First timer to Princess - Austrialia embarkation question

[Z3r0]

My wife and I will be taking our first Princess cruise in December (Ruby from Australia to New Zealand) and are very excited.  The itinerary shows 5 days at sea, so we want to maximize our time in Sydney as much as possible, as it will likely be a very long time before we go back.  The ship leaves Sydney at 6:45 PM.  If we planned to be at the port for 3 pm, would that give us enough time, or should we plan to be there earlier.  We will be staying in Sydney the night before, if that matters.

 

Any advice/recommendations would be appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance!

[polmcs]

If your time in Sydney is more important to you than getting aboard ASAP, then even getting to the terminal at 3PM is way too early! 😉 

 

Your boarding passes should show embarkation times including a board by time. Now I would never advocate waiting till the last minute, but I would imagine that you would need to be aboard by 5 to 5:30PM at the latest, so even I would have no qualms about showing up by around 4PM  if those timings were correct. 

 

We were lucky enough to sail out of Sydney last April and it is truly an amazing city to visit, so try to make the most of it. As it happened, our boarding was delayed as the previous cruise was late in docking, so we got to spend a few more hours than planned, so got to squeeze in a few more things that we wanted to do. The downside was that we were in the MDR  for dinner whilst sailing under the harbor bridge, so missed that particular viewpoint due to the late departure.

[Cruise Junky]

Just a heads up New Zealand is starting to require an electronic travel authorization in October. I haven’t seen any details yet on if cruise ship passengers will need one, but keep an eye out. 

[BRANDEE]

3 minutes ago, Cruise Junky said:

Just a heads up New Zealand is starting to require an electronic travel authorization in October. I haven’t seen any details yet on if cruise ship passengers will need one, but keep an eye out. 

Thanks for the head's up.  Traveling to Australia 5 days prior our March New Zealand/Fuji  cruise next year and know we need a visa.  Will be looking out for the new electronic authorization requirements.

[caribill]

1 hour ago, Cruise Junky said:

Just a heads up New Zealand is starting to require an electronic travel authorization in October. I haven’t seen any details yet on if cruise ship passengers will need one, but keep an eye out. 

 

Cruise ship passengers will need to get an ETA and also pay The International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy.

 

https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/new-zealand-new-entry-requirements-electronic-travel-authority?did=356880-20190326&utm_campaign=just-in_newsletter

[Fosters1951]

6 hours ago, Z3r0 said:

My wife and I will be taking our first Princess cruise in December (Ruby from Australia to New Zealand) and are very excited.  The itinerary shows 5 days at sea, so we want to maximize our time in Sydney as much as possible, as it will likely be a very long time before we go back.  The ship leaves Sydney at 6:45 PM.  If we planned to be at the port for 3 pm, would that give us enough time, or should we plan to be there earlier.  We will be staying in Sydney the night before, if that matters.

 

Any advice/recommendations would be appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance!

If you are sailing on the 5th December, you are scheduled to depart from the Overseas Passenger Terminal, which is the terminal at Circular Quay/'The Rocks' (opposite the Opera House), so this gives you a bit more time to explore, as depending where you are staying, it is close to the railway station and some of the major hotels.

If you were departing from White Bay Terminal, you have to allow more time to get there, as it requires more travel with fewer options.

[GUT2407]

If it’s Ruby it will be the OPT no matter what date, she won’t fit under the bridge.

[skynight]

11 hours ago, Z3r0 said:

My wife and I will be taking our first Princess cruise in December (Ruby from Australia to New Zealand) and are very excited.  The itinerary shows 5 days at sea, so we want to maximize our time in Sydney as much as possible, as it will likely be a very long time before we go back.  The ship leaves Sydney at 6:45 PM.  If we planned to be at the port for 3 pm, would that give us enough time, or should we plan to be there earlier.  We will be staying in Sydney the night before, if that matters.

 

Any advice/recommendations would be appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance!

Australia and Sydney are interesting places to visit. When we cruised from Sydney we took a land tour before boarding the ship. If you have the time I would recommend this. If you can't fit in a land tour then I would highly recommend spending a number of days in Australia, not just the one night that you have planned. This gives you time to tour around and also time to adjust to the time and date change. It's around 24 hours in the air. You will be tired, even if you fly first class. We flew in four days before we had to join our land tour. We booked our flight to Sydney via Melbourne where we took a two day stop over. You can also book via Brisbane. I would strongly recommend this travel plan rather than trying to fit one day with a few extra hours in Sydney.

 

[Cruise Junky]

7 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Cruise ship passengers will need to get an ETA and also pay The International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy.

 

https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/new-zealand-new-entry-requirements-electronic-travel-authority?did=356880-20190326&utm_campaign=just-in_newsletter

Thanks - Canada's doesn't apply to Cruise Ship Passengers, only flights so didn't want to assume.