Please help decide between 2 Celebrity Eclipse itineraries

[maureenk]

The 14-night trip on Jan. 14, 2022 is only $300 more for 2 people than the 11-night trip on Feb. 19, 2022.  Although 3 days longer, 2 of those are days at sea.  My DH isn't fond of sea days but itinerary is more important to both of us.  The extra time is not an issue.  Which itinerary is better - 14 day adds in Bay of Islands and Hobart while 11-day has an overnight in Tauranga.  They also go in opposite directions putting us in New Zealand mid Jan vs. late Feb.  Please help us chose!  Thank you!

 

14-night Jan. 14 2022:

 

11-night Feb. 19, 2022:

 

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[Blackduck59]

Hey maureenk, We chose the 14 day itinerary, I spend a lot of time on this board and when we were rescheduling our down under adventure. With the 2 extra ports especially Tasmania it was a no brainer. Just think of the sea days as free time with food included. Remember watching fellow passengers do stupid things can be quite entertaining 😁.

[Tranquility Base]

1 hour ago, maureenk said:

Although 3 days longer, 2 of those are days at sea.  My DH isn't fond of sea days but itinerary is more important to both of us. 

The 2 sea days on the 14 day itinerary would be very welcome after a busy 5 port days in a row.

Even the day spent in the Sounds can be somewhat busy moving around the ship for sightseeing. It's a long day from entering Dusky to leaving Milford.

 

[Chiliburn]

The 14 day,  Hobart is worth seeing.

[MMDown Under]

Bay of Islands and Hobart - YES definitely 14 day cruise.  Only negative school holidays. 

[GUT2407]

Bit of a no brainer for me, one you only see NZ the other Aus and NZ

[maureenk]

Thank you all!  How much will school holidays impact our trip in January?  Doesn't sound like it's a showstopper?

[Blackduck59]

Being a Celebrity cruise I wouldn't anticipate a crowd of kids school holidays or not. I couldn't comment as to what it will be like for the port visits. We have postponed our plans from January this year to next year and we started planning this trip in 1999. I'm not going to let school holidays spoil our fun.

[NSWP]

2 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

Being a Celebrity cruise I wouldn't anticipate a crowd of kids school holidays or not. I couldn't comment as to what it will be like for the port visits. We have postponed our plans from January this year to next year and we started planning this trip in 1999. I'm not going to let school holidays spoil our fun.

There will be rug rats on board but not heaps of them.

[Chiliburn]

Kids won’t be a problem especially on celebrity.

We were on Ovation once a there was 1,500 kids out of 5000 passengers.

Hardly noticed them until my daughter lost her seapass and some kids reported she had jumped over the side.

What a problem that was especially for the family of the kids as they where kicked of the ship.

[OzKiwiJJ]

The 14 day definitely. We've done variations on that itinerary three times and those sea days are welcome breaks, especially the last as it gives you time to sort out your packing for disembarkation. 

 

One of the Celebrity cruises we did was a Christmas cruise with around 500 kids onboard. We rarely saw any of them, although we did hear a bit of running in the hallways at night.

Edited May 2, 2021 by OzKiwiJJ

[queenslander]

Definitely the 14 day with Bay of Islands and Hobart. 

Happy cruising! 😊

[pully8]

Agree include Tasmania. 

How wonderful to have a cruise to look forward to as well. .

 

[GUT2407]

One question I haven’t seen, where are you from?

[NSWP]

2 hours ago, GUT2407 said:

One question I haven’t seen, where are you from?

With the cruise history..90% Caribbean, I am thinking 'Land of the Free.' 

Edited May 2, 2021 by NSWP

[GUT2407]

37 minutes ago, NSWP said:

With the cruise history..90% Caribbean, I am thinking 'Land of the Free.' 

I was too, but if they are from Elsewhere, flights may come into play. From USA I’d still do the one way, but of time in the Land of Long White Clouds, cruise, bit of time in God’s own, fly home.

[onlyslightlymad]

Never heard Australia called God's Own.  Always been NZ is Godzone, Australia "The Lucky Country".  No matter, just interesting.

[maureenk]

21 hours ago, NSWP said:

With the cruise history..90% Caribbean, I am thinking 'Land of the Free.' 

Yes, from the USA!  Thank so much for all of the suggestions.  It's much appreciated.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 minute ago, maureenk said:

Yes, from the USA!  Thank so much for all of the suggestions.  It's much appreciated.

Mske sure everything you book czn be cancelled with a full refund. As yet there is no indication as to when the Australian and NZ borders will open to overseas visitors, and no indication as to whether the 21/22 cruise season will actually happen. We're hoping it will but our governments don't like cruise ships especially after the Ruby Princess debacle which was mostly the fault of the NSW state government.

[MMDown Under]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Mske sure everything you book czn be cancelled with a full refund. As yet there is no indication as to when the Australian and NZ borders will open to overseas visitors, and no indication as to whether the 21/22 cruise season will actually happen. We're hoping it will but our governments don't like cruise ships especially after the Ruby Princess debacle which was mostly the fault of the NSW state government.

Full cash refund is essential in these uncertain times.  Our Federal Government hasn't said when Australians can travel overseas, let alone overseas people can visit Australia.  As for ships with foreign passengers ??  Maybe in the first instance, the Government may let Aussies join the NZ/Aust bubble and let us cruise to NZ.  Kiwis can cruise in NZ when is first small step. 

[maureenk]

2 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Full cash refund is essential in these uncertain times.  Our Federal Government hasn't said when Australians can travel overseas, let alone overseas people can visit Australia.  As for ships with foreign passengers ??  Maybe in the first instance, the Government may let Aussies join the NZ/Aust bubble and let us cruise to NZ.  Kiwis can cruise in NZ when is first small step. 

Yes, I agree this is great advice and essential at this time - not only for NZ/Aust but for all countries.  

 

Edited May 3, 2021 by maureenk
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