Travel & Holidays Travel 2017 - Where to next....

We went to Sentosa recently. Mainly because we went there 30 years ago when we first met. They were just building the monorail then.
Grab a brochure from the hotel as there is a 10% discount coupon. Get the Sentosa pass. We liked it but wished we'd taken our swimmers as there's a decent beach.

At night make sure you go to the Garden By the Bay light show. There are 2 a night, free. If you go to the early one you can grab something to eat and then go to the light/laser show over the water nearby.

Chinatown is interesting. Lots of cheap stuff (if you like that type of thing).

 

We went to Batam Island from Singapore - that was really great too. We saw a guy eat a glass in a 'cultural show'

 

Haha - thankfully no. Seeing it go in was enough.

 

Do tell Indifference. Where to for all trips and how long for each one?

 

Something a bit different

April - Buccaneer Archipelago or Montebello Islands
May - Abrolhos Islands
Jun - Karijini
Dec - Taiwan

 

Karajini is amazing - pack warm, it's freezing at night that time of year!!

 

That is some pretty common feedback =( You should have seen the crowds in Hobart when the ship came in! I was working that day and lots of passengers expressed similar sentiments.

 

I Just got off voyager of the seas today. Had a great time but have to say we enjoyed radiance of the seas better as the ship is smaller and we thought the service was better. (I'm starting to think bigger isn't necessarily better). We are thinking of booking ovations of the sea but I'll wait until my brother in law gives me his thoughts next month (he's doing a three day sampler.

@beachgurl would like to know your overall thoughts? Have you been on any other ships to compare. Thanks

 

I've been on the Radiance too. I liked that the nightly fun was in the atrium section and the hot dog stand was in an easily accessible spot that was comfortable to hang out.
The ovation was much more beautiful and elegant. It was pretty to look at and the technology of one of the entertainment areas was impresssive but things were less accessible. Unless you booked with a large group or had access to online booking, you weren't able to get a time slot for the ifly or the North Star. And you had to line up in the standby line for the shows. The kids loved the dreamworlds characters, that aren't on the smaller ships.

I've been on the Carnival Spirit too. Much more child friendly but rsl-like in comparison to rccl.

 

Thanks @beachgurl for the feedback.

Ok seems like the booking part might not be too bad as we go in a group of 11 people including the kids.we've been on carnival spirit also and had a great time ( yeah agree about the rsl part). The voyager and explore ships both have dreamworks characters and would agree the kids loved that too.

We're booked celebrity solstice for something different at the end of the year (been on p and o,carnival spirit, radiance, explorer and now voyager) This one goes up north near the great Barrier reef for something different (been to south pacific, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Zealand). As soon as the price comes down on ovation I'm sure we'll be on it then (my brother in law is paying $1000pp for 3 nights which personally I think is to much. like him I have 3 kids ). At the end of the day it sounds like you had a great time and it beats been at work .

 

Great to see some cruising discussion here.

I have been on the Carnival Spirit (Pacific) and the Celebrity Century (South Australia and Melbourne). Agree that the spirit had a garish décor at places but I found the ship to be a lot more 'joyful' than the Celebrity ship which was supposedly more upmarket. We had a good time on both (hell yeah!, beats the office cubicle any day).

But for under $1000 PP for an extended balcony on the Spirit, great staff (they adored my then 14 month daughter and spoilt her silly) and just the other passengers seemed so happy to be on a cruise!

Solstice apparently is a great ship @josh123. You will have an amazing time I am sure.

 

Total agree we are more rsl type people then 5 star people which is what celebrity solstice is, from what Iv read . So we are not sure if it will suit us, time will tell lol. Totally agree about the staff on carnival, very kid friendly. That's part of the reason why we've booked carnival spirit in April 2018 again and kids club of course!!!

 

We went on the Sea Princess in Nov, it cost 1,033 per person for twin share for 11 nights.

We stopped at 6 places (Different one each day).

My favourite stop was Champagne Bay, We reckon we could drop out of western world and live there for the rest of our lives .

2017 we will be going to Fiji in Oct, currently thinking Mana island. It's for my Dads 70th and my brother and I are going halves on taking my mum and dad there so it should be one really big nice family holiday .

Other than that I am saving my annual leave, I want to take as much time out as possible when we move in 12 - 18 months .

 

We most likely will be booking a tour to see the observatories in September.

 

For us, booked so far:

April - 2 weeks in Italy (first time there, visiting Rome, Florence, Venice) and then 1 week in eastern Europe to visit family and friends;
September - 10 days in Hawaii (also first time, Oahu and Big Island).

 

We've already booked a Vietnam trip for this year, so I was interested when this announcement was made by Jetstar.

The cheap tix don't include luggage, food, drinks, seat selection or inflight entertainment. But, adding in their Plus package gets that & means return tix from $500.... that's cheaper than flying to Canberra!

I think this route & their aggressive pricing will entice many to give Vietnam a go. Now if they could just make the visa process easier for Australians... .

 

Hi, go to Audio Tours for Europe by Rick Steves
and download Rick steve's audio tours. They are fantastic and you can do your own guided tour, download on phone, IPod, MP3. We used them for the grand canal (just turn it on and it tells you- "on the right" etc. turn it off if you get off to look around. Plus lots of others for Rome, Venice etc. Saved us hundreds of dollars paying for audio tours or a guide.