South Pacific advice

[coldweather]

Hello.

I am an American looking to understand the cruise/weather season in the Australia/NZ/South Pacific area.  

 

Google has informed me that cyclone season runs from November - April.  In 2014 we were indeed impacted by a cyclone for an April cruise from Brisbane to Papua New Guinea.  We missed a few ports.  We are trying to avoid that.  

 

As I look at the cruise schedules, it seems that most of the south pacific cruises have sailings concentrated from November - April. 

 

We are looking for a once in a lifetime cruise to visit South Pacific islands.  Fiji and Tahiti and sound fantastic!  We are also interested in cruises with World War 2 history. 

 

I am seeking information why there are so few South Pacific cruises from May - August.  I do understand that is the winter season. In the USA, winter is a popular cruising time for people who live in the cold (me) to get to warmer weather and to avoid any storms (USA Hurricane season is June - October). 

 

Thanks in advance for your information and coaching me on selecting my Australia/New Zealand holiday choices. 

 

[Karaboudjan]

53 minutes ago, coldweather said:

Hello.

I am an American looking to understand the cruise/weather season in the Australia/NZ/South Pacific area.  

 

Google has informed me that cyclone season runs from November - April.  In 2014 we were indeed impacted by a cyclone for an April cruise from Brisbane to Papua New Guinea.  We missed a few ports.  We are trying to avoid that.  

 

As I look at the cruise schedules, it seems that most of the south pacific cruises have sailings concentrated from November - April. 

 

We are looking for a once in a lifetime cruise to visit South Pacific islands.  Fiji and Tahiti and sound fantastic!  We are also interested in cruises with World War 2 history. 

 

I am seeking information why there are so few South Pacific cruises from May - August.  I do understand that is the winter season. In the USA, winter is a popular cruising time for people who live in the cold (me) to get to warmer weather and to avoid any storms (USA Hurricane season is June - October). 

 

Thanks in advance for your information and coaching me on selecting my Australia/New Zealand holiday choices. 

 

 

Take a look at how many cruise ships are in Alaska from May-August and I think you will have your answer.  It's probably a lot easier to sell those than South Pacific cruises.

[coldweather]

Thank you @karaboudjan.  You have a good thought that the cruise demand may be higher in other locations.

 

Follow up question - If I do cruise from Sydney in July should I be aware of anything?  For example, in the US if you cruise from NY in the winter the Atlantic Ocean seas are very, very rough.  A few ships continue to sail to the Caribbean but passengers should be aware that is will be rough ride and it will be cold for the days closest the embarkation and debarkation. 

[MMDown Under]

American friends have raised the same question with me, so we are talking about potential American passengers as well as Australian passengers who would love to cruise further in the South Pacific or north to Darwin, Northern Territory and PNG.

 

It amazes me that other cruise lines haven't developed their markets here.  Australians are amongst the top travellers.  Australian have recreation leave of four weeks annually, plus longer if they work in the bush (eg miners).  We are used to flying long haul to travel, but people are less keen now following Covid.

 

Bon Voyage for cruise in July.

[MicCanberra]

I would think it is demand and economic thinking in where cruise ships sail. While I do think a ship or two would work for our winter, I am not sure it would be more profitable than elsewhere and or that they could have more than a couple ships (various cruise lines).

Once (if) Lelepa Island is up and running, RCI may venture a ship here year round, but who knows.

[arxcards]

7 hours ago, coldweather said:

Hello.

I am an American looking to understand the cruise/weather season in the Australia/NZ/South Pacific area.  

 

Google has informed me that cyclone season runs from November - April.  In 2014 we were indeed impacted by a cyclone for an April cruise from Brisbane to Papua New Guinea.  We missed a few ports.  We are trying to avoid that.  

 

As I look at the cruise schedules, it seems that most of the south pacific cruises have sailings concentrated from November - April. 

 

We are looking for a once in a lifetime cruise to visit South Pacific islands.  Fiji and Tahiti and sound fantastic!  We are also interested in cruises with World War 2 history. 

