Dawn T.

My husband said if we ever go back, we are splurging on business class.

We spent a couple of years gifting each other with various pieces of Briggs and Riley luggage.  The larger pieces came with removable mini garment bags that fit into the lids of the suitcases.  That was over 10 years ago.  Now they build the garment bag into the suitcase.  Not cheap but it comes with a lifetime guarantee against ANY damage, just pay the shipping to return it to the manufacturer.  I used that guarantee before our cruise earlier this month when a corner of the suitcase blew out on a previous trip .  I discovered it a couple of months before the cruise date.  They turned it around to us in under 3 weeks! 
My tux was immaculate when I unpacked it aboard the Jewel.
 

We booked them right when they became available, a little more than 300 days out. However, we were able to book "flexible" airfare through the cruise line we're on, so we can cancel up until final payment without any penalty; that's also when payment for the flights is do.
I wouldn't say we got a deal, but we did opt for nonstop flights as all of the connecting flights just made the trip too long. We're also traveling during the holidays, so that may have affected prices. For economy on Quantus, we're paying $1750 r/t per person.

Yea, I'm sure I will also, haven't really tried to wrap my head around it yet, I', still over a year out, I started using MEI for my cruises but my airfare I've still been booking myself, on this Sydney trip I'm going to let them handle everything, Cruise, Flight, pre-post hotel and transportation, I'm sure I will still be OCD and know 110% of what is going on, but I'm letting them plan it.

Yea, right, the cost of the airfare is going to be double the cost of the cruise, oh well, as they say it's only money "Just make more"...

We lucked out and got a somewhat direct flight to Sidney. We left Houston, did a quick stop in Brisbane to refuel, then on to Sidney.
Our trip was right after the big Quantas strike was settled so they were bending over backward to make sure we were happy.
We went directly to the ship but ended up staying an extra day after to visit with a friend there. Sorry, can't remember the name of the hotel but it was lovely. It was right by the Harbor. We walked all over...it was beautiful. All in all....it was by far my favorite cruise to date.

Which ship is this for? And is this is a free upgrade, or paid? And if paid, how long is your trip? Depending on the answers to those questions, that drives a lot of what makes an upgrade "worth it".
On all but the Oasis Class and Quantum class ships, the only real benefit to a JS room (apart from the appreciably larger living space and balcony) is that you get double Crown & Anchor points, plus priority boarding ahead of other passengers. On the Oasis and Quantum, you also get access to the Coastal Kitchen restaurant for dinner; a lot of the people here really like Coastal Kitchen and consider it a great perk with a JS room.
If this is a free upgrade you're being offered, regardless of the ship, I'd say take it so you get that better living space and balcony space. If it's a paid upgrade -- well, look at the ship and what you'll get with the upgrade on that ship, and decide if the extra cost is worth it to you. Generally, for typical 6-8 night cruises you don't want to pay more than a few hundred dollars to upgrade, maybe $500 tops. Certainly $1,000 or more is far too much.
You can read this article from Matt to learn more about the perks of Junior Suites.

The flight is from Orlando to LA, then from LA to Sydney.  I completely agree with the extra time pre-cruise in Sydney to re-adjust.  We are now thinking of leaving a day sooner too, because of the lost day thing.  I couldn't agree more with your last comment!  I am counting the days, and it doesn't hurt that we have 3 cruises before that one!  

Haven't you heard?  I was made obsolete by a better, human blogger.

What do you mean, may do this?  

I have no idea if there is a real competition for these cabanas or not.  The last time we got a cabana (when we got the Beachfront one) we just said that's what we wanted and we got it.  With the prices going up the way they are I just keep thinking that at some point the prices will be so outrageous that nobody will get them anymore...but I guess we haven't reached that threshold yet !  I will say, though, that I think being Star Class definitely helps since they get the first choice for cabanas.  I've never tried to get a cabana when I wasn't SC so I don't know how hard it is to get one - especially one that you really want - if you are not SC.
This is a horrible thing to admit but nobody is listening so I will tell on myself.  Honestly, all we ever do in the cabana is take a nap anyway.  I'm not much of a beach person so I just stay in the cabana where it's shady.  Dan will go swim for a bit but then he comes back and we both take a nap.  Expensive nap for $595 if you're in an OTW cabana.  Probably will just forego the cabana from now on. The first time (when we had the OTW) we were with friends, who split the cost (it was then $495) so it wasn't too bad and we did at least stay awake and chat but when it's just the 2 of us, it's snoozeville.  I can stay on the boat and do that !

I'm booked in January 2019 on Ovation to NZ and may even live blog during the cruise. 
One note:
For people in the region who book a cruise the tips are in the base fare.  For North American customers booking a cruise from Sydney the standard gratuity charges are added daily just like when cruising from the US.  When I booked I expected them to be in the base fare but they were not.  My travel agent confirmed this and asked me if I wanted to prepay them.

Also forgot to add when you are traveling to Sydney, you will pass over the International Date line which adds a +1 day to your total travel time, coming back you loose a whole day.

