mrsmeganford

Hi there!

We are planning an October 2020 week long cruise our of NOLA. We will fly in the morning of the cruise and head straight to the cruise but when we return we plan to stay overnight and get a late flight the following day.

What would be the best hotel to stay in near the cruise port? We are hoping for something close that will hold our bags before check-in time. We'll have a baby and 3 year old. What are the best things to do with 2 days in NOLA? Also what's the easiest/cheapest way to go from the hotel to the airport the next day?

12 hours ago, GUT2407 said:

You sure it’s not White Bay?

 

I said White Bay Terminal in my post. Now I'm confused. 

10 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

1. If you really are after the cheapest then I would say the Sydney Harbour YHA.

https://www.yha.com.au/hostels/nsw/sydney-surrounds/sydney-harbour/

They are a backpackers, but they have private rooms as well. Best of all they are convenient to The Rocks and Circular Quay.

 

You have 2 days, so I would not waste them traveling great distances. Do all your sightseeing in Sydney.  Catch ferries at Circular Quay and go to Manly Beach, Taronga Park Zoo and Luna Park. In Sydney itself visit the Rocks, the Opera House, the museums, the Botanic Gardens or even walk across the Bridge.

 

2. Check whether the Taieri Gorge ride actually is only available from a ship's excursion. This has been true in the past, but I'm not sure it's true now. If you still want a train ride, they also do a short coastal trip which delivers you back to Port Chalmers.

https://www.dunedinrailways.co.nz/

 

3. Don't know much about glow worms, but I did notice there were trips to see some from Tauranga when I was there.

 

4. Akaroa, harbour cruise to see tiny dolphins, or swim with them if you are brave.

 

5. I wouldn't. There is such as thing as jet lag.😴

Also, White Bay is a difficult place to get in and out of except by taxi.

 

5a. Taronga Zoo? Tauranga is in NZ. Once again, go easy on yourself. Go slow, if you have to go out try something easy like the Botanic Gardens.

 

6. Your hubby won't need help finding beer in Oz and NZ. It will find him.😉

 

7. Be prepared for cool weather in NZ and hot weather in Australia. Layers on, layers off.😓

 

Thank you sooo much!

17 hours ago, GUT2407 said:

James Bay Terminal?

Yep! That's what was listed on our Boarding Pass?

Hi Everyone!

Doing some last minute itinerary updates! I know there are SOOO many questions but please comment on any that you can 🙂 🙂

1. Cheapest post-cruise hotel to stay in (we'll be arriving in the White Bay Cruise Terminal)? Additionally best things to do for 2 days in Sydney with 12 month old. We love animals, museums and nature. We'll be getting off the ship Saturday and our flight back to the US is at 8:30pm Sunday. We were thinking of trying to do a day trip to the Blue Mountains but not sure if it's too much to cram into a day. 

2. Dunedin- I've read the Taieri Gorge Train excursion is a MUST DO but it's only available through our cruise line and it's 389/pp. Is it really THAT good? The other option we're considering is Speights Brewery Tour and Larnach Castle.

3. Glow Worms- We've heard about how cool the glow worms are and see options at different ports. What is the best excursion to see them?

4. Here are the other stops we're making: Dunedin, Akaroa, Wellington, Napier, Tauranga (Rotorua), Auckland and the Bay of Islands. Please recommend any MUST DO things in any of those places!!

5. We're arriving in Sydney at 8am the day our cruise leaves. Can we go straight to James Bay Terminal and drop off our bags and then explore for a few more hours? Do you know the earliest they'll let us drop off our bags with a porter?

5b. We were hoping to go to the Tauranga Zoo on Sunday the day we get there. Is it feasible to drop off luggage, head to the zoo and get back to board on time?

6. My husband is a HUGE beer connoisseur.  Can anyone recommend any other breweries or bars at any of our ports (#4) where he can sample some amazing NZ/Australian beer?

7. Since we're leaving next week- any advice on weather/packing? Should we do 50/50 pants and shorts? 

Any other advice is so very appreciated!!

Hi Everyone,

Husband and I are our 1 year old daughter will be doing a 13 night cruise from Sydney to New Zealand and back to Sydney in November. We arrive back in Sydney on Saturday Nov 10th and our flight back home to Michigan is on Sunday Nov 11th at 8:30pm. We'll have lots of big bags with us and I'm trying to figure out what is the best way to corral our luggage and still go out and see as many sights as possible both days!

My current thinking is just rent a car so we'll have a place for our things the whole time. Is that feasible? Will there be places to park our car in and around Sydney? Are there any hotels with shuttles to the airport that allow you to check out and leave your suitcases up with them until you leave? We were thinking of doing the blue mountains but not sure if you need a car for that or if there are better ways to get there.

Any input you can give to us about how to spend out 36 hours in Sydney are greatly appreciated!

