Re: Star City Hotel & Casino

Has anyone any information on this hotel?

Is it in a good location?

I have never stayed at Star city- it is at Darling Harbour so the location is quite good. Can walk or monorail to most things.My preference for location for Sydney is the Rocks area (other side of Darling Harbour and bordering Sydney Harbour).It is the historic precinct with beautiful harbour views and markets on weekends etc. Depending on the length of your stay and budget you could stay at an apartment for much the same price as a hotel room. Medina have several apartments around town- one bordering Darling Harbour and the Rocks area. At the very expensive end of the market but perfect location are Quay West and Quay Grand. There are also numerous hotel and suite options from budget to luxurious. Try hotelclub.com.au to get some ideas. If you apply through hotelclub and they say a room is not available try direct with the establishment. Beware hotel rooms are hard to come by on weekends and special events

good luck

Sue

Corniglia - thank you. After reading various reports, I had come to the conclusion that the Rocks is THE place to stay. We haven't made a decision as yet, but we are interested in staying at a nice hotel with plenty of activity and close to everything worth seeing.

A view of the harbor, opera house, etc., would be lovely however is not that important as I don't expect to be in the hotel a great deal.

Am still doing research, but your comments were most welcome. I was beginning to think no one has ever been to Australia. I don't know about the other PORTS boards, but this and the Baltic one seem to be really screwed up. Ho Hum, eventually, we hope, everything will get straightened out.

Thaks again.

You're welcome. I live here so I guess I don't count as a "visitor". I would encourage you to get a place with a harbour view- there is NOTHING like just sitting and watching over Sydney harbour. The places I mentioned both have good views (always check when you book that the room has a view) as well as Park Hyatt Hotel (virtually under the harbour bridge looking across to the Opera House) but all of these come at a fairly hefty price!! Have fun. Sue

Star City is a nice place but is not really right on the main part of Darling harbour,more like a 2 block walk to the harbour and it's attractions. The four points sheraton is a nice place right on the harbour. we Really enjoyed staying at Darling harbour, lots of cafe restaurants, Imax, maritime museum,Sydney Aquarium all around the Harbour. From here you can catch a water taxi for the ten minute ride to the rocks at circular quayor about a 15-20 minute walk. Would not hesitate staying at Darling harbour although the rocks is a nice location as well.

Bob

Elation 04/99

Victory 12/00

Grand 09/01

Pride 12/02

Voyager 02/04

Corniglia & DocB

Thanks for the input. At present, am seriously considering Princess' offer of 2 0r 3 nights at the Four Seasons. They offer 3 nights plus transfers to hotel, full-day to Blue Mountains, Day free, l/2 day city tour incl.visit to opera house. Transfer to pier to embark. For $419.00 p/p.

Or, 3 night at hotel for $349, 2 nights for $239. or 1 night for $129.

What do you think about these? Of course, there is no guarantee that we have a room over-looking the opera house - but, who knows.

If you have any more input, please let me know.

Thanks again.

Rosemary

I have never stayed in the four seasons but you really can't go wrong with any of the bigger hotels. The blue mountains will be a good day- try to include a walk (there are some very steep walks but they have steps).

On your free day in Sydney you might like to do a harbour bridge climb- they depart every hour (I think) and it is meant to be fantastic. Early morning is the best time but if it is a nice day it doesn't matter what time you do it. There is a web site for this- www.bridgeclimb.com with all the info and a booking facility. There is also a trip on the ferry (from Circular Quay)- you can take the ferry to some of the nice waterfront restaurants for lunch and for a change you could try eating at Woolloomooloo ?? wharf- could walk (very long but I would cab it). A restaurant called Otto is the latest place to eat. It is very busy but both the service and food is fantastic and it is on the water. Lots of other things of course but these are my choice. Sue

Hi

Just adding my comments to your suggestions. As a former sydneyite I agree with all you suggest. The deal for the four seasons sounds very good. I'd take it. Sydney hotels are pricey. We have some great attractions in sydney. You could try going to the Taronga Park Zoo which is lovely. Take the ferry from Circular Quay over and back. You can ferry yur way round the harbour and do a dinner cruise which is supposed to be nice. If you are in Sydney for the weekend the Rocks markets on a Sunday morning are great as are Paddy's markets during the week. Just walking around the Rocks area fill in a morning easily. Go to the top of the Australia Square building for a view and the "Summit" reataurant is there which is pricey but has a great view. If you are in the middle of Sydney at lunch go up to Macquarie St and visit the law courts building and go up to their little cafe where there are lovely views of the park and city. doyles Restaurant at Double Bay can be reached by ferry and is the place for great fish and chips. Are you going to Melbourne?

