Fly in on the day? Or stay the previous night in SYD?

[the_bings]

Hi All,

 

Hoping you can help me decide what to do.

We are flying in domestically (Adelaide to Sydney) to cruise Voyager of the Seas to NZ on Sun 22nd Feb 2015.

 

Our Qantas flight leaves Adelaide at 9:30am and is due to arrive Sydney time at 11:55am. Ship departs 6:30pm.

 

Last cruise in 2011 we had an air package booked through P&O, and flew in on pretty much the identical flight time hassle free, but I was happy and content because it was packaged and if anything did go wrong, we'd be ok and "safe" from the ship leaving without us!

 

This time around, I don't have that same comfort and I'm starting to worry that I should change flights, fly in the night before and stay in Sydney somewhere.

 

It would be an extra cost of around $450 in flight change costs, hotel and extra taxi etc.

Should I do it?

 

Or am I being overly cautious and should just stick to flying in on the day?

[Kiwi_cruiser]

I would suggest you fly in the day before as you never know what could happen to delay your flight like weather in Adelaide or Sydney, or something else for example like what happened in Sydney today.

 

Plus the up side is you start your holiday a day early :D

[GCHAN]

We always fly in the night before. I would rather have peace of mind and we always have a relaxing/fun night in whichever city we are catching the cruise from.

 

We had one experience where a number of people on our plane(NZ trip) were about to miss there cruise because the flight was delayed. The airline was in contact with the ship and they were all rushed to the ship for the cruise. Why bother with the stress.

[noosagirl]

We always fly to Sydney the previous day. You can have a lovely relaxing day in Sydney without worrying about a possible problem with the flight. We get the Air train to Central and stay at Rendevous Studio Hotel. Cheap, clean near lots of cheap'n'cheerful Asian restaurants. Next day we catch the train to Circular Quay to embark on the cruise. We will follow this routine in March for our cruise on Celebrity Solstice.

[ozziepost]

When picking up a ship in Sydney we fly in from Avalon the day before and stay a night pre cruise and on our return have a night post cruise.

 

Just saves the stress of dealing with flight delays etc on the day of embarkation.

 

We have been on cruises that have been delayed returning by a few hours with the result some passengers missed their flights.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[icat2000]

I fly in on the day from Melbourne. But if it gives you peace of mind fly in the night before.

[stevelcqld]

Hi

 

We are cruising on the 4th Feb, I fly domestically a lot for work and often get delays as well as seeing my peers get delays, its just not worth the stress. so we land in Syd around 1.30pm on the 3rd then a nice night at a hotel then cruise the next day..

 

To me its worth the extra when you consider what your cruise cost, plus have travel insurance.. for any other "incident".

 

Cheers

Steve

[goodycruising]

We flew in once arriving at the Sydney airport domestic at 2.30pm. We were onboard and in our room before 3.30pm. We were so lucky, no delays, and the train came along at the airport station pretty quickly. There were quite a few getting onto our ship, with their obvious tags at the railway station.

 

NEVER AGAIN!!!

 

I have told the husband that we are not going to put ourselves through that unless we really have no other choice. We now drive the 6 hours, stay with some very nice friends, and catch the train in to Circular Quay the morning of the trip.

 

It is so hard to know if you will be delayed. We once flew from Sydney to Perth to get on a cruise, and we did that a couple of days before the boarding day. We stayed in a hotel overnight, and as our flight was early in the morning we went to bed early. Then when we woke up at about 4.30am there was a text that the flight has been cancelled! We ended up going to the airport and getting on another company's plane.

 

Flying is not my preferred way of getting around due to the chance of delays etc, but if that is what you need to do, I personally would think that the time you are expecting to arrive should be ok. Only you can decide your stress tolerance.

[the_bings]

Thankyou so much for your replies everyone.

 

I definitely think it's worth the the extra few hundred to have that peace of mind.

 

I am a stress head, hubby is cool as a cucumber... A little too cool and "whatever". He's being a little tight with springing for a hotel and the flight change fee!

