Kharvavad

Just go to the casino teller and say that you want to withdraw $100, $200 whatever, they will tell you about the fee and you sign a receipt for the money which comes off your SeaPass account. They won't do odd amounts, you can't ask for $20.75 or $197.50 or thereabouts

We just receive the email from Celebrity Q and A.

It says you can not use OBC to play in casino.

Thanks

The day you return (30th Oct)will not be affected as it will be a "normal" OPT turnaround due to the fact that the Sun Princess will be at White Bay so it will business as usual.

Hello Gbenjo,

Thanks for the warning.

We are also taking cruise on Celebrity Solstice on November3d, 14.

I have no problem checking at Whitebay.

We have booked Sydney Opera Tour at 3:00pm on November3rd and we have booked one tour on November 4th at 6:30am.

Could you please tell what should we do?

Can we walkout to the sydney Opera house directly from Cruise?

Thanks.

Hema

Sydney is about a 20 minute drive from the airport at the time frame that you will be arriving at.

Evening arrivals are generally not so busy and you should get through in about 45 minutes. It's quite a walk from the plane to Customs but they are quite quick. The route also takes you past all the duty free shops.

Most of the delays are at the baggage carousels and the line up into Quarantine. I generally find that it is quicker to go through the "something to declare" line having declared my medications on the entry card. They usually just stamp it and off you go.

I would estimate a 9pm arrival at the hotel. There are several 24 hr restaurants on Circular Quay. The hotel concierge should be able to advise you.

Hugh

Do we realy have to declare medications?

Thanks.

Myki takes minutes not "a long time" but for a single days visit a standard Myki or a visitors Myki is not exactly good value

http://ptv.vic.gov.au/tickets/myki/myki-visitor-value-pack/

 

Private transfer would be more reliable than a taxi and you could book both your pick up and return drives. I have used Southern Cross VHA for my airport trips several times now and they arrived exactly on time with nice drivers and lovely vehicles. You could ask them to be at the pier with a sign with your name on it so you can easily see them.

http://www.vha.com.au They have vans on their website as well as cars.

 

PS - the terminology "downtown" does not exist in Aus. Use "CBD" meaning the central business district or city centre to ensure if you are asking for directions or getting into taxis where english is generally not their first language - they will have a clue where you are looking for.

 

Is the "free tour" you are talking about an organised one or are you just getting on the free city circle tram to do a loop ? Melbourne is a very walkable city.

Thank you very much for your respond.

I will try to contact them today.

It is very good suggestion for Downtown (CBD). I will remember that.

"Free Tour" is organized one. They don't register in advance. We just have to go there on time.

Hema

We will be in Melbourne in November. We are going to do DIY. I am going to register with Free Tour in Downtown. I am still trying to find transportation to take us from port to downtown. Any ideas?

Myki card is going take long time to get it and we have to put $10 per person into it.

I wanted to book the two taxi or one van for 8 friends ahead of it so we don't have look for the two taxis at the port.

I tried couple of website for van but they didn't respond back.

Any suggestion will help.

Thank you very much in advance.

In Melbourne, you can walk off the dock and get a tram to Melbourne CBD. Note you will need a Miki (http://ptv.vic.gov.au/tickets/myki/myki-visitor-value-pack/) to travel on Melbourne public transport. Alternatively, you can get a taxi.

Thank you for your respond.

Myki card is going take long time get it and we have to put $10 per person init. Taxi from the port is good ideas.

I wanted to book the two taxi or one van for 8 friends ahead of it so we don't have look for the two taxis at the port.

I tried couple of website for van but they didn't repond back.

Any suggestions will help.