Thanks Corniglia, Doc, and CatKem.

We have decided to go with the Princess offer - at present!! We have plenty of time before next january to change our minds.

Now the question remains, do airfares to Aus ever get reduced? Keep my fingers crossed on that one.

Thx again

Rosemary

Can't answer that one. One thing for sure - airfares never get reduced FROM Australia and you will be travelling in our peak holiday season. Sue

Yuk. I suppose they will go up even more with the price of fuel being so high. Anyway, we do have Princess air which is the cheapest by far.

Last year they had some sort of special on for around $400 which is hard to believe, but I heard it from two sources so must have been true.

At present, their fare is 1473.00 plus $20 Aus visa. On checking other sources, there has been nothing less than $2000 per person. So, Princess is winning out from all points. Still, shall keep checking just in case a special comes up.

thanks again.

Rosemary

hi Rockgarden

January is a great time to visit sydney as the weather is not as sticky as it is in Feburary.

You must take time to go to dinner either at the Opera House or walk around there after dinner. Sydney has a great Arts Festival on in January and often there is free entertainment at the quay at night. we saw the Circque du soleil there last year which was great. However you do have to arrive early as it is always crowded.

You must take the ferry to manly and back or a ferry cruise at night as we jhave the most beautiful harbour in the world, especially at night. There is nothing like sailing into Circular Quay at night and walking around in the soft warm air.

I know you will have a wonderful time

Catkem

Hi, CatKem.

Shall copy all suggestions into my file so that we can be very organized in our days in Sydney and not miss anything. So far I have the Blue Mountains, ferry around the harbour at night, am not going on any bridge climb for anyone at any price, need to see a Koala and various other creatures, sightsee around to look at the homes, etc., and NO Shopping.

Now, CatKem, we have a little difference of opinion here - Sydney has to be the 2nd most beautiful in the world, because San Francisco is the 1st. We will leave final judgement until next year when I have seen Sydney (I shall be totally fair in that I am originally from England [the Lake District is God's country,]and not prejudiced in any way.) In the meantime, even though it seems light years away, I am getting excited about our trip.

Rosemary

Rockgarden

Well yes Have seen the beautiful city by the bay and must admit it is fabulous. we will be back in SF in late August and will renew our acquaintance with the city

Rockgarden,

This past February we were on the Star Princess. We utilized the Princess airfare, found it to be the cheapest. We paid the extra $50 and had our TA request specific flights and dates. Flew out on Air New Zealand from LAX and back on United. The Air New Zealand flight was very comfortable, United was tolerable, but both flights fit our schedule perfectly.

We did visit the Star City while in Sydney. It is very nice, but not centrally located, in my opinion. I think you would enjoy one of the many hotels around the Circular Quay more. The ferry landings, Opera House, Rocks area would all be in easy walking distance.

Jerry

CatKem - are you coming just to visit San Francisco or are you going to cruise to Alaska from there? Yes, SF is a pretty harbour, by day and by night - the city itself - well, being a London and Barcelona addict, I won't commit myself on that one. But, there are lots of nice places to visit once here and well worth the trip.

I don't think we will have the time in 3 days to visit one of Sydney's beaches, but it is something we would like to do.

Jerry. Yes, I think you are right in that Princess does have the best deal and we are going along with it. Thanks for the tip about Star City. For a minute there, with that

signature of yours, I thought, "Now here is someone who has the inside scoop on cheap fares!" We joined up with a couple from Texas when we did a tour in Russia - he wasn't an oil baron and they didn't do the Texas two step. Very nice people - but I am striking out everywhere.

thankyou all for your input. Am taking copious notes now.

