was worried you were thinking of a drive, remember Australia is about the same size as the USA 48 states.

 

There are a few threads here about Hitels in Sydney, a lot depends on your budget and what u want to do while here.

 

In Cairns I’ve always liked Rydges.

 

There’s one in Auckland too, so probably avoid choice but ever stayed there.

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Both Virgin & Qantas are decent airlines with baggage included (check luggage weight limits though - they will be different to your international flight. They can also be quite strict with carry-on luggage, I think most are down to 7kgs for carry-on now).

 

Budget options are Jetstar (owned by Qantas) and Tigerair (owned by Singapore Airlines). Both of these lines you need to pay extra for check in luggage and food.

 

People have varying opinions of the two budget airlines - I've never flown Tiger due to a history of cancelled flights and reports of them just leaving people stranded, though some say the same about Jetstar yet I've flown Jetstar plenty and never had a single issue.

 

Another thing with the budget airlines is a very strict check-in time, if you're one minute late for check-in, you're out of luck. But that said, if you know and follow the rules, it's no problem.

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Arriving a day early is sort of what I am thinking. I hate adding the extra day, but I would be a nervous wreck I think if I were arriving the day of the cruise. We will likely connect through LAX from DFW, so there *shouldn't* be any weather delays, but weather can always be unpredictable.

 

It's not just weather, there could be a mechanical issue with your plane. It's a looooong way to NZ, and only a certain number of flights go per day. If something is wrong with your plane, they might not be able to accommodate you on the next flight out (if there even is another one that day) and they might not be able to get you out until the next day. It's just way too risky.

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And, I looked at driving and a train, and the winner is a 3 hour flight to Cairns! I always knew Australia was big, but I am learning a bit more in depth about the geography for sure.

 

I'll probably sound like a naysayer, but I think you are packing too much in to your trip.

 

By all means arrive a day early in Auckland. If you aren't too jet lagged the town is worth a look at. Take a ferry ride to one of the harbour islands.

 

The Solstice cruise looks good. I did one on the Diamond going the opposite direction last February.

 

But flying from Sydney to Cairns and back for a two day visit seems a bit much. Then having your anniversary dinner on the day you get back from Cairns and the night before you leave to go home would be way too hectic for me.

 

Unless the GBR is a bucket list thing and you are pretty sure you will never get here again, I would stay in Sydney for a few days after the cruise and plan the anniversary around that. There is plenty to see in Sydney.

 

Alternatively, and this would depend on you getting an extra week of leave, you could do a B2B on the Solstice for its cruise to the South Pacific islands where there is all the coral you could want and have your anniversary dinner at a genuine French restaurant in Noumea.

Edited by SinbadThePorter
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For the last 20-some-odd years, I have saved airline miles and joked they were to be used for a business class upgrade to Australia. Well, I finally have a enough to qualify (if available) and turns our our 25th Wedding Anniversary is in December of 2019, so looks like maybe I wasn't joking after all. After reading numerous threads and looking at itineraries (and expected itineraries--thanks for the Princess dates), I think that we are looking at the Celebrity Solstice on Dec 2 with a crazy added self-planned RT to Cairns in hopes of getting one day on the GBR and one day in the Wetlands. (I know, it's crazy and not enough time, but I am doing everything I think I can as I don't know when, if ever, I will get a chance to get back.) We will have our official anniversary dinner at a French restaurant in Sydney on the 17th, the night before we fly home.

 

So, in the next year-and-a-half, tell me everything I need to know! ;p I haven't even started looking at port options and shore excursion planning, but I am sure that is coming. This will be our first non-U.S. departure cruise, and I am terribly excited. I know that people say you can't really see the AU/NZ via a cruise and that you shouldn't try to do both at one time, but I prefer this to packing up every morning and hitting the road throughout the day. I have accepted that I won't be able to see it all and will miss far more than I would like to.

 

My first questions, of which there will probably be many more are:

 

Should we fly out on Friday evening and arrive Sunday morning giving us a day in Auckland to recover? Or should we risk it and arrive Auckland the morning we leave? This impacts exactly how much vacation time we have to request which is why I am mulling it about now.

 

Am I completely crazy to port in Sydney on the 14th, fly to Cairns, and return to Sydney on the 17th? I looked at flying straight from Cairns to home, but it doesn't look like I have a lot of options there.

 

If this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip, is there anything on this route that we absolutely should not miss? I'll want to start budgeting for it now if it is expensive!

 

I haven't booked yet, so tell me now if I'm making a mistake!

 

Which French Restaurant are you going eat in for your anniversary dinner?

 

Have you thought about going to somewhere further south than Cairns to get access to the GBR? Hamilton Island is a bit closer to Sydney and right in the middle of the Whitsundays and the Reef.

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Am I completely crazy to port in Sydney on the 14th, fly to Cairns, and return to Sydney on the 17th? I looked at flying straight from Cairns to home, but it doesn't look like I have a lot of options there.