Hema

Good luck, Hema, with your NZ adventure and plans for Wellington. Below are a few more Wellington visuals that I have not previously posted. Hope this builds up the excitement for visiting here in their Capital City.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Celebrity Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of nice visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 179,689 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

 

 

This visual shows where the Solstice and another larger cruise ship were docked during our Wellington stop. The large round structure is their major outdoor stadium. This gives you a sampling for the wooden tree trunks and other "goods" in this area. Not a scenic neighborhood port location, but it worked for us and not too far from the main downtown/museum/shopping areas.:

 

 

 

As we headed to go up Mt. Victoria, here was a small sampling of a nearby Wellington residential area overlooking the waterfront beaches, etc.:

 

 

 

Here are a couple of downtown visuals. First, one of the older, historic building that has been converted into a shopping area. Second, a closer view of their beehive-shapped Parliament Building.:

 

 

 

 

 

From inside the Te Papa Museum, here is the view out towards some of the various and interesting options to see as you walk along this area in returning to ship docking location. Second is another example of the items on display in the Te Papa Museum. This is a long, long boat with lots of carvings, etc.:

 

 

 

Hello Terry,

Thank you very much. Your pictures are very beautiful. I can't wait to go and see myshelf.

By the way I found one van company. I booked one van/shuttle for $75.00NZ per hour. So all of us will be together.

So first we will go to Mt. Victoria and zoom around in van downtown and then he will drop off us at cable museum. From there we will walk down through Botanic garden. Then we will vist some places in downtown. After that we go to Te Papa museum.

If you have some advice on Melbourne, AUS please let me know. We are going to do DIY. I am going to register with Free Tour in Downtown. I am still trying to find transportation to take us from port to downtown. Any Ideas?

Hema

Hello Terry,

Thank you for details of your car tour.

I think We are going to do same thing as you did. If I can arrange van ahead of then I will do that.

If I don't get van then we will have two taxis at the port and take a tour and ask them to drop off us on top off cable car museum.

After that we will walk down through Botanic Garden and walk around more in downtown or lunch there.

Thanks everyone for trying to help me to plan my vist at Wellington.

Hema

Nice pictures Terry!

My wife and I also did a taxi tour right from the pier and ours ended at the top of the cable car which we rode to the bottom and eventually caught the shuttle ( yes Celebrity does provide a shuttle).

Wellington is a beautiful city - very nice sail away also. It is very walker friendly and pretty compact.

 

Have a great trip!

 

Chris

Hello Cwtravel,

Thanks. Do the Celebrity charge for Shuttle?

Hema

Hi Kharvavad

 

We are on Solstice departing Auk on 9th.Dec... lots of info on our roll call if you want to have a look.

 

There is a Hop on Hop off "bus" (12 seater van actually) that does all the sights that might suit you...also same mob does a cruise ship special, that goes to all the same places but does not have the hopon hopoff feature. Its in a 40 seater coach however.

 

Have a look here:

 

http://www.hoponhopoff.co.nz/book-now/

 

cheers

Hello Flipper133,

Thank you very much. I will ckeckit out your blog on Dec 9th. plus Hoponhopoff website.

Hello Terry,

Thank you very much for your quick respond. In past I have always enjoyed reading your whole blog. You have given me information in details.

I have few questions about your private cab tour.

How many places did it covered?

How long was your tour?

Did he charged you by time or fixed prices?

Could you please tell me more about your vist to Wellington?

We are group of 8 friends. Do you think we can get Van easily at the port or should we book it ahead?

I would like to know how did you go all these plases in Wellington. for example: walk or cable or Bus?

We are cruising with Celebrity Solstice in November. We would like to do Wellington ourshelves.

Does Celebrity provide Shuttle from Port to Downtown?

We would like to cover following places:

Botanic gardens

Te Papa Museum

Parliament Buildings

Old St Paul’s church

panoramic views then Mt Victoria

I have a feeling we might have to take Taxi to go Mt. Victoria.

Please give us some suggestions to make it easy for us to do.

Thank you very much in advance.

And its less than a $10 USD difference when taking into account exchange rates :p

Hello Everyone,

I took everyone's advice and I've already got my Australian Visa thru the AU government site.

So now I don't have to worry any more.

Thanks.

