Australia Recommendations

[GUT2407]

I definitely want to see Sydney, Great Barrier Reef, and Ayers Rock then take a cruise of New Zealand. Time is not a factor (except I work Jan - April 15 doing taxes); the longest we have been away is about 15 days.

 

I have been looking at a Princess land/cruise because we are familiar with them and have their Atlases. Those are like the old Sears catalog for dreaming.

 

We would be flying from Atlanta, GA to Sydney (though some of the transPacific cruises look good). I just have to go while I am young enough to recover from the flights. ha, ha, ha

 

I'd look at flying to Cairns, spend a few days there including a visit to the reef, then on to The Rock, 2 or 3 days. Then to Sydney, perhaps a week, then do a cruise to Aukland have maybe a week in NZ, then fly home.

 

Personally on at least one leg I'd look at a day or two in Hawaii.

 

You may be better to fly into Brisbane and then get a flight to Cairns and if so swapping Cairns and The Rock may work.

 

The Centre, August or early September in my opinion, is probably the best time.

[georgiacat]

Thank you. I am really interested in the best time to go. I will plan specifics later. We have spent 10 days in Hawaii and I'm sure we will go back some time.

[Steelers0854]

Thanks for letting me know about the Australia/NZ section of the board, I never knew it was there!

 

I know Australia is very large, and there are many great places that a cruise will never allow you to visit. I was more looking for some direction, if it existed, like Alaska where everyone says you really have to go to Glacier Bay for example.

 

DW and I are in our 30's and taking the time off work to travel that distance can't be done very often so we likely won't get back to that area until we retire. I didn't want to miss out on a "must see" area by not doing my homework first.

 

All the advice has been great, thank you, now for a quick trip to find the Australia/NZ section!

[VT Hokie Cruiser]

We are looking at a 12-night Auckland to Sydney cruise on Feb. 18, 2018, followed by a 7-night Princess land tour package to Ayers Rock, Darwin, Port Douglas and back to Sydney, ending March 9. The land tour is not offered after March (I think). Will we avoid at least some of the heat by going this "late" in the Australian summer?

 

There is the option to tour first, then cruise, which would normally be my preference, but would we gain better weather by pushing the land portion to the end, in early March? Thanks.

[Aussie Gal]

Unfortunately, it will still be very, very hot in Uluru and very humid and hot in both Darwin and Port Douglas. It will be still the cyclone season so you could get a cyclone in both Darwin and Port Douglas.

 

Late February, early March are certainly not the best times to travel to those three places. Even Sydney can be hot and humid in early March though not as bad as up north. If that is the only time you can travel down here, then go for it but be warned that it isn't the best time to do land trips to the places you want to visit.

 

Uluru, Darwin and Port Douglas are all best in our winter, say July and August when the weather is warm and the humidity has gone. Saying that, Uluru can be cold at night during those months but the days are usually lovely.

 

Unfortunately, there aren't many cruises doing Australia and New Zealand in our winter as the weather isn't the best down South and the Tasman can be very rough. It is very hard to combine both a cruise and a land trip and get the weather that is the most suitable for both.

 

Jennie

[GUT2407]

We are looking at a 12-night Auckland to Sydney cruise on Feb. 18, 2018, followed by a 7-night Princess land tour package to Ayers Rock, Darwin, Port Douglas and back to Sydney, ending March 9. The land tour is not offered after March (I think). Will we avoid at least some of the heat by going this "late" in the Australian summer?

 

There is the option to tour first, then cruise, which would normally be my preference, but would we gain better weather by pushing the land portion to the end, in early March? Thanks.

 

Still gonna be darned hot. But not 'AS" hot, however I've been to the Red Centre in August and it was H.O.T.

 

I'd add that 7 days for Darwin, The Rock and Port Douglas you are going to be busy and will need your cruise to recuperate.

[mrs and mrs]

If your coming out this way(red Centre) in Jan/Feb,this might give you some idea of how it could be.

Want to have a shower, turn on COLD tap,walk away for 10 minutes,then return and have a luke-warm shower.

And that's at 9.00pm.

That's why we take a cruise in feb,to the mild tropics,Pacific Islands,a balmy 35/40 degree days.

 

March is a better option.

Absolutley wouldn't want to put you off,but man its hot.

[oldjetdriver]

We did a cruise this past October and were unable to follow the planned itinerary due to weather around New Zealand's south island. We missed Fiordland cruising which was one of the reasons we took the cruise. We were told that this is not unusual in their spring. If we go again we will plan later in the season.

