Ages of Pax on Aus/NZ cruises in fall?

We are considering doing an Australia/New Zealand cruise this fall. However, except for one Celebrity cruise in the E. Med. several yrs. ago in June, the avg. passengers age seems to be at least 70. Nothing wrong w/that. We are not too far behind them. However, sometimes the music, entertainment and activities on cruises over about 8 days long tend to be a bit more mature than we'd like, etc. In addition, I fear we might be out of league $-wise as just checking roll calls opened my eyes to how many of the cruisers must be super well-healed judging by the no. of triple B2Bs and pre and post cruise double land tours, and so on that many seem to be doing in conjunction. I have found the same thing on several So. American cruises of 11 to 14 days. I wonder if doing either of these in Jan.-Mar. would change the demographics at all?

Hoping someone w/experience will reply. Thanks!

Feb/Mar is a great time to do New Zealand weather wise (hot for Australia though). We did NZ on a cruise in October (our Spring) and the weather was on the cool side, but we wanted that as we had done land tours previously in sunny Feb and wanted to see from the comfort of a cruise ship snow, mist etc and were not disappointed (being Australian from a very dry area that is a novelty for us).

Cruisers to NZ tend to be in the older demographic to begin with - 55+ but Aussies and Kiwis do not have preconceived notions of any one cruise line being for older people - we do not get enough cruise lines down here for us to be that fussy. However I will say that any cruise that starts or finishes the Trans Pacific run will attract a large crowd of older, more affluent US visitors. Additionally we get 4 weeks annual leave pa so even younger Aussie cruisers are looking at 12 day plus cruises. Also on CC Roll Calls you will get mainly US and Canadians as most Aussies are not aware of CC, so keep in mind that the older more affluent Roll Call people are most likely a minority.

The reason, IMO, as to why NZ cruisers attract an older demographic is young people tend to do warmer South Pacific cruises, or if doing NZ tend to be extremely active, high octane individuals doing land journeys which includes long hikes, bungee jumping, etc.

To be honest Australia is such a large country and New Zealand, though much smaller, has such diverse topography that doing either of these countries by cruise will only give you a taste of what we are both about. So if you are set on a cruise, choose by itineraries and ports not by perceived age of the cruisers.

As for what to do on the ship, yes our HAL cruise did seem to cater for the more mature crowd but at 58 and 60 we found it was our age group they aimed for, not the 80+. I'll have to leave Celebrity and Princess comments for someone who has done them. Keep in mind though that some of the Princess ships that do Aus and NZ are the Australian ships which are older and smaller.

One thing I will say about the Australian and New Zealand ports, they are very easy to do your own tours from, you need not do expensive ship's tours.

Wastegirl, thanks for your very informative reply. Stupid of me, but I hadn't really thought about Australians being interested in doing a New Zealand cruise! Guess it's similar to someone from Florida in the southern USA visiting the caribbean! (Close by but very different!) We are around your age group but also like the younger people in that we prefer warm weather places for cruises, which is why we still have never cruised Alaska. We like to snorkel and dive, hang out on a beach and also like exciting pursuits (hangliding, ziplining, etc.). But then there is beautiful scenery, which everyone loves.

Thanks for the tip re: Princess's older ships, though actually we were once on the Sun P. (one of the ships doing Aus/NZ), and that is about as old as we want to go. We do tend to like many of the bells and whistles on newer ships.

Wish we had 4 wks. of annual leave here in the U.S. (or even more like many European countries). Not too many people here get vacations that long. Those that do often can't string the weeks together due to too many responsibilities at work and problems with things piling up, then coming back to a huge mound of tasks to catch up on.

I was looking at a couple of Costa cruises (I have forgotten the itineraries. Perhaps So. Am.) but when I went to check the roll call, there wasn't one for very many of Costa's cruises. I looked at one and most all of the posters were either from the U.K. or Australia. Not even any Italians though it's an Italian line. Probably for the same reason you mentioned - not that many non-Americans know about Cruise Critic (although there are a good number of people in the U.K. who seem to post).

