Sydney to Singapore in Feb 2012 on Voyager

[Penelope6201]

My husband and I are booked on this cruise and wonder if anyone has taken this or will be taking this cruise. I am new to Cruise Critic and would be interested in any information on shore excursions or general information!

[CaBlondy]

Hi All,

My husband and I just booked this cruise. So excited to be joining all of you! Anyone out there play mahjongg on Sea days?:)

[commodoredave]

DW and I are going on the reverse route in January. We've booked Borobudur in Semarang and the Great Barrier Reef catamaran in Cairns excursions. Also DW wants to do the cooking school excursion in Bali -- any comments on that one?

[kihei228]

My DH booked this trip yesterday. Mrlevin, could you please email your TA as well. We're finding it confusing trying to decide on excursions, but would definitely be interested in the van tour in Bali, 555lavan1t or MomOf3.

Dreps: I think we exchanged posts regarding Buenos Aires to Santiago on Oceania in 2009. We didn't take the cruise, but did travel throughout South America that year. Any thoughts on when the economy might pick up?

Laurie

P.S. Plan to do the 3 day Angkor Wat trip as well. Does anyone know what hotel is used?

[jhp]

I'm more martinis and scotch than beer, so we'll be looking for quiet lobby bars (ie Alexander's Bar in the Grand Bretagne) rather than a pub or a brewery. However, I can make do and I'm no stranger to a cold ale in a pub if I can't find a decent martini or good single malt, so we will keep your suggestions in mind. My wife loves pubs, brewerys and ale.

 

Thanks to all. Larry

 

Larry, if you like quiet hotel bars and still planning to stay at the Park Hyatt, don't miss their very clubby little lounge off the lobby. When I stayed there, I was staying with points acquired from a Chase cc promotion at the time. ;) It included a complimentary beer or a glass of wine in the bar, but alas, we ordered a Cosmo, not included in "the plan". Just take a peek inside if you are still booked there. I loved it. We found our way there both nights we stayed, and there isn't even a view.

[kihei228]

Have recently found out the post cruise hotel in Siem Reap is Le Meridien. The reviews and photos on trip advisor look good.

[555lavan1t]

Larry, if you like quiet hotel bars and still planning to stay at the Park Hyatt, don't miss their very clubby little lounge off the lobby. When I stayed there, I was staying with points acquired from a Chase cc promotion at the time. ;) It included a complimentary beer or a glass of wine in the bar, but alas, we ordered a Cosmo, not included in "the plan". Just take a peek inside if you are still booked there. I loved it. We found our way there both nights we stayed, and there isn't even a view.

 

 

Sounds perfect. For me this is the way end the day or relax with a cocktail in the afternoon. Thanks for the suggestion. We will check it out.

Larry

[555lavan1t]

My DH booked this trip yesterday. Mrlevin, could you please email your TA as well. We're finding it confusing trying to decide on excursions, but would definitely be interested in the van tour in Bali, 555lavan1t or MomOf3.

 

 

 

Sounds like a good option, especially since we will be in Bali for 2 days. My wife and I want to do the cooking excursion as well. You are right about the difficulty in deciding what to do. To make matters worse, we will be traveling in Montana fly fishing when the excursions open up. Don't know how we'll handle that.

[txladycruiser]

DW and I are going on the reverse route in January. We've booked Borobudur in Semarang and the Great Barrier Reef catamaran in Cairns excursions. Also DW wants to do the cooking school excursion in Bali -- any comments on that one?

 

 

We did the cooking school in Bali this year. We both enjoyed it a lot. First, we went to a local market. The guide told us about the different spices and fruits common in Bali. The market was a great place to take some awesome "people" photos, too. Then we went to the resort. The cooking class was already set up. We made 5-7 different dishes which became our lunch. The resort is very pretty too.

 

Karen

[mom0f3]

Sadly, we had to cancel this itinerary due to time constraints. We'll be on the 7 day Athens to Istanbul in April instead. We'll need to wait til 2013 --but if we like Regent, we'll definitely sign up then.

