Sydney Australia questions

[2cruisecats]

We will be in Sydney 4 days on our own pre-cruise and are looking for Hotel recommendations.  

If you have a fav restaurant or "must see", I'll add it to my growing list!,  Thanks!

 

[katlew]

39 minutes ago, 2cruisecats said:

We will be in Sydney 4 days on our own pre-cruise and are looking for Hotel recommendations.  

If you have a fav restaurant or "must see", I'll add it to my growing list!,  Thanks!

 

How much are you looking to spend? We stayed at the Four Seasons & it was fabulous. A great location too.

[zalusky]

On the other side of the coin we chose the Sydney Metro Marlow hotel because it was one of the pickup spots for the fabulous Blue Mountains tour by Andersons.   We knew we were going to be mostly out and the hotel was less important but it was awful.  The AC did not seem to work on our entire floor.  They had to replace the door on the safe in our room.  The towels were paper thin.  The beds were awful.  On the second night we asked if there was a room we could be moved to where the AC worked and they put us in a room with a double and a single.  The bed wheels did not lock and the bed moved across the floor a little too easy.   The AC was weird as it made the room cooler but did not seem to reduce the humidity.

 

The one positive thing is it was close to transportation.  There were two different trams within a block and Chinatown was a block away.

[LindaS272]

We can recommend the Rydges Sydney Harbour for the views of the Opera House. It’s right at the cruise dock, too. Very convenient location for walking to restaurants, shopping & transit. We stayed there in 2017.

[CurlerRob]

7 hours ago, 2cruisecats said:

If you have a fav restaurant or "must see", I'll add it to my growing list!,  

 

A few thoughts on "must see/do" items:

 

Sydney Bridge Climb (if you are active and don't mind heights)

Slow (not fast) ferry to Manly - then walk the Marine Parade 

North and/or South head

Sydney Aquarium

Fortune of War pub - oldest in Sydney (NOT a fancy restaurant)

The Little Snail restaurant - Darling Harbour

Edited January 23, 2023 by CurlerRob
Completion

[makaha]

We love The Marriott…..great location!

[SteelCity Cruiser]

Sheraton Grand on Hyde Park,  Fantastic location and a beautiful hotel.  20 minute walk to the harbor and a metro stop right across the street.  Staff and service is excellent.  Will second the suggestion of the ferry to Manley - cute beach town.  We had lunch at The Pantry - right on the beach, and it was marvelous.  We also did the Viator tour of the Sydney Opera House and it was quite good.

[zalusky]

We just got back from a Sydney cruise on the competition and one thing I will note is January is nuts in Sydney.  We did a ferry to Manley and there were lines everywhere.  The only restaurant that did not seem to have a line was the german Bavaria restaurant.

 

 

[SteelCity Cruiser]

2 hours ago, zalusky said:

We just got back from a Sydney cruise on the competition and one thing I will note is January is nuts in Sydney.  We did a ferry to Manley and there were lines everywhere.  The only restaurant that did not seem to have a line was the german Bavaria restaurant.

 

 

That's interesting.  It is summer vacation time in this part of the world so some crowds are expected.  Were you in Sydney on the weekend?  We were there on a Wednesday-Thursday and didn't have a problem with lines at all.  The Circular Quay was bustling and many of the restaurants were very busy, but we didn't have any problems.  Do try and avoid lunching/having dinner around peak periods - we generally went around 11-11:30 for lunch and either early (5:30) or late (7-7:30) for dinner.

[zalusky]

35 minutes ago, SteelCity Cruiser said:

That's interesting.  It is summer vacation time in this part of the world so some crowds are expected.  Were you in Sydney on the weekend?  We were there on a Wednesday-Thursday and didn't have a problem with lines at all.  The Circular Quay was bustling and many of the restaurants were very busy, but we didn't have any problems.  Do try and avoid lunching/having dinner around peak periods - we generally went around 11-11:30 for lunch and either early (5:30) or late (7-7:30) for dinner.

Wednesday last week.  Manly seemed to have long lines at all the cheaper restaurants.

The more expensive 4 dollar restaurants not so much.

 

Yea Circular Quay area was busy but not as bad.

Edited January 23, 2023 by zalusky