Is a cruise a good way to visit New Zealand?

We will be meeting my daughter in Sydney, Australia, in early December after her semester abroad, and we will have about 2.5 weeks to travel within Australia and New Zealand.

For a period of 10-12 days, is a cruise a good way to visit New Zealand, or are we better off flying there from Sydney to visit on land only? We generally like cruising, but I wonder whether the time required to reach New Zealand from Australia on a ship is worth it.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both cruising and land travel.

The cruises only touch on the coastal towns of NZ , with land travel you can drive the inland routes as well.

With a cruise you only have one day at each so have to make choices about what to see on those days - whereas with land travel you can tailor your travel to spend more time in places that interest you the most.

Cruises travel from port to port overnight, so you're not wasting sightseeing time travelling to the next stop.

The added bonus for the cruise is that you get to cruise through Fiordland, through sounds (Dusky and Doubtful) that are extremely difficult to visit on a land tour. You can visit Milford by land but you still need to do a boat trip to see that sound fully.

One thing you could consider would be to fly from Australia to Christchurch, pick up a rental car and drive via Mt Cook to Queenstown, then fly to Auckland and cruise back to Australia. Alternatively cruise from Australia to NZ, disembark in Auckland and then fly to Christchurch/Queenstown for some land sightseeing before flying home.These options assume that one of the one way Aus/NZ cruise suit the time you are here.

For a period of 10-12 days, is a cruise a good way to visit New Zealand ...

The number one proof of this is the popularity of the ship's overland/overnight tours via Queenstown. It has always seemed to me to be quite extraordinary that you'd pay (typically) several hundred dollars a day to be on the ship, and then you'd abandon those already paid-for days and pay several hundred dollars more to be taken on a 2-day overland tour to see things that you can't see from conventional cruise port calls. It just shows why, if you want to see what NZ really has to offer, you shouldn't do it from a cruise.

In particular, I don't agree that if you're on a land tour, you'd "waste" sightseeing time travelling from place to place. In NZ - and especially on the South Island - the time taken to travel from place to place is sightseeing time. And if there are parts of your itinerary that you really want to skip over, there is a good network of airline service.

A cruise is good if you want a cruise, and it tickles your fancy to graze bits of the two countries. But you should be aware that that is what you'd be buying if you were to cruise. And if your interest is in seeing the countries rather than cruising, the time spent crossing the Tasman is truly just wasted time.

It's an unequivocal "no" from me. The only advantage of a cruise that I can think of is the point about places like Dusky Sound and Doubtful Sound. But everywhere else is easily accessible by land, and the overwhelming majority of NZ's top sights cannot be seen from a cruise ship.

 

The number one proof of this is the popularity of the ship's overland/overnight tours via Queenstown. It has always seemed to me to be quite extraordinary that you'd pay (typically) several hundred dollars a day to be on the ship, and then you'd abandon those already paid-for days and pay several hundred dollars more to be taken on a 2-day overland tour to see things that you can't see from conventional cruise port calls. It just shows why, if you want to see what NZ really has to offer, you shouldn't do it from a cruise.

 

In particular, I don't agree that if you're on a land tour, you'd "waste" sightseeing time travelling from place to place. In NZ - and especially on the South Island - the time taken to travel from place to place is sightseeing time. And if there are parts of your itinerary that you really want to skip over, there is a good network of airline service.

 

A cruise is good if you want a cruise, and it tickles your fancy to graze bits of the two countries. But you should be aware that that is what you'd be buying if you were to cruise. And if your interest is in seeing the countries rather than cruising, the time spent crossing the Tasman is truly just wasted time.

Couldn't have said it any better - exactly right!!

Couldn't have said it any better - exactly right!!

Another strong agreement.

We have done both cruises and land trips to NZ. Cruises are nice but barely give you a taste of the country. If you want to see and learn about NZ history and culture, take a land trip. Generally driving is pretty easy (once you learn to keep right), traffic is light (except in Auckland), distances, driving time between sights is reasonable and generally very scenic. Motels are abundant and of good quality (get the AA booklet, free at their offices and in most motel offices). The people are charming and eager to tell you about their country and to hear about yours.

