Does one cruiseline stand out?

[sjde]

We are starting to research New Zealand (and possibly Australia) cruises. Does one cruise company stand out, especially as far as excursions and  precruise tours ?  Will we miss a lot by seeing only coastal cities? Don't know about New Zealand but from what I understand about Australia,  that's pretty much where everything is , but then there is the Outback.

[GUT2407]

Princess offer some tour packages, personally I’d say make your own arrangements to see what interests you, not some ore packaged get up that may only half cover your interests.

[GradUT]

Having been to both Australia and New Zealand several times (and having lived in Australia for a few years as well), I would only recommend a cruise if your aim is to take a cruise and incidentally see some of Australia and NZ.  If you actually want to see these countries, the best way to do so is by a land vacation which  can easily be done on a DIY basis.  If you really want to do this as a cruise, I highly recommend adding time (at least a week if not more) to the beginning or end of your cruise in order to visit areas you missed or even to spend more time in places, e.g. Sydney, that were ports of call for only a day or so.  

 

It is definitely NOT true that pretty much everything is in the coastal cities.  There are a lot of great things to see in the coastal cities and that's where the majority of the population live, but as someone who lived inland, I would say that some of the best parts of Australia are away from all the big cities and the coast.  This holds true for NZ as well.  

[sjde]

I find I tend to prefer small quaint cities over the big cities, at least so far in Europe, so is that what you are referring to  when you talk about inland? 

[sjde]

One reason a cruise appeals to us is we don’t want to drive on the left side of the road  , which we’d have to do if it was a DIY trip! 

[GUT2407]

15 minutes ago, sjde said:

One reason a cruise appeals to us is we don’t want to drive on the left side of the road  , which we’d have to do if it was a DIY trip! 

Sorry I wasn’t clear, no issues with doing a cruise, just there are options for any land portion, other than a cruiselines land tour, that wouldn’t call for driving, eg fly to Ayres Rock yourself, or if you prefer city things, fly between cities and use public transport.

[GUT2407]

18 minutes ago, sjde said:

I find I tend to prefer small quaint cities over the big cities, at least so far in Europe, so is that what you are referring to  when you talk about inland? 

Most of Australia’s inland is desert, beautiful desert but desert. About 95% of Aussies live near the costal fringes.

 

small cities??? NEWCASTLE, Cairns or Townsville, Adelaide, Hobart would I guess all rate as small by USA standards.

[Expat Cruise]

It really depends upon what type of cruise you are looking for the tow large cruise lines here are Princess & Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. Both are good companies and provide great overview tours of Australia & New Zealand. Our choice is Princess, do not like the way Royal operates (personal choice). But whatever cruise line you pick will only give you a short amount of time in each port. Enough time to look around and have the highlights of the port. You will only have a overview. The plus side is the cruise gives you the chance to see many different parts of the country in a short amount of time. Since 95% of Australia's people live along the coast you will not miss the most of things doing a cruise.

 

One thing we would not ever recommend is taking ships tours, they costs is much higher than what it should be. For most cruises you can find a roll call on this site that will have great information and many private tours. 

[iancal]

We have done one Princess and one RCI cruise in Australia/New Zealand.   Within two weeks of each other.  Both were very nice and well maintained ships.  There were differences but we did enjoy each ship equally.

 

One BIG difference though was the on board currency.  RCI used USD for all on board.  Our Princess cruise used AUD currency. The difference was just under 30 percent.  Drinks on RCI were more expensive on the menu so we noticed a substantial difference on each bill.

 

We seldom  do cruise ship excursions.  Considered the train trip at Dunedin and actually reserved in on RCI for $200.  Then, we dropped into the Gov't tourist office in Wellington, bought the same think for just under $100, and then cancelled the RCI excursion.    One more thing....we booked by calling RCI direct in Sydney.  There was a significant difference in pricing between buying in the US and buying in Australia.  About 30 percent.  So we booked in Oz.   Just came back from a month's land travel in Oz.  We love it.

Edited April 21, 2019 by iancal

[GUT2407]

21 minutes ago, iancal said:

We have done one Princess and one RCI cruise in Australia/New Zealand.   Within two weeks of each other.  Both were very nice and well maintained ships.  There were differences but we did enjoy each ship equally.

 

One BIG difference though was the on board currency.  RCI used USD for all on board.  Our Princess cruise used AUD currency. The difference was just under 30 percent.  Drinks on RCI were more expensive on the menu so we noticed a substantial difference on each bill.

 

We seldom  do cruise ship excursions.  Considered the train trip at Dunedin and actually reserved in on RCI for $200.  Then, we dropped into the Gov't tourist office in Wellington, bought the same think for just under $100, and then cancelled the RCI excursion.    One more thing....we booked by calling RCI direct in Sydney.  There was a significant difference in pricing between buying in the US and buying in Australia.  About 30 percent.  So we booked in Oz.   Just came back from a month's land travel in Oz.  We love it.

Yep one reason I keep going back to Princess ahead f Celebrity is aussie $$$.  

[iancal]

We have done a fair amount of driving in Australia and elsewhere.  You really do get used to it quickly.