Need Help

We are pre-cruise for two days and our flight doesn't leave until 9:30pm on day of arrival.

Dec.19-22,2013 and Jan 5,2014

Please help any ideas... we are traveling with two 18 year olds and 16 year old girls...

We need to hotels and transfers..where to go or anything

Thank you

We are pre-cruise for two days and our flight doesn't leave until 9:30pm on day of arrival.

We are fly into to Sydney on Dec.20 and cruising on Holland America for two weeks

Thank

Free walking tour in Sydney, starts at city hall, just about across from the Hilton Hotel. Young male Australians do the tour and make it interesting for all ages. You tip at the end what you feel the tour was worth. Starts at 10:30 in the morning and I think 2:30 in the afternoon.

Get a bus pass and go exploring. Bus pass will allow you to use the ferry system as well. This way you can see more of Sydney than just the downtown area. The zoo is interesting and I took my DH who is not enamoured with zoos, and we had to rush the last bit to see all of it.

We took the ferry out to Manley Beach, Devonport and one other spot. It was interesting to seeing the harbour from different perspectives.

The Free Walking tour gives you a map to the city with suggestions of what to do, where to eat more reasonably, and what to see. Hotels are expensive, so you may have to look around to find somewhere.

You've got tons of time to plan these few days in Sydney. Go to your local library and check out some guidebooks on Australia. They should have lots of information on things to see and do in Sydney. There should also be information on how to get between the city and the port area.

Trip Advisor has a wealth of information on what to do and see in Sydney as well as reviews of hotels.

For the first-time visitor, or even a frequent visitor, Sydney has such a multitude of interesting things to see and do that the main problem is choosing what to do and what to skip. The suggestions by "No fuss travel" are all good. I think that a harbour tour by boat should be a high priority. And it is almost a given that any visitor will want to walk around the Circular Quay area, see the Opera House, and perhaps continue to the southeast into the (very scenic) Royal Botanic Garden. The various attractions around Darling Harbour area attract lots of young people (as well as lots of those who are not so young). Consider visiting the Maritime Museum and/or Powerhouse Museum around Darling Harbour.

We also enjoy the Australian Museum, exhibits at the State Library of N.S.W., and many other things in Sydney. And of course there are also interesting day trips out of the city that one could take, e.g., to the Blue Mountains.

Your best choices will obviously depend on your interests. However, you should assume that you will come away wishing that you had more time (preferably much more time) to see more things.

John

where to go or anything

What I'd suggest for your 9.30 pm flight problem is this. Pre-cruise, stay at a hotel that's near the cruise terminal. While you're there, ask whether you can store your luggage with that hotel for the day on the day that the ship returns. If you can arrange that, you'll be free of it for the day.

Otherwise, click here, run that search, and read the threads about luggage storage. (Thread title search isn't working at the moment.)

In the worst case, take your luggage to the airport and put it into storage on the ground floor (arrivals level) at Terminal 1 (assuming you're flying from T1 later). Then return to town unencumbered by it.

My sweetest memory of Sydney was a shop that made Lollies (lollypops) in wonderful flavors.

We were just in Sydney pre cruise in February and stayed 4 days. There is so much to do. The kids may like taking the bus to Bondi Beach and the adults may like the walk around the rocky area, the ferry to Tauranga Zoo, ferry to Manley Beach, tour the Opera House (make reservations) and the Botanical Gardens that are adjacent. There is so much to do that I am confident you'll find something you'll all enjoy.

Valley Girl of Va

How was the trip and cruise