Go to the library and get a couple of NZ guidebooks and start making a list.

Enjoy your trip!

I agree about the land trip in NZ.

Several years ago my husband and I flew into Christchurch and spent a couple of days there. Then we took the train to Greymouth and picked up a car rental (hint - get a small car ... roads can be narrow in places.)

We then toured the South Island, avoiding placed we would see by cruise ship ... like not going to Milford Sound or knowing we would have only one day, such as Dunedin, and picked one thing to do from the ship and the rest to do on our self-drive. It was wonderful and, as said, the travel from point to point was the sightseeing.

Back in Christchurch, we flew to Auckland and rented another car for a few more days. Total drive tour was about 12 days.

And then we boarded the Star Princess for a two-week cruise from Auckland to Sydney.

And then we boarded the Star Princess for a two-week cruise from Auckland to Sydney.

There's the answer--do both!

My wife and I have done a few more cruises lately than in years past. One thing I have noticed is that with cruises in many ports, not only are you restricted to the time you are docked to see things, but often the cities or places you want to see are an hour or even two from the cruise dock. And if you are tendering on a larger ship, the time it takes to get off the ship could significantly cut into your touring time. I'm starting to look at places we've stopped and compiling a list of those places I'd like to go back to and spend several days or a week in that area. (Many places we've been aren't worth going back to for an extended stay, but several are.)

At the same time, cruises are a relaxing and simple way to unpack once, leave the driving to someone else, and not have to worry about where your next meal is coming from.

BTW I did a land tour 8 days in the north island a few years ago, and now we're looking forward to our return by ship hitting several sites along the southern island.

Thanks, everyone. This is very helpful information.

Good luck with all of this.

We have visited New Zealand a few times by ship and in 2015 we visited the most ports that we had previously visited on one specific voyage and it really works out nicely. We saw a lot and enjoyed it very much.

Whatever you do I hope you enjoy New Zealand. It is a beautiful country with equally wonderful people.

Keith

What you also should consider is, that as I heard it December and January (sommer time in Downunder) is the equivalent of July and August in the Northern part of the World, therefore it's really busy and many things might be booked full.

What you also should consider is, that as I heard it December and January (sommer time in Downunder) is the equivalent of July and August in the Northern part of the World, therefore it's really busy and many things might be booked full.

True plus the kids are out of school ... if memory serves me correctly it was more of January into Feb but my memory has been known to fail me :D

Mid December to the end of January are school holidays so that's the busiest time as that's when families travel. However February and March typically have the best weather on average so people without children tend to travel then and, again, popular destinations can be busy.

Mid December to the end of January are school holidays so that's the busiest time as that's when families travel. However February and March typically have the best weather on average so people without children tend to travel then and, again, popular destinations can be busy.

Thanks for the correction. :)

You MUST visit by land and if you’re limited by time since you’re seeing Australia and NZ, choose South Island as it basically has everything in nature you could imagine there on that island. I’ve beem a lot of places but nothing yet compares and I’m not sure it ever will. There are many beautiful places in the world but none are as complete in natural beauty as NZ. Also, the people are wonderful too!

Have a great journey! Try to see Otago if there’s time, or climb a glacier....oh my there’s so much! :D

We chose to visit New Zealand by land. Best decision we made and it's still one of our favourite trips. Since we didn't want to drive, we booked a coach tour with a local company. This was an 18 day tour, covering both islands. Thoroughly enjoyed the people, culture, and beautiful scenery.

Our daughter is on her semester abroad right now at the University of Newcastle (she just arrived there ion Feb 15). They have a 2-week break from March 30-April 16, so we're meeting her in Sydney to do a 12-night Great Barrier Reef Cruise together (March 30-April 11). We'll also spend two additional days in Sydney together. My husband and I decided to go to New Zealand for a week first (March 22-29), and we'll do a land tour, driving ourselves, and we chose North Island (feeling that with only a one-week time period, we needed to just choose one of NZ's islands). We haven't done the vacation yet....but in theory, we'll have the best of both worlds.

Another strong agreement.

