Australia/New Zealand help please.

[rigbymom]

I'm looking at Australia and New Zealand cruises for next January/February.  (I'll be flying from Florida.)  My options are:  

1.  Fly in 2 nights early to see a bit of Sidney then r/t Sidney cruise 1/31 - 2/10/24.  Then fly to Melbourne for 2/11 - 2/24 NZ cruise and spend 2 nights there before flying home...OR

2.  Fly to Melbourne in time for for 2/11 to 2/25 NZ cruise.  Thank spend 2 nights seeing Melbourne before flying to Sidney.  Visit Sidney and take the 2/29 - 3/15 northern Australia cruise which ends in Perth.  Spend 2 nights visiting Perth before flying home.

For those who have done these cruises, which option would you do and why?

[AZjohn]

1 hour ago, rigbymom said:

I'm looking at Australia and New Zealand cruises for next January/February.  (I'll be flying from Florida.)  My options are:  

1.  Fly in 2 nights early to see a bit of Sidney then r/t Sidney cruise 1/31 - 2/10/24.  Then fly to Melbourne for 2/11 - 2/24 NZ cruise and spend 2 nights there before flying home...OR

2.  Fly to Melbourne in time for for 2/11 to 2/25 NZ cruise.  Thank spend 2 nights seeing Melbourne before flying to Sidney.  Visit Sidney and take the 2/29 - 3/15 northern Australia cruise which ends in Perth.  Spend 2 nights visiting Perth before flying home.

For those who have done these cruises, which option would you do and why?

Suggest you post this in the Australia/NZ forum here on CC. Super nice locals that would have better feedback.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/564-australia-new-zealand-cruisers/

Enjoy!

[azbirdmom]

Would need to see the itineraries to check where they visit but if they are equal I would go with #1 because you would get to Australia a couple days before the cruise.  You will have traveled a long way and you need to not only acclimate to the new time zone, but also if something goes wrong you have a little cushion.  Lots to see and do in both Sydney and Melbourne.  Have not been to Perth so can't comment on that.

[roadster08]

Since this is your first visit to Australia I'll give you a little tip. On land, the Australians like to have a toggle switch on their electrical outlets that they switch to off when it is not in use.

 

If you plug something into an outlet and it doesn't work, flip the switch on the outlet and voila.

[john1970]

I think you need to really think about how you will feel after a very long flight and a big time difference. We had a week in Sydney before our cruise and it took that long to get over the 11 hour time difference and change from winter to summer.

[skynight]

I can't comment on your selection of itineraries. I can only comment about the flight. We flew JFK to Melbourne with a stop at LAX. The flight was 22 hours in the air, about 24/25 hours overall with the layover at 1am in LAX, plus the few hours before the flight at JFK and the travel to JFK. In total about 28 hours of travel. We departed late afternoon on Wednesday and arrived around noon on Friday. We flew 1st class, but were still extremely tired upon arrival. It took us a full day of rest to recover. We had 4 days in Australia before the start of a land tour, and that really left us with 3 days to be on our own.

My advice is to carefully determine how tired you will be on arrival from the U.S. 

[capriccio]

1 hour ago, john1970 said:

I think you need to really think about how you will feel after a very long flight and a big time difference. We had a week in Sydney before our cruise and it took that long to get over the 11 hour time difference and change from winter to summer.

We arrived in Sydney 9 days ago from the US east coast (15 hour time difference) and it took 4 days before we stopped going to bed at 7 pm and waking up at 3 am.  

[cruzsnooze]

Another tip, AUZZIE's don't tip and if you try they might get indignant and tell you they do their jobs without bribes etc...... They are friendly and helpful folks on the whole. If you ask directions they could walk with you to make sure you get where you're going. I prefer Melbourne to Sydney and haven't been to Perth so can't speak to that city.

  Ordering food is another big difference especially take away. If you ask for a condiment (ketchup as an example) you will be charged for each little packet. 

[phoenixx]

Kiwi here, spend more time in NZ, particularly the South Island.

[geoff2802]

I concur with others here regarding recovery time from the flight.  We regularly fly between Australia and the US - it’s long and tiring, but worth it.  There is plenty to see and do in both Melbourne and Sydney.  Sydney is a fantastic port to sail from with great views from the ship.  
We’ve done cruises to NZ (from Sydney) and also over top between Sydney and Perth.  They are very different and both are great. You can expect hot humid weather if you do the cruise over the top in Jan/Feb.  Weather in NZ will be mild.  

 

[Over from NZ]

1 hour ago, phoenixx said:

Kiwi here, spend more time in NZ, particularly the South Island.

Exactly! And from an Aucklander.. that's gracious. It's not all true what they say about you Jafa's! lol. 

[capriccio]

4 hours ago, phoenixx said:

Kiwi here, spend more time in NZ, particularly the South Island.

We’re on a one week tour of the South Island right now.  It is stunning and the people are very friendly.  We’ve been to Christchurch, Mt.Cook, Queenstown, and Franz Josef.  We’ve hiked many miles each day, e-biked one day, took a small plane ride over Milford Sound, took a helicopter to the top of Fox glacier and got off and walked around, and tomorrow we take the transalpine train back to Christchurch.  We’re exhausted but so pleased.