[commodoredave]

We did the cooking school in Bali this year. We both enjoyed it a lot. First, we went to a local market. The guide told us about the different spices and fruits common in Bali. The market was a great place to take some awesome "people" photos, too. Then we went to the resort. The cooking class was already set up. We made 5-7 different dishes which became our lunch. The resort is very pretty too.

 

Karen

 

In that case, I guess we'll be taking the cooking course. Thanks.

[kihei228]

MomOf3: We'll be sorry to miss you on this cruise, always fun to have fellow Californians on a cruise. Have a great time on yours.

 

Larry: Which is not to say we're not fans of Texas. ;) Don't know how the booking works for the private van in Bali. Do we just sign up for a van and they put us with other passengers that have signed up as well? If that is the case, is the tour the same for everyone, or is there some leeway as far as choosing sightseeing?

 

I'd ask these questions on our roll call, but that seems to be a lonely place on CC currently.

Laurie

[jhp]

We had a group together when we booked our van thru Regent in Bali, and they split the charges amongst us as I remember, on a per person basis. You could always collect a group yourself onboard if they don't.

 

I'm sure they have a suggested itinerary, but we knew what we wanted to do, and just told the driver. He was great. Our van was an all-day thing, and so we split up the morning and afternoon with a nice relaxing lunch at the 4 Seasons Resort (I think that was the one) near Ubud. It was just a wonderful day from start to finish. Until we got back to the ship, and had to wait for some arriving passengers and missed the next port because of the tides.

[kihei228]

JHP: Thanks! Do you recall what you saw, or what you did? Really like the idea of lunch at the

Four Seasons! :)

Laurie

[jhp]

JHP: Thanks! Do you recall what you saw, or what you did? Really like the idea of lunch at the

Four Seasons! :)

Laurie

 

Laurie, as I said, we booked through Regent,full day van for 6 (ours could have held about 15, much bigger than others) and those guys have a "suggested itinerary" As I recall, we went first to a temple, it was mostly outdoors (very small museum inside), with grounds that were well, Asian, and several structures. Across the road, another big structure, the men were preparing for a feast that only occurs once every 7 years, I forget the particulars of the reason for this local holiday, (a big deal, lots of people) but we watched them preparing the meat, and preparing for the fire to cook it with coconuts husks. Lots of good photo ops for people shots, a big local event on this particular date. Loved being able to see this, locals so happy to be getting ready for a big "event" in the village. We visited a wood carving place, with the carvers outdoors under lean to's showing you the craft, and big shop (more commercial) inside with the finished products, which none of us purchased, but LOTS of choices here. We visited the terraced rice fields, which are a beauty to behold, and many more photographs in this village and one beyond. In between somewhere, we had our lunch at 4 Seasons resort after leaving Ubud, which had a huge market where we stopped and shopped. SO many things to buy here in the way of local crafts, jewelry, artwork, you name it. Ubud is long known as an artisan's colony. There was also a shopping market at the rice fields, mostly street side stalls, and there, vendors can be aggresive. I only wish this guide's card survived a recent wallet clean-out or I'd pass it along, but hope this helps.

[kihei228]

Jhp: Thanks for the info, it sounds like you had a great time. Sorry to be late responding, but I had the grandkids overnight and they wouldn't let me near my iPad!:D

Laurie

[west23hill]

Aloha to anyone out there who has taken the Sydney to Auckland cruise or will be taking the cruise.

We are having trouble deciding which is (are) the best tour(s) to take during these two port stops.

Can anyone help with info and/or recomendations??

 

thanx

bev

[commodoredave]

Aloha to anyone out there who has taken the Sydney to Auckland cruise or will be taking the cruise.

We are having trouble deciding which is (are) the best tour(s) to take during these two port stops.

Can anyone help with info and/or recomendations??