Well, thanks again for your helpful information and for taking the time to reply.

I'm glad to be able to help a little. We don't get many Costa cruises here in Australia and they don't tend be dedicated for the region but more part of longer cruises. So be careful about what Ports they visit as these long cruises quite often miss the more interesting ports.

Of the mainline companies Celebrity, HAL and Princess have the best NZ cruises with Royal Carribean doing some excellent short up the east coast Australian cruises.

If you can get a cruise that does Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart then onto NZ, make sure it cruises the Fjords (Milford etc), round to Dunedin, Akoroa, Picton (if possible), Wellington, Napier, Auckland, Bay of Islands. That is the minimum. Unfortunately I don't think there is a current cruise that includes NZ that also includes Far North Queensland and Brisbane.

Of course I would love your cruise to pop into my home city of Adelaide but we tend to get the cruises that are going to Perth and then on round the top of Australia. Celebrity does one from Auckland to Perth, then B2B from Perth to Sydney but that is over 30 days long.

In addition, I fear we might be out of league $-wise as just checking roll calls opened my eyes to how many of the cruisers must be super well-healed judging by the no. of triple B2Bs and pre and post cruise double land tours, and so on that many seem to be doing in conjunction. I have found the same thing on several So. American cruises of 11 to 14 days. I wonder if doing either of these in Jan.-Mar. would change the demographics at all?

 

Hoping someone w/experience will reply. Thanks!

As has been pointed out, remember that those on roll calls (even those on CC) are a minority of the passengers. Also remember that North Americans who can afford to take 14+ days off will often be retired (i.e. older) and comfortable financially......otherwise they couldn't take that long off and travel that much. If the cruise is part of a transpacific, you've already sort of pre-selected for retired (or semi-retired) and financially comfortable. That said, I'm not sure why it would bother you to cruise with a bunch of people who are financially better-off than you......I must be missing something, or I've been fortunate not to have braggarts around me on my previous cruises.

I'm glad to be able to help a little. We don't get many Costa cruises here in Australia and they don't tend be dedicated for the region but more part of longer cruises. So be careful about what Ports they visit as these long cruises quite often miss the more interesting ports.

 

Of the mainline companies Celebrity, HAL and Princess have the best NZ cruises with Royal Carribean doing some excellent short up the east coast Australian cruises.

 

If you can get a cruise that does Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart then onto NZ, make sure it cruises the Fjords (Milford etc), round to Dunedin, Akoroa, Picton (if possible), Wellington, Napier, Auckland, Bay of Islands. That is the minimum. Unfortunately I don't think there is a current cruise that includes NZ that also includes Far North Queensland and Brisbane.

 

Of course I would love your cruise to pop into my home city of Adelaide but we tend to get the cruises that are going to Perth and then on round the top of Australia. Celebrity does one from Auckland to Perth, then B2B from Perth to Sydney but that is over 30 days long.

Royal Caribbean has excellent itineraries for NZ and the Australian East Coast as well as the warmer Pacific Islands. They will have 4 ships in Australia from next year - Voyager, Explorer, Radiance and Legend. Plus Quantum will be based in China.

Royal also has short 9 day itineraries that go to Adelaide from Sydney then to Hobart, eg Voyager.

The Pacific Island cruises on any ship generally attracts a younger demo. Most Australian cruisers like the night activities on board.

We've been on a couple of HAL cruises out of Sydney going to the Pacific Islands of 12 and 14 days. This was in January each time when the weather was very warm AND during local school holidays... It was great, with many different age groups - probably due to the time of year! I'm 52 and my partner is 67, so we aren't seriously old just yet, but we do like the Holland America service and style.

For more active cruises with zip lines and rock climbing walls out of Sydney to the Pacific you should check out Carnival or Royal Caribbean - they look pretty good, although I've not cruised with them.

