I feel cheated by cruising opportunities in Australia

[MMDown Under]

1 minute ago, aussielozzie18 said:

My main memory from taking the family to see the penguin parade was not the hundreds of penguins but how cold it was.  Brrrr.  I got more excited seeing a solitary fairy penguin swimming in the water at Manly.  There is a small colony there.

How late is the penguin parade?

[aussielozzie18]

1 minute ago, MMDown Under said:

How late is the penguin parade?

It was late, dark and very cold.  Timing I can’t remember.

[MMDown Under]

1 minute ago, aussielozzie18 said:

It was late, dark and very cold.  Timing I can’t remember.

 

all the things which make you want to go to the toilet with everyone else!

[MelbTone]

I'm booked on a Princess cruise next year which includes Phillip Island, arr 0700 dep 1800. But it also has Penguin Parade on the list of available excursions. So presumably the actual departure time is much later?

[MicCanberra]

Penguins normally come in once it is dark and the spotters deem it safe, if the crowd is too loud, it can delay the beachings.

[Aus Traveller]

20 minutes ago, MelbTone said:

I'm booked on a Princess cruise next year which includes Phillip Island, arr 0700 dep 1800. But it also has Penguin Parade on the list of available excursions. So presumably the actual departure time is much later?

If the ship leaves at 6pm, passengers won't be able to see the penguins coming ashore but they can go to the visitor centre where viewing windows allow visitors to see inside a penguin burrow. The Penguin Parade - penguins marching from the water and across the sand to their burrows - starts when it is almost dark. The time varies during the year. In June/July it starts around 5.15-5.30pm, but in summer it is 8.45. Numbers vary according to the breeding season.

[cruiser3775]

Going back to the original topic, I just got an email from Carnival and they have added four new cruises from Sydney in winter - July, August - with a "winter Christmas" theme.  No new or different ports but still somewhere to go cruising in winter from Australia.

 

Re the Phillip island penguins - they are an enormous colony, literally thousands, of "fairy" penguins which come ashore at dusk to their burrows and parade up the shore.  If the ship is offering a Penguin Parade excursion, it must be staying until after dark.  There is good infrastructure and viewing platforms to see the penguins, and an excellent display area and gift shop. Perhaps the shore excursion only goes there in daylight, and misses out on the actual sighting of the penguins waddling ashore?

 

 

[aussielozzie18]

We saw the Penguins as part of a road trip so can’t help with shore tours.

 

Got the Carnival festive cheer extension email too.  Apparently meeting The Grinch, singing Christmas carols, Christmas movies and “spectacular” decorations in an Aussie winter has proven appealing to Carnival Cruises.

[MMDown Under]

32 minutes ago, cruiser3775 said:

Going back to the original topic, I just got an email from Carnival and they have added four new cruises from Sydney in winter - July, August - with a "winter Christmas" theme.  No new or different ports but still somewhere to go cruising in winter from Australia.

 

Re the Phillip island penguins - they are an enormous colony, literally thousands, of "fairy" penguins which come ashore at dusk to their burrows and parade up the shore.  If the ship is offering a Penguin Parade excursion, it must be staying until after dark.  There is good infrastructure and viewing platforms to see the penguins, and an excellent display area and gift shop. Perhaps the shore excursion only goes there in daylight, and misses out on the actual sighting of the penguins waddling ashore?

 

 

What are the itineraries?  Somebody has done their research about our love for “Christmas in July”.  Ships do decorations well!

I hope ship doesn’t leave before the Penguin parade!!

[cruiser3775]

55 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

What are the itineraries?

Here's the list: https://www.carnival.com.au/cruise-deals/grinchmas-in-july

There are actually 10 cruises, all with the Christmas theme, and all departing from Sydney, so no penguins. 😁 If you want a relatively child free cruise, I'd avoid last week June and first two weeks July, which is school holidays in our most populous states.

Edited April 19, 2023 by cruiser3775

[MMDown Under]

30 minutes ago, cruiser3775 said:

Here's the list: https://www.carnival.com.au/cruise-deals/grinchmas-in-july

There are actually 10 cruises, all with the Christmas theme, and all departing from Sydney, so no penguins. 😁 If you want a relatively child free cruise, I'd avoid last week June and first two weeks July, which is school holidays in our most populous states.

Shame none from Brisbane!

[Ondine]

If the ship does a penguin parade then the departure will be whenever they can get the passengers back on board.  I think we departed around 11.00 to 11.30pm last month.  It doesn't take as long to get to Port Lincoln or whichever is the next port because you are already in Westernport Bay and do not have to waste the 3.5 hours it takes to get from Station Pier to the Heads going at a snail pace. Only the tour participants for the penguin parade will be ashore at that late time.  The tenders will already be stowed and a launch used I believe.