 

I am seeking information why there are so few South Pacific cruises from May - August.  I do understand that is the winter season. In the USA, winter is a popular cruising time for people who live in the cold (me) to get to warmer weather and to avoid any storms (USA Hurricane season is June - October). 

 

Thanks in advance for your information and coaching me on selecting my Australia/New Zealand holiday choices. 

 

Pretty much covered already. We have 4 ships based in Australia/New Zealand over our winter months, and the cruise lines have trouble filling them. They have been trying to develop year round cruising numbers for the past 20 years, and they aren't about to bring more ships down to sail half full and take away from their sister brand that is already discounting to sell.

 

Of our 4 ships, two are based in Sydney - Carnival Splendor & P&O Australia's Pacific Adventure. One is based in Brisbane - P&O Pacific Encounter, while the other spends most of her time based in Auckland - P&O Pacific Explorer.

For the P&O ships, try this out for size as there may be an alternative.

https://www.pocruises.com.au/cruises/search?c=FJI&p=AKL&p=BNE

 

[bretts173]

There might be more interest if something more than the dregs are on offer.

[Chiliburn]

38 minutes ago, bretts173 said:

There might be more interest if something more than the dregs are on offer.

Don’t talk about P&O and carnival like that  LOL

[bretts173]

P and O definitely, and Carnival the ship itself is hardly exciting, 15 years old and the fact it is hear year round means it becomes stale pretty quick.

Edited December 22, 2023 by bretts173

[SinbadThePorter]

On a general note about marine weather in Australia/NZ you need to note the intense low pressure systems that rotate around the Southern Ocean from west to east. These are usually a few days apart and they push high seas, rain and cloud up into the Tasman Sea.

 

In winter these lows move north and are more intense around Southern Australia and NZ. In between them you can get quite good weather.

 

Of course, predicting the intensity and movement of these systems is not possible beyond a few days.

[Bubbeh]

11 hours ago, coldweather said:

We are also interested in cruises with World War 2 history. 

You should definitely visit Darwin then, amongst the most interesting of cities.  Try either a top end cruise or a circumnavigation?  Probably not gonna get either of those in winter but spring or autumn could work for you.

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, bretts173 said:

There might be more interest if something more than the dregs are on offer.

Bring it on Royal?

If only they had some testicular fortitude - even to keep a 25 year old Voyager here year around. If they could fill a ship in July, they would have one here in a flash. There is no money in it. Even Princess sends their "Oz based" ship on a 1 month cruise around the islands followed by a 3 1/2 month world cruise to avoid having to discount through the winter.

 

Indeed, nothing is as exciting about Carnival or P&O as it would be for Royal but if you want to cruise from Sydney or Brisbane from May to September, they are the only ships it town and the only reason I mention them. Personally I loathe P&O, but just sometimes it is worth looking at what the OP is looking to do vs cheerleading any personal preferences.

 

 

[Bubbeh]

22 minutes ago, arxcards said:

testicular fortitude

Just what I've been searching for, testicular fortitude!  🤣

[arxcards]

Just now, Bubbeh said:

Just what I've been searching for, testicular fortitude!  🤣

So was the Captain on Brilliance of the Seas 🤣

[MicCanberra]

1 hour ago, Bubbeh said:

Just what I've been searching for, testicular fortitude!  🤣

That could be a new port wine from Margaret River?

[Bubbeh]

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

That could be a new port wine from Margaret River?

Or a new vineyard.  'Hello girls we're off to Testicular Fortitude for lunch on Sunday.  I hear they do a brilliant Ploughman's Platter'.

[bretts173]

3 hours ago, arxcards said:

Bring it on Royal?

If only they had some testicular fortitude - even to keep a 25 year old Voyager here year around. If they could fill a ship in July, they would have one here in a flash. There is no money in it. Even Princess sends their "Oz based" ship on a 1 month cruise around the islands followed by a 3 1/2 month world cruise to avoid having to discount through the winter.

