how close to shore does the ship travel around AU and NZ?

[Joan and Harry]

For those of you who have been on a cruise around AU and NZ previously, can you see the rock formations from the ship? Or is the ship far off the coastline until you are near a port?

[Aus Traveller]

3 hours ago, Joan and Harry said:

For those of you who have been on a cruise around AU and NZ previously, can you see the rock formations from the ship? Or is the ship far off the coastline until you are near a port?

Most of the time, the ship is too far from shore to see anything interesting, or indeed, the shore at all. At times, the shoreline is a distant line on the horizon. There are a few places where there is a fair bit to see. In NZ I enjoy the Fiordland day. In the one to two hours between the fiords, the ship is close enough to land for passengers to enjoy lovely scenery. In North Queensland waters, sometimes the ships are within the Barrier Reef (rather than the shipping lane outside the reef) and there are areas of lovely islands and sandbars.

[Joan and Harry]

Thank you for your input.

[Cbtours]

50 minutes ago, Joan and Harry said:

Thank you for your input.

It’s one of our favourite cruises, once we leave Melbourne we have 3 cruise days which we love, then 6 days exploring NZ including enjoying Fiordland, then 3 sea days home. It’s a perfect combination for us. And so many things to choose to do in NZ

[MMDown Under]

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

Most of the time, the ship is too far from shore to see anything interesting, or indeed, the shore at all. At times, the shoreline is a distant line on the horizon. There are a few places where there is a fair bit to see. In NZ I enjoy the Fiordland day. In the one to two hours between the fiords, the ship is close enough to land for passengers to enjoy lovely scenery. In North Queensland waters, sometimes the ships are within the Barrier Reef (rather than the shipping lane outside the reef) and there are areas of lovely islands and sandbars.

Yes, when the ship is within the GBR the coastal views are beautiful.  The cruise from Singapore to Sydney has a lot of beautiful coastal views.  Enough for me to recognise well known features. 

I spent the cruise along the Coast on the deck with binoculars.