Australia & New Zealand or Panama Canal?

[novicetraveller]

Hi all,

 

Which would you do (either first and second, or one or the other)? If both, in what order? And why? I am looking to book my cruises for 2015 and possibly 2016 (I know it's a bit early for 2016, but I like to plan ahead!).

 

What are the benefits of each. I am sold on both types, but need to decide which one is worth going to first. And if one of them is not worth going on, then I will think about ditching it.

[harry0]

We went down under and loved it-but go in Jan/Feb-It is summer there. We took a 18 day cruise from Auckland to Perth and loved every minute of it. I wish we had spent more time pre and post cruise in NZ and OZ. A week each side would have been nice. You have a nice nice dilemma to be in-Happy planning

[Esilef]

We live in Australia & have cruised to New Zealand. Australia & New Zealand really are very beautiful places.

 

Do your research well as the weather can be an issue. In summer January/feb it can hit 40 degrees.

 

Cyclones can be an issue sailing over that time. The Great Barrier Reef in Queensland is just beautiful. So is Milford sound in New Zealand.

 

New Zealand is amazing & beautiful so much to do & see. The north & south islands are so different.

 

Departing Sydney in a cruise ship is amazing

 

RCI now has some of their ships stationed in Australia and cruise to New Zealand. You could work out an itinerary where you get to see both by staying on the one ship.

 

Remember the flight to Australia can take over 16 hours depending on where you are coming from. Make sure you spend a couple if days relaxing in Sydney before sailing out.

 

So my vote is do Australia & New Zealand.

[gaechann]

We went down under and loved it-but go in Jan/Feb-It is summer there. We took a 18 day cruise from Auckland to Perth and loved every minute of it. I wish we had spent more time pre and post cruise in NZ and OZ. A week each side would have been nice. You have a nice nice dilemma to be in-Happy planning

 

Actually, unless you want to be both bombarded with LOADS of school children and an elevated price, it being our 6-weeks summer school holidays down here, January is NOT the best month to visit us.

 

February would be good for NZ and then Australia after that! January & February are VERY hot and humid in Australia. We locals prefer to go to our Southern states then but unfortunately, most cruiseships are heading to our Northern states or the South Pacific.

 

All the very best - Gae

[Clarea]

I might be biased because of our relative close proximity to the Panama Canal, but I would much rather do a cruise to Austrailia and New Zealand. In my opinion, so much more to see.

[novicetraveller]

Just a bit more info.... The Oz and New Zealand cruise I am thinking of doing will be Feb 12th 2015 for 14 days, departing Sydney Or Panama departing from Fort Lauderdale on 30th March for 14 days. I don't mind the heat, but my tolerance is around 35 degrees Celsius before I start considering wearing long sleeves to avoid getting overly sunburnt.

[lozaloz13]

Australia and New Zealand are beautiful places to visit (I may be a little bias though lol) however one consideration to make about travelling to Australia during summer is both our high heat and our high UV rating. Be prepared to be slathered in sunscreen! New Zealand is often milder with a lower UV.

 

Cruising in this region is definitely a great way to sample what we have to offer. I find sailing out of Sydney Harbour one of the most spectacular sights.

[novicetraveller]

Australia and New Zealand are beautiful places to visit (I may be a little bias though lol) however one consideration to make about travelling to Australia during summer is both our high heat and our high UV rating. Be prepared to be slathered in sunscreen! New Zealand is often milder with a lower UV.

 

Cruising in this region is definitely a great way to sample what we have to offer. I find sailing out of Sydney Harbour one of the most spectacular sights.

 

The problem I have with sun cream is that as soon as I step into the heat, it evaporates. :o

[voyager70]

Seeing that you have done the Caribbean multiple times I would vote for OZ/NZ. The Panama Canal is truly amazing but it's just one day of the cruise & the rest are a bunch of Caribbean & Mexican ports, some of which you have probably already seen. Also, as far as heat, we did the PC in January several years ago & it was like New York in August, just something to keep in mind!

[AdamsND04]

I did a semester in college at Bond University in Robina Australia and I would say that if your coming from the USA I would NOT do a cruise to Australia.

 

It's a 20-24 hour flight and on a cruise you don't get that much port time to really explore.

 

So if you want an Australian vacation go to Australia by plane has to be a minimum of a 2 week stay to make the flight worth while.

 

Do 3 Days in Sydney

3 Days in Cairns area. There are 3 day Great Barrier Reef Trips you can take that are on a small boat with 20 other people and it is amazing to be that close.

