Well I've booked my flights for the September cruise as both Jetstar and Tiger have a good sale on at the moment. $68 with check luggage. I booked Jetstar going to Sydney and Tiger coming home. Jetstar had more flights going down so I feel a bit better knowing that I'll have a better chance of getting on another flight if mine happens to be cancelled (fingers crossed it'll all be fine). Tiger was cheaper coming home. I've also booked my flight down to Sydney in December as it was also $68 but at the moment the return flight is still full price. Hopefully there'll be a sale on for that date but being that it is early January I don't like my chances. I'll wait a bit longer and just keep an eye on the flights and the prices. Don't want to miss out completely but don't want to pay $140+ either if I can get it cheaper!
I've also booked out accommodation for September, just the one night before the cruise. We always arrive a day before to cover any delays getting down to Sydney. We'd rather spend money on a nights accommodation that miss our cruise because our plane or train was delayed or cancelled!
I booked a two bedroom apartment - Apartment Darling Harbour - it has free cancellation until 31/8 so I'll watch for any bargains that may come up between now and then. It's near Haymarket/Chinatown an area we know plus I think we should be able to get the new Lightrail down to Circular Quay almost straight to our ship!
I'm tempted to book our December accommodation as Sir Stamford Circular Quay has a pretty good deal on Booking.com although it is still more than we normally would pay for a hotel. $280 for a triple, not a bad price for the hotel but we generally like to spend around $160. The hotels we've stayed at before aren't cheap at the moment and with it being the time of year we're going (Christmas) I'm not sure if they'll ever be cheap. The only reason I'm hesitating is that payment is required immediately and there is no refund for cancelling. I'm thinking I should just do it as it is Christmas time and it would be nice to stay near Circular Quay. I'll just have to be even more frugal with my spending else where!
About 190 days until the birthday cruise in September and 290 days until our Christmas cruise!! I can not wait!!
