Help please hotel and flight planning

On Tuesday 2nd March 2020 we are flying to Auckland to see our family, they live on the island of Waikeke.

 

On Sunday 7th March 2020 we sail on the Ruby Princess for a cruise around New Zealand which finishes on Saturday 21st March and then a further cruise around Australia on Monday 23rd March on Golden Princess Princess which finishes on Monday 6th April in Melbourne.

 

We have 100s of questions and would really appreciate any help.

 

Firstly our flights from london to Auckland and Melbourne to Auckland. Surprisingly Emirate comes out on top price wise of what we have found. Is this others experience.

 

We will need 1 nights hotel in Sydney before the first cruise. Is it easy to get to the centre of Sydney from the airport and also to the ship from central Sydney. Which is the best (budget) way to make the journey. Which port does Princess sail from. Can anybody recommend a convenient budget hotel. We are Travelodge / Premier Inn type people.

 

Then we fly from Sydney to Melbourne. Which is the best way to get from airport to central Melbourne. Also we need the same kind of hotel for 2 days in Melbourne.

 

Any help greatly appreciated.

Edited September 22, 2018 by louand47

We have Travelodge here, there are four in Sydney. Though for a one off stay look at something closer to Circular Quay. We like the Holiday Inn there, but it can cst more.

 

Airport to Sydney, probably four options.

 

Shuttle (about $20 ea)

Taxi around $50

Uber no idea on price

Train $17 ea

 

Getting to the ship, easy. Depending on where you stay and fitness it’s a pretty easy walk. Or probably under $20 for a cab. You will leave from the OPT at the Rocks (opposite the Opera House).

 

Flights I can’t really help with or even much about Melbourne to Airport.

On Sunday 7th March 2020 we sail on the Ruby Princess for a cruise around New Zealand which finishes on Saturday 21st March and then a further cruise around Australia on Monday 23rd March on Golden Princess Princess which finishes on Monday 6th April in Melbourne.

As far as I can see, your first cruise (on Ruby Princess) starts in Sydney on 8 March 2020. You can get cruise ship schedules from this page - it includes download options in PDF and Excel. The current plan seems to be for Ruby Princess to be at the Overseas Passenger Terminal both on departure and arrival. (I suspect she may be too big to go under the bridge to the other cruise terminal.) This is located opposite the Opera House, so a pretty scenic place from which to sail.

 

Firstly our flights from london to Auckland and Melbourne to Auckland. Surprisingly Emirate comes out on top price wise of what we have found. Is this others experience.

You can't yet get real schedules or prices directly from airlines for flights in March 2020. Depending on airline, these begin to be published between 11 and 12 months before the date of the flight. So whatever you are seeing now is either a contracted fare through an agent or unreliable. And remember that the cheapest fares for flights are not necessarily released as soon as bookings open.

 

Having said that, it is not uncommon for Emirates to be a cheap option. Without resorting to pejoratives, it is part of Emirates' business model.

 

I also wonder whether what you are looking for is the following flights:-

• London-Auckland
  
• Auckland-Sydney
  
• Sydney-Melbourne
  
• Melbourne-London
  

As things currently stand, it looks like it would be possible to do this all on one Emirates ticket. It's basically constructed as London-Auckland outbound, and Auckland-Sydney-Melbourne-London inbound with stopovers in both Sydney and Melbourne.

 

It looks like Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific both do something similar. Emirates will involve a connection in Dubai between London and the Australasian gateway, Singapore in Singapore and Cathay in Hong Kong.

 

Given the prices that I am seeing for a similar trip in March 2019, it looks unlikely that you would do better by buying either Auckland-Sydney or Sydney-Melbourne separately.

 

One word of caution: make sure that your itinerary flies you to and from Melbourne Tullamarine. As Melbourne is your actual destination, you do not want to fly to/from Avalon without there being some really good reason for doing so.

 

And another note of caution: things can happen very quickly in the airline industry, so don't be surprised if things change.

 

Which is the best way to get from airport to central Melbourne.

