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| Our friend Stan’s photo of the sunset on our last night aboard the ship. Well done, Stan, thanks for sharing! |
“Sighting on the Ship in Australia”
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| Miniature representations of schooner located in the Schooner Bar. |
Today, as you read this post, we’re at the Sydney airport awaiting our upcoming flight at 10:35 am in Tasmania, Australia. Without a doubt, we appreciated each moment of this long cruise.
It took a while, but we got these figures together to share with our readers which now will include many wonderful people we’ve met aboard the ship. We’d love to see what others may have spent during their cruise, if any of our new readers would like to share. We can certainly keep it confidential if you’d prefer.
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| Photo in camera shop. |
The cost for the 33 night Australian cruise was as follows:
| Total Cost of Cruise $9,105.74, AU $12,269.65 | |
Total Cruise Costs: US $11,249.58, AU $15,161.36 |
Total Cruise Bill: $582.04, AU $784.28 |
Cost for Cruise for Balcony Cabin #9030
Cruise Charges $7,291.00
Senior Rate
Taxes 960.04
Prepaid Gratuities 854.70*
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Total Cost (US) $ 9,105.74
As for incidentals we spent when off the ship:
Clothing & Perth Visit: 340.00
Sydney Pharmacy (toiletries) 199.00
Grand Total for Incidentals: $ 539.00
Total Transportation/Hotel Costs:
Airfare Bali to Sydney: 690.26
Hotel Sydney 272.54
Taxi Sydney Airport to Hotel 60.00
Grand Total for Trans/Hotel $ 1,022.80
Breakdown of Cruise Bill
Wi-Fi Voom for both legs 747.66
Laundry (3 times) 74.97
Beverages not inc. Diamond Club 174.10
Shuttle bus 20.00
Shopping 222.95
Luggage 42.46
Cabin credits – 700.00
Total cruise bill $ 582.04
Grand total for all expenses: US $11,249.58 AU $15,161.36
Average cost per day: US $ 358.53 AU $ 459.44
* In the past 24 hours we handed out additional cash gratuities of US $200 spread among several staff members, including the dining room manager who facilitated my meals; our cabin steward; the bartender in the Diamond Lounge; Richardo our Diamond Club rep; and our waiter in Cascades dining room. Although we’d paid the above mentioned US $854.70 in the cost of the cruise itself, we felt these extra gratuities were warranted. This additional sum is not included in the above totals.
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| Painting in the gallery. |
This morning, thanks to our host Richardo in the Diamond Club, we were given early disembarking tickets (#2) which easily facilitated the necessity of making it to the airport at least one hour before our scheduled 10:30 am flight to Tasmania. As it turned out we arrived a little too early and had to wait 30 minutes in order to check our bags.
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| The card room where bridge and other games are played. |
Last night, we left our checked bags outside our cabin door where they were whisked away to the baggage collection area at the Port of Sydney once the ship docked early this morning.
Once we disembark we collected our bags, grabbed a taxi and were our way to the airport, a 30-minute drive with little traffic since its Saturday here today. The process of disembarking the ship was seamless with no stress or worry.
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| Painting of wood boat. |
We’ve had a most extraordinary cruise, made many new friends, including Lois and Tom and Cheryl and Stan and many more; spent time with old friends Michelle and Carlo in Perth; experienced some lovely ports of call; dined on excellent food; and during this entire period, we did exactly what we wanted to do each and every day.
We’re anticipating this next leg of our journey with enthusiasm and a sense of adventure. I can’t wait to spot our first Tasmanian Devil. Photos will follow, of course. Tomorrow, we’ll be back with photos of our new home and others, we’ll have taken on the almost four hour drive from Hobart to Penguin.
Happy day to all!
Photo from one year ago today, December 3, 2015:
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| With Savusavu, Fiji located on a mountain, steep roads are required to access most properties. For more photos, please click here |