@F1guynz Thanks for providing the link to your live blog on Explorer from Sydney.  I loved it!  I didn't see this when it was originally posted.  GREAT photos!

Thank you SO much!  You have provided so much great information!  You are awesome!

I do have to say though, those wide body jets make a big difference, because of where we live I don't get to fly on them very often, but when I have they were a lot nicer. Make sure when you start looking at selecting seats that you use something like "Seat Guru" to help you make seat choices on the plane, a 15 hour flight would really suck if you got a bad seat on top of the flight time.

I understand, I don't have limitations, other than I'm a big guy, I'm old and all my joints hurt, I've done a mock booking of airfare flying Business/First the whole way from Oklahoma and it will be $7k per person, which is pricey, but my Wife flat refuses to fly that far in Premium economy, she's spoiled, right now this is a one time thing for us, I want to make it special, it will be our 40th anniversary.

I think Hopper and SkyScanner are for people that are not as OCD as most of us are, I use it mostly for a reminder to myself to check prices, on top of that I usually fly Business/First and Hopper and SkyScanner do not track Business/First, does not fit their algorithm because of the limitation of seat availability.

I'd be cautious relying on this app or any other. I set up Hopper alerts and also SkyScanner for my domestic flight from EWR to FLL as a test starting about 4 months (120 days) out, but made a point of manually tracking the prices on United and JetBlue's web sites daily. My manual tracking pegged a big price drop right around 90 days out, in line with the time pointed out in a separate discussion here on domestic flight purchase timing; I chose to book then, even though Hopper was saying to wait until closer to the 60 or 45 day mark. Since that time, the prices for my flight only ever went up; if I had followed the recommendations of Hopper, I'd have been paying a heck of a lot more than I did (around $1,000+).

This is an article I found several years ago now, so it might be out dated, but you could do a google search for the title and see if anything new comes up, at the bottom of the article there is a world map with time frames on it, South Pacific is 244 days, Asia is 318 days. I have not experienced flying to Australia yet, I'm planning a cruise to the South Pacific in 2020, so keep us up to date on your finding. I do know this article was spot on for Europe.
https://www.cheapair.com/blog/how-far-in-advance-should-you-book-an-international-flight/

Pinging @tiny260 because he has mentioned some good time frames for booking international flights before. I can't remember them....

I have previously stayed at the Holiday Inn in an area called The Rocks. It's literally walking distance to the terminal and the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. It is mid-range pricing too. I highly recommend this location.
This October I'm staying at the Amora Hotel which is only 800metres from Circular Quay. Also reasonably priced.
If staying at The Rocks, there is a pancake house that is great for breakfast or dinner, though I can't recall what it is called. Google will probably assist.
US dollars no good in Australia I'm afraid, but in the SP there will be places that accept them.

As for flights, look at RC air2sea program.  While not competitive within the U.S, I’ve read about people getting very good deals for overseas flights.
Another option is to check out the Hopper app.  It tells you if the price quoted is expected to go down and when is a good time to buy. 

Hi,
Normally we stay out by the airport (which is about a 30 minute trip to the port by train) as Circular Quay stop is a 5 minute walk from the cruise terminal.
If you wanted to stay in central Sydney maybe you could look at somewhere like the Novotel. There are also the usual global brands like the Hilton, Four Seasons, Hyatt. These hotels will all be close to an underground station which will get you to Circular Quay. There are also plenty of taxis available. Public transport is pretty good in Sydney.
We always arrive at the port early to make sure we are one of the first to board.
U.S dollars wont be accepted by retailers in Sydney but when you are on the ship everything will be in U.S dollars. It is not necessary to tip in Australia but some people do tip on the ship even though this is normally included in the fare when purchasing the cruise from RCI Australia. Drinks will have 18% added automatically. Spa services do not have tips included.
We have a cruise going to the South Pacific in March next year on Explorer. March is the 1st day of autumn here but the weather should still be okay. There is a chance of cyclones at this time of year and occasionally ships will have to skip port stops but for the most part the weather should be good and reasonably warm.
We have been on Ovation and I would recommend that you book early for anything you want to do. E.g. the iFly and Northstar. They don't have a Broadway show on Ovation so you wont need to pre-book for shows apart from Pixels in the 270 lounge. If you want to ride the bumper cars I would suggest doing that on the first day before most people have boarded. The queue during the cruise can be quite long at the start but we found if you came in about halfway through a session the crowd had diminished a lot. Another good time to go is close to dinner.
There are plenty of restaurants around the Sydney Opera house but there are a lot of people and it is very noisy, especially near to the weekend. As we normally fly in either the night before or on the day of the cruise we don't normally eat out much. I do really enjoy Doyles at Watson Bay which is a fish restaurant which is accessible by a water taxi or a ferry.
There are some photos in my blog which should show you where the cruise terminal is in relation to the opera house.
 

Stayed in the WJ so long that they rolled out lunch desserts...so I snapped a few pics before everything was picked through. Something for all of you to look at while you are having lunch at work ? don't hate me lol