 

But upon hearing that I might stress out, having to deal with that, AND if we happened to miss the cruise, he would never hear the end of it!

 

I'll change flights tonight and book a room 😃

Edited December 15, 2014 by the_bings

[The_Big_M]

Given it's a short distance, plus Qantas who are reliable and more importantly have heaps of backup, I'd be very comfortable sticking with that trip.

 

For me, time is important so I don't have the capacity for spare days. But if the time isn't an issue, then going a day earlier always makes things more relaxed, so you could take that approach.

 

All depends on your preferences.

[6666oz]

I fly in the night before, its a lot less stressful, yes it costs a bit extra to stay the night, on the return day I book late flights, if you really want to fly in on the day you sail book early flights that gives a bit of room for cancellations , break downs, and bad weather , have you been watching Sydney weather lately ?

Edited December 15, 2014 by 6666oz

[the_bings]

Flights have been changed.

Hotel booked.

 

We are arriving in the early evening of the day before, just in time to get some dinner and get to bed early.

I like the idea of being up and refreshed (with a good sleep in) on the day of cruising.

Well worth the $150 flight change fee and $215 hotel room fee!

 

Thanks all for the contributions :-)

[Steve & Sue]

A bit late to the party, but having arrived on the ship with 14 minutes to spare because of flight delays (and we arrived at the airport at 5.30 a.m. for 2 x 1 and a bit hour flights) I also echo the Never Ever Again camp.

 

I'm glad you have changed your plans.

[cassamanda]

Flights have been changed.

Hotel booked.

 

We are arriving in the early evening of the day before, just in time to get some dinner and get to bed early.

I like the idea of being up and refreshed (with a good sleep in) on the day of cruising.

Well worth the $150 flight change fee and $215 hotel room fee!

 

Thanks all for the contributions :-)

 

Way to go guys. Soooo much less stress and a nice night out in beautiful Sydney.

[jveevers]

Flights have been changed.

Hotel booked.

 

We are arriving in the early evening of the day before, just in time to get some dinner and get to bed early.

I like the idea of being up and refreshed (with a good sleep in) on the day of cruising.

Well worth the $150 flight change fee and $215 hotel room fee!

 

Thanks all for the contributions :-)

 

Well done. It really is great to be able to sleep in until 0830, have breaky at you hotel or close by, check out at 1030, get to the ship at 1100 and you will be having lunch and drinks onboard by 1200.

[the_bings]

I am so much more relaxed now...Even hubby is much happier. Last time we were quite exhausted by the time we boarded, even though there was no rushing as such... Just a big morning being up so early, flying in, transferring etc. By the time we got to our cabin we fell asleep for an hour or two!

 

We have an 11am checkout, and are 800m from Circular Quay.

So we'll wander down, do a bag drop (RCI staggered checkin time suggests 2:30pm for Deck 7) and probably go have some lunch and a wander around the Rocks area till its our turn.

I have read differing reports as to whether we'll be able to board outside of our designated time, so we'll see when we get there. If the lines are short, maybe... But we've allowed some time to busy ourselves just in case.

[alibabacruisers]

Thankyou so much for your replies everyone.

 

I definitely think it's worth the the extra few hundred to have that peace of mind.

 

I am a stress head, hubby is cool as a cucumber... A little too cool and "whatever". He's being a little tight with springing for a hotel and the flight change fee!

 

But upon hearing that I might stress out, having to deal with that, AND if we happened to miss the cruise, he would never hear the end of it!

 

I'll change flights tonight and book a room

 

I think that is a great idea! As many others have said, there is stress involved trying to play the "will we have delays and miss our flight/cruise, etc" game. I always come in at least a day ahead to just get there early and relax before a relaxing cruise.....;)

[6666oz]

"will we have delays and miss our flight/cruise, etc" game.

 

 

Jetstar computers crashed today, effected both Oz and NZ, lots of upset passengers hanging around airport. :mad:

[StrayKat77]

Sydney is great to spend a few extra days in, you could do a lot worse. Any time you can come in early its good as flight delays are a lot more common than we would like.