Kharvavad - just a thought, your header doesn't tell me, are you possibly not from Australia. This could be the problem, the rest of us that are not receiving a request for prepayment all seem to live in Australia (please correct me if I am wrong). Maybe overseas visitors are requested to pre-pay because their arrival in Sydney is not as cut and dried as a local.

 

If you are concerned, I can thoroughly recommend Towncars.com (without the au ;) and the black & yellow header), I have used them 4 or 5 times now and never been let down - the only thing we like to do is make sure our pick up time is not the same as our landing time, for local flights I like at least half an hour (would be more for international) to get off the plane, pick up baggage, go to the loo, etc.

Thank you Wastegirl.

I am from USA. I was just telling my husband that maybe they are asking us to pay because we are not from Australia.

It is a same website as you describe. Their phone numbers also match with website.

I will call them and explaine them. I have to talk to them anyway when I make payment.

Just to let everyone know that we have already got ETA visa from Australian Government wesite.

Thanks everyone.

I have double check the website. It is same website towncars.com with the black and yellow header.

May be they don't know me thats why they asking money in advance.

I will think about it more.

Thanks

I have booked with this company.

According to Wastegirl they don't ask money in advance.

Well they have asked me to pay in advance with credir card plus 5.5% surcharge.

I am so confuse about this....

Should I pay them?

Thank you very much in advance.

Thank you very much for clearification.

I have decided to use Australian Govt. Site for the Visa.

Hema

Thank you for your quick response.

Some one on CC Board suggested following site .

https://easyeta.com/ $9.95 USD

Is this site legitimate?

Thanks.

Hema

I made a reservation with Towncars. They want me to pay whole amount in advanced.

Is this right? Should I goahead pay them?

Any suggestions will be helpful.

Thank you very much

Hema

Hello,

Could anyone please tell me cost of Australian Visa by using this site?

Thanks

Hema

You can go back to the main Canada page where you posted this and doing a search. Look to the right of the blue bar near the top of the page for Thread Tools.

 

You can also go here on Trip Advisor for Quebec and do a search or ask your question: http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowForum-g155025-i50-Quebec.html

 

Or you could just wander around this fantastic city with the help of a good guide book.

Hello Maryann,

Thank you very much for your suggestion. I was searching at wrong place.

Hema

We are group of 6 friends taking cruise with Hollandamerica. We will be in Quebec from 7-5 on June 13, 2014. Can any one suggest any prive tours in Quebec city.

Thank you very much in advance.

Hema

Thank you for all your suggestions.

I think I am going to change my reservation to Downtown location. It will save us lot of time and headache.

Hema

Hi there!

 

Is there any reason you are getting the car from the airport? My guess would be that you are leaving Montreal by plane after your stay in Montreal?

 

Where would you be staying in Montreal? This could help us for the travel.

 

Anyway, taxi to MTL port to Airport is estimated to 42$ on http://www.numbeo.com/taxi-fare/city_result.jsp?country=Canada&city=Montreal if you get from "vieux montreal" to "YUL"

 

There is a bus that is also running 24/7 to the YUL Airport from Montreal main metro station "Berri-UQAM" or many other stops. Price is 10$ for a day pass(This will give you access to montreal bus/metro for the day) but you would have to get to the metro or a bus stop anyway from the port..

 

Depending where your hotel is located.. I would take a cab. Split the price in 6.. maybe 8$ each.

 

more info for the 747(downtown/airport) bus: http://www.stm.info/sites/default/files/planibus/en/747.pdf

Hello DroxX3rZ,

Thank you very much for your quick response.

We have booked hotel in Laval for 2 days. Renting the car from Downtown and return the car at airport will cost us $50:00 more. So we decided to rent from Airport.

We group of 6 friends and each of has one big suitcase and one carryon.

Thats why we decided that two of go and pickup the car. After they pickup the car then they will comback again to pier to pickup rest of us. Then we will all go to our Hotel.

So if you have any suggestion for how to go from pier to airport, please let us know.

Hema