MonDreamr1

At least they sent you the survey. We never received ours last month. (Spam folder was checked. The email they had on file was correct we got all the preboarding spam and our new booking confirmation.)

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We are in a renovated room. Very clean. So I think it varies by which floor you get.

We board today (Saturday). The streets are calm compared to the work week. I don't know which day you are leaving. You can always take the train one stop and avoid a lot of the street crossing.

Don't believe there was a shuttle. We took the train in from the airport to Wynward station. ;one passed the port stop. Easy to get around.

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From the corner near the ferry terminal

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We are cruising Sydney to Auckland on the Celebrity Solstice in December 2015 and are flying from the US. We want to arrive in Sydney 1 day before our cruise and are searching for a hotel (wish we had more vacation time to stay longer).

 

 

 

Not having traveled to Sydney before I am surprised at all the types of accommodations and varying prices. We are considering a stay at Amora Hotel Jamison Sydney on 11 Jamison Street since it seems like a decent place, reasonably priced and within walking distance to Circular Quay.

 

 

 

Does anyone have recent experience at this hotel? Is it clean? What does this hotel compare to in the US? I noticed that not all hotels in Sydney have their own bathroom...does this hotel? Is this hotel really within walking distance to Circular Quay/the ship? Are there a lot of sights to go to on foot from Amora?

 

 

 

Some reviews mention they have walked to Circular Quay from this hotel but how far is it then from the port to the ship? In Fort Lauderdale it is a long way from the entrance of the port to the ship.

 

 

 

Any other tips or suggestions would be appreciated!

Yes they have their own bathroom. Has a separate shower and tub.

It was an easy train ride in from the airport.

I answered some in the other post. Nothing like FLL. Even much closer than Copenhagen. The ship very very close. It isn't a huge commercial port area. The ferries are at the one end of the area. We left out of the other terminal, but did walk around the area when we did Alaska- Maybe closest to Canada Place in Vancouver? .

That is the edge of Carnival (I think Legend) out past the end of the terminal. We walked past the entire thing yesterday a few times.

It is about 1km from the hotel. It is down hill from the hotel. So if you can handle your luggage you should be fine. Or catch a cab

There are some museums we past, the bridge climb, the opera house is just on the other side ~ 1.5 km.

Our tour out of the city is picking us up.

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Anyone stay at this hotel recently? Have read a lot of reviews on this hotel but most reviews aren't current.

We just got in yesterday. Our room is clean. Beds might be a bit soft for some. Storage is lacking. Pool looked nice, haven't been in.

Very quick walk from the train.

We arrived early, had to wait bit for our room to be ready actually took a room on a lower floor. We'd just arrived after two very long flights from the states. The front desk staff was very nice. Held our bags, let us go up to the spa to use the showers and change, and would have called us when our room was ready. I hadn't picked up a local SIM yet. When we came back to use the wifi to activate the SIM there was a room ready. If you have a number that works they'll call when the room is ready.

If you can handle your luggage OPT is walkable from the hotel. We were down in the area several times yesterday. There is a ton of shopping. Still need to locate a grocery.

Food - there are a bunch of options around, but it is so subjective. We went to Pancakes at/on the Rocks for a late lunch yesterday. It was ok. Very causal. Food was ok.

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Could you please share the name of the dive shop?

See above posts

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MonDreamr1, who did you dive with in Barbados? Would you recommend them? Would you go back?

 

 

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We used West Side Scuba (have to make sure I typed that correctly as I keep trying to put West Shore - which is a local shop) http://www.westsidescuba.com/

Peter the owner was very nice. The boat crew was great. It wasn't our favorite dive stop of the trip (St. Lucia, St. Maarten, Bonaire, and Curacao were the other stops we dove) - the weather was NOT very nice so we were limited in choices. We ended up on a fairly new wreck (down less than 6 months) will be great in a few years, but was so-so now. Then over under an old pier - which the DMs on the boat weren't supposed to go to because the owner frowns on it. It was more sheltered area and avoided some really rough water. We did get a vote on the boat as to where we were going after the wreck. There was a ton of sea life on the second dive. It was fun. I'd go again if we were going to different sites. If we were doing the wreck any time soon- I'm not sure. There are a lot more good sites that would have been options if the weather had been better that day.