 

thanx

bev

 

DW and I in the same situation. We are doing back-to-back cruises on the Voyager, including the Sydney to Auckland cruise. We're leaning towards the Central South Island Highlights tour (free) in Timaru, and the Tranzelpine rail tour ($399)in Akaroa. The latter is very, very expensive, so we have been holding off booking it hoping to learn more about it before taking the plunge. Can anyone comment on that rail trip?

[Gilly]

We have done the Tranzalpine rail trip independently (not as part of a group) and loved it. the landscape is amazing and we found the whole journey to be truly memorable. However, like all of these ventures, it is very weather dependent - and we were very lucky to have clear skies and good visibility even though it was July/August when we were there. The western side of the south island can be wet (I wonder if that's an understatement?!) but hey, you might be as lucky as we were!

Our question is usually "will we come this way again?" and if the answer is "probably not" then we'll take the chance.

 

I'm not sure if that helps or not ;-)

 

(edited afterthought...we're sailing Sydney to Singapore...we might hear first hand how it was for you!)

[commodoredave]

We have done the Tranzalpine rail trip independently (not as part of a group) and loved it. the landscape is amazing and we found the whole journey to be truly memorable. However, like all of these ventures, it is very weather dependent - and we were very lucky to have clear skies and good visibility even though it was July/August when we were there. The western side of the south island can be wet (I wonder if that's an understatement?!) but hey, you might be as lucky as we were!

Our question is usually "will we come this way again?" and if the answer is "probably not" then we'll take the chance.

 

I'm not sure if that helps or not ;-)

 

(edited afterthought...we're sailing Sydney to Singapore...we might hear first hand how it was for you!)

 

It does help, thank you. Do you recall the cost of the Tranzalpine train trip that you did on your own? And is it easy to get to the station, or difficult? Maybe we should do it on our own if savings is enough. Thanks.

[rallydave]

It does help, thank you. Do you recall the cost of the Tranzalpine train trip that you did on your own? And is it easy to get to the station, or difficult? Maybe we should do it on our own if savings is enough. Thanks.

 

My DW and I did the Tranzalpine as part of a bus tour of NZ a few years ago and we went from Christchurch to Arthurs Pass where we got on our bus for the rest of the day. The total trip coast to coast and takes most of the day so I am guessing that the Regent tour includes an overnight before rejoining the ship. That said, the price sounds reasonable.

 

To do this yourself in one day and get back to the ship would involve a lot of logistics and about an hour in Gremouth before the return. The fare varies from $99 to $139 NZ Dollars each way. Just Google Tranzalpine and you can get fares, timetable, etc.

[Gilly]

Oh my...dredging through the grey matter isn't a pretty sight <g>

 

I was about to make a few guesses and then thought your query was a jolly good excuse to get out the old travel journal and get the facts. Oh my...time to find out how quickly time passes. We were there in 1991!! Good grief....we must have been kids !

 

Anyway, though there's not much point in my sharing how much we paid (!) I can tell you that we went with Pacific Tourways on a day tour from Christchurch - and can you believe, the same (or remarkably similar) tour still exists today

http://www.alpinesafari.co.nz/ . So when I said we travelled independently, I had forgotten that we booked a commercial tour rather than simply buying a train ticket, if you see what I mean. We were collected from our hotel and delivered back to it and I recall that the train itself was very busy indeed - reserved seats necessary for sure. I had also forgotten that we did other activities that day - the jetboating and driving had disconnected in my memory from the train experience.

 

We've since been back to NZ on several occasions but have not revisited the Tranzalpine route. I think it could be time we did!

 

(Edited additional information having just read RallyDave's post: our train journey finished at Arthurs Pass and didn't go the whole way to Greymouth. I believe that, as you say, most day trips do just that half of the route)

[commodoredave]

Thanks for the info. I'm also looking into doing it by car -- either a rental or a private tour. There are 4 of us (two couples), so we have a lot of budget before we hit the $1600 limit that it would cost us to do it with Regent. I just find $400 a person for this tour a bit rich. Maybe I'm wrong.