 

Once flew into Italy from Gatwick on the day of boarding and everything went smoothly thankfully but looking back we were cutting it so fine there was no room for error.

 

Once on a non cruise trip I missed a connection from London to Paris due to traffic lights in London on the blink and causing too much mayhem. Very stressful and had to get the eurostar that was at my cost as insurance did not consider this a special circumstance. No big deal now but at the time I was a poor uni student on my first big EU trip.

 

Don't need to learn a lesson the hard way again so always allow extra time

[silverwillow]

Fly in the day before. I have had two stressful situations where we could have missed our cruise if we had tried to fly in on the same day.

[jveevers]

I am so much more relaxed now...Even hubby is much happier. Last time we were quite exhausted by the time we boarded, even though there was no rushing as such... Just a big morning being up so early, flying in, transferring etc. By the time we got to our cabin we fell asleep for an hour or two!

 

We have an 11am checkout, and are 800m from Circular Quay.

So we'll wander down, do a bag drop (RCI staggered checkin time suggests 2:30pm for Deck 7) and probably go have some lunch and a wander around the Rocks area till its our turn.

I have read differing reports as to whether we'll be able to board outside of our designated time, so we'll see when we get there. If the lines are short, maybe... But we've allowed some time to busy ourselves just in case.

 

If I was you I would really push to get onboard earlier than your allocated 1430, this is rubbish, you are entitled to get on as early as possible provided noone is inconvenienced. I always rock up about 1100 and have never been onboard any later than 1200.

Why should you go buy lunch elsewhere when you have an included lunch onboard?

[the_bings]

If I was you I would really push to get onboard earlier than your allocated 1430, this is rubbish, you are entitled to get on as early as possible provided noone is inconvenienced. I always rock up about 1100 and have never been onboard any later than 1200.

Why should you go buy lunch elsewhere when you have an included lunch onboard?

 

Our SetSail passes were ready to print yesterday. The allocated boarding time shows 11:30 - 17:00 on the pass. So I will be attempting to get on as soon as we get down there.

The RCI site had the staggered check in times listed and I was assuming that would be what we followed, but instructions in the Cruise Personaliser said to refer to the SetSail pass for checkin/boarding times. It just had the between "11:30am - 17:00" times listed on ours.

 

I really would much prefer just to get on board!

[jveevers]

Our SetSail passes were ready to print yesterday. The allocated boarding time shows 11:30 - 17:00 on the pass. So I will be attempting to get on as soon as we get down there.

The RCI site had the staggered check in times listed and I was assuming that would be what we followed, but instructions in the Cruise Personaliser said to refer to the SetSail pass for checkin/boarding times. It just had the between "11:30am - 17:00" times listed on ours.

 

I really would much prefer just to get on board!

 

 

the-bings , Do you know where the ship is docked. We sailed from Circular Quay last year but some people say now from some place over the Anzac Bridge

 

How fantastic to sail out of Sydney. Find yourself some nice place close to food and Bar for the sail-out. It can get very choppy going through the Heads.

Edited December 23, 2014 by jveevers

[cassamanda]

the-bings , Do you know where the ship is docked. We sailed from Circular Quay last year but some people say now from some place over the Anzac Bridge

 

How fantastic to sail out of Sydney. Find yourself some nice place close to food and Bar for the sail-out. It can get very choppy going through the Heads.

 

All large ships sail from the OPT at Circular Quay. That includes all RCI ships and Celebrity.

The some place over the Anzac Bridge is White Bay.

[the_bings]

All large ships sail from the OPT at Circular Quay. That includes all RCI ships and Celebrity.

The some place over the Anzac Bridge is White Bay.

 

Yes, it's definitely the OPT in Circular Quay.

 

We have My Time Dining and I have already pre reserved a table for 7:30pm. We sail out at 6:30pm.

We were eating dinner last time we left Sydney and I missed being on the deck watching it all go by. So I've deliberately planned time to depart and then wander up for dinner!