april_jb

February 18, 2016

Just take the HOHO bus around the 2 routes & the Sydney Harbor tour . forget the Opal pass . Go to viator.com to book the HOHO bus & I remember that you can get a package with the Harbor cruise . Go to Manly & Manly beach one of the stops on the Harbor cruise & there is a stop for a great sea food restaurant .

You will save money at voator.com for the above tour . If you have 4 full days have the concierge in your hotel book you on the bus tour of the blue Mountains ;but ,do the HOHO bus & Harbor tour first .

You will not only save money ;but ,this is the best & easiest way to see Sydney . The Opera house is one of the HOHO bua stops

We did it all when we had a week in Sydney after our cruise & loved every minurte .not only easy but relaxing & informative :D

For any public transport in Sydney unless purchasing a single way ticket you will need an opal pass. The opal pass makes travel on all public transport easier and often cheaper

February 17, 2016

You need to be at Sydney Airport three hours prior to international flights to be safe so would need to be there by 8:45. I would allow a minimum of 30mins to get there in a taxi and that's not allowing for peak hour morning traffic (that is unless you arrive in port on a Sunday) I have flown from Sydney to LAX a few times and often fly out later in the day than 11:45 so I would look at an alternate time with a different carrier or stay overnight. In fact if you haven't visited Sydney before stay a few days it's a fabulous city with lots to do

February 14, 2016

Have done three cruises on the Legend. First one in 2012 to Western Caribbean, second to the South Pacific in 2014 and last one to Alaska in 2015. Had a blast on all three cruises. Yes the ship decor is over the top and it's showing its age a little but the crew on all three were awesome and I believe in making the most of any holiday and situation. I like to R&R on my sea days but if your the sort that has to be entertained all the time you may find that a lot of sea days may get boring. Having done a few different cruise lines now Carnival is a little more mainstream no "airs and graces" and they do call them the ships! I do love the layout of the spirit class ships easy to find your way around, love the serenity deck and size wise it's not too big as when I cruise I like to feel like I'm on a ship not a floating town.

December 12, 2015

Thanks for review . Will be first time Celebrity sailing in March doing the Panama Sth America to Miami. Have done 7 cruises previously on other lines but looking forward to our first Celebrity cruise on the Infinity.

December 7, 2015

Just recently booked South America and Panama Canal and paying more for an inside than we pay for Balcony / suite here in Australia plus we have international airfares to add and because we fly in and out of different cities don't get the usual slightly cheaper return fares. In saying that happy to do this as South America and the Panama Canal is bucket list item for my husband and I & we are adding a pre cruise trip to Machu Picchu.

November 16, 2015

Just booked - 18 March 2016, Celebrity Infinity South America/ Panama Canal

July 7, 2015

There are 'do not disturb' signs to hang on your door. I have also found that even if I don't have the sign on the door the steward always knocks before entering

July 5, 2015

Loving your reviews of the cruise. Looking forward to reading more. We fly to the USA from Australia in a few weeks & will be on the Legend August 4th cruise. Can't wait to see all the spectacular scenery for myself :)

June 20, 2015

I'm really curious now. I thought the Australian cruises only visited Australian ports? How can you buy alcohol duty free in that situation?

The Australian cruises mainly visit South Pacific Island ports and there is duty free shopping on the islands with main towns eg when we were in Vila the Duty free alcohol was quite cheap compared to store prices back home so a lot of people bought their limit of duty free alcohol ashore which is then held by the ship until end of the cruise and must be declared when coming back to Australia.

May 19, 2015

I actually did that excursion last May and had a great time...regardless of what someone who hasn't done it may think. Yes you are braking most of the way down with a short uphill section, then level once you get into town.

There is so little traffic we didn't stay on the shoulder. We only moved over when there was a car coming and the guide kept an eye out for those. There was no issue with rocks..not sure where that idea came from.

I can't answer your question about August weather, but I took the morning tour in May and the weather was fine. Nice and clear most of the time.

I would do it again this year if my cruise was stopping in Skagway. I smiled the whole time!

