Blue Mountain tour

[rkhtex]

I'm looking at booking a tour with Blue Diamond Tours out of Sydney. My question is they say the tours returns to Circular Quay at 5:15. Our ship (Celebrity Solstice) will be leaving the port at 6:30. Is that enough time to get back to the ship?

 

Thanks.

 

Kim

[bobhsv]

I would say it is cutting it a bit too fine. A lot would depend on if it was a weekday or a weekend, school holidays etc. The Blue Mountains are quite a distance from the port, and traffic conditions could impact on your timing. Others may disagree, but we like to have extra time up our sleeves incase of unforseen circumstances.

[rkhtex]

Thanks. That's kind of what I was thinking. I'll be looking for another tour that will get us back earlier.

 

Kim

[bobhsv]

There is one that I know of that our Canuck friends did last November. Their tour involved doing the Blue Mountains, Featherdale and then back to Parramatta (suburb). From Paramatta, still part of this tour (I believe it was advertised as the 'Olympic Village' for the Parramatta section)...they boarded a ferry back to Circular Quay, from Parramatta. The ferries run well with time. Unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the company, but will email them and see if they still have details......anyway...just mentioning this incase the tour you were interested in did the same with this ferry option. They chose this tour to avoid the traffic worry. The ferry trip from Parra to Circular Quay is lovely....we have done it several times. Give me a couple of days, and I will repost here.

Others may have suggestions for you too.

[MMDown Under]

There is one that I know of that our Canuck friends did last November. Their tour involved doing the Blue Mountains, Featherdale and then back to Parramatta (suburb). From Paramatta, still part of this tour (I believe it was advertised as the 'Olympic Village' for the Parramatta section)...they boarded a ferry back to Circular Quay, from Parramatta. The ferries run well with time. Unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the company, but will email them and see if they still have details......anyway...just mentioning this incase the tour you were interested in did the same with this ferry option. They chose this tour to avoid the traffic worry. The ferry trip from Parra to Circular Quay is lovely....we have done it several times. Give me a couple of days, and I will repost here.

Others may have suggestions for you too.

 

That sounds like a great way to tour the Blue Mountains. However, the tours, I've looked at, get back around 6.00pm/6.30 pm.

[bobhsv]

That sounds like a great way to tour the Blue Mountains. However, the tours, I've looked at, get back around 6.00pm/6.30 pm.

 

Yes, I realise that, and it is a pity isn't it:)...lol...but I do know there is 'one' that will cater for cruise ships. I think it may be Sydney Wilderness Tours, but am not sure of this. I will have to check with our friends. Either way, it kinda proves that the traffic may be an issue...perhaps this is why a lot of the tour operators include this Rivercat ferry trip from Parramatta.

I don't wish to get the op's hopes up....but I would hate for them to miss the ship.

[Northern Aurora]

There is one that I know of that our Canuck friends did last November. Their tour involved doing the Blue Mountains, Featherdale and then back to Parramatta (suburb). From Paramatta, still part of this tour (I believe it was advertised as the 'Olympic Village' for the Parramatta section)...they boarded a ferry back to Circular Quay, from Parramatta. The ferries run well with time. Unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the company, but will email them and see if they still have details......anyway...just mentioning this incase the tour you were interested in did the same with this ferry option. They chose this tour to avoid the traffic worry. The ferry trip from Parra to Circular Quay is lovely....we have done it several times. Give me a couple of days, and I will repost here.

Others may have suggestions for you too.

 

We spent a week in Sydney last November following a cruise from Honolulu to Sydney on the Celebrity Century.

 

We used Blue Diamond Tours for a day trip to the Blue Mountains. Blue Diamond came very highly recommended by the concierge at our Sydney hotel, the Sir Stamford at Circular Quay. We thought at Blue Diamond did an excellent job.

 

This small family owned business has two Mercedes-Benz buses which hold a maximum of maybe twelve people. There were eight on our tour. The trip was very similar to that described above, but we didn't stop at the Olympic park. To avoid Sydney traffic we were delivered at Parramatta and took a ferry back to Circular Quay (the ferry ticket was included in the price of the tour). The Overseas Passenger Terminal is in Circular Quay.

 

Blue Diamond is the type of company which may be very agreeable to conducting a tour of folks from a Cruise Critic roll call. Is anyone else on your roll call interested in the Blue Mountains?

[2goldens]

We are planning on doing the Blue Mountains tour as one of our day trips during the few extra days we will be in Sydney prior to the cruise so we don't have to worry about time schedules. We are also considering Blue Diamond to do our tour but haven't decided for sure since our trip won't be until March 2013. Still researching and looking at what other cruise critic reviewers have to say. So far I have found that Blue Diamond is highly recommended. Haven't seen anything negative about them.

[Granny DI]

We used suanne@realsydneytours.com.au last month for our Blue Mountain tour. She was the highlight of our trip to Sydney. Check her out at tripadvisor.

[Northern Aurora]

We were considering using another company to go to the Blue Mountains. The other company also uses smaller buses. But a concierge at the Sir Stamford spoke so highly of Blue Diamond we went with them instead. We later told that particular concierge how pleased we were with Blue Diamond, and he told us that they literally had never had any complaints after they recommended Blue Diamond. The feed back was always positive! Since it is hard to please everyone all the time, it was interesting to learn that the feedback was consistently positive about Blue Diamond.

[bobhsv]

rkhtex...we can't find the name of the company I mentioned earlier, sorry....anyways, did some quick research for you and came across a couple of sites you may wish to peruse. http://www.bluemts.com.au has a section details how to get to the mountains, with approx times. Within this same site, are a list of tour operators. One of them, http://www.oztrek.com.au, does tours for $55, and states that if you need to get back earlier, then email in advance, and they are able to organise one of their buses to accommodate your wishes. I have no idea what this company is like, but perhaps worth an email. Also worth contacting the above tour operators listed by other cc'ers, as one of them may be able to offer an alternative company for you.

[cassamanda]

Hello to everyone. I have lived in Sydney 40+ years. All the comments above are valid and good. Nearly all tour operators now drop at either Olympic Park or Parramatta to avoid the last 40 minutes of Sydney's notorious peak hour traffic.

The Blue Mountains (note the plural term) are 2 hours from Sydney and its only road currently has lots of roadwork delays on it. You only need one little traffic hiccup and bye bye ship, regardless of the ferry ride. The essential thing to remember is that if you are doing a private tour, the ship will NOT wait for you if you are late back. Full Stop.

Best to do this great tour on a non ship critical day.