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Photo Review of Solstice November 11, 2017 New Zealand & Australia Cruise

cruise kitty

By cruise kitty,
in Celebrity Cruises

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cruise kitty

cruise kitty

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Day 23,

 

We had ticked most of our major wish list for Sydney off, so on this day we did a little more random exploring.

 

I love myself a mural:

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Sydney Old Town Hall (built on top of an old cemetery, apparently the bodies are still there)

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The town hall was closed for an event, but when the guard saw how disappointed we were, he ushered us in to take a few quick photos... people in Australia were generally warm, welcoming, & very friendly.

 

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St Andrew's Cathedral:

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St Mary's Cathedral:

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cruise kitty

cruise kitty

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Day 23, continued

 

A little more of St. Mary's:

 

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We took a long walk over to the Darling Harbor area, & then walked over to the Rocks area again. Steve had his eye on a pub with a small restaurant in the back where you cook your own steaks... sounded like work to me, but it was soooo good!

 

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There were wonderful Christmas decorations everywhere, which was lovely, but I have to admit, I was beginning to get a bit homesick & ready to get home & put up our own tree.

 

Day 24:

 

We called this our "vacation day" Slept in a bit, had a huge breakfast downstairs, & then did a bit of souvenir shopping around town, our dollar was reasonably strong at the time, & we picked up a few Christmas bargains. We spent hours sitting at the Opera Bar, just people watching & relaxing. There was another ship in, & that was interesting to watch. We started packing that evening, trying to find a place for all the little items we'd accumulated along the way.

 

Day 25, Since our flight was not until 1 or so, we slept in a bit, had a leisurely breakfast showered up & then headed out for our ridiculously long flight home. The first leg was to Auckland, & then from there straight on to Los Angeles.

 

After lots of wine, I allowed myself a few hours of sleep on the second flight, luckily we had those excellent bulkhead premium economy seats again. With our Global Entry, we whisked through customs & immigration, & were headed out the door to the Uber pickup zone within 18 minutes of landing, a record for us !

 

Home sweet home, Steve does one more selfie of us: (that's as good as you can look after 24 hours of travel, lol)

 

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Well, that's it, thanks for coming along with us, this was a monumentally excellent trip! It was exciting to branch out from our usual Europe itineraries, & I have a feeling we'll be back in this region again someday, meanwhile, Hei konā rā & happy sails to you all.

 

Debbie

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flobo

flobo

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Enjoyed your photos and your review. We went on the Solstice cruise just ahead of yours. Despite the extreme measures that were in place to control norovirus outbreak, we too enjoyed our cruise and our days in Australia and New Zealand. Your photos convince me of one thing...I need to go back! You saw very different things in the ports than we did. You, too, need to go back, because my photos are every bit as amazing as yours are! There still is much to see there.

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cruise kitty

cruise kitty

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Thank you for a VERY enjoyable cruise along! We leave 2 weeks from tomorrow headed to Perth to board Solstice on March 5 . . . for 16 nights Australia and New Sealand ending in Sydney. I've added some notes to my book thanks to your review!

 

Have a wonderful time, & safe travels. glad I could help. :D

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cruise kitty

cruise kitty

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Enjoyed your photos and your review. We went on the Solstice cruise just ahead of yours. Despite the extreme measures that were in place to control norovirus outbreak, we too enjoyed our cruise and our days in Australia and New Zealand. Your photos convince me of one thing...I need to go back! You saw very different things in the ports than we did. You, too, need to go back, because my photos are every bit as amazing as yours are! There still is much to see there.

 

Hi, yeah, there is so much to see there it was difficult to choose, I still have a whole notebook of additional choices for the ports! Hopefully we'll get back there someday. :D

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travelbug1054ab

travelbug1054ab

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" he turned out to be Mickey, the onboard destination speaker, the best I've ever heard. His lectures were before a full house each time, if you're lucky enough to have him on board, get there early, because it's standing room only."

 

 

Oh my gosh! Are you talking about Mikey-Live? We had him on a transatlantic and he is great. Would love to see him again. You are very fortunate. We are booked on The Solstice in December and I'm loving your photo review. Thanks so much for taking the time.

Charlotte

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Wansbrough

Wansbrough

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" he turned out to be Mickey, the onboard destination speaker, the best I've ever heard. His lectures were before a full house each time, if you're lucky enough to have him on board, get there early, because it's standing room only."