 

Indeed, nothing is as exciting about Carnival or P&O as it would be for Royal but if you want to cruise from Sydney or Brisbane from May to September, they are the only ships it town and the only reason I mention them. Personally I loathe P&O, but just sometimes it is worth looking at what the OP is looking to do vs cheerleading any personal preferences.

 

 

No one knows because no one has tried, I will still cruise once a year on Carnival In Winter as there is no other choice and yes the prices are OK and actually a little more relaxing than their summer cruises. it's the age old problem in regards to tourism in this country, we are so far from anywhere and not enough population in the area to support the cruise industry 365.

[MicCanberra]

1 hour ago, Bubbeh said:

Or a new vineyard.  'Hello girls we're off to Testicular Fortitude for lunch on Sunday.  I hear they do a brilliant Ploughman's Platter'.

Stay away from the oysters.

[ilikeanswers]

On 12/22/2023 at 3:35 AM, MMDown Under said:

It amazes me that other cruise lines haven't developed their markets here.  Australians are amongst the top travellers.  Australian have recreation leave of four weeks annually, plus longer if they work in the bush (eg miners).  We are used to flying long haul to travel, but people are less keen now following Covid.

 

I suspect it is all about population. Australia and New Zealand pop is only about 30 million combined compared to USA with 332 million or Europe with 741 million. The reality is not everyone cruises and if the cruising population is 10% it would be significantly more people out of 332 million than 30 million. Combine that with the trend towards bigger and bigger ships the cruise lines need a population they know can fill those ships. Unless we can convince the growing middle class of China and India to hop on a Pacific cruise I just don't see how we could have the numbers to sustain year long cruising🤷‍♀️. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

On 12/22/2023 at 1:51 PM, arxcards said:

Bring it on Royal?

If only they had some testicular fortitude - even to keep a 25 year old Voyager here year around. If they could fill a ship in July, they would have one here in a flash. There is no money in it. Even Princess sends their "Oz based" ship on a 1 month cruise around the islands followed by a 3 1/2 month world cruise to avoid having to discount through the winter.

 

Indeed, nothing is as exciting about Carnival or P&O as it would be for Royal but if you want to cruise from Sydney or Brisbane from May to September, they are the only ships it town and the only reason I mention them. Personally I loathe P&O, but just sometimes it is worth looking at what the OP is looking to do vs cheerleading any personal preferences.

 

 

Princess used to have two ships homeporting in Australia over winter. One was, of course, the ship that did the big cruises (World, Hawaii/Tahiti, Round Australia) but the other did Top End runs between Sydney/Brisbane and Fremantle, PNG, and I even recall a Circle Pacific one year. We did Fremantle to Sydney in 2015 and PNG in 2016. Both cruises were close to full. However once they started moving some of the ships to P&O (Dawn then Golden) and replacing them with larger ships (extended Grand class and Royal class) they stopped having the second ship here. I guess it would have been harder to fill those larger ships during winter. It's such a shame. 😢

Edited December 23, 2023 by OzKiwiJJ

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Princess used to have two ships homeporting in Australia over winter. One was, of course, the ship that did the big cruises (World, Hawaii/Tahiti, Round Australia) but the other did Top End runs between Sydney/Brisbane and Fremantle, PNG, and I even recall a Circle Pacific one year. We did Fremantle to Sydney in 2015 and PNG in 2016. Both cruises were close to full. However once they started moving some of the ships to P&O (Dawn then Golden) and replacing them with larger ships (extended Grand class and Royal class) they stopped having the second ship here. I guess it would have been harder to fill those larger ships during winter. It's such a shame. 😢

While they had two ships, for most years in the dead of winter one was on a 100+ night world cruise while the other did 45 to 75 nights on Pacific/Indian circle, leaving no ship on the east coast for winter. P&O also had 5 fulltime ships for around 3 years as they tried to get more cruising out of Fremantle, Cairns, Melbourne & Auckland.

