new zealand /australian cruise recomendations

[moxie1]

Interested in New Zealand/ Australian cruise. Would appreciate any feedback from previous cruisers to this area. Time of year, itineraries, and must see"s. Thanks in advance.

[CruiserBruce]

The typical is a 12-14 day cruise route that goes between the countries, starting/ending is Sydney or Auckland. Those are great intros to the two countries. These are typically during Northern Hemisphere winter...Non-March, and many cruise lines do them. Have done one of these.

 

Princess has 2 or 3 ships based in Australia that do a variety of routes. You should check their website for the options. We did a 17 day Perth to Sydney around the "top end" (northern part) of Australia that was great. The Great Barrier reef is fantastic.

 

We have also done 2 New Zealand and 3 Australia land trips, which, if you have the time, would highly recommend versus doing cruises.

[moxie1]

Thanks. Will do research on the land trips also.

[OzKiwiJJ]

The best option is a one way cruise from Auckland to Sydney or Melbourne that is at least 12 days or more, and in February or March. That allows you to do some land travel in NZ at a time when the weather is usually at it's best ( but good weather is never guaranteed in NZ). Australia is very hot in summer but is starting to cool off in March. This is important if you wish to visit the Great Barrier Reef from Cairns or Port Douglas ( I recommend the latter). Although it's still cyclone season in our region then the worst of the "wet" is over.

 

Most major cruise lines offer the one way itineraries. Some of the luxury lines do as well but without as much choice of dates.