Bonus points for those of you that can suggest things to do for the time between our arrival INTO Sydney (7:45am) to the time we board the ship (2pm) the day we cruise departs.

It's actually really nice! We were just on the Freedom of the Seas in April. It was a small section. Water is about 6 inches high and heated! Our 6 month old had a blast in it.

Hi Everyone,

It was suggested that we post here for more responses:

We have a 1 year old daughter and we'll be sailing on the Sea Princess from Sydney to New Zealand and back in October. The ship leaves on October 28th of this year so we'll actually spend Halloween (10/31) on a sea day. Has anyone been on a Princess ship during this holiday and know if they celebrate it or do anything fun for the kids? I wasn't sure since it's an Australian itinerary anyway if they'd celebrate since Halloween is an American "holiday". Thanks in advance!

Urbini Reversi 1000%! It's the best of all worlds! Small and lightweight so you'll fit in any crammed elevator yet light enough to carry up 3 flights of stairs when you don't feel like waiting for one. It's durable but super cheap. Mine was $50. Nice big basket at the bottom that zips up. Reversible so baby can face you or face out and the BEST recline I've seen of any stroller out there. We took our 6 month old on her first cruise in April and I took that thing EVERYWHERE including all our meals in the dining room and it was perfect.

Can I ask how much the uber cost?

I want to say $14 or so. It was super cheap and very easy! If you can get away with taking the lighter infant car seats you don't need bases, you can secure them with just the seatbelt. We handed it to the porter when we got out of the Uber and didn't really feel hassled by it at all.

The only other advice I'd give is try to see if you can get a free/really cheap one from a friend or at a mom2mom sale or something. They definitely get banged around while being checked on the flight and by the porters on the cruise so you probably don't want to bring your nice every day one.

Hi Everyone,

We have a 1 year old daughter and we'll be sailing on the Sea Princess from Sydney to New Zealand and back in October. The ship leaves October 28th so we'll actually spend Halloween (Oct 31) at sea. Has anyone been on a Princess ship during this holiday and know if they celebrate it or do anything fun for the kids? I wasn't sure since it's an Australian itinerary anyway if they'd celebrate since Halloween is an American "holiday".

Thanks in advance!

We ended up just taking her infant car seat and checking it at the gate for both flights and then taking an uber. It wasn't really in our way since we shoved it under the bed in our room and didn't pull it back out until leaving.

I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed with the options/prices for our Sydney to New Zealand cruise in October. So far we've only done Caribbean cruises and have found it very simple to find inexpensive shore excursions ahead of time (not through the ship). Can you give me some suggestions as to where to look? Any websites or even actual excursions are greatly appreciated!!!!

Here is the itinerary:

5 Port Chalmers (Dunedin), New Zealand 8:00 a.m. 6:00 p.m.

6 Akaroa (Christchurch), New Zealand 8:00 a.m. 6:00 p.m.

7 Wellington, New Zealand 8:00 a.m. 6:00 p.m.

8 Napier, New Zealand 7:00 a.m. 2:00 p.m.

9 Tauranga, New Zealand 7:00 a.m. 6:00 p.m.

10 Auckland, New Zealand 7:00 a.m. 10:00 p.m.

11 Bay Of Islands, New Zealand 7:00 a.m. 4:00 p.m.

Hi Everyone!

My husband and I are taking an awesome trip to Sydney and NZ in October with our 12 month old! She is a super easy going baby so hopefully things will go pretty smoothly. We've already been on two cruises with her but this is our first time overseas. My questions are:

How can we get from Sydney to White Bay Cruise Terminal the cheapest?

When our cruise returns we're spending an extra day in Sydney. What are fun things we can do?

Would you rent a car if you had 24 hours in Sydney or just rely on public transportation?

Thanks in advance!

We are headed to San Juan aboard the Freedom of the seas in 2 weeks. It will be me, my husband and our 6 month old. We've been to PR once before and did an excursion to El Yunque and had a great time!

What is the best way to spend our day with a baby? We won't have a car seat so we will be limited in transportation options. Any help you can give is great!

Hope this isn't too redundant but I didn't see any other posts with this info.

Husband, 6 month old baby and I are flying into FLL the morning of our cruise. Ideally I'd like to leave her car seat at home since we won't need it for anything else the whole trip except to/from the airport.

Is there a way to request a car seat in an Uber or taxi? What are our options? Will it save us a considerable amount to just suck it up and lug the car seat with us?

Thanks for your help!

We are going on the RCI Freedom of the Seas and leaving in 3 weeks. I'm amazed how almost every shore excursion we've found thus far charges for our 6 month old baby! Can you recommend any companies or specific excursions where we won't have to pay for her to go as well?

Here are our stops:

St. Maarten

St. Thomas

San Juan, Puerto Rico

St. Kitts

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

-Megan