 

Yes, I would love an extra Princess here, as it would be nice to be doing 2 weeks Sydney to Fiji or PNG.

[MicCanberra]

It didn't work well prior to Covid, there are now less ships and what stock they have is larger capacity. Can't see them changing anything until they can see better profits elsewhere.

[SuitesRbest]

On 12/22/2023 at 12:16 AM, coldweather said:

Hello.

I am an American looking to understand the cruise/weather season in the Australia/NZ/South Pacific area.  

 

Google has informed me that cyclone season runs from November - April.  In 2014 we were indeed impacted by a cyclone for an April cruise from Brisbane to Papua New Guinea.  We missed a few ports.  We are trying to avoid that.  

 

As I look at the cruise schedules, it seems that most of the south pacific cruises have sailings concentrated from November - April. 

 

We are looking for a once in a lifetime cruise to visit South Pacific islands.  Fiji and Tahiti and sound fantastic!  We are also interested in cruises with World War 2 history. 

 

I am seeking information why there are so few South Pacific cruises from May - August.  I do understand that is the winter season. In the USA, winter is a popular cruising time for people who live in the cold (me) to get to warmer weather and to avoid any storms (USA Hurricane season is June - October). 

 

Thanks in advance for your information and coaching me on selecting my Australia/New Zealand holiday choices. 

 

We also have planned both the intinary's you speak about here in 2024. New Zealand in Febuary (60 days to go) and Papua New Guinea in June, been on both prior and loved each one.

We cruised to Papua New Guinea in June 2023, it was fantastic typical sticky hot conditions. No bad weather however, a littke rain up their as always. 

War history was fantastic although did not do everything. Saying this we planned the exact same intinary and date for 2024 and I would recomend this.

Edited December 25, 2023 by SuitesRbest

[cruise_critical]

I've had an 9 night Ovation cruise to South Pacific in April 2019, 10 night Ovation cruise to New Zealand in April 2023, and a 13 night Royal Princess cruise to South Pacific just 2 weeks ago. 

 

First two Ovation cruises both had very sunny and calm weather for the entire cruise. Not even a drop of rain in sight nor any strong winds.

 

Royal Princess cruise for past 2 weeks was great also. Couple of days had intermittent rain and mid-strong winds, but the swell wasn't high enough to feel tipsy on the ship, or stop people from going out on the ports still.

 

Luck of the draw at the end I think. During my great time on the Royal Princess past 2 weeks to Fiji, Vanuatu etc, there was a cyclone hitting the upper QLD part of Australia from the east. So the cruises that were going up the QLD coast all had its port stops cancelled and instead went down south to Sydney. So yeah, I was lucky, but many others weren't even during the same period.

[JoeyJoeJoe]

On 12/31/2023 at 9:23 AM, cruise_critical said:

I've had an 9 night Ovation cruise to South Pacific in April 2019, 10 night Ovation cruise to New Zealand in April 2023, and a 13 night Royal Princess cruise to South Pacific just 2 weeks ago. 

 

First two Ovation cruises both had very sunny and calm weather for the entire cruise. Not even a drop of rain in sight nor any strong winds.

 

Royal Princess cruise for past 2 weeks was great also. Couple of days had intermittent rain and mid-strong winds, but the swell wasn't high enough to feel tipsy on the ship, or stop people from going out on the ports still.

 

Luck of the draw at the end I think. During my great time on the Royal Princess past 2 weeks to Fiji, Vanuatu etc, there was a cyclone hitting the upper QLD part of Australia from the east. So the cruises that were going up the QLD coast all had its port stops cancelled and instead went down south to Sydney. So yeah, I was lucky, but many others weren't even during the same period.

 

Hi,

I am crusing the south pacific this march on royal and was trying to do the maths on the drinks package.

I was wondering if you have pic of a bar menu? Do they charge in USD or AUD and what is the the tip situation?

Thanks for your help

JJJ