We used Dive Bus on Curacao, they were great and a lot of fun. $14 pp round trip taxi from the port. I'd love to go back and do more of the island with them. For rental - I believe they had everything - we had our own. There was another group that had some people getting rental stuff. Then when we came back after lunch for afternoon dives on our own, they were setting up a discover scuba drive. Our dives were just the 4 of us and the dive master for the morning trips, and then just the 4 of us.

I'm pretty sure Ocean Explorers is either right across the street or just down the street. I saw Lion Resort wifi show up on my phone. I know there was one right across, but didn't pay attention to the name.

On Bonaire we booked direct with Dive Buddy - ended up with their affiliate to pick us up and such. Dive Friends is the one that RCCL uses, but you pay more to book through the ship than booking direct through Dive Friends. We did Bachelor beach and the house reef at Dive Buddy. We have friends who have done a whole week at Dive Buddy. Our local shop uses Capt. Don's *they were full when we went. Dive Buddy, if you book early enough you can get a boat dive out to Klein Bonaire. We have our own gear, but the one other guy from our ship did not -- they got him set up. That one they drove us around, if you are booked at the resort you get a rental truck. It was the 4 of us, and the other guy from our ship that booked with the dive master and the guy from the shop that was babysitting our stuff in the trucks.

Aruba - our cruise stop was too short.

We normally use Squaremouth to compare - but the other sites work just as well - I just like the UI better on SM. The site makes it easy to read the policy certificates and compare the coverage wording prior to buying.

We've filed claims with TravelSafe and TravelEx with no problems. The form from the doc was accepted no questions. They were cancellations prior to leaving. One of those DH still went on the trip and we just had to cancel my portion. (he was going for work, I was not)

If you have a pre existing condition issues - the timing on purchase of insurance matters -- a lot of them have it within X days of INITIAL deposit on a trip. (TravelSafe and TravelEx are ones that have the within X of initial deposit) Read the definitions -- a lot of things don't count if you are medically stable with medication that hasn't changed during the look back period. If these things apply to you, you need to read the policies for yourself and call the companies if you need clarification to make sure you are covered for your condition. Most of the cruiseline policies I've read do not cover PEC very well if at all.

CSA Luxe is who I purchased our last set from - they are one of the few that have the pre existing condition waiver up until final payment. For some of the cruises we don't know if we are going to actually take them when we book 18+ months out because there was an onboard deal/credit. Life changes in that time frame, so sometimes I wait to buy insurance until we start booking the non refundable things around final payment. There was a second one that came up, Trawick International, when I was looking yesterday that even farther out that CSA - their wording was a bit strange - it was within 30 days of final, not the 24 hours of final payment. Our CSA policy is a secondary on the medical - but our regular insurance covers emergency stuff out of the country (not everyone's does you need to check your own coverage)

The companies that provide insurance will vary by your detestation

This is true, but I thought when you turn off roaming, your phone continues to try to find a signal, which can drain the battery really quickly - or am I thinking of something else?

 

 

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It will continue to try to find a signal. However, if you want to pick up the land signal for as long as you can, you leave roaming off to pick up the non cellular at sea signal. Then you turn the phone off /airplane mode on when the signal drops to no service (where the cellular at sea would pop on if you had roaming turned on). If you wanted to use the phone after the land based signal is gone vs turning it off, tuning airplane mode on will conserve battery. You can turn wifi on and hit the ship's Internet (depending on ship).

We usually turn it on pulling into port - get things at home checked and dealt with during slow time.

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Right. I am pretty sure you just need to put phone in airplane mode to avoid connecting.

 

 

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Roaming and airplane mode are two different things. You can turn off roaming without turning off your home network cell.

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If you turn off voice and data roaming, you shouldn't connect to Cellular at Sea at all.

To the OP

T&P that your dad is on the mend and on his way home.

I never have understood this part of travel insurance. Why MUST you insure airfare when you can get a future flight voucher from the airline? I do realize that one would have to pay a change fee. Is the exchange fee refundable?