[mklions]

Hi all,

We are sailing for a week on the Emerald Princess from Perth to Sydney at the beginning of November later this year.

Then staying on the ship for a two week cruise out of Sydney sailing around New Zealand's North and South Islands before sailing back to Sydney.

Can anyone give me a indication on the type of weather we can expect on these two back to back cruises?

Thanks..

[GUT2407]

Hi all,

We are sailing for a week on the Emerald Princess from Perth to Sydney at the beginning of November later this year.

Then staying on the ship for a two week cruise out of Sydney sailing around New Zealand's North and South Islands before sailing back to Sydney.

Can anyone give me a indication on the type of weather we can expect on these two back to back cruises?

Thanks..

 

I did that last year as a part of a much longer cruise, but the same time of year.

 

Are you going around the bottom or across the top? At that time of year I am assuming the bottom.

 

In Fremantle 6 Nov, before going around the bottom and across to NZ.

 

Australian portion the conditions were good, not too hot probably 85f or thereabouts. However be warned it CAN be hot in November visited Adelaide frequently over the years as our sone lived there and had some very hot days in November a couple of times.

 

Melbourne is notorious for three seasons in one day.

 

New Zealand was to say the least cool, Wellington, end of November, was cold mid 50s f and Windy, the wind shill dropping it even further.

[kim.elniski]

We are booked on a cruise at the beginning of October 2017. It's a 28 cruise around the whole continent! I can't wait! It's my dream to see Australia. I love their accent! I could just sit and listen to them talk all day. We are from Canada.

[mattie00]

We are booked on the 29-day circumnavigation cruise in March 2017 after a 13-day cruise to New Zealand. FYI, if you want to break up your long flight to Sydney, a stopover in the Cook Islands is a good option. There is a connecting flight from Calgary to the once a week flight out of Los Angeles to the Cook Islands. We will be spending 10 days there before flying to Sydney to board our first cruise. Best part is the favourable exchange rate with the Canadian dollar currently getting $1.09 NZ. We had initially thought of booking a couple of days stopover in Honolulu but with the horrendous USD exchange rate right now it isn't much more costly to spend 10 days in the Cook Islands. As we have been to Honolulu and have not been to the Cook Islands, this seems like a good idea and we have budgeted accordingly. We got excellent airfares through a sale with Air New Zealand. We fly Sydney to Auckland to Vancouver to Calgary on the way home thus avoiding LAX.:D

[GUT2407]

We are booked on a cruise at the beginning of October 2017. It's a 28 cruise around the whole continent! I can't wait! It's my dream to see Australia. I love their accent! I could just sit and listen to them talk all day. We are from Canada.

 

I hope you enjoy it, we did last year, and we live here.

 

You will only get a taste of the coast, but still wonderful.

[GUT2407]

We are booked on the 29-day circumnavigation cruise in March 2017 after a 13-day cruise to New Zealand. FYI, if you want to break up your long flight to Sydney, a stopover in the Cook Islands is a good option. There is a connecting flight from Calgary to the once a week flight out of Los Angeles to the Cook Islands. We will be spending 10 days there before flying to Sydney to board our first cruise. Best part is the favourable exchange rate with the Canadian dollar currently getting $1.09 NZ. We had initially thought of booking a couple of days stopover in Honolulu but with the horrendous USD exchange rate right now it isn't much more costly to spend 10 days in the Cook Islands. As we have been to Honolulu and have not been to the Cook Islands, this seems like a good idea and we have budgeted accordingly. We got excellent airfares through a sale with Air New Zealand. We fly Sydney to Auckland to Vancouver to Calgary on the way home thus avoiding LAX.:D

 

 

I don't think you will regret deciding on Cook Is, spectacular.

[Aussie Gal]

We love the Cook Islands. It is a beautiful piece of Paradise. A great way to break the journey down to here. Being March, it could very humid and rainy as that is their wet season though I think the showers if any only last for a short while.

 

We were in Tahiti in April this year and we didn't have any rain at all but it was very, very humid.

 

Jennie

[DougandEric]

Do any cruises stop at Porpoise Spit?:D

[donaldsc]

We looked long and hard at Australian cruises and ended up scrapping the idea of a cruise and booked a land trip. Just not enough time on a cruise. A highlight for us not to miss was the Cairns area and the Great Barrier Reef but it would totally depend on your interests.

 

Totally agree w you. We did a 2 month driving trip in Australia and we still missed big swaths of the country.

 

DON