Thanks for that information - yes I've seen a lot of negative reviews but as I said did a downhill in Hawaii from the top of the Haleakala Volcano to the beach and it was fantastic. (Over 20miles)Same scenario on the road with cars etc but we ride bikes a bit so really looking forward to this. Live life to the full I say! Thought it would be a great way to see the scenery. We booked today anyway for the 7:30am tour , up on the train and down on the bikes Can't wait!

May 18, 2015

Hoping someone can help - Anyone done the combined White Pass Train and Bike ride back down hill in Skagway? Did something similar in Hawaii a couple of years ago and wish to book this but wondering wether to book the early morning departure 7:30am or later 12noon. We will be in Skagway early August so just wondering if it will be more likely to have low cloud first thing in the morning ?

April 18, 2015

Thank you for your rundown on the activities and entertainment onboard the Legend. :) I'm sure we would love the comedy club (we aren't phased with swearing) as well as the Serenity deck. Does the Serenity deck cost any extra? The waterslides and mini golf are right up our alley- the boyfriend likes to think he is a golf pro. :D

The behind the scenes tour sounds very interesting also! Like you say, a cruise is what you make it. I'm sure we'll love whichever cruise we do choose (which is looking more and more like the 11 Night cruise on the Legend), but as first- time cruisers want to gain as much information as possible.

Would you be able to speak a bit more about the ports? Did you do any tours? Were they shore excursions through Carnival? Would love some advice on what is and isn't worth doing. Thanks for your help. :)

Ok - port info. We tend not to book thru the cruise ship these days as often you can get same or cheaper price on shore and they can be tailored more to what you want to do. If it's a full day tour you want to do ie first off the ship last back (we did one of these in Cozumel Mexico to see Mayan Ruins) then I book thru the ship as if you get delayed the ship will wait for you on a ship booked tour. If you go out on a private tour and are delayed (broken down vehicle etc) and don't make it back to port the ship may not wait for you!

Noumea - last time just did a walk around markets etc and took bus to Limon Bay to swim - 10-15 min public bus trip. First time we took a morning tour from on shore which was cheaper than ship and a better tour from what we heard. Can pay in AUS $ on shore. Tour went to lookout , church, cultural centre beaches etc and we also got free return trip back to beach in the afternoon included. Pretty dirty in the city area itself

Mare - beautiful island . Pay the $20 on the ship to go to the beach and walk to the very far end as most people won't walk that far, the are some nice quiet little private beach areas if you wade around the shore line in the water. Take your own flippers/ snorkelling gear on the cruise as most islands have great snorkelling.

Lifou- Here we took a private "taxi" on shore and negotiated a price for about an hour and a half drive around the local sights, went to the chiefs hut etc. then we found a walk to a fresh water swimming cave, it's next to the church on the main road (not the one on the hill) cost $10 to go Great if it's hot weather as water is cold and fresh. Take the walk up the hill to the church as the views are amazing. Didn't both with the Natural aquarium as even thou it's limited to the amount of people there are better snorkelling places on other islands (Mare, Mystery Is, etc)

Isle of Pines - here we walked to the french prison ruins (about a 8km round trip) and up the hill behind them past the old water storage tower to a great lookout then back to beach to swim around the sacred rock. At one time the ship did trips to the natural aquarium but due to 'native unrest' I believe the ship stopped these tours.

Mystery is- small walk around island but great snorkelling. Walk past all the markets etc to the other rockier end of the island and there is great snorkelling - lots of fish, saw a small eel, starfish, sea snakes etc (the sea snakes are fine just don't touch them they are usually more afraid of you!)

Vila - hired our own driver at the port ( there is heaps of them! ) we shared with another couple and paid $150 for the day (ended up paying him $200 as he was great staying with us nearly all day which we only expected to have him till after lunch) Went to the Cascade waterfalls - don't miss this as walk up to the falls is beautiful and the falls are fabulous. Wear reef shoes as thongs just don't cut it thigh the slippery walk ways. Costs about $25 AUS to get in at the falls. Then the driver took us around town showing us the locals areas - markets, housing (very basic) etc. took us to the beach areas that had more local markets/ bar for lunch etc. Later took us back to town and waited for us while we did some duty free shopping before returning us to the ship. Found that alcohol was very cheap but electrical goods and perfumes etc not so cheap and in some cases better price on board ship.

