Photo Review: Solstice 12 Night Great Barrier Reef Jan 2 2018

Hello again, mahdnc! We are so grateful, too, for your time & efforts and great photos to document this cruise. Only 12 more days til we board the Solstice on March 30, and along the past few weeks, you have really helped our excitement factor to grow! Plus, you have provided clarification by answering a few questions along the way- Thanks!

It's been nice to read, too, from the perspective of our similar family situations (a couple who are traveling with their young adult children - or in our case, singular child- just one of our daughters). Theresa (the one studying at the University of Newcastle) spent last weekend in Port Stephens, Australia taking her open water certification tests. She is now even more excited for the GBR! Also, she talked us into joining-in on our week in New Zealand first (it didn't require much convincing, she's a good kid)...so she will meet up with us in the Auckland airport on Thursday, March 22. We'll drive around and tour North Island together for a week, then we'll fly to Sydney for the Solstice cruse. I'm excited for your family to cruise NZ in two years. In the meantime, I wish you well

If it helps any we are flying back to Sydney tomorrow and staying just near the OPT for our next trip on Solstice. I will pay attention to what a taxi fare for two of us cost and post that as we also used a maxi-taxi on in January.

One thing I could have put is that we stayed at Darling Harbour on the night before the cruise. My husband took a taxi with all the luggage to the OPT before we needed to check out and delivered it to the porters. He then came back and we checked out and then walked around to collect a ferry to the OPT. We wanted my in-laws to go under the bridge, see Luna Park from the entrance and see the Solstice also from the water for the first time. We then went for a little walk so they could see the Opera House. As it was their first visit into Sydney we wanted that first look for them to be wonderful. My mother-in-law couldn't take enough photos!

If anyone stays at Darling Harbour I would really suggest going by Ferry.

Throughly enjoyed both your live posts and this photo review. And yes -- it is very odd to see the table of confiscated items. We were only on the now departed Mercury three times, but our last cruise on her was one out of Baltimore in 2010. The table of confiscated items was right by the entrance to the cruise terminal, and it was simply bizarre to see what other passengers had confiscated.

Taxi price was $52.50. We went via the tunnel so we had to pay the toll and we had a very long stop at a set of traffic lights.

Taxi price was $52.50. We went via the tunnel so we had to pay the toll and we had a very long stop at a set of traffic lights.

Great thanks for that - wife doesn't really want to lug a suitcase onto the train

Taxi price was $52.50. We went via the tunnel so we had to pay the toll and we had a very long stop at a set of traffic lights.

Susanne,

Have an awesome cruise! It's nice to be back aboard so soon.

David

Loving this! We were on this itinerary last March, so it’s great to go again through your wonderful photos!

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Hello again, mahdnc! We are so grateful, too, for your time & efforts and great photos to document this cruise. Only 12 more days til we board the Solstice on March 30, and along the past few weeks, you have really helped our excitement factor to grow! Plus, you have provided clarification by answering a few questions along the way- Thanks!

 

It's been nice to read, too, from the perspective of our similar family situations (a couple who are traveling with their young adult children - or in our case, singular child- just one of our daughters). Theresa (the one studying at the University of Newcastle) spent last weekend in Port Stephens, Australia taking her open water certification tests. She is now even more excited for the GBR! Also, she talked us into joining-in on our week in New Zealand first (it didn't require much convincing, she's a good kid)...so she will meet up with us in the Auckland airport on Thursday, March 22. We'll drive around and tour North Island together for a week, then we'll fly to Sydney for the Solstice cruse. I'm excited for your family to cruise NZ in two years. In the meantime, I wish you well ��

John and Sharon,

You are welcome. You guys are going to have a great time. I am impressed your daughter, Theresa, took the initiative to get scuba certified. Obviously you are pretty proud of her and it sure is nice to be able to spend some quality time together on a cruising vacation!

David and Marcia

 

The above photo was taken from the front page of the first issue of Celebrity Today. Evening dress, when the ship's clocks are changed, as well as which ports are tendered are noted.

 

One thing not shown is the time of the Cruise Critic Connections Party which was 9:30 am Thu Jan 4

 

The itinerary is well designed. There are four days devoted to getting to the Great Barrier Reef, four days at the GBR, and three days afterward to recover.

Where’s my like button? We thought the same thing last March ❤️

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Looks like I got it backwards. 3 days to get there, 4 days there (at the GBR), and 4 days to recover. But the key thing is 4 days at the GBR.

I noticed that there is a 10 night GBR cruise later this Oct. The two day reduction comes at the expense of the GBR ports. The second day at Cairns is dropped and Port Douglas is eliminated. I would hate to have missed those ports!

I am reading with interest and totally understanding of your experience. We sailed Solstice February to March in 2017 and had some fun and games with the tendering in Yorkeys Knob, Airlie Beach & Port Douglas.

 

Your planning is admirable and despite the set backs you were very fortunate to get the early tenders the next morning, not to mention getting a taxi at Yorkeys Knob!!! No mean feat. :D I'm very happy to read it all turned out OK for you (so far.......) ;p

Hi Mike, as I’m reading this thread I have memories of our desperate tendering to Airlie Beach - love y’all and our day [emoji3] The heli over Heart Reef and Whitehaven Beach ❤️

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Looks like I got it backwards. 3 days to get there, 4 days there (at the GBR), and 4 days to recover. But the key thing is 4 days at the GBR.

