Early flight out of Melbourne Australia

[pl281]

Hello all - we are going to be on Celebrity Eclipse in December.

 

The docs say we "dock" at 6:30am - I've been on enough cruises to know that typically you can get off the ship by 7:30/8am in that instance (assuming you get in on time etc etc)

 

I'm looking to see what if anyone recently cruising out of Melbourne could tell me what time you were able to get off the ship. We are looking at flights and considering options which might involve a connection in Sydney but would require an early flight out of Melbourne.

 

Thank you for anyone who can provide feedback.

[woodsmiths]

Have not docked in Melbourne, but know the city reasonably well.  The airport is approx 27 kilometres from the cruise terminal and traffic can be heavy in morning peak times - often the travel time can blow out from 30 minutes to more than an hour if there are roadworks, etc.  If you are catching an international flight you also need to check in 2-3 hours before the flight.  So you will need to take this into account when booking flights.  

[possum52]

I have docked in Melbourne twice but as a local didn't have to rush to catch flights. We were certainly docked around 6.30 am both times. If you walk off with your luggage, it will save you time. How are intending to travel to the airport - taxi, airport shuttle? There will be taxis available . What time were you thinking of booking your flight for? As woodsmiths said in the post above the traffic can be very heavy early in the morning. Weekends are not so busy. There are a fair bit of roadworks and infrustructure building happening around Melbourne and this will be ongoing.

 

Are there direct flights from Melbourne you can take?

 

Leigh

[DogLover]

As possum52 suggested, you might want to consider flying out of Melbourne for your international flight instead of connecting in Sydney. The domestic and international terminals are not connected at Sydney, and one must take a transfer bus between the two and clear security again before boarding the international segment. Honestly, it's a pain in the patootie.

 

Would highly recommend avoiding a connection in Sydney, especially inbound!

[pl281]

@DogLover

 

Thank you - If we do the connection in Sydney we will probably stay over night as it leaves at 11:15am and I don't think there will be enough time to get to the airport in Melbourne and get in on time to make the connection

 

Thanks

[possum52]

4 minutes ago, pl281 said:

@DogLover

 

Thank you - If we do the connection in Sydney we will probably stay over night as it leaves at 11:15am and I don't think there will be enough time to get to the airport in Melbourne and get in on time to make the connection

 

Thanks

No, there would not be enough time to catch a flight to Sydney to make your connection. So if you need to stay overnight in Sydney, there is really no rush to get to Melbourne airport for your flight to Sydney. There are flights to Sydney every 30 minutes or later in the morning up to 60 minutes. 

 

Leigh

[pl281]

@possum52

 

Leigh - Yes I saw the flights every 30-45 minutes or so between 2 airlines - 

 

For whatever reason points tickets on US Airlines are only through Sydney - they don't even do codeshare / flights to Melbourne 

 

The window for booking our flight is just about to open up and I'm looking at various options

 

 

[possum52]

That's disappointing re connections. I guess it depends whether you want to do any sight seeing in Sydney to what time you plan to arrive there.

 

Good luck with your plans.

 

Leigh

[DogLover]

3 hours ago, pl281 said:

@possum52

 

Leigh - Yes I saw the flights every 30-45 minutes or so between 2 airlines - 

 

For whatever reason points tickets on US Airlines are only through Sydney - they don't even do codeshare / flights to Melbourne 

 

The window for booking our flight is just about to open up and I'm looking at various options

 

 

It must be because you are limited to using points. There are multiple options from Melbourne to the USA. Delta/Virgin Australia fly Melbourne to LAX, then you can connect to the East Coast. Qantas also flies Melbourne to LAX with codeshare connections elsewhere. If you are limited by your points availability, that's another story. We avoid connecting in Sydney - been there, done that.

 

If you spend the night in Sydney, the Rydges Sydney airport is a great option - easy access into the city but perfect for next day flight. We've stayed there and were very pleased.