Hi we have booked the same cruise for 15th march 2010 we also had a good deal booked with cruise1st,
we are flying to Melbourne via Hong Kong where we stay overnight,having 12 nights with family in Melbourne
then fly onto Perth for 3 nights pre cruise booked in the Parmelia Hilton,we have 4nights post cruise in Sydney
and 2 nights Hong Kong on our return to Heathrow flying with Cathay Pacific.

Have just booked the http://www.taieri.co.nz rail excursion in Dunedin and a tour to the Blue Mountains in Sydney both
are easy to diy and saves on the ship tours,still looking at other tours in Aus/New Zealand,we are booked on deck4 OV can let you have details on our return in April 2010.
This will be our 2nd cruise with RCI we were on the Voyager in August[med cruise] the ship was super.have also cruised with Carnival
which we love, and Costa not so good, the dining room meals on Carnival were better than those on RCI 5 courses as to 3 on RCI
the meals in the Windjammer/Island Grill [RCI] were superb ,we found the staterooms on Carnival to be bigger than RCI,hope this helps
would cruise with both again without hesitation.
annx

good shows 0n The Voyager, ice show was amazing,but no ice rink on the Rhapsody

Thanks a lot for that, I hope you have a fantastic cruise. I will be looking forward to seeing a review of your cruise. We will be having a week in Perth before our cruise then when we land back in Sydney we will be going to Canberra for a visit as our daughter is moving there shortly.
Where abouts in England do you live, we are emigrants to Aus but a long time ago, 30yrs now. I was from Leeds and my husband from Sheffield, we went back to England for the first time 2 yrs ago, wow, did we seem some changes, but we had a great time, didnt get back up to Yorkshire as my sister llives just outside Brighton so we spent most of our time there, but did lots of sightseeing and enjoyed it all. Looking forward to hearing from you.

PS Our daughter went on the Taieri Gorgre Rail trip last year and said it was absolutly beautiful.

Hi we live in South Wales between Cardiff and Swansea in a nice seaside town
my husbands sister and family emigrated to Australia in 1974 they live in Frankston
[Melbourne] we also have family in Burwood and very good friends in Mornington [love it there]
they are originaly from Sunderland. Sister&b/in/law are joining us on the cruise it will be the first
cruise for them so they are really excited,where in Australia do to live,we have been a few times
so travelled quite a bit,Perth, Brisbane Gold Coast Sydney looking forwad to returning to Perth&
Sydney.
annx

Hi Ann, you probably wont believe this but we have never been to Wales, its ridiculous isnt it, we travelled thousands of miles to come to Australia, we have travelled all over Australia, been to Hawaii, USA and Alaska, but never seen Wales or Scotland! When we were first married we were living at RAF Shawbury in Shropshire, (near Shrewsbury), which was quite close to Wales, but we never made it to your country which I believe is beautiful.
We live in Queensland in a town called Toowoomba which is about 120kms from Brisbane. We have lived in Queensland ever since we emigrated in 1970, but mostly in North Qld, all around the Townsville area, it is much cooler here in Toowoomba though which makes for much more comfortable living. It is absolutley beautiful at the moment, we have just gone into Spring, all the tree's are in blossom, gardens full of azaleas, jasmin and wisteria, everywhere the air is so perfumed, I cant seem to stop taking photo's of flowers!!
We too are looking forward to seeing Perth again, we were last there in 1997 and were very impressed, it is a beautiful clean city.
Please keep in touch Ann, it is lovely to hear from you and all your plans for your cruise.
Cheers for now
Joan.

Hi Joan, just picked up this thread. We are doing this cruise in November (only 7 weeks to go ) with 2 night in Singapore, l night in Perth, then the cruise and a night in Sydney. Can't wait. I'll try and remember to do a review on our return - 23rd November. Give me a few days to get over the jetlag and if nothing has appeared then give me a nudge!

Incidentally, we drove through Toowoomba 3 years ago when we did a drive from Sydney to Cairns!

Ann, I note you have booked for the rail trip out of Dunedin. The shore excursions are finally on line and having fainted at some the prices (I knew they would be high, but....) we're looking at what we can do ourselves. The only thing that worries me is booking for something and then finding we can't make it (ship late docking, etc). Are there any provisions for this or is it simply you just take the risk? I would also be worried that if there was any delay on a diy trip that we'd miss the boat, or am I just being paranoid?