Rosemary

Rosemary,

No, no inside scoop on air fares, but a pretty fair understanding of how things work.

You mentioned that you are looking at tours while in Sydney. Take a look at this link:

http://www.sydney.visitorsbureau.com.au/page4.h

We used Mount'n Beach Safaris in February for our tour of the Blue Mountains. It was done in a medium size van, not too many people and just amazing scenery since we were blessed with a clear day.

We booked several things with traveline.com, an Australian internet travel agency and were very pleased with the service.

Jerry

rockgarden

We are coming in to SF on 22Aug and spending a couple of days before we drive out to Lake Tahoe where our daughter is a counsellor at Camp Concord there. We are staying for a few days then coming in to SF to see a baseball match and then flying on to Vancuver to go in our motor home and cruise

Cant wait am so excited

We're sailing on the Sapphire Princess from LA to Sydney arriving 12/23/04. Recently purchased 5 nights on Priceline.com at the Sydney Harbour Marriott for $75/ngt plus tax. They rate the Hotel 5 stars and its location at Circular Quay is just a block or two from where the ship dock.

Royal Princess

Carnival Legend

Rotterdam

Sea Princess

Galaxy (2X)

Majesty of the Sea

Crown Princess

Oosterdam

Maasdam

Sapphire Princess (2004)

Veendam (2005)

CatKem - wonderful. Are you going to end up going on an Alaskan cruise. Tahoe is great -

but, then, I love to gamble besides look at scenery.

Anyhow, I had never thought of Priceline - I think I am now going to leave any decision until

around September because at that time we will make our final decision as to whether this cruise is a definite or not.

Until then, all has been filed away this is along with information I received from Aussie girl, etc. much earlier.

In the meantime, what in the heavens name happens to this board. The dates are all off kilter - starts out with 2002!!!

Jeffejo

You will have an Aussie Christmas.... very hot usually. The nights will be warm and there will be Christmas fesstivities like the "carols by candlelight" in the domain, a large park near circular quay when everyone sings carols and there is abig stage show and maybe fireworks. They should have firewords in DArling Harbour eachnight too. You must have the plum pudding and brandy sauce at the hotel for Christmas and of course a beer! the one you have booked is great. have a great time.

The Four Season is definitely the place to stay and be seen in Sydney. Make sure to get a harbor view room. We were there last March. The price you got sounds fantastic. My second choice for a hotel is the Hyatt down the block from the Four Seasons. Our friends who were there before us liked it better than the Four Seasons. it actually sits right on the water. Either way enjoy Sydney!

Thankyou all for your input.

We did change our minds regarding staying at the Four Seasons. The choice between staying there for around $1,000 (389 ea plus taxes) for three nights just didn't make sense when we could stay somewhere else for much less. So, I put my bid in on Priceline for a five star and came up with Sydney Harbor Marriott for just over $400 total which included the taxes, etc. Has good reviews, is close to most places, and very close to where the ship docks.

Now, I am checking out the tours to Blue Mountains. Princess tour for an 8-hour day is $72 ea but how inclusive it is, I don't know. We have no problem with the price - just don't like being on a bus with 50 other people.

I was wondering if anyone has ever just hired a cab and left it all up to the driver. I have read (in other countries/places) that this is one of the best ways to go!!

A cab would be very very expensive. You could hire a car. Once you get out of the city (thats the hard part!!) the drive would be fine. I could have a look and see if there are any hire car depots perhaps in the outer suburbs on the way to the Blue Mountains and you could cab it to the depot, not have to worry about city driving and then have the car for the day. Also, small group tours have become very popular in Australia- have you checked the internet to see if they run any to the BM.?

For Rosemary -

The Mount 'n Beach Safari tour I referred to above included a nice lunch in a hotel restaurant with a great view. We also made a coffee/tea stop in a national park where we had a chance to see kangaroos in a natural habitat.

The medium sized van picked us up at our hotel around 8 AM and dropped us off around 5:30 PM. I would guess there were around 20 of us - maybe a few less. The van was able to make it to many spots that a bus could not. The cost was $152 AUD/pp ( just over $100 USD). Based on what we saw and the service (and lunch) thought it to be a very good deal.

Jerry