 

While not direct, you do have options to go from Cairns via Brisbane -> LAX -> DFW. These flights are quicker than going via Sydney. That can save a bit of time from your itinerary - though as it stands it appears you don't spend any time seeing things in Sydney

 

I agree with yourself and the poster above that your itinerary will have you rushing, which isn't necessarily the best way to enjoy yourself. If all destinations are must-sees, the draw is understandable, but it can be better to have some slower time as well, realising you can't see everything. To draw an equivalent it looks like you arrive in NY for the first time one day, fly off that same day to Orlando, see Disneyworld the next day, the following day go to and see Miami in a day, then fly back to NY the next day, have dinner in a restaurant and fly off - is that really getting a decent feel of any, and enjoying the trip? You spend a lot of each day in airports/travelling.

 

 

 

With only >3 days, If you can cut the backtrack time to Sydney that will help maximise your time. Can you stay in Sydney til the evening of the 15th which gives you almost two days there? Then you'd have the 16th for Barrier Reef and 17th for Kuranda? and fly home on the 18th from Cairns as per original plan. That gives you extra time in Sydney as you cut the travel time, though miss the restaurant in Syd on 17th - can you have it earlier, or Cairns instead?

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I am also in the it is too rushed camp:o. I think you will regret making the effort to go all the way to far north QLD only to spend two full days there especially if it such a bucket list destination as you seem to be implying. Also you should be aware you will be heading to Cairns at the beginning of the wet season. While it is usually milder and the rains tend to be at night, it is still an unpredictable period and such a tight itinerary doesn't leave room for flexibility if the weather really goes nuts:confused:

 

You say want to cruise because it is convenient but it seems to conflict with your desire to explore far north QLD which makes me think perhaps you need to examine what are the destinations and experiences you really want from this trip, that way you could prioritise what is really important especially if it is a once in a life time trip. You might not be able to see everything but you don't want to regret missing the things your really wanted to see;)

Edited by ilikeanswers
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We have done some pretty crazy schedules on our anniversary, so if it is possible, I'm willing to try it. In 2016, we were on a train in Alaska for for over eight hours in the snow, arriving late, with colds, but still eating our French dinner at 9pm, and then hitting the morning early for an Artic flight, and I would do it all again!

 

That being said, I'm not sold on Cairns as the destination and will look at the possibility of Brisbane. Maybe spend the disembarkation day in Sydney (I know, not much time, but we aren't really big city people), then a later flight to Brisbane until we fly out on the 18th? There seem to be French restaurants in Brisbane, so I should be good.

 

I would really just like to say that we snorkeled in the GBR, I don't think I care where it happens.

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We have done some pretty crazy schedules on our anniversary, so if it is possible, I'm willing to try it. In 2016, we were on a train in Alaska for for over eight hours in the snow, arriving late, with colds, but still eating our French dinner at 9pm, and then hitting the morning early for an Artic flight, and I would do it all again!

 

That being said, I'm not sold on Cairns as the destination and will look at the possibility of Brisbane. Maybe spend the disembarkation day in Sydney (I know, not much time, but we aren't really big city people), then a later flight to Brisbane until we fly out on the 18th? There seem to be French restaurants in Brisbane, so I should be good.

 

I would really just like to say that we snorkeled in the GBR, I don't think I care where it happens.

Brisbane is too far south for the GBR.

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That being said, I'm not sold on Cairns as the destination and will look at the possibility of Brisbane. Maybe spend the disembarkation day in Sydney (I know, not much time, but we aren't really big city people), then a later flight to Brisbane until we fly out on the 18th? There seem to be French restaurants in Brisbane, so I should be good.

 

I would really just like to say that we snorkeled in the GBR, I don't think I care where it happens.

 

I live in Brisbane. It's a wonderful place to live, but a terrible place to visit. I think you would be disappointed by Brisbane, not least because we are about 300 miles from the closest part of the reef.

 

If you have to get to the GBR, Cairns is by far the easiest entry point.

 

The best French restaurants are in Sydney and Melbourne, mostly Melbourne.

 

What you are wanting to do is cruise NZ with a GBR side trip. A comparable US vacation would be an Alaskan cruise followed up with a Hawaii side trip. That's a daunting prospect given your time frame.

Edited by SinbadThePorter
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Out of curiosity what is the reason you need to have a French Restaurant?

 

My husband and I started dating while studying French in Brussels. During that time, we made a lot of trips to France. For our first anniversary, we decided to eat at a French restaurant. Then we decided to do it again on our second anniversary. On our third anniversary, we had to cancel our plans due to a bad winter storm, so we cooked a French meal. By then, it had become a thing. Now, no matter where we go or what we are doing, we eat a French meal on our anniversary. For our 10th anniversary, I found an inn in Vermont that rotated their meals, I asked if the chef could rotate around to his French meal on the night of our anniversary. He did. That was probably the biggest challenge. The next was the one in Fairbanks, Alaska which we barely made due to our train being late. I'm still a little amazed I found that one. I also found a really good restaurant in a strip mall in Honolulu one year. We give extra kudos when we find them with French servers who will speak French with us. One year, maybe we'll actually go to France for our anniversary, but somehow part of the challenge for me now is actually finding a restaurant. If I go to France, I lose my challenge!