Something similar to the dolphin feeding at Morton Bay when the selected group of participants go ashore late and come back late. 

[cruiser3775]

1 hour ago, MMDown Under said:

Shame none from Brisbane!

Or from Melbourne, but it's good to see that there are some Aussie winter cruises available.

[cruiseaholic78]

I know they are expensive but has anyone looked at Oceania or Azamara ( preferably the latter for some night life!) for cruising Australia?
Happy Planning

Rosalyn

Edited April 19, 2023 by cruiseaholic78

[MMDown Under]

30 minutes ago, cruiseaholic78 said:

I know they are expensive but has anyone looked at Oceania or Azamara ( preferably the latter for some night life!) for cruising Australia?
Happy Planning

Rosalyn

Both appeal to me when no single supplement.

[Kristelle]

9 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

I stayed near where the ferry penguins were on KI but didn’t want to disturb them in a populated area.

Do they know why the numbers are decreasing?  Population/dogs ?  We have same problem with koalas and dogs.  A Qld

.

 I dont think they really know why. Possibly foxes. Possibly Victor Harbour being more built up this days

[MicCanberra]

On 4/18/2023 at 7:06 PM, Kristelle said:

  There used to be a thriving fairy penguin colony at Victor Harbour - unfortunatley decimated to almost none now.

There is still one colony there on Granite Island, albeit fairly small due to rats, foxes, cats and dogs being able to get across on the bridge in the past.

https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/goodliving/posts/2018/11/granite-island-penguins

[MMDown Under]

4 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

There is still one colony there on Granite Island, albeit fairly small due to rats, foxes, cats and dogs being able to get across on the bridge in the past.

https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/goodliving/posts/2018/11/granite-island-penguins

That is so sad. We swapped a house at Victor Harbour and the fairy penguins on Granite Island were the highlight.

[Kristelle]

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

There is still one colony there on Granite Island, albeit fairly small due to rats, foxes, cats and dogs being able to get across on the bridge in the past.

https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/goodliving/posts/2018/11/granite-island-penguins

 that link was from 2021.

 

not sure how it is going now, 2 yrs later - but yes as you and I both said, very small now compared to years ago.

They are trying really hard to preserve it.

Edited April 19, 2023 by Kristelle

[icat2000]

18 hours ago, cruiser3775 said:

Here's the list: https://www.carnival.com.au/cruise-deals/grinchmas-in-july

There are actually 10 cruises, all with the Christmas theme, and all departing from Sydney, so no penguins. 😁 If you want a relatively child free cruise, I'd avoid last week June and first two weeks July, which is school holidays in our most populous states.

They not new itineraries added. Just he theme of Christmas. I'm looking to book one of the August cruises to the Islands. Avoiding the School Holiday

[MMDown Under]

11 minutes ago, icat2000 said:

They not new itineraries added. Just he theme of Christmas. I'm looking to book one of the August cruises to the Islands. Avoiding the School Holiday

August with school children good idea.

our pre Christmas cruise last year was beautifully decorated.  So Christmas in July in

August should be special.

[icat2000]

3 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

August with school children good idea.

our pre Christmas cruise last year was beautifully decorated.  So Christmas in July in

August should be special.

August without school children. As I believe they be back at school at the cruise I'm looking at  21- 31 August 2023. 

[MelbTone]

17 hours ago, cruiseaholic78 said:

I know they are expensive but has anyone looked at Oceania or Azamara ( preferably the latter for some night life!) for cruising Australia?

Lots about Azamara + Australia on Paul and Carole's recent YouTube series

[MMDown Under]

2 hours ago, icat2000 said:

August without school children. As I believe they be back at school at the cruise I'm looking at  21- 31 August 2023. 

Perfect timing for a winter cruise - Enjoy!

[mr walker]

We don't feel cheated by itineraries offered by the cruiselines from Australia, just accepting that there is a limit to options for 'local' cruising. If we want 'new' ports we need to widen our scope on ports to sail, and that basically means from OS. At this stage we choose to sail only from Sydney & perhaps Brisbane, and so need to be realistic and accept that we will often go to ports we have already been too, many multiple times.

 

Looking to fit a cruise in in Feb/Mar '24, there were limited options & we have elected to book with a cruiseline that is not our 'go-to' one ie Royal Caribbean, who's offering in that time window did not appeal. We have booked 13N to Sth Pacific Majestic Princess ex Sydney 10-Feb. Our PCP was able to book us DB (Deluxe Balcony) Baja Mid-Aft at an acceptable price with some OBC. To book an actual cabin was just $53 more than guarantee, so that's fine. We didn't upgrade to PLUS - offered at $65 pn.

 

Hope we enjoy Majestic - our only previous Princess cruise was on the Sun round Aus in Mar '17, which we really enjoyed.

Edited April 20, 2023 by mr walker
typo