Cruise - 1 Day Melbourne Port Halt - Request for Excursion Options

• 

  ms_caz on 31/12/2018 - 10:49

  +1

  [Puffing Billy ticket costs] (https://puffingbilly.com.au/buy-tickets/) are approx $77 per adult, although kids fares are half that. But that doesn't take into account actually getting to Belgrave - which you can do by public transport but I guess will take longer/be less direct than simply getting on a mini bus from Station Pier and being taken there by the cruise line/their supplier.

  I think you would probably be seeing the Kangaroos at Healesville Sanctuary and again although entry prices are considerably cheaper if you organise it yourself , you still have to get there and this will be time consuming and indirect. You could probably see Kangaroos at the Melbourne Zoo - same price because the Healesville Sanctuary and Melb Zoo are all part of the same organisation ($37 per adult, kids might be free depending on the day) - but getting there would be a lot easier - see the trip planner in the link.

  For the Great Ocean Road you will have to take a mini bus or private car tour - it will take a long time because the start of the GOR is a couple of hours away. There may be cheaper organisations/tour companies but will they get you back to the ship on time?

  Finally - you can easily organise your own Melbourne City trip. There is a free tourist tram which circles the CBD and public transport is quite easy to figure out - you will just need to google some of the City of Melbourne entertainment suggestions for ideas.

• 

  ms_caz on 31/12/2018 - 10:55

  Looking at your itinerary again, (and specifically the time frame,) for the 12 Apostles I think you will probably travel in a coach or mini bus down the highway (inland not along the GOR) and then divert to the 12 Apostles at Port Campbell. This will give you lots of views of scenic country Victoria, but not the Great Ocean Road itself.

  I don't think that there will really be enough time to make this excursion worthwhile no matter how you do it, but if you are going to consider it, DEFINITELY do it as a ship's excursion because I wouldn't want to risk not making it back to the ship - your destination is a couple of hundred kilometres away and the road between Geelong and Melbourne can be very crowded in the afternoon peak. You don't want to get held up.

• 

  [Deactivated] on 31/12/2018 - 11:00

  Great Ocean road in two nice hire cars would be fun and much cheaper than their price.

• 

  jjjaar on 31/12/2018 - 12:45

  +1

  Just walk around the city by yourselves. If you go on TripAdvisor you can find a list of the top attractions and create your own tour. Or find the double decker bus tour map and walk most of it - that’s what I do in foreign cities!

  To get to the city it’s a short tram ride, and from my understanding there are staff at the stop in the cruise season to help you buy tickets and get into town. It’ll be $8.80 per adult per day (except Sunday when it’s $6.50? I could be wrong) for the tram, so an alternative option would be to get an Uber or taxi into town.

• 

  qwerty on 31/12/2018 - 14:29

  If you want kangaroos and retired racing horses I would go to woodlands historic park / living legends

  http://www.livinglegends.org.au/

  Entry is free to the homestead i think its like $20 pp to feed the horses but you can walk near them for free and its like 1 hour from the city

  But imo just do eureka skydeck , go see the clock melbourne central and do a walk near southbank - stop by a cafe and graffiti street like flinders lane and walk near crown with optional aquarium / polly woodside - you will be close to the cruise liner as well

• 

  dane45 on 31/12/2018 - 14:56

  -1

  If you're looking at a city tour, check out Melbourne's free (although you are asked to tip) walking tours:

  https://www.imfree.com.au/melbourne/

  It will work out much less expensive than the city tour from your ship

• 

  deepm123 on 06/01/2019 - 16:00

  Thanks everyone