 

 

As for the crazy travel side trip to the GBR, we live in Texas. We are used to crazy travel, and long trips. It can't be worse than our recent eight day trip to Disney World/Universal Studios where we were at the parks from open to close every day. So my choices are currently:

 

Dec 14: Flight to Brisbane

Dec 15, 16, 17: Day trips out to include one I found that will fly to the GBR for the day. Pray for good weather as it is apparently iffy in December. French meal possibly at Aquitaine in Brisbane

Dec 18: Fly BNE to DFW

 

Dec 14: Flight to Cairns

Dec 15, 16: Day trips (of which there seem to be many more options of interest)

 

Dec 17: Either fly to Brisbane or return Sydney for French meal and flight home

 

My life would be so much easier if I could easily fly home from Cairns.

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Thanks for all the suggestions. I still have many months before I have to be definite about anything although I have booked the cruise with a completely refundable option.

 

My current thought is to go to Brisbane and take day trips out from Brisbane including one to Lady Elliot Island which appears to be considered part of the GBR, so I can lay claim to having been there. Ideally we would do the overnight there option, but we are likely to have a lot of luggage that I would rather not haul from Brisbane there. Although if we stay at a hotel, maybe they could hold it it for us. There seems to be a couple day trip options out of Brisbane, so while perhaps not the most touristy city of choice, I think it might work for us.

 

There appears to be a French restaurant or two in Brisbane that will satisfy our French meal requirement on our anniversary night and we can fly to DFW with only one stop in LAX which is standard on American Airlines (where my miles are). I would love to get up to Cairns, but I think that is getting a little too crazy and in December apparently we run a higher risk of dying from stinging fish which would put a bit of a damper on our once-in-a-lifetime trip.

 

I might still change my mind before all this is over, but for now, that is where I am leaning.

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Also take into account the ship can also arrive late into Sydney. We had this happen to us last week, and arrived 5.5hrs late. So many people had to rework their plans including ourselves.

 

Although it is the beginning of summer there is no guarantee of great weather unfortunately.

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I think the Auckland idea is great, and will probably save you money on flights, since one way flights from the US are about as expensive as return flights.

 

Buy a return ticket to Auckland. Get off the ship in Sydney, fly to Cairns, spend your 2 days there, fly Cairns to Auckland. Fit in the restaurant somewhere (that will be your challenge!).

 

Forget Brisbane, I really don't see the point of Brisbane in this scenario. Your best day trip to the GBR is going to be from Cairns.

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Definitely agree with Toryhere, check out Hamilton Island as an option, Whitehaven Beach is one Island worth seeing. You are much closer to the GBR for day tours, you are not spending a couple of hours on a boat getting to great diving/snorkelling tours. Both Qantas and Virgin have daily flights.

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All the options I see from Cairns to Auckland have me stopping over again in Brisbane or Sydney. I could still go up to Cairns, but fly BNE-LAX-DFW which still means having our anniversary dinner in BNE. That is possible and still and option. Are there any direct CNS/AKL flights that I am not finding? Because if so, that would definitely make that more appealing.

 

I'm looking at booking a one way air and using miles for a business class ticket back (we learned once that you want your more comfortable flight on your return flight when your tired and less excited about the destination. So, I am not sure that a round trip fare is going to be that much of a big deal.

 

Also, I plan to take an evening flight from SYD to CNS/BNE, so if the ship is late, it should be okay. Any afternoon time we have, I can find something to do I am sure. Its figuring out what to do with all our luggage that is going to be the fun thing. Maybe we can rent a car for a couple hours or something and get from the port to the airport via a sightseeing drive around town. Can't be worse than the time my mother and I were in Berlin shortly after the wall fell, and we arrived in West Berlin, and had a taxi take us to the station in East Berlin via a couple iconic sightseeing stops all in the space of an hour. That man didn't speak a word of English and we didn't speak a word of German, but somehow we managed to get it all communicated and it worked out pretty well. We may have communicated in broken French.

 

So, tell me about snorkeling and the stinging fish in December. Should I be concerned about that or is that a bunch of hype? I don't particularly want to get stung, but I really don't want to die, so what's the deal there? I very much want to do a little snorkeling in the GBR, weather permitting.

 

Of course, I can't truly worry about air until January of next year.

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The luggage part is easy. There's a luggage storage place 2 minutes walk from the OPT, and another at Central Station.

 

Or - if you fly Virgin Australia to Cairns, they now set up a check in desk at the OPT (someone will need to confirm if this is done every time a ship comes in) and you can get off the ship, check in for your flight there and then, and they'll take your luggage right to the plane and issue you your boarding passes. Then you go about your day and just turn up to the airport for your flight. There's a $25 fee for doing this, well worth it.

 

By the time you come, other airlines may be doing this too.

 

Someone else will have to advise re stingers... I assume if the tours run in December (have a look for this December) then it must be ok.

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