Input on itinerary?

Hi, thinking of this on Solstice for 2019. We did a land trip to Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast and Port Douglas last year so want something a little different next time

Thank you. Time frame is end of Feb.

Perth (Fremantle), Australia

At Sea

Esperance, Australia

At Sea

At Sea

Adelaide, Australia

At Sea

Melbourne, Australia

At Sea

Sydney, Australia

At Sea

At Sea

Milford Sound, New Zealand (Cruising)

Doubtful Sound, New Zealand (Cruising)

Dusky Sound, New Zealand (Cruising)

Dunedin (Port Chalmers), New Zealand

At Sea

Tauranga, New Zealand

Auckland, New Zealand

This itinerary has a lot of cruising and not a lot of port visits--especially in NZ. If your goal is a cruise with a tiny taste of NZ and Australia, then this itinerary works. But if your goal is a sightseeing trip in NZ, then it's not so good. Half of the places are just scenic cruises and the other half are port stops which aren't my favorite places. I'd rather see Queenstown, Christchurch, Wanaka and Franz Josef on the South Island, but you'd need to do a land tour for those.

Looks good to me.

But if you are going to go from Aus to NZ or NZ to Aus, you will get sea days, its that simple really.

The Sounds are spectacular.

Looks good to me.

 

But if you are going to go from Aus to NZ or NZ to Aus, you will get sea days, its that simple really.

 

The Sounds are spectacular.

Provided you get into the sounds, unfortunately they get missed a fair bit due to weather.

This itinerary has a lot of cruising and not a lot of port visits--especially in NZ. If your goal is a cruise with a tiny taste of NZ and Australia, then this itinerary works. But if your goal is a sightseeing trip in NZ, then it's not so good. Half of the places are just scenic cruises and the other half are port stops which aren't my favorite places. I'd rather see Queenstown, Christchurch, Wanaka and Franz Josef on the South Island, but you'd need to do a land tour for those.

I should have added that NZ isn't our focus. Kind of like that it gives us a bit of a taste. Torn between a cruise like this or a land trip with Perth and Margaret River and then maybe back to Port Douglas which we loved.

Seeing you have already driven "on the wrong side of the road" and loved Port Douglas, I would suggest you hire a car in Perth and drive to Margaret River, Albany and Esperance and visit places en route. I am a Queenslander and thought we had the best beaches until I visited the beautiful beaches east of Esperance (complete with kangaroos on the beach).

Seeing you have already driven "on the wrong side of the road" and loved Port Douglas, I would suggest you hire a car in Perth and drive to Margaret River, Albany and Esperance and visit places en route. I am a Queenslander and thought we had the best beaches until I visited the beautiful beaches east of Esperance (complete with kangaroos on the beach).

The beach is at Cape Le Grand National Park. If you have a 4WD you can visit the beach at Cape Arid further east.

This is a really beautiful part of the world.

Take your time, eat and drink at wineries, and eat delicious seafood at beaches en route.

Seeing you have already driven "on the wrong side of the road" and loved Port Douglas, I would suggest you hire a car in Perth and drive to Margaret River, Albany and Esperance and visit places en route. I am a Queenslander and thought we had the best beaches until I visited the beautiful beaches east of Esperance (complete with kangaroos on the beach).

Well that sounds just about perfect ;). Thank you.

I'll second all of that. Why not hire a motorhome for a few weeks? Take the coast road from Perth all the way down through beautiful Busselton and the Margaret River region to Cape Leeuwin then across the bottom of WA through all the giant forests, beaches and vineyards of Walpole and Denmark. Don't forget to call at Madfish Bay namesake of a great Aussie wine. Call into the enormous harbour of great historical significance to Australia at Albany then on to the massive stretches of pristine coastline at Esperance and Cape Le Grand National Park. From there you can double back to Perth via one of our still operational gold towns at Kalgoolie. It's a great loop drive limited only by your available time. The alternative is to continue driving across the Nullabor Plain to Adelaide where you could always join that cruise if you wanted too. You'll need a bit of pampering by then anyway :D

I should have added that NZ isn't our focus. Kind of like that it gives us a bit of a taste. Torn between a cruise like this or a land trip with Perth and Margaret River and then maybe back to Port Douglas which we loved.

Do you plan to return again Down Under? I only ask because once you have had a "taste" of NZ and particularly South Island, I have no doubt, and I am sure others will agree, you'll wish to see more if not all of both islands. It is like NO place else on earth and quite possibly the most beautiful and wonderful place on Earth. I say this not without exaggeration and