 

We have done both cruises and land trips to NZ. Cruises are nice but barely give you a taste of the country. If you want to see and learn about NZ history and culture, take a land trip. Generally driving is pretty easy (once you learn to keep right), traffic is light (except in Auckland), distances, driving time between sights is reasonable and generally very scenic. Motels are abundant and of good quality (get the AA booklet, free at their offices and in most motel offices). The people are charming and eager to tell you about their country and to hear about yours.

 

Go to the library and get a couple of NZ guidebooks and start making a list.

 

 

Enjoy your trip!

Just to be sure..... Keep left in New Zealand.

Oops! Good catch. Anyway, you do get used to it pretty quickly. thanks

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Our daughter is on her semester abroad right now at the University of Newcastle (she just arrived there ion Feb 15). They have a 2-week break from March 30-April 16, so we're meeting her in Sydney to do a 12-night Great Barrier Reef Cruise together (March 30-April 11). We'll also spend two additional days in Sydney together. My husband and I decided to go to New Zealand for a week first (March 22-29), and we'll do a land tour, driving ourselves, and we chose North Island (feeling that with only a one-week time period, we needed to just choose one of NZ's islands). We haven't done the vacation yet....but in theory, we'll have the best of both worlds.

Do you get to visit God’s Country (Newcastle, though actually you need to go slightly South to find God’s real country, it is called a lake MacQuarie)

Sounds lovely- is this a beautiful lake area? In Newcastle, we hope to see our daughter's campus dorm and her favorite places in Newcastle...but may have time for some more exploration. Thanks for the idea; I already let my daughter know of this lake area. She is visiting Sydney this weekend, but hopes to do as much exploration as possible in her study-abroad semester. She will be in Australia til July 1.

Sounds lovely- is this a beautiful lake area? In Newcastle, we hope to see our daughter's campus dorm and her favorite places in Newcastle...but may have time for some more exploration. Thanks for the idea; I already let my daughter know of this lake area. She is visiting Sydney this weekend, but hopes to do as much exploration as possible in her study-abroad semester. She will be in Australia til July 1.

I must admit to being biased but I grew up in a little town on the Western side of Lake Macquarie called Wangi, a beutiful sleepy little village with a few really nice eateries and parks.

There are also some great vineyards not far out of Newcastle if wine is your thing. Or Hunter Valley Gardens in the vineyard area too with, I think, the largest rose gardens in the Southern Hemisphere, again a nice visit.

Do you mind me asking what she is studying?

Thanks for the nice explanation and description of the area where you grew-up and other options for enjoying the Newcastle area. Our daughter Theresa is majoring in Speech Pathology in the USA. She wanted to take a Speech Path course while she was at University of Newcastle, but she found out that their coursework is a more advanced scenario than her present 3rd year of Bachelor's work in the States. Therefore, she is enrolled in three 'general' courses (intro to keyboard, a history course, and a linguistics course). It has been her dream to study and travel in Australia; she is so happy!

Thanks for the nice explanation and description of the area where you grew-up and other options for enjoying the Newcastle area. Our daughter Theresa is majoring in Speech Pathology in the USA. She wanted to take a Speech Path course while she was at University of Newcastle, but she found out that their coursework is a more advanced scenario than her present 3rd year of Bachelor's work in the States. Therefore, she is enrolled in three 'general' courses (intro to keyboard, a history course, and a linguistics course). It has been her dream to study and travel in Australia; she is so happy!

Wonder who’s teaching her history my wife did her PhD in history there. And taught for a few years a loooong time ago (prior to moving into school teaching, strange as it sounds the money is better in school than in Uni) but still knows many of the lecturers, I often help out at the law school, hence my interest in what she was studying.

Newcastle Uni is a beautiful campus, I first studied there back in ‘76 have seen some changes over the years.

I will let you know, as her classes for the semester begin on Monday, Feb 26. The history class has a longer title, too- I will find out what it is. Interesting that you and your wife have taught there.... I am excited for Theresa to learn and study there. Should I email you instead of continuing on this thread? (Since we are kind of off-subject of cruising now) If so- please let me know your email or can I find it in your profile? I'm kind of newer to cruise critic so want to follow protocol.