Do 3 days in Byron Bay (The Sign where it says "the eastern most part of Australia"

Hit up Surfers Paradise

Frasiers Island

Keppel Island

 

These are trips that you can't take on a Cruise to Australia and I was there for 3.5 months and LOVED every minute of my time there and every weekend adventure.

 

I highly recommend going to Australia, but not a cruise, you really won't get to experience everything that Australia has to offer on a 8-12 hour port stop.

 

Just my two cents.

[novicetraveller]

I did a semester in college at Bond University in Robina Australia and I would say that if your coming from the USA I would NOT do a cruise to Australia.

 

It's a 20-24 hour flight and on a cruise you don't get that much port time to really explore.

 

So if you want an Australian vacation go to Australia by plane has to be a minimum of a 2 week stay to make the flight worth while.

 

Do 3 Days in Sydney

3 Days in Cairns area. There are 3 day Great Barrier Reef Trips you can take that are on a small boat with 20 other people and it is amazing to be that close.

Do 3 days in Byron Bay (The Sign where it says "the eastern most part of Australia"

Hit up Surfers Paradise

Frasiers Island

Keppel Island

 

These are trips that you can't take on a Cruise to Australia and I was there for 3.5 months and LOVED every minute of my time there and every weekend adventure.

 

I highly recommend going to Australia, but not a cruise, you really won't get to experience everything that Australia has to offer on a 8-12 hour port stop.

 

Just my two cents.

 

I will be flying from the UK. If I do go to Oz, I will make a stopover to Singapore of Hong Kong before going to Oz.

 

Because of my medical issues and a lack of driving ability, cruising is the only viable option for me. I may one day come back to Oz and do a lot more sightseeing.

[teacherman]

I have never had a bad cruise, BUT the one I would not do again was the Panama Canal. The history of the canal is fascinating, but to go through the canal, in my opinion, is kind of boring. If you have been through locks (and there are other places where ships go through them) then you have had the lock "experience".

[novicetraveller]

Thanks for the comments everyone, it is appreciated. I have gone for the Panama cruise. Why Panama? It's different to what I have done. And I will do Oz & NZ in 2016. I have put Oz back a year mainly because of the cost aspect (The flight to Oz will be high, and I need a bit more time to save up for it). I have done the Caribbean 4 times now, so it would be nice to experience something different. I am looking at the Panama from a photographic point of view more than anything else.

[truffles2]

Have done both (PC twice/complete transits) and would definitely put Au/NZ as #1.

[newcruisers04]

or evening in your case Gae ;). We are looking at Feb. 12, 2015 as well from Sydney round trip to NZ....one question...would you say the two day trek across from Sydney to Milford Sound or Sydney to Bay of Islands is typically a rough voyage? I like your advice to do Oz after NZ, so once we land back in Sydney Feb. 26, we plan to stay a week and sight see vs doing it prior to the cruise.

 

Thanks for all the advice you have posted, as well as others in the land of Oz...sure has been helpful for me!

 

 

Actually, unless you want to be both bombarded with LOADS of school children and an elevated price, it being our 6-weeks summer school holidays down here, January is NOT the best month to visit us.

 

February would be good for NZ and then Australia after that! January & February are VERY hot and humid in Australia. We locals prefer to go to our Southern states then but unfortunately, most cruiseships are heading to our Northern states or the South Pacific.

 

All the very best - Gae

[Esilef]

Sydney to Milford sound can be a rough voyage at that time of year but so worth it.

 

The school kids go back at the end of January. Could you do a week in Sydney & then go north to cairns ect for another week? You can't miss the Great Barrier Reef and there are some amazing captain cook cruises around the great barrier reef

[Chmielel]

Congratulations on your decision to sail through the Panama Canal. I would like to recommend a book to read or listen to audio book of:

 

The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914

 

by David McCullough (Author)

It will greatly increase your understanding of accomplishment of the Panama Canal.

[novicetraveller]

Congratulations on your decision to sail through the Panama Canal. I would like to recommend a book to read or listen to audio book of:

 

The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914

 

by David McCullough (Author)

 

It will greatly increase your understanding of accomplishment of the Panama Canal.

 

Thanks for the tip. I have ordered the book. I'm not a keen reader of books (as I am Dyslexic), but I will give it a read.

[novicetraveller]

Sydney to Milford sound can be a rough voyage at that time of year but so worth it.