The best way is by taxi taking you straight to your hotel from the airport. But it is not the cheapest, so it depends whether you really meant best or whether you meant cheapest.

 

The Skybus is a pretty good option if one of the routes works for you. Note the hotel shuttle service from Southern Cross Station.

I agree with Globaliser as far as Melbourne goes. The Skybus from the airport is very easy, we have used it regularly. After your cruise, Princess will likely have shuttles to the airport (if you are flying out straight after your cruise ends), If you are staying on in Melbourne, taxis will be available but you may have to wait. I would suggest the light rail to the CBD. The Port Melbourne light rail station is a short walk from the pier gate.

 

Hotels - how much do you want to spend? I would suggest a serviced apartment, which in many cases is a similar price to a hotel Then you may have laundry and cooking facilities. I would suggest you look at a hotel comparison site and see what is available in your price range and come back here to ask about specific hotels.

 

In Sydney, we have used taxis and the train to the CBD. It really depends on your age and if you are easily able to manage your luggage on and off the train.

 

Leigh

To show you the kind of flight itinerary that is possible, here are two examples.

 

Caution number 1: These are for 2019, not 2020.

 

Caution number 2: There has been no check for availability, so these are the lowest theoretical fares; availability constraints may mean that the actual prices for March 2020 will now be higher than these.

 

 

Register with Emirates, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific to be notified as to when their special Earlybird fares come out.

We fly annually from NZ to Europe and this is what we do to get the best fares. You will only - at the moment - see fares as far ahead as mid September 2019, so for March 2020 you won't find anything until April 2019.

Wow,

 

Thank you all so much for your help.

 

Lots to think about.

 

Lou

Caution number 2: There has been no check for availability, so these are the lowest theoretical fares; availability constraints may mean that the actual prices for March 2020 will now be higher than these.

Sorry, I've only just spotted the error in this sentence. This was supposed to read: "availability constraints may mean that the actual prices for March 2019 will now be higher than these". That's in case you try to replicate these using live results in order to see what else might be possible for that time of the year.

Another thing to be aware of. Your final fare may change if, like us, you don't want departures, or onward flights, at stupid o'clock in the morning. We prefer day flights and factor that into our budget. We also take advantage of the transit hotels airside at Changi or Dubai.

However, if you're on an Emirates flight and your layover in DXB is more than 6 hours, Emirates will bus you to an off airport hotel with breakfast and back at no extra cost.

We considered that, but flights from DXB to AKL are now over 17 hours and we thought that was just too long, so we're going with Singapore which has a more even division of flight times.

We (3 travelers) are doing a cruise from Sydney to New Zealand in November 2018. I checked many websites and hotels versus rentals. The best budget option I could for Sydney putting location into consideration was an apartment I found in Air...b...nb. Total $175 a night versus mediocre hotels around for 250-350 a night.

 

 

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Try checking your flights in Google flights

 

 

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Found all of the flights we need for just over £1000 (this years prices) with Emirates so thank you to everybody for your help.

 

Next April we will be ready to book.

 

 

Hi, we are doing the Ruby Princess from Sydney to NZ in Feb, lay over in Sydney for 2 nites, then do the Sea Princess around Australia in March of 2020. We are from USA and haven't traveled overseas too much. Not sure which airlines would service LAX to Sydney other than Qantas, NZ Air and Virgin Australia. Could use some help.

 

When would be the best time to book our flights? When they first open, 6 months out, 3 months out or something else?

 

Does anyone know when Princess' EZ-Air opens? I've never used it before, how flexible are they?  Can they accommodate flying in for the NZ portion and flying back from the Aussie one?

 

If flying Air New Zealand, Qantas or Virgin Australia, what are the differences among the airlines and the different classes in each. How do they compare to Delta, American & United? Any help would be appreciated. We will be flying out of LAX. We normally fly coach (domestic) but for that long a flight, we want some leg room. When we flew to Istanbul on Turkish Air, the basic fare was quite comfortable - meals, sleep masks, drinks, etc. were included.

 

Thanks