Rosalyn

Hi Rosalyn yes the cruise prices give you a ,we try and book as much DIY as possible,the ship docks in Dunedin at 08:00
so gives you 1hr 15mins to get your ticket,you don,t pay untill the day, they only reserve the seats,the train station is 20mins from
the dock there should be shuttle buses but think we may get a taxi.maybe you could let me know what is best when you return,we just booked our tour to the Blue mountains in Sydney,our family in Australia booked it and the first 2 company,s they tried were full,we are there over easter so must be really busy,
Hope you have a great cruise and look forward to your report on return,we are away from 15th nov/8th dec so will catch up then
Thanks annx

Hi Joan have sent you a PM
annx

Hi Roslyn, I envy you being so close to your cruise date, have a wonderful time and PLEASE do a review when you get home.
I dont know wether this will be a help or not, but on all our previous cruises, (mostly in USA and Alaska), we found that there was always tour operaters waiting on the docks touting for business and they were always massively cheaper than the cruise ships tours, or have you thought about hiring a car for a day? we intend to do that in Bunbury as the coast is very pretty there and we are toying with the idea of doing the same in Dunedin. Christchurch sounds like it will be easy to 'do your own thing', I have seen on the net where we can buy a ticket for $50-00 which covers a Gondola type ride, a punt down the Avon River and a tram ride. In Wellington we have been told not to miss the Museum, I am not a mueum type of person but out daughter went there last year and they thought it was fantastic, and that was coming from two teenage children, so it must be pretty good. It will be interesting to see which tours you take.

We had already decided to try and do as many shore excursions on our own before the prices were revealed. Its quite easy(ish) to break down what we want to see and whether it can be done diy. We drove through Bunbury in March on our way to Margaret River but did manage to spend time in Busselton which was lovely. Looking at the ship excursion out of Bunbury I don't think either town would be given justice, so this time is easy; we'll just explore Bunbury ourselves. I have a pocket travel guide for Oz which has a nice sounding walk round Adelaide so I think we might well do that; Melbourne we have visited twice before so we'll probably not to any trips but again just wander round the town. Incidentally, if you have the time here I would recommend a visit to the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It was far more interesting than we'd expected but it did take longer than we thought - nearly 4 hours (including lunch) - so you may feel not this time. Tasmania is probably the one place we are debating whether or not to take the ship excursions. Cradle Mountains and Port Arthur are a fairish way out and I might feel happier doing that with the ship so that I know we'd be back in time. We could, again, just wander round Hobart but still thinking on that one.
We are planning a trip to New Zealand with our friends in 2012 (have to save up!) so may just look for hop-on-hop-off type buses to give us an overall look at the place.
We still have time to make (and change) decisions - which is part of the fun.

Rosalyn

Getting excited now. Less than a week before we fly to Singapore and Perth and just over a week before the cruise. Have reserved the rail excursion out of Dunedin as suggested, but have booked one ship organised excursion. We have chosen to do the City Wine & Aboriginal Culture tour out of Adelaide. If drinks are as expensive on board as everyone says they are, then we will make sure we have a lot of tastings on this trip! We are seriously considering hiring a car when we arrive in Hobart and can then do Port Arthur and area at our own pace. Neither of us like being regimented - we did the Great Ocean Road some years ago and it was almost a case of 'off the bus, take a photo and back on the bus' without much time to draw breath. I've also found a great walk round the main areas of Christchurch which, weather permitting, I think we will do. For everything else I guess we will see how it pans out.

Rosalyn

Hi Rosalyn have a great cruise not long now waiting to hear your report on return
We are off to Goa on the 15th Nov, home Dec 9th will look in on the cruise forum then.
annx

Hi Roslyn, have a great cruise, cant wait to hear all about it, I am sure you will love it. I am really curious to find out if Rhapsody has tea making facilities in your cabin, also, I read somewhere the other day that there are no fridges in cabins on Rhapsody, so would be nice to know if that is right too,so looking forward to hearing all about your trip.
We are going to hire a car at Bunbury, the drive down through Busselton and to Cape Naturaliste is supposed to be very scenic. That is a good idea to hire a car in Hobart, we spent last Christmas in Tasmania and found Hobart very easy to drive around, there is some lovely scenery on the drive to Port Arthur so I am sure you will enjoy it. Have a great time.