 

The school kids go back at the end of January. Could you do a week in Sydney & then go north to cairns ect for another week? You can't miss the Great Barrier Reef and there are some amazing captain cook cruises around the great barrier reef

 

If I were able to drive, had no worries about food choices (Diabetic Vegetarian), was streetwise in Oz, etc. I would. I need to have a constant that works. And a cruise gives it.

[truffles2]

Thanks for the tip. I have ordered the book. I'm not a keen reader of books (as I am Dyslexic), but I will give it a read.

 

Hope you have plenty of time! Its a big book:eek:.

[SPacificbound]

Australia and New Zealand absolutely! :)

[gaechann]

or evening in your case Gae ;). We are looking at Feb. 12, 2015 as well from Sydney round trip to NZ....one question...would you say the two day trek across from Sydney to Milford Sound or Sydney to Bay of Islands is typically a rough voyage? I like your advice to do Oz after NZ, so once we land back in Sydney Feb. 26, we plan to stay a week and sight see vs doing it prior to the cruise.

 

Thanks for all the advice you have posted, as well as others in the land of Oz...sure has been helpful for me!

 

I'll answer your question by telling this little story:

 

My Mum was keen to see NZ so I suggested we take a cruise there as she has limited mobility for travelling. She was sure she'd suffer from sea-sickness so I booked on the largest ship in our area - The Voyager of the Seas.

 

I was warned that if she was seasick I was "out of the will"! Of course, I also packed seasickness tablets as I didn't want her to suffer - or me to be out of the will either! :)

 

There was just a little "motion in the ocean" going over to Auckland from Sydney, then nothing down the East side of NZ but I was expecting that the trip over from the bottom of NZ to Melbourne would be rougher!

 

Again just a little "motion in the ocean" until we hit the Bass Strait - that piece of sea between Tasmania and Victoria (right down the southern part of Australia). Still by then Mum had her sea-legs and was as right as rain - no sign of seasickness!

 

I should have said to her "And if you don't get seasick, do I get double my share in the will"? :)

 

She enjoyed it so much that we have 3 more cruises booked. I told her that I can't get insurance for her once she's 90 so as she's now 87 we have to get the other cruises she's interested in "ticked off" sooner rather than later!

 

Gae

[newcruisers04]

thanks, I was leaning towards perhaps 5 days in Sydney area and 5 days in Cairns area...so many places to visit and so many options for travel. The two sea days over to the Sounds I will have to remind myself of all the beauty NZ has to offer. I appreciate your comments, thanks again

Lori

 

Sydney to Milford sound can be a rough voyage at that time of year but so worth it.

 

The school kids go back at the end of January. Could you do a week in Sydney & then go north to cairns ect for another week? You can't miss the Great Barrier Reef and there are some amazing captain cook cruises around the great barrier reef

[newcruisers04]

that is awesome to be travelling at your mom's age! A little motion will not bother us, it is the 10-15 ft. waves that bothered me along the coast of California before we did the Panama Canal transit a few years ago. I will have to check and see the difference in the size of ships Radiance vs Voyager, since this is our first RCCL cruise. Thanks again for sharing

Lori

 

I'll answer your question by telling this little story:

 

My Mum was keen to see NZ so I suggested we take a cruise there as she has limited mobility for travelling. She was sure she'd suffer from sea-sickness so I booked on the largest ship in our area - The Voyager of the Seas.

 

I was warned that if she was seasick I was "out of the will"! Of course, I also packed seasickness tablets as I didn't want her to suffer - or me to be out of the will either! :)

 

There was just a little "motion in the ocean" going over to Auckland from Sydney, then nothing down the East side of NZ but I was expecting that the trip over from the bottom of NZ to Melbourne would be rougher!

 

Again just a little "motion in the ocean" until we hit the Bass Strait - that piece of sea between Tasmania and Victoria (right down the southern part of Australia). Still by then Mum had her sea-legs and was as right as rain - no sign of seasickness!

 

I should have said to her "And if you don't get seasick, do I get double my share in the will"? :)

 

She enjoyed it so much that we have 3 more cruises booked. I told her that I can't get insurance for her once she's 90 so as she's now 87 we have to get the other cruises she's interested in "ticked off" sooner rather than later!

 

Gae

[Esilef]

We have traveled the world and can state that New Zealand is one of the most beautiful places we have seen. Such diversity. The north and South Islands are nothing a like.

 

Sitting on your balcony with a glass of champagne watching Milford sound go by is a life highlight.

 

In Australia we love the Great Barrier Reef. There is many sailing trips you can do.