Wastegirl, I think the Costa Cruise was from Buenos Aires to a port in New Zealand and Australia. Someone had asked an airfare question about LAN Chile from Auckland or the Australian port.

Regarding the intineraries, yes, there are several different ones through several different lines - in several different price ranges. If we had lots of time and lots of $, we'd want to cruise around both countries, but on our budget we probably are more likely to concentrate on those w/the major part of the itinerary around NZ. We'd love to be able to fly to Cairns (in addition to a cruise) at least to dive/snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, but I doubt that time or $ will allow it. There are many who might say if we can't do more, we should just skip the whole thing, but I don't believe that. One of the reasons we can maybe go at all is due to points we can use for airfare, of which some are about to expire soon, hence the rush to book something. So we are examining cruises in Australia/NZ and also So. Am.

Thanks again for the valuable input and help!

Wastegirl, I think the Costa Cruise was from Buenos Aires to a port in New Zealand and Australia. Someone had asked an airfare question about LAN Chile from Auckland or the Australian port.

 

Regarding the intineraries, yes, there are several different ones through several different lines - in several different price ranges. If we had lots of time and lots of $, we'd want to cruise around both countries, but on our budget we probably are more likely to concentrate on those w/the major part of the itinerary around NZ. We'd love to be able to fly to Cairns (in addition to a cruise) at least to dive/snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, but I doubt that time or $ will allow it. There are many who might say if we can't do more, we should just skip the whole thing, but I don't believe that. One of the reasons we can maybe go at all is due to points we can use for airfare, of which some are about to expire soon, hence the rush to book something. So we are examining cruises in Australia/NZ and also So. Am.

 

Thanks again for the valuable input and help!

We are sailing on Celebrity Solstice 1-27-15, from Sydney, 12 nights stopping in Hobart, Tasmania, Dunedin, Akaora, Wellington, Tauranga, Bay of Islands and getting off in Auckland. We are then staying 6 nights in Auckland, flying back to Sydney and spending 3 nights before we board RC Rhapsody. From there, we will have stops in New Castle, an overnight in Cairns, Arlie Beach and Brisbane, before returning to Sydney and flying home. We will arrive in Sydney for a 3 night pre-cruise stay. Our trip will be 5.5 weeks long, and we are trying to hit what we can while on land and sea. There will be many things we will miss on this trip, but also, we feel we will get to see many parts of both countries while in that part of the world. We feel it is best to at least see what we can while we are in the area, as it may be our only time we make it down that way.

As with many cruises, the longer the cruise, the older the age demographics. We are 55 & 57 and have been on several longer cruises where the demographics has been older, and enjoyed every one of them. On our Holland America 30 day cruise round trip from San Diego in Jan/2009, I was the 3rd youngest passenger (49 at the time) and loved all the stories from all the passengers. I learned alot about traveling and cruising from my fellow passengers.

Thanks, Deb. I agree with you. However, sometimes finances and time preclude doing what we'd LIKE to do or think works out best. I am sure we could easily spend a month in Aus/NZ and still feel like we missed some things! :)

Thanks, Deb. I agree with you. However, sometimes finances and time preclude doing what we'd LIKE to do or think works out best. I am sure we could easily spend a month in Aus/NZ and still feel like we missed some things! :)

That is a big definite!! Never enough $$$ or time to see and do all we would like!! :D So long as we can enjoy the things in life we get the opportunity to experience!

About 18 months ago (Dec 2012) we did a 14 day cruise out of Sydney around New Zealand with Princess. The ages of the passengers were right across the board, not so many families with kids though as they were still in school. I don't think you need worry that the cruises are full of elderly people.

Depends what time in January you are looking as to whether there might be a few kids on the ships as it school holidays then.

Our next cruise will be our third and it's my preference not to cruise during school holidays, not that I dislike kids.