Contemplating an Australia - New Zealand?

[crawford]

11 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

Those months are the Southern Hemisphere winter (plus August). Most Princess ships leave here for either East Asia or Alaska in April and come back in October.

 

The Sea Princess and Sun Princess are special cases in that they do extended cruises, either World or Circle Pacific, during the winter months.

 

There are some Carnival and P&O Australia (not to be confused with P&O UK) cruises over winter, but they are both budget cruise lines.

Thanks for clarifying. After reading some posts, it appeared that those winter months looked good for cruising.

[SinbadThePorter]

28 minutes ago, crawford said:

Thanks for clarifying. After reading some posts, it appeared that those winter months looked good for cruising.

 

I think the doubts were about doing Uluru in our summer and so maybe doing it separately as a land tour in winter.

 

Personally I wouldn't worry too much. Visiting Uluru in January is no worse than visiting Las Vegas in August. Except for the flies.

 

Darwin, Cairns and even Brisbane would make ideal winter ports for cruising, but I think that expensive domestic airfares are getting in the way of them being viable.

[mum and son]

16 hours ago, Loritd said:

I read that climbing would no longer be allowed. I really don’t mind. To me it’s no different than being roped off from Stonehenge. Look but don’t touch. We also decided to go in mid February.  Hopefully won’t be as hot. 

 

Hi Loritd,

 

Just be prepared. The humidity in North Qld will belt you in the face. I think that's what visitors struggle with the most. You will sweat, sweat and then sweat some more, so keep yourself well hydrated and in shady, cooler locations as much as possible.

 

NT is a different heat - more dry than North Qld. Uluru is incredible. I went several years ago (didn't have any interest in climbing it) and was awestruck at how the area made me feel, just on approach. Make sure you buy fly nets for your head while walking around during the day in NT. You'll look silly but every person not wearing one will be jealous of you, even our "too cool for school" teenage boys were happy to wear them. At least you can have a conversation without flies up your nose and in your mouth!

 

February will still be very hot, but Ulura and surrounds can be very cold at night. If you do the "Sounds of Silence" dinner, which I highly recommend, then take warm clothing with you that evening. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

14 hours ago, crawford said:

 

Just checked out the 2020 Australia/New Zealand cruises and May, June and July. It appears that Princess does not go there during those months or am I missing something?

Actually for a few years Princess used to have three ships operating in our region during our winter months, although Sea Princess did the world cruise during this time. But Sun Princess and Dawn Princess (replaced by Golden Princess for one season after Dawn went to P&O Australia), did Top End cruises, Queensland cruises, South Pacific and PNG cruises. Usually the New Zealand cruises stop around the end of March or early April as conditions around the South Island aren't good for cruising, although Sea Princess stops in Auckland and the Bay of Islands on the world cruise. But this year, and next, there are no ships for the three months that Sea Princess is off on the world cruise. Sun Princess is currently up in Asia. It's a real shame. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 hours ago, crawford said:

Thanks for clarifying. After reading some posts, it appeared that those winter months looked good for cruising.

They are, especially for Top End and PNG cruises.

[HaveDogWillTravel]

Thanks to all the locals who’ve provided wonderful details on the weather and information on the regions of Australia. I have always wanted to see Australia and this thread is really giving me a lot to consider. 

My husband was studying to be a geologist (he ultimately changed his major) when I met him in college and for the first two years we dated he always brought me rocks from all his field trips. Now 25 years later I think I need to take him to the largest rock in the world. 

[dchip]

On 7/3/2019 at 11:08 PM, cruise4mom said:

. In 2021 Holland American has a 43 day Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, New Caledonia, Hawaii, Victoria BC and it ends in seattle. The price for this is around $7,000. 

 

Thank you for posting this info. We now have found our 2021 cruise. 🤗🤗🤗

 

Cheers, Denise