On the Quest to see pingüinos

[Flying mermaid]

Sydney arrival

Walked out of gate and ran into an old work colleague who was waiting to come back to Adelaide

Travel mistake 1 – got to the Sydney airport and realised I didn’t have my Opal card with my senior’s discount and I had forgotten because i wasn't travelling until the following day I had to pay. $6.70 for one stop.

Anyway, got to the Rydges and room was fine although the arrangement of the toilet, handbasin and shower was a bit odd. One of my pet hates is the bottom sheet top sheet some cheap polyester quilt and then another sheet. I can never get a room cool enough to put up with that and didn’t sleep very well. It certainly wouldn’t be my choice for a holiday, but it served the purpose and I do love being able to walk over to the international terminal. Interesting I tried to put another card in the slot to keep the aircon going while I was at dinner and it only worked with the Rydges card – technology is getting smarter. I noticed one of the plugs on the desk was a universal adapter – would be great to see more of that in hotels.

Dinner in the Rydges restaurant – they pushed me to make a booking for dinner when I checked in and said it was filling up, but the restaurant was half empty.

One of the things that annoys me as a solo traveller is the vegetables as sides – I don’t want a full serve of brussel sprouts or carrots but I want a variety of vegetables so I asked if I could have half sprouts and half carrots and of course she had to ask the chef who said yes. I thought the meal was quite good for an airport hotel.

Service at the beginning was very good but waned a bit as the night went on. When I asked for the bill I was asked if I was a Rydges member which got me 20% off – bonus



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The bathroom config is very basic, but then prices are very low. One thing I have learnt is not to put anything on the area next to the basin in the bathroom. The fridge backs onto it and it can get quite warm. I once left a lipstick there and it went very soft!

 

[VPS]

So I spent $6.70 unnecessarily catching the train when I could have caught the bus. Looks like I better work another 10 minutes this week

 

[love_the_life]

The bathroom config is very basic, but then prices are very low. One thing I have learnt is not to put anything on the area next to the basin in the bathroom. The fridge backs onto it and it can get quite warm. I once left a lipstick there and it went very soft!

I don't mind it and it's only for a night here or there. In one way having the toilet separate from the shower is really good.

 

[kookaburra75]

I don't mind it and it's only for a night here or there. In one way having the toilet separate from the shower is really good.

Especially if there are two of you trying to get ready in the morning. Having separate parts to the bathroom makes life a bit less hectic while trying to pack for a flight - particularly if one takes longer than the other

 

[VPS]

Check in at the cruise terminal was smooth. Huge port and containers everywhere. Once checked in and had your photo taken we were bussed over to the ship - would have been less than a 5 minute walk.

On board around 1pm and was able to go straight to my cabin and my bag was delivered by about 2.30

The suite is great. Plenty of room with a couch and 2 easy chairs. Balcony with a couple of chairs as well. Bathroom with a bath and a shower. USB plug on one side and two on the other side of the bed and a power point as well with a couple of power points in the room.

Beds are very comfortable, and the linen is good.

Bottle of champagne to welcome me - I'm not a champagne drinker so no idea if it's any good or not but I sent it back

 

[VPS]

The rest of the suite - all very comfortable. They toiletries are Molton Brown and then the room steward came in with more soap for me to choose. Sadly I can't use any of them but they look pretty and I brought my own dermatologist approved toiletries - boring.

 

[VPS]

Fresh fruit plate was topped up daily. I decided that I could probably cope with the free selection (and just to be clear I reckon in 21 days I drank enough to stop worrying about how much the cruise cost. The ice bucket was refilled twice a day as well

 

[VPS]

And then we were sailing south as the band played on

 

[JohnM]

How many pax does that ship take?

 

[kookaburra75]

Bottle of champagne to welcome me - I'm not a champagne drinker so no idea if it's any good or not but I sent it back

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Quell Horreur!
But it's Champagne - I've never heard of such a thing, particularly on a cruise.

 

[get me outta here]

I was on the Quest last year to Greenland, it takes 450 pax.

How many pax does that ship take?

 

[get me outta here]

VPS, Who did you end up booking the Seabourn through in the end?

 

[VPS]

How many pax does that ship take?

We had 410 on ours and there were probably 10 or 15 solos that I knew of - could have been more

 

[VPS]

Quell Horreur!
But it's Champagne - I've never heard of such a thing, particularly on a cruise.

What haven't you heard of - that champagne or someone not drinking it

 

[Flashback]

I was only in Santiago for a few hours and didn't see much but it just didn't grab me so it's not a place that I want to go back to. I should have had a couple of days and tried to get out to the coast and a bit more exploring but you can't do everything

Lots of people trying to sell things on the side of the road.

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I find Mrs FB and I are much the same these days - don't really have much interest in the big cities and want to get out to the smaller towns etc. Usually we fly in/out of a big city but have 1 night at most which seems like ample time. Our recent trip to Taiwan we fly into a smaller city and then worked our way up to Taipei which was a good option.

 

[VPS]

VPS, Who did you end up booking the Seabourn through in the end?

A virtuoso rep from Brisbane who was fantastic to deal with and one I would thoroughly recommend.

Just checked that he's OK about putting his name here but he was a pleasure to deal with.

Cookies Not Enabled

www.virtuoso.com

 

[get me outta here]

Alex?

A virtuoso rep from Brisbane who was fantastic to deal with and one I would thoroughly recommend.

 

[VPS]

Alex?

indeed

 

[Flying mermaid]

Quell Horreur!
But it's Champagne - I've never heard of such a thing, particularly on a cruise.

So never heard of champagne on a cruise, or never heard of not drinking it

 

[VPS]

I thought I had better post the route. This is after the cruise so it was a little different to what they had planned but the weather got in the way

So you're going to have to wait a couple of days for the rest. I have to work tomorrow and a couple of busy days.

While doing this TR I am amazed at the people that do it on the run and the work that people put into it. This is part of a payback as well for @Matt_01 gifting me Virgin Platinum so I want to pay back something to the wonderful people on here