Time of year preference to cruise Australia /NZ?

We are in the process of planning our next big cruise to Australia / NZ. Trying to decide on time of year. Right now thinking of either November or January / February. Recommendations?

Of November, January and February, the one month I would NOT choose to cruise around Australia and NZ would be January. This is in the middle of school holidays and family vacations and all of the tourist attractions in the various ports are likely to be quite crowded. Most of the schools resume at the end of January, so February will work if you want to go when it's warm-to-hot. If you want to go when the weather is more temperate, go in November.

To be specific school holidays all January so you might want to avoid that.

New Zealand any time October to early April is fine then gets cold.

Circumnavigation Australia and Northern Territory & Queensland avoid December & January for two reasons 1. Stinking hot and very humid 2. Typhoon season in the North. These cruises better done March to October .

New Zealand 14 days round trip can be done from Melbourne or Sydney or Brisbane. All three cities served by direct flights from USA .

Thanks for your replies. Best to avoid the school holiday crowds in January. We are thinking of either cruising RT from Sydney or Melbourne, or cruising Auckland to Sydney. Would also plan to spend some time in Sydney and Melbourne and would like to visit the Great Barrier Reef. I am not a fan of really hot weather! How is November weather-wise? Are certain months more rainy? Is March a better choice?

Agree with the other reply's but if you can do March in my opinion that is the best time of the year to cruise in Aus

Jan and Feb are very hot in Sydney and Melbourne, there can be days on end over 100F, although this year has been quit mild in Melbourne compared to other years. The Great Barrier Reef is in the tropical north of the country, so experience a wet season from November to April, with the worst of the rainfall being in Jan/Feb. the heat doesn't vary too much throughout the year, it's always nice and warm, but the high humidity during the wet season can make it uncomfortable. If you've been to Florida the weather is very similar November will be starting to get humid, but will most likely not have the high rainfall just yet.

We took a 17 night cruise out of Perth in November 2013. The weather was GREAT. The seas were smooth [we were told this was unusual] including the crossing between Au and NZ. Coming back across we had a little bit of a swell, but it was about 4 meters. Not bad at all.

I haven't seen Au or NZ in Feb... so no help there.

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