For 40 years I dreamed the impossible dream of travelling eastbound across the Pacific through New Zealand, Fiji, the Samoas, French Polynesia and the Hawaiian Islands. That dream became reality when we boarded Star Princess at Circular Quay in Sydney on 24 October 2009.

PRE-CRUISE We flew into Sydney four days prior to embarkation as my wife had never been "down under" in OZ before. Flights from Los Angeles were on Air Pacific, Fiji's national airline of which QANTAS owns a good share. We found that service had deteriorated a bit since our last flight with them in 2007. Wine with dinner was nice but the availability of alcoholic beverages in flight was not highly advertised. In addition, there no longer was champagne and orange juice served with breakfast, evening meals out of Los Angeles were basically a box lunch. Air Pacific still flies the B747-400 series on many of its long haul flights as was the case on the Los Angeles/Nadi and Nadi/Sydney legs. We were in the last row in the forward economy cabin and the recline of the seats was quite comfortable. The duration of the flight necessitated a stretch break half way across the Pacific to Nadi. Arrival and transfer in Nadi was painless and the break from the seats was delightful as we pulled up in Nadi at 5:05am, twenty minutes ahead of schedule.

AIRPORT TRANSFERS While there are numerous ways to get from Kingsford-Smith airport by Botany Bay to the core of Sydney (train, taxi, shuttle etc) we pre-booked individually with KST transfer. Bruce was waiting there for us with a sign as we departed customs and immigration and a short walk led us to a large car that more than sufficed for our four suitcases and hand luggage. A wealth of information, he acted as a tour guide all the way to the hotel from the airport. Read more