"Live" Majestic Princess, 33-Days, Apr 10th to May 12th, Sydney to Seattle (+6 Nights Sydney Pre-Cruise)

[call_your_mother]

On 3/29/2024 at 12:15 AM, LACruiser88 said:

Just look for the tall Cuban with a mustache, with a good-looking brunette!

 

We don't go to the Elite Cocktail Hour.  Debbie says that I don't play well with others! 🤣🤪

 

 

😂🤣🤣 Sounds like my husband's words: "Doesn't play well with others." In our picture, my husband hasn't changed; for me, that's not the case. Hope to meet you onboard!  I'll look for a " tall Cuban with a mustache, with a good-looking brunette!

[call_your_mother]

15 minutes ago, call_your_mother said:

 

We used a taxi van, which cost way too much!  Take @Yehootu advice . . . Use Uber everyone!

 

I forgot to mention that the airport taxi ride to Four Seasons was $121AUD. 

 

We are staying at Meritons Suites in the Darling Harbor area this time. Our suite is like an apartment; it has a washer and dryer, dishwasher, microwave, coffee/espresso machine, and a balcony overlooking a small section of Darling Harbor. Our travel agents highly recommend it.

[LACruiser88]

1 hour ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Count me out for this one.

Looking forward to seeing you guys on a future sailing.  Best of luck to your grandson!  🙂

[azbirdmom]

1 hour ago, call_your_mother said:

 

We used a taxi van, which cost way too much!  Take @Yehootu advice . . . Use Uber everyone!

 

If you're staying near Circular Quay the train is the best deal from the airport.  We learned that the hard way a couple of years ago after catching a taxi during rush hour.  I can't remember the exact amount but thinking it was north of $140 AUD.  Last December we took the train, easy peasy!

[Yehootu]

6 hours ago, call_your_mother said:

We are staying at Meritons Suites in the Darling Harbor area this time.

Spent a 1/2hr this am waiting for Starbucks to open right below the Meriton Suites. Yelp lied, they open at 0700 and not 0630. Pretty quiet streets at that time of the morning.

[call_your_mother]

6 hours ago, azbirdmom said:

 

If you're staying near Circular Quay the train is the best deal from the airport.  We learned that the hard way a couple of years ago after catching a taxi during rush hour.  I can't remember the exact amount but thinking it was north of $140 AUD.  Last December we took the train, easy peasy!

 

We have too much luggage to take the train. I swear, every trip we take, I am going to pack less, and for some reason, we still take the same amount of luggage. 🙄

[call_your_mother]

45 minutes ago, Yehootu said:

Spent a 1/2hr this am waiting for Starbucks to open right below the Meriton Suites. Yelp lied, they open at 0700 and not 0630. Pretty quiet streets at that time of the morning.

 

We didn't see a Starbucks! The only 6:30 I see is pm! 😴 😉 Thankfully, our suite has a coffee machine.

[PescadoAmarillo]

11 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

Looking forward to seeing you guys on a future sailing.  Best of luck to your grandson!  🙂

Not a grandson, but still, thanks very much. It’s an exciting time for him. Anxious to hear what you’ve planned for Auckland. So many choices!

[LACruiser88]

2 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Not a grandson, but still, thanks very much. It’s an exciting time for him. Anxious to hear what you’ve planned for Auckland. So many choices!

In Auckland we are doing the ho/ho bus.  That should give us a good layout of the city.  We will be back there in 2026 and will plan something different for that visit.

[c-boy]

1 hour ago, LACruiser88 said:

In Auckland we are doing the ho/ho bus.  That should give us a good layout of the city.  We will be back there in 2026 and will plan something different for that visit.

A good time and place to pick up a bottle or two... or three 😉

[LACruiser88]

2 minutes ago, c-boy said:

A good time and place to pick up a bottle or two... or three 😉

I'm sure our cabin will look like a mini Total Wines by the time we leave New Zealand!!!  🍷  We have to stock-up for our crossing to Vancouver!  🤣

[azbirdmom]

1 hour ago, LACruiser88 said:

In Auckland we are doing the ho/ho bus.  That should give us a good layout of the city.  We will be back there in 2026 and will plan something different for that visit.

We did the HOHO in December through Princess.  I think it was the only Princess excursion we booked.  They picked up right by the ship but the drop off was a couple of blocks away at a stop on the regular HOHO route (the port isn't a normal stop).  There are two different routes and you can do both if you want, or you can switch to another one at the museum and do part of one and part of another (what we did as we wanted some time to walk around the CBD at the end).

[LACruiser88]

@azbirdmom  Thank you for the information.  We are doing the regular HOHO and we definitely like to walk.  