 

 

Oh my gosh! Are you talking about Mikey-Live? We had him on a transatlantic and he is great. Would love to see him again. You are very fortunate. We are booked on The Solstice in December and I'm loving your photo review. Thanks so much for taking the time.

Charlotte

He gets around a bit, he was on our last cruise Infinity to Antarctica. Standing room only at most of his talks.

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Fun Redhead

Fun Redhead

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thanks for the wonderful review and the awesome pictures.. I am on the Solstice leaving Sydney April 11 going to Vancouver... looking forward to my stay in Sydney from April 6th to 11th, where I will be meeting some friends from Australia on the 8th who will show me around... I am cruising solo, which makes it a bit more difficult to get to see things I guess... Your review of Sydney and Auckland helped a lot... thanks...

I am also flying with New Zealand Air from Vancouver and hope I like it as much as you do...

Rose:)

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cruise kitty

cruise kitty

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" he turned out to be Mickey, the onboard destination speaker, the best I've ever heard. His lectures were before a full house each time, if you're lucky enough to have him on board, get there early, because it's standing room only."

 

 

Oh my gosh! Are you talking about Mikey-Live? We had him on a transatlantic and he is great. Would love to see him again. You are very fortunate. We are booked on The Solstice in December and I'm loving your photo review. Thanks so much for taking the time.

Charlotte

 

Hi Charlotte, yes, that's who I'm talking about, he was fantastic!

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cruise kitty

cruise kitty

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What a fantastic review! So much helpful information, we are hoping to arrange an independent trip to the Blue Mountains too so that part of your review was not boring but brilliant! Wonderful photos, thank you :)

Tracy

 

Hi Tracy, glad I could help :) Blue Mountains were much easier to do on our own than I would have thought! Enjoy :D

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cruise kitty

cruise kitty

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thanks for the wonderful review and the awesome pictures.. I am on the Solstice leaving Sydney April 11 going to Vancouver... looking forward to my stay in Sydney from April 6th to 11th, where I will be meeting some friends from Australia on the 8th who will show me around... I am cruising solo, which makes it a bit more difficult to get to see things I guess... Your review of Sydney and Auckland helped a lot... thanks...

I am also flying with New Zealand Air from Vancouver and hope I like it as much as you do...

Rose:)

 

Hi Rose, I hope you have an awesome trip! As for being solo, the people in New Zealand & Australia were so outgoing & friendly that I would feel very comfortable traveling there solo. Just be prepared to be called "luv" about 20 times a day in Australia ;)

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Fun Redhead

Fun Redhead

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Hi Rose, I hope you have an awesome trip! As for being solo, the people in New Zealand & Australia were so outgoing & friendly that I would feel very comfortable traveling there solo. Just be prepared to be called "luv" about 20 times a day in Australia ;)
Thank you so much for the good wishes...yes I know how friendly Australian and New Zealand people are...met quite a few on previous cruises..and being called "luv" at my age is a compliment [emoji7]...

Rose

 

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

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cruise kitty

cruise kitty

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Thank you so much for the good wishes...yes I know how friendly Australian and New Zealand people are...met quite a few on previous cruises..and being called "luv" at my age is a compliment [emoji7]...

Rose

 

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

 

Same here, at home, I'd be a bit offended, but over there it was sweet ;)

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Tracyi

Tracyi

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Returned from Solstice recently. Had some particularly nice tour guides if you want referrals.

 

Hi Holly2,

 

Thanks for your offer of help with tour guide referrals, we are on the Solstice in December 2018, we are having 3 days in Sydney pre-cruise and then call at Dunedin, Akaroa, Wellington, Napier, Tauranga, Bay of Islands and we finish off with a couple of days in Auckland.

 

If you have any tips or information on guides/tours for these places that would be just great and much appreciated :) . If not thanks for the thought anyway.

 

Tracy


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Wine-O

Wine-O

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Same here, at home, I'd be a bit offended, but over there it was sweet ;)

 

Here in South Carolina I approach every lady from age 16 to 80 by "Hi Sweetie." If the 1% are offended, too bad, they'll get over it. :rolleyes:

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Tracyi

Tracyi

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Tracy,

Similar itinerary. We had wonderful tour with milestone tour to westcoast in Auckland. Very nice guy.

Dunedin had planned tour byt were fogged in Still Awesome tours was great to work with- and sent a refund.

 

Hi again,

 

Thanks for taking the time to share this, the extra info about refunds and helpfulness is so useful. I have had a quick look at these various companies and they look great, particularly like the Milestone tour to West Coast :)

 

Can't wait to get there now!

 

Tracy

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