cruise australia and new zealand

[alfie2000]

I am in the UK, retired, widowed so will be a solo traveller. I am thinking of booking a  10 day cruise of Australia and New Zealand going out of and returning to Sydney in January 2026. As it so far I want to combine this with something else to make it a 3 or 4 week trip. Has anyone got any suggestions? I am reasonably fit and mobile.

 

Also any suggestions on stop overs for the flights?

[Essiesmom]

Fairly far down on the main boards page is a board for Australia and New Zealand, above the Ports of Call boards.  Local folks there might have some suggestions for you.  EM

[CruiserBruce]

Agree with the suggestion to look at the Australia/New Zealand boards...there are two. Also look at the Cruise Air board for flight info.

 

From a (at the time) total international travel novice, don't underestimate the size of Australia. We tried to see Australia and New Zealand on a 3 week honeymoon, 39 years ago next week. It ended up taking 2 additional trips to New Zealand, and 3 additional ( separate from the 2 additional New Zealand trips) to Australia,  to really feel like we have seen the two wonderful countries. 

[capriccio]

Since you mentioned a 4 week trip, here is another option:  a Round Australia cruise.  We did that in April 2023.  Princess offers that 28 day itinerary a couple of times a year (fall and spring) and it is justifiably popular and requires early booking.  We were a group of 6 and loved it,  I suspect that other cruise lines offer a similar itinerary.

 

We were also fortunate enough to tack on a few days in Sydney and a 1 week private tour of the South Island of New Zealand.  That was exceptional.

[donaldsc]

7 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Agree with the suggestion to look at the Australia/New Zealand boards...there are two. Also look at the Cruise Air board for flight info.

 

From a (at the time) total international travel novice, don't underestimate the size of Australia. We tried to see Australia and New Zealand on a 3 week honeymoon, 39 years ago next week. It ended up taking 2 additional trips to New Zealand, and 3 additional ( separate from the 2 additional New Zealand trips) to Australia,  to really feel like we have seen the two wonderful countries. 

 

To extend what CruiserBruce has told you - I thank that your idea of a long trip is a wonderful idea. A couple of thoughts however based on our 2 1/2 month Australia land trip and also a 35 day New Zealand combined cruise and driving trip.  Recognize that you can't see it all so you have to decide what is important to you.  Besides what you want to see you will need to decide how you are going to get around Australia and/or New Zealand once you get off the ship - tours or DIY driving or flying from city to city.  You need to do a bit of advance planning and I would suggest you work with a good Australia TA on this trip.  I don't know if they have them in Spain but in the US there are certified Australia travel agents.  We used one on our long Australia trip and she was a great help.

 

Some people will suggest that a round Australia cruise.  I don't think that this a good idea.  You only get to spend 1 day in each of the ports that you stop at and you waste days getting from port to port.  Also you never get to see anything except coastal locations.  There are inland locations are you will miss completely.  

 

Hope that this helps a bit.  Feel free to come back to CC with specific questions.  Also note that there is an Australia / New Zealand board on CC.

 

DON

[Host Kat]

12 hours ago, alfie2000 said:

I am in the UK, retired, widowed so will be a solo traveller. I am thinking of booking a  10 day cruise of Australia and New Zealand going out of and returning to Sydney in January 2026. As it so far I want to combine this with something else to make it a 3 or 4 week trip. Has anyone got any suggestions? I am reasonably fit and mobile.

 

Also any suggestions on stop overs for the flights?

 

Hello @alfie2000 and welcome back to the Cruise Critic website and our message boards! I see it has been a while since you have posted on the boards.

 

Thank you for your new thread on the Ask s Cruise Question forum! However, it is the forum for general questions regarding cruising. To help you out, your new thread regarding Australia & New Zealand has been moved to the Ports of Call - Australia & New Zealand forum that @Essiesmom and @donaldsc mention above. The majority of your fellow Cruise Critic members that live there, have flown in/out or sailed in/out of Australia & New Zealand frequent this forum and provide feedback here. Browse through the thread titles in this forum looking for threads of interest. You may find your fellow Cruise Critic members have already posted questions and received answers that may be of interest to you. And as @CruiserBruce mentions above, for flight information click here: Cruise Air. And you also may want to check in with fellow UK cruisers that may have been to Australia & New Zealand here: UK Cruisers.

 

The Cruise Critic website and message boards are both great resources for new as well as experienced cruisers and we are so glad you are posting again! Please feel free to browse the Cruise Critic Community categories list of the various forums. I suggest you put the page link in your browser's Favorites for quick & easy access in the future. Please read a few threads in the different forums to get a feel for what each forum is about. Make sure you read any pinned threads (aka stickies) on the top of the first page of threads in most forums. You will find very important instructions or information there. 

 

I also suggest you use the Follow feature on any new threads you start or any other threads or forums where you are interested in the new replies. That way you will not have to go looking to see if there are new posts because they will come l👀king for you as notifications! If you need information on how to do it, please click here: How to: Follow Topics & Forums (Subscribed Threads/Forums Info) and here: How To: Change Email Settings/Unsubscribe: Notification Settings

 

I sincerely hope this will be helpful and glad to have you back aboard Cruise Critic! 

 

Happy sails,

 

Host Kat

[sleepingcat]

On 8/17/2024 at 1:54 PM, alfie2000 said:

I am in the UK, retired, widowed so will be a solo traveller. I am thinking of booking a  10 day cruise of Australia and New Zealand going out of and returning to Sydney in January 2026. As it so far I want to combine this with something else to make it a 3 or 4 week trip. Has anyone got any suggestions? I am reasonably fit and mobile.

 

Hi Alfie2000, lucky you planning an Australia and NZ trip. It's sadly already 10 years since we did our trip, but I will describe briefly in case it helps with your planning. 

 

We flew Birmingham to Christchurch, with a stopover night in Bangkok. flew Emirates. 2 nights apartment in Christchurch then we picked up a camper van and toured the South Island for 3 weeks (didnt prebook anything except the camper and the apartment).  got a car for the Christchurch to Picton leg, then foot passengers on the inter island ferry (so  cheaper and no need to book). overnight in Wellington, then car hire for a week in North Island. dropped the car in Auckland where we had 3 nights in an apartment, then boarded P and O Arcadia for return cruise to the UK. P and O did the flight booking for us and rolled it into the cruise price. Itinerary included Sydney 2 overnights,  Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth. 

 

a couple of other suggestions in case relevant to you. maybe check world cruise segments in Australia and NZ by UK companies in case that fits for you. Some people have commented that doing NZ out of Sydney is not best idea as you have sea days getting to/from NZ. And honestly if you want to really see NZ you need to be on land not on a ship. 

 

if we go again, I would do stopover in Singapore for couple of days as its lovely to visit. 

Hope it's useful, whatever you do it will be good.