Coming from US. Is cruise a good option?

[uvasag]

We are planning on traveling from US to Australia in June/July 2019. Do you think cruise is a good option or would I appreciate the country more by land?

[NSWP]

24 minutes ago, uvasag said:

We are planning on traveling from US to Australia in June/July 2019. Do you think cruise is a good option or would I appreciate the country more by land?

G'day, very limited as to what you can see from shorex at the ports. Might I suggest time at sea and on land, you will need a couple of months though, 30 days by ship from west coast of USA to Sydney and perhaps a month on land after that to see a bit.  A few of the ships leave USA around September/October after Alaska cruise season to reposition in this region for Australia/NZ/Asia.

Edited October 30, 2018 by NSWP

[Cruise Junky]

You know June and July are winter in AU?  

 

We’ve been twice but land trips both times. 

[GUT2407]

I love cruising, but can see the rest of Australia at any time.

 

I guess it c9mes down to what your interests are, but in most circumstances Land will win for a “one off” visit.

[The_Big_M]

Main issue with a cruise is that you only have a short time; it's like seeing New York in a day, then Washington in a day, Boston in a day and so on.

 

There's a lot to see around any of the capital cities, so you're better off with a land cruise so you can spend more time in them. Hence most international tourist cruises actually spend most time in NZ where many cities are smaller (and closer) so it's more realistic to see them in that timeframe.

[TalkingTravel]

Something also worth noting is your choice of ships will be very limited as it's not Australia cruise season then. 

[joybook]

I may be wrong but I would have thought you would have difficulty getting a cruise to Australia at that time of the year. It is a couple of months before the cruise season starts here and there are very few cruise ships around.

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

There aren't many good Australian cruises during that period next year. Unfortunately Princess seem to have cut back on their Top End cruises over our winter, which is a shame. The only ones are the two circumnavigation cruises, one in March and one in October, which are also sold as two sectors (Southern Explorer and Northern Explorer) but the 209 cruises are already sold out.

 

So your best bet would be land travel. I'd suggest some time in Sydney where most things can be covered by day trips, then Melbourne where you might like to rent a car and spend a few nights touring the Great Ocean Rd and the Grampians. You need to fly to Uluru if you want to see that, and plan on spending a couple of nights there, or you could do the Ghan train trip from Adelaide to Darwin. I'd also recommend spending some time in Far North Queensland - fly into Cairns then get a shuttle bus to Port Douglas (about an hour away). PD is the best place to do Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest tours from. I can give you some recommendations if you are interested.

 

 

[GCHAN]

8 hours ago, uvasag said:

We are planning on traveling from US to Australia in June/July 2019. Do you think cruise is a good option or would I appreciate the country more by land?

If you can you might even be better coming to Australia/NZ in March and catching any one of the cruises back to Honolulu in April. Celebrity have a cruise that has 3 nights in different ports in Tahiti. i Think Royal Carribean has the same. Tahiti is a real highlight.

 

If you even consider this you have to know that Australia has different weather zones. It is still wet season in the North and cyclones can happen at this time of the year. Later in March there is less chance of this happening. In the south of the country the weather should be good as it is Autumn. Nz weather is generally good at this time i think but I am not really certain of their weather.

[uvasag]

9 hours ago, GCHAN said:

If you can you might even be better coming to Australia/NZ in March and catching any one of the cruises back to Honolulu in April. Celebrity have a cruise that has 3 nights in different ports in Tahiti. i Think Royal Carribean has the same. Tahiti is a real highlight.

 

If you even consider this you have to know that Australia has different weather zones. It is still wet season in the North and cyclones can happen at this time of the year. Later in March there is less chance of this happening. In the south of the country the weather should be good as it is Autumn. Nz weather is generally good at this time i think but I am not really certain of their weather.

Unfortunately I don't get that much time off neither would I have the money for such an extensive travel plan. Maybe one day :)

[uvasag]

12 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

There aren't many good Australian cruises during that period next year. Unfortunately Princess seem to have cut back on their Top End cruises over our winter, which is a shame. The only ones are the two circumnavigation cruises, one in March and one in October, which are also sold as two sectors (Southern Explorer and Northern Explorer) but the 209 cruises are already sold out.

 

So your best bet would be land travel. I'd suggest some time in Sydney where most things can be covered by day trips, then Melbourne where you might like to rent a car and spend a few nights touring the Great Ocean Rd and the Grampians. You need to fly to Uluru if you want to see that, and plan on spending a couple of nights there, or you could do the Ghan train trip from Adelaide to Darwin. I'd also recommend spending some time in Far North Queensland - fly into Cairns then get a shuttle bus to Port Douglas (about an hour away). PD is the best place to do Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest tours from. I can give you some recommendations if you are interested.

 

 

Thank you. Yes what you are suggesting sounds like a plan. Is Melbourne necessary? Can I just do Sydney and then PD? Would definitely like recommendations. 

[MMDown Under]

In June/July, I would travel to North Queensland or Northern Territory, as they have beautiful warm sunny winter weather.  You could use Cairns/Port Douglas and Darwin as your bases and do trips from there.  

[MicCanberra]

3 hours ago, uvasag said:

Thank you. Yes what you are suggesting sounds like a plan. Is Melbourne necessary? Can I just do Sydney and then PD? Would definitely like recommendations. 

A lot of people like to visit by doing the tourist triangle with a few days in each place. 

Sydney with its various sites and landmarks ,

Cairns for the Great Barrier Reef and

Uluru for the Rock and various experiences.

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 hours ago, uvasag said:

Thank you. Yes what you are suggesting sounds like a plan. Is Melbourne necessary? Can I just do Sydney and then PD? Would definitely like recommendations. 

 

No, Melbourne isn't necessary, it's just one of the options. If you have limited time here then Sydney and PD will give you two totally different Australian experiences. Sydney will be cool at that time of year but can be quite pleasant, PD will be lovely.

 

We've been to PD a number of times and usually stayed at the Meridian Port Douglas.https://portdouglasmeridian.com/. It's very handy to everywhere - shops, marina, beach, and very comfortable. If you want an apartment at pool level try to get 2A. If you want to snorkel The Great Barrier Reef I recommend Wavelength https://www.wavelength.com.au/ for outer reef snorkelling. If you have time for another day on the reef then do a Low Isles trip with Sailaway http://sailawayportdouglas.com/. For a Daintree Rainforest trip I suggest Tony's Tropical Tours. https://www.tropicaltours.com.au/ 

[SinbadThePorter]

4 hours ago, uvasag said:

Thank you. Yes what you are suggesting sounds like a plan. Is Melbourne necessary? Can I just do Sydney and then PD? Would definitely like recommendations. 

 

Melbourne is nice but not necessary. The only Australian city that should not be missed is Sydney, and that's mainly because of the harbour. The other cities, nice though they are, are from a tourist point of view just variations on the same theme.

 

If you have limited time and that time is restricted to our winter, then Go North.

 

Sydney is as far south as you want to be at that time of year. Even then you will need to carry some warm clothes with you.

 

Cairns and Port Douglas are the easiest tropical tourist destinations to get to in Australia and also have the most attractions.

 

If you have the time and resources I would also try to get to Uluru for a couple of days. Which will be very cold at night.

 

Darwin is also a great location for adventure trips to Kakadu and the Kimberley, but such trips require a lot of time and money.

 

But yes, you can definitely just do Sydney and Port Douglas.