Cruising from Malbourne

Hi Everybody,

I love cruising, but my partner isn't into flying anymore. So round trips from Melbourne are the go, and just to be cruising.

Having only cruised with Princess , I have been looking at Carnival and P&O, the only things only short cruises 4-6 days ( still better than nothing ).

The only thing is I realize the demographics change on shorter cruises and that all lines have there own style.

Question is would you go a shorter cruise the other lines if the prices was right, or just stick to longer cruises to go to the same place ( which doesn't bother us ) and to enjoy the sea day.

Cheers Don

only 77 day till the next one

You still get the sea experience regardless where you go. Try some variety! :-) And if it's not to your taste then you can go back to tried and true.

I do both, for me, any cruise is better than no cruise and if the price is right (and I can get the leave) then long or short, I will take it.

Why not do two or three back to back? I am doing Tassie, 5 nights then Adelaide, 6 nights on the Pacific Jewel in two weeks.

I’m always open to trying new lines but keep going back to Princess and Celebrity, it just fits us better.

Mrs Gut has a similar problem, not allowed fly, so for us it’s Sydney/Sydney, but at least there is a bigger range from Sydney.

Why not try a short cruise to see if you like the P&O or Carnival ships being aware that the vibes will be different on a short cruise. You don't get to make as many friends because of the shorter timeframe.

Not sure what you mean when you say only short cruises because P&O have 11 and 12 nighters and when Carnival get here next Feb they will have 11 and 10 nighters. P&O NZ cruises call at Stewart Island which Princess doesn't and in 2019 they have one calling at Picton. They also call at other Aussie ports which Princess don't.

I like the longer cruises and have found that sometimes they are like retirement villages and other time they are full of young people. Can't predict it. However most Melbourne based cruises seem to be around 90 - 95% Victorians on board which may make a difference. :cool:

As something different, there will be some Cunard options.

In Feb 2018 and 2019 QM2 has a 4 nighter.

In Feb-Mar 2019 QE will have a series of RT cruises from Melbourne, at least one to NZ.

I've been on Dialysis for the last 4 years so short cruises were my only way to cruise and I love them; I've always had fun, always made friends on board, never had a bad experience and even though they were all out to sea and back except 1 trip to Tasmania they were still fabulous cruises. I've been on P&O Pearl (which was the 5 ships celebration and was so amazing and fun!), Eden (2 nighter to melb) and Jewel and while the Eden had some issues (some leakage here and there but it wasn't long after she joined the fleet) we still had a fantastic time on her and enjoyed ourselves. I didn't think much of the Jewel in comparison to the Pearl (so far its been my fav P&O ship so was sad to see her leave) but the trip to Tassie on her was a great trip, can't fault them at all. For a quick holiday a short cruise is fantastic and there's plenty of activities to do.

P&O do actually have some long cruises from Melbourne as will Carnival next year.

There are always the buses or trains (or even drive yourself) to get up to Sydney if you cannot fly, at least there is a larger range of options.