I can think of a bunch of reasons -- our main one is

They can have limits on how long they are valid- Usually only a year from the purchase date, not the fly date. If we are booking some of the travel with miles - things are booked early so we have the most choice. Do you know if you will be able to travel again by the use by date? I never know if it is going to be a quick thing or a major thing that cancels a trip. Will I use the same airline if/when we rebook the trip?? Don't know- the schedules change all the time.

Must have started Nov 1st. I was on the Explorer Oct 23rd cruise and had no problem using our minutes for the entire cruise.

 

 

 

Theresa

Both DH and I got the 60 minutes to use as you like, there was no use in 24 hours restriction.

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I'd say reasonable as long as it is a reputable operator.

For reference -We paid $99 pp for 2 tank boat with pick up & return to the ship this month in Barbados. W/o rental gear just tanks and weights.

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Bayonne two weeks ago we stuck ours in our mesh dive gear bag (the dive gear travels in a different bag), and stuck a luggage tag on it. The case was still sealed from the store. Figured if the plastic wrap broke during embarkation the bottles would stay together. No problem it showed with the rest of our bags.

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Bit of glare not great photo. Caught it after we picked up the rental and had to come back to the circus to pick up the other half of our party.

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Last time I looked over the side they were still loading stuff.

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Thanks for the internet heads up. I need to trip check my books are downloaded before we pull out of port.

The head waiter's response was not very nice nor is it an acceptable response. If the seating is full you shouldn't be squishing other people in.

Any idea if they are changing any of the port times for the 14 night trip?

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I hope everything turns out ok with your mum and you can still make your trip.

We've had to do 3 claims.

Once was just my half of stuff and it was airline and land based stuff. I was a no show for that flight because it was up in the air as to if I was going or not the day of departure. Had no problem with getting that covered, it was a my medical issue.

The next one I'd been checked in for the flight and on the way to the airport by way of my doc's office for a routine appointment. DH did call the airline about that one as we both suddenly weren't going. They didn't do anything because we didn't want the voucher for future travel. For the cruise portion it was RCCL, I believe DH called, but I'm not sure about when. There were so many things going on at the time. They refunded the port fees/taxes. We submitted the rest to the insurance. Had no problem getting anything covered with the forms signed by my doctor. I don't know if that was under cancellation or interruption as we were still in our home city.

The other one - we were more than a month out so it was easy and called and cancelled, had partial refund. Submitted the balance and the airfare to the insurance. Everything was covered. The night before hotel wasn't covered, but DH had added that on after I'd purchased the insurance and it was outside the original travel dates. Eating the hotel cost was minimal vs the whole trip.

And FDA. For status of vaccine trials.

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National Institute of Health Director?

 

I haven't heard Fauci so thanks.

 

 

 

If you get CNN, congress has pulled CDC, NIH, and DHHS into committee to get some answers. As it is committee they'll just yap. If you want to put names and faces together.

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I missed this on the other post. Nice review. The pictures look like you enjoyed your trip overall. Sorry about the smokers. That is one of the cons for the small cruise. If people irritate you it is much harder to avoid them.

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The US does not currently have a Surgeon General. President Obama appointed someone who the NRA opposes, so the Senate Republicans have blocked a vote on the nomination.

We do have an acting one

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Gonzo,

 

 

 

Thanks for the great review.

 

 

 

I am an avid sea kayaker and have researched kayaking and diving in the Galapagos. It is my understanding that there is only one company permitted to allow kayaking in the archipelago. As a side note, it is also my understanding that the companies permitted to do snorkeling can't to diving. I was told you don't really need to dive, as the snorkeling is so great, but it is actually easier in my opinion to have a regulator and be able to be under water, if only a few feet vs a snorkel full or partially full, of salt water.

 

 

 

Glad you had a great trip.

 

 

 

Happy sailing,

 

Jenna

We went in 2010 pre a/b itinerary. Diving was~ $220-$250 pp (I don't remember the exact price and it is probably out of date) for the dive and you missed the tortoises in the wild. The better diving is on the northern islands. Iirc it was Red Mangrove was the contract operator. We skipped it.

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