 

Btw, I love your profile pic.  We were in the exotic bird business for 40+ years and our specialty was White-bellied and Black-headed Caiques.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 30 by LACruiser88

[azbirdmom]

4 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

We were in the exotic bird business for 40+ years and our specialty was White-bellied and Black-headed Caiques.

 

How fun!  We love our little one.  We call her a small feathered person, she really is a member of the family (flock) although she scolds us when we come home from our cruises.

[LACruiser88]

Looks like we'll need to pack an umbrella for our week in Sydney.

 

[sailingkiwi]

You will definitely need warm and waterproof layers for NZ. Seems like in Wellington we are not getting an Indian Summer this year.

 

Light merino layers are a go to for a lot of us at this time of year. 

[sailingkiwi]

4 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

@azbirdmom  Thank you for the information.  We are doing the regular HOHO and we definitely like to walk.  

 

Btw, I love your profile pic.  We were in the exotic bird business for 40+ years and our specialty was White-bellied and Black-headed Caiques.

 

 

 

 

Hope you’ve got Zealandia on your agenda for Wellington to check out our local native parrots -  Kakariki and Kaka

[LACruiser88]

14 minutes ago, sailingkiwi said:

Hope you’ve got Zealandia on your agenda for Wellington to check out our local native parrots -  Kakariki and Kaka

We didn't but we will now!  Thank you for the recommendation!  Btw, we bred two species of Kakariki's.  🦜

[PandaBear62]

I'm very interested in following your adventures. I've been thinking about doing this cruise (whether it ends on the West Coast or Hawaii). My husband is less interested, so I hope to learn some information to persuade him!

[Yehootu]

Boarded yesterday, here's a few observations:

Got a Uber XL from Darling Harbor at 1000. Needed bigger Uber as wife almost bought out Haymarket getting Grandkids stuff

Easter Sunday and was surprised not too much traffic. 

Bag check in easy and quick. Was informed wedding party to board first so headed off to get cup of coffee.

Saw that boarding had started and headed to the line.

Once inside, they just put you in whatever line they want. Have no idea what Priority was.

Got to counter and took pictures and checked passports.

Agent said she'd go get our Medallions, both my wife and I had ours around our necks, Oops.

Orderly flow through security and on to ship. Was onboard by 1045. 

Actually very easy and was quick even though it seemed unorganised.

We were able to put a few things in safe and off for first of many beers.

Met dining room manager and secured a nice table for 2 for all 40 days

Room fully ready by 1145.

Today dark and showers on the horizon.

Can't get my Firestick to accept all of the log in info for March Madness.

[LACruiser88]

6 minutes ago, Yehootu said:

Needed bigger Uber as wife almost bought out Haymarket getting Grandkids stuff

Debbie usually does the same thing! 🤣   Have a great cruise, see you soon!

[PescadoAmarillo]

20 minutes ago, Yehootu said:

Can't get my Firestick to accept all of the log in info for March Madness.

Yikes!  Purdue just beat Tennessee in a fantastic game!  Edey was 🔥.

[Yehootu]

27 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Yikes!  Purdue just beat Tennessee in a fantastic game!  Edey was 🔥.

Ahhhhh, won't accept birth month but everything else. 

[truffles68]

1 hour ago, Yehootu said:

Boarded yesterday, here's a few observations:

Got a Uber XL from Darling Harbor at 1000. Needed bigger Uber as wife almost bought out Haymarket getting Grandkids stuff

Easter Sunday and was surprised not too much traffic. 

Bag check in easy and quick. Was informed wedding party to board first so headed off to get cup of coffee.

Saw that boarding had started and headed to the line.

Once inside, they just put you in whatever line they want. Have no idea what Priority was.

Got to counter and took pictures and checked passports.

Agent said she'd go get our Medallions, both my wife and I had ours around our necks, Oops.

Orderly flow through security and on to ship. Was onboard by 1045. 

Actually very easy and was quick even though it seemed unorganised.

We were able to put a few things in safe and off for first of many beers.

Met dining room manager and secured a nice table for 2 for all 40 days

Room fully ready by 1145.

Today dark and showers on the horizon.

Can't get my Firestick to accept all of the log in info for March Madness.

May I ask what time and where ( which dining room) were you able to meet with the dining room manager to secure a nice table for 2 for 40 days ?

 

I was able to do that precovid where there was a set time ( eg 2pm) with the maitre d in a specified dining room 

Thanks.

[LACruiser88]

1 hour ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Yikes!  Purdue just beat Tennessee in a fantastic game!  Edey was 🔥.

One hell of a game!!!  🏀🏀🏀