Sea Princess Sydney to San Francisco April 2012

[lhall85917]

I know, this is very late, but I thought I would go ahead and post for those planning similar trips in the fall. We were on the Sea Princess that left Sydney on April 15 for the trans Pacific transit to San Francisco, 29 nights total. I won't go into all the details but wanted to share pics and our thoughts on each port. Overall, it was a wonderful cruise and I highly recommend it! I'm including links to pictures on our blog and videos I am putting together at the end of this post.

 

The ship is due for drydock this fall and it showed that it was ready. Although it was very well maintained, carpets were faded and some things were just showing a little age. We weren't huge fans of the ship, we prefer newer ships; however, we booked for the itinerary knowing that the ship may not be our first choice. Meals were so-so, I can't say that we ever had a wonderful meal but of course, we didn't starve either. We were a little put off with the attitude we received when asking for a table alone at anytime dining each night, the staff acted like they didn't like it. Otherwise, the staff was mostly very good - our room steward was wonderful and most staff members were friendly and helpful. The cruise staff worked hard to find things to do with the many sea days at the end - we especially enjoyed their versions of Project Runway and Dancing with the Stars!

 

We arrived in Sydney 2 nights before leaving and booked our hotel through Hotwire and were awarded Sir Stamford, the room was lovely and located within easy walking distance of everything. They even let us check in at 7:30 am when we arrived which was a wonderful surprise! After a quick shower we found the area downtown where you could take a free walking tour of the city, this gave us a nice overview and we enjoyed it immensely. That evening we did the Harbour Bridge Climb - fantastic and something we will never forget! The next day we took a tour of the Blue Mountains. For such a short stay, we felt that we fit in as much as possible and really enjoyed seeing Sydney.

 

Staggered embarkation was in effect for our sailing and we were assigned a 4pm check-in time so spent the morning exploring Sydney then headed over to the ship at about 2:00. No one checked to see what time we were supposed to board, there was no line and we were booked right through. The only way we were able to afford this cruise was due to using FF airline miles and a wonderful past guess price for oceanview cabins on the cruise. Typically, we are balcony snobs but balcony prices were double (and more) and out of our price range. Instead, we booked a guarantee for the highest category oceanview hoping that we might get upgraded. About 5 months before leaving we were assigned an oceanview cabin, but then about 3 months later our cabin was changed to the 2nd highest balcony category! :D We were so thankful and happy!

 

When researching information for this cruise I had a lot of trouble finding much information about the overland excursion from Milford Sound to Queenstown and then on to Dunedin so I wanted to share our experience. First, if you are considering doing this book it immediately, you can always cancel. We booked it soon after booking the cruise and the price went up a couple of times (over $70/pp). We were very happy that we booked this excursion, although it was pricey we were able to see a lot of New Zealand that we couldn't have seen from the ship and since this may be the only time we go there it was well worth the money. Please let me know if you have questions and I'll try to answer them. We had many photo opportunities and were able to see a great deal of the countryside as well experience some time in Queenstown.

 

Akaroa - we spent the day walking around town and enjoying our time there. Although small, it is very quaint and picturesque.

 

Auckland - we bought tickets for the round the harbor ferry. Our plan was to go to Devonport, look around then hop back on the ferry to see the other islands without getting off. The ferry that was supposed to pick us up at Devenport never arrived (they are supposed to come every 2 hours) so we had to take the regular ferry back to Auckland. We talked to the ticket agent, apparently there were engine problems so they didn't make that run!:eek: We didn't get to see everything we wanted to but still had a nice day.

 

Fiji - this was our biggest disappointment. We joined a CC group for a tour with Discover Fiji and it was quite disorganized. We waited on buses at the dock for over an hour before leaving and ended up not getting to do everything advertised for the tour due to time restrictions. Others on the tour said that it didn't bother them and they had a nice time, but honestly we were not happy and felt that we didn't get what we expected.

 

Bora Bora - Again we joined others from our roll call for a tour with Patrick - this was one of the highlights of our trip - amazing!!! We stopped to swim with stingrays and sharks, snorkeled, then had lunch at Patrick's family's motu - we just kept saying we couldn't believe how wonderful this was!

 

Papeete and Moorea - We took the ferry from Papeete to Moorea and spent the night at the Hilton in an overwater bungalow - wow, this had always been a dream of ours and it was a wonderful experience! Arrangements were made in advance with Princess so they knew we were to be off the ship overnight but when we checked with the front desk after boarding they didn't have the information. It wasn't too big of a deal, they took down all the details and everything was fine.

 

Honolulu - we booked an island circle tour on our own. We had been here before a couple of times and just wanted to spend the day looking at the sites.

 

Lahaina - one of our favorite places on earth! We spent the day roaming the town and having a drink at Bubba Gumps overlooking the beautiful water!!

 

San Francisco - disembarking took a little longer than expected and we had a tour booked for that morning but all worked out. The tour company told us to call them when we were off the ship at the hotel and they were there to pick us up. We booked the Argonaut and had another great surprise - they let us check in when we arrived that morning so we were able to put our bags in the room before leaving for the tour.

 

I'd be happy to answer any questions - we don't really drink or gamble so I can't help with any bar or casino questions - sorry. Right now I am in the process of putting together videos from our pictures at each stop - here are links - Sydney - http://youtu.be/e9d9KliUPvM, Milford Sound to Queenstown and Dunedin - http://youtu.be/iJkMcUX0fUU, and Akarao and Auckland - http://youtu.be/nfNTRJLZyys. Our blog is at http://lanceandsharon.wordpress.com/. I'll post the links to other videos as I get them done!

[lhall85917]

Oops...forgot one port - Pago Pago, American Samoa. Again we joined others from our roll call and booked a tour with Tisa. She showed us around the island then we went to Tisa's Barefoot Beach Bar for a lovely lunch and enjoyable beach time! Highly recommended!

[chipq]

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us. Sounds fantastic and I agree booking itinerary first.

 

http://luv2cruise.blogspot.com

[lhall85917]

Fiji video -

[Pam in CA]

Great review. I've done Patrick's tour in Bora Bora and Tisa's in Pago Pago. Both were highlights of our cruise. Very well organized, terrific tour, excellent food, lots of fun. I highly recommend them.

[DreaminginFlorida]

Thank you for sharing your wonderful adventure.We are hoping that Princess will offer this in 2014 as we have our 2013 cruise bucket list plans in the works.

 

Claire