Review Sydney & Cairns - Winter 2014

[stellar]

We visited Sydney the last week of November 2014. Weather was great (about 65-70 degrees)! We stayed in the Park Hyatt Sydney. The hotel is in the Rocks neighborhood of Sydney. Our room was on the 2nd floor and did NOT face the harbor but we could see the opera house from our balcony. We had a King suite and it was spacious and clean. We arrived at the hotel before check-in time, but our room was ready so were able to go right up. We were celebrating a wedding anniversary and upon check-in the front desk employee asked if we would mind having champagne delivered to the room later on. Uh, no not a problem at all! The pool area is on the top floor of the hotel and it has spectacular views of Circular Quay, the Opera House and the Harbour bridge. Breakfast is pricey (not included if you are not Hyatt elite, which we were not, but we did use our miles for the stay). We had breakfast once in the hotel restaurant and ate elsewhere other days.

Recommended: while in Sydney we took a personalized tour of the Blue Mountains. We originally found this guide from Trip Advisor: http://www.bluemountainsecotours.com/ Paul takes you about in a Land Rover Discovery so you are able to get to some places off the beaten track. (Paid for this with the Arrival+ points!)

We visited Cairns the first week of December 2014 and stayed in the Hilton Cairns. Weather was warmer and more humid than Sydney and about 80 degrees. This hotel is not as plush as the Park Hyatt but was still a decent experience. We did points + cash for this stay (and redeemed the cash portion of the bill with the Arrival+ points) We had a King room on the Executive level (9) which was much smaller than the Park Hyatt as well, but still comfortable. The best thing about this hotel is the Executive lounge. It is open for both breakfast and an evening reception. Australian wines are featured along with a well stocked bar of other liquors. Hilton Honors Gold & Platinum members receive complimentary breakfast at this hotel. I am a Gold member so I am not sure how much breakfast normally costs. It is a buffet with both hot and cold items. The location is great! It's right on the marina where all the boats leave to go scuba diving and snorkeling. It's a short walk from the Esplanade with shopping and restaurants.

Recommended: we did the Skyrail tour to Kuranda and we used TUSA for our trip to the barrier reef and really enjoyed both.

We flew Virgin Australia Business Class from LAX to SYD, SYD-Cairns, then Cairns-Brisbane-LAX (redeemed Delta Skymiles for 2 tickets) VA has lay-flat seats and a help yourself bar between rows 4 and 5. The featured wines were delicious but we were not overly impressed with the food. We visited the Star Alliance lounges in all 4 cities and while the LAX lounge is the most ritzy and has a noodle bar, the overcrowded, older Air New Zealand lounge in Brisbane had the best food. The Aussie airport lounges really had some lovely sparkling wines.

Hope that helps!

 

[gmenrule]

Great to know...going on an anniversary trip and we will hit the Hyatt in Syd in March and then Cairns and then the Sheraton in Syd and then Aukland. Many more stops since we are taking the Oosterdam from Auk to Vancouver. Will be in Sydney for almost 3 weeks if you have suggestions not already mentioned in trip adviser.

 

[Paul]

We visited Sydney the last week of November 2014. Weather was great (about 65-70 degrees)! We stayed in the Park Hyatt Sydney. The hotel is in the Rocks neighborhood of Sydney. Our room was on the 2nd floor and did NOT face the harbor but we could see the opera house from our balcony. We had a King suite and it was spacious and clean. We arrived at the hotel before check-in time, but our room was ready so were able to go right up. We were celebrating a wedding anniversary and upon check-in the front desk employee asked if we would mind having champagne delivered to the room later on. Uh, no not a problem at all! The pool area is on the top floor of the hotel and it has spectacular views of Circular Quay, the Opera House and the Harbour bridge. Breakfast is pricey (not included if you are not Hyatt elite, which we were not, but we did use our miles for the stay). We had breakfast once in the hotel restaurant and ate elsewhere other days.

Recommended: while in Sydney we took a personalized tour of the Blue Mountains. We originally found this guide from Trip Advisor: http://www.bluemountainsecotours.com/ Paul takes you about in a Land Rover Discovery so you are able to get to some places off the beaten track. (Paid for this with the Arrival+ points!)

We visited Cairns the first week of December 2014 and stayed in the Hilton Cairns. Weather was warmer and more humid than Sydney and about 80 degrees. This hotel is not as plush as the Park Hyatt but was still a decent experience. We did points + cash for this stay (and redeemed the cash portion of the bill with the Arrival+ points) We had a King room on the Executive level (9) which was much smaller than the Park Hyatt as well, but still comfortable. The best thing about this hotel is the Executive lounge. It is open for both breakfast and an evening reception. Australian wines are featured along with a well stocked bar of other liquors. Hilton Honors Gold & Platinum members receive complimentary breakfast at this hotel. I am a Gold member so I am not sure how much breakfast normally costs. It is a buffet with both hot and cold items. The location is great! It's right on the marina where all the boats leave to go scuba diving and snorkeling. It's a short walk from the Esplanade with shopping and restaurants.

Recommended: we did the Skyrail tour to Kuranda and we used TUSA for our trip to the barrier reef and really enjoyed both.

We flew Virgin Australia Business Class from LAX to SYD, SYD-Cairns, then Cairns-Brisbane-LAX (redeemed Delta Skymiles for 2 tickets) VA has lay-flat seats and a help yourself bar between rows 4 and 5. The featured wines were delicious but we were not overly impressed with the food. We visited the Star Alliance lounges in all 4 cities and while the LAX lounge is the most ritzy and has a noodle bar, the overcrowded, older Air New Zealand lounge in Brisbane had the best food. The Aussie airport lounges really had some lovely sparkling wines.

Hope that helps!

Nice report. Timely for SO and I. We'll be in Sydney/Brisbane/Cairns and Melbourne next month. And will stay at the Hyatts in Sydney/Melbourne and Hiltons in Brisbane/Cairns, all on points. Only Platinum Hyatt (which expires in the middle of the trip, so we won't be Plat for Melbourne) - will pay to upgrade to Opera House view room - SO insists we get a view.

Thanks for the tip about the Blue Mountain eco tours. That sounds fun.

First trip to Australia for me (SO has been there a few times for work trips). Looking at it as a potential retirement spot, so we are checking out the major cities to see if any strike our fancy, and perhaps take longer visits in future if we like something. Getting tired of California traffic...and just about everywhere else is cheaper to live, even Australia (hopefully the mining boom collapse will translate into lower prices).