 

I noticed that there is a 10 night GBR cruise later this Oct. The two day reduction comes at the expense of the GBR ports. The second day at Cairns is dropped and Port Douglas is eliminated. I would hate to have missed those ports!

So true. I was booked on the later cruise and moved to March for the extra days.

Thanks again for the review, it's been awesome.

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Thank you (and everyone else) for your compliments. I don't expect a lot of people to be reading this thread because the itinerary is uncommon and my review is rather specialized in the topics it covers.

Yes, but it’s a wonderful review!! Thank you [emoji3] March 2017 (when we traveled) was the first time that Celebrity did this itinerary and the first time that a ship had a planned overnight in Yorkey’s Knob. There was NO information for us to plan... so, Thank You again!

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I asked the question here a while back about who actually has priority tendering as there seem to be a few different status all claiming the privilege. Suite guests, ship tours and Elites. I got my answer in Airlie Beach.

 

 

 

In 2017 for our day in Airlie Beach we had booked a private helicopter flight out over the Heart Reef with a stop at Whitehaven Beach and despite the ship arriving at 8:00 the first proper tender across wasn’t until 10:00 because they needed to fill the catamarans going out to the reef on ships tours first. All this was being done directly from the ship so with limited space for boats to dock, the tenders ashore were moved down the list. Our agreed pick up time ashore was 9:45 so we were not exactly pleased with the situation. It’s a bit naughty advertising the stop as being 8:00 until 5:00 but then not allowing you the option to leave the ship until gone 10:00 with added travel time to shore of 25 minutes. Even with our Elite privilege, I had thought we had built a nice buffer zone into getting ashore but that was wiped out in one swift move by the Celebrity tendering operation. Angry doesn’t go anywhere near describing how I felt at the time and if it hadn't of been for the CC hostess helping us out we would have missed our trip.

 

Fortunately, we made it just in time and had an amazing day.

 

 

 

Celebrity Solstice Postcard #35 – Airlie Beach, Australia

And thankfully it was an awesome Heli trip ❤️

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Yes, but it’s a wonderful review!! Thank you [emoji3] March 2017 (when we traveled) was the first time that Celebrity did this itinerary and the first time that a ship had a planned overnight in Yorkey’s Knob. There was NO information for us to plan... so, Thank You again!

 

 

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You are too modest to point out that you provided our roll call with a lot of valuable information by which to plan. This included the tendering situation. And for that, you have my thanks.

.

And thankfully it was an awesome Heli trip ❤️

 

 

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It sure was Deedee :D. I never realised ours was a first time itinerary. :cool:

However having now followed mahdnc's and Susanne's combined review it has really made me want to go back and see more.

I noticed that there is a 10 night GBR cruise later this Oct. The two day reduction comes at the expense of the GBR ports. The second day at Cairns is dropped and Port Douglas is eliminated. I would hate to have missed those ports!

It would be a shame to miss Port Douglas or the 2nd day in Cairns. The 12 night GBR is a fabulous itinerary!

Some random additions for the benefit of future cruisers (based on our March 2017 trip)...

In Port Douglas, 4 mile beach and the Daintree Rainforest are terrific.

Don't miss the glass show on board. They made a really cute Koala on ours.

And, for the shoppers, Boulder Opals are mined in Queensland!

2 American tourists die in GBR helicopter crash.

The helicopter crashed yesterday near a pontoon at Hardy Reef.

This article has an aerial photo of Hardy Reef, Heart Pontoon, and boats at the crash scene.

The accident occurred near Heart Pontoon which is located at Hardy Reef and run by Cruise Whitsundays. This is where the GBR snorkeling shore excursion occurs when Solstice is at Airlie Beach. There are helicopter rides that take off from a platform located near the pontoon

2 American tourists die in GBR helicopter crash.

 

The helicopter crashed yesterday near a pontoon at Hardy Reef.

 

This article has an aerial photo of Hardy Reef, Heart Pontoon, and boats at the crash scene.

 

The accident occurred near Heart Pontoon which is located at Hardy Reef and run by Cruise Whitsundays. This is where the GBR snorkeling shore excursion occurs when Solstice is at Airlie Beach. There are helicopter rides that take off from a platform located near the pontoon

This was not the helicopter tour that we did which goes from GSL Aviation in Arlie Beach

https://gslaviation.com.au/airlie/

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Since this is a photo review, my contribution from March 2017... Helicopter Landing on Whitehaven Beach

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Hill Inlet

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Heart Reef

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Since this is a photo review, my contribution from March 2017... Helicopter Landing on Whitehaven Beach

 

 

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Very nice photos, indeed! If you have more photos from your other stops, please post.

Very nice photos, indeed! If you have more photos from your other stops, please post.

We also did the Celebrity CN30 excursion in Cairns - I throughly enjoyed reliving the day through your pictures!

Here’s a photo from Port Douglas - folks should know that it is allowed to hold Koalas in Queensland - not in NSW. The Wildlife Habitat in Port Douglas was part of a Celebrity excursion that also went to the Daintree Rainforest. His name is Kodi ❤️

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