Santo - we again hired our own driver on the dock, haggle and get a price you are happy with. Think we paid $50 a couple (3couples) and jumped in a twin cab ute Best thing is no road rules so you can ride in the back of the ute! Went out to the Blue hole (Blue Lagoon) Fantastic spot! Swam out there for about and hour and a half then the driver came back for us (don't pay till the end of the day) drove us back around the town a bit and dropped us at the markets were we chose to walk back to the ship after buying some souvenirs.

In Vila and Santo you can also go on zip lines or kayaks etc depends on what you like to do and the drivers will wait / come back for you.

Bit long but I hope this helps!

April 18, 2015

Thank you very much for your response april_jb, it's great to have a response from someone who has travelled on both ships. You touched on the movie screen; so does the Legend already have that onboard? Would you be able to speak a bit about the entertainment on both ships, and what you thought about it?

Thanks for including your opinion on the different ports, as that is definitely something we are considering when picking between the cruises.

Ellie D

We enjoyed the Piano bar on both ships most nights. Had great piano players/entertainers. Didn't go much on the "shows" in the theatres they were pretty B grade, comedy clubs were usually good on both I don't care about the swearing etc but some people may get offended thou they warn you before the start of the shows! Had fun with some of the stage shows - marriage show / hasbro game show etc. and Trivia shows. The red frog pub has good entertainment which is on the Legend and I believe also to be put on the Spirit at the Singapore refurb. Played a little bit in the casino we,re not big gamblers. Crew will show/teach you how to play. Also loved to relax on the serenity deck . The water slides are great fun also for young and old! Even had a few games on mini golf !

The behind the fun tour offered on all carnival ships is great. Costs about $100 pp but goes about 4hrs and is limited to 16 people (book on the first day) It's listed with the shore excursions. Takes you to crew areas, engineering, bridge, meet the captain, galley (taste the food) etc. Usually done on the last day at sea.

My advice is get out and explore the ship - have a look at everything if your not enjoying one show move on to something else. Always something or nothing to do depending on how you feel.

Oh and no movie screen by the pool on the legend but they show movies on sea afternoons in the show room.

April 17, 2015

Been on both out of Sydney to the South Pacific. Just booked the legend again for Alaska August this year, and have done the legend a couple of years ago in the Caribbean, Only done the spirit once. Both ships have basically the same layout. Legend had Bonsai Sushi which I believe Spirit is having added in its refurb in Singapore this year, along with some other changes like a movie screen outside by the main pool. Had great fun on both ships , met great people, relaxed and had a great time. As for the choice of Islands Loved Mystery Island, Santo, Vila, Mare and Lifou Is. Noumea I have been to but if I had a choice probably wouldn't bother to go again. Do a bit of research before you go with what you might like to do ashore.

April 13, 2015

Our first cruise was Carnival Splendor Mexican riviera 2009 and we loved it. Loved Puerto Vallarta, walked into town ourselves during the day public transport back with locals and trip to an island with traditional show and dinner on the beach watching the sunset :) Mazatlan we did a city tour and show (saw the divers) and Cabo we went snorkelling (Sea of Cortez) guide was great allowing us to touch all sorts of sea life then markets back on shore and relaxing port side. Loved it all! Yes we are lucky in Australia with the best beaches especially where I live but when I travel I love to experience the differences in culture and the country.

April 12, 2015

No you are not allowed to bring any alcohol aboard. Ok to bring 12 bottles / cans of soft drink or water 600mls or less. If you buy duty free alcohol on shore it will be held until the end of the cruise.

February 3, 2015

Hire a long board about $10 an hour and surf Waikiki Beach! Lots of laughs and fun if a few of you share a board! Then chill in one of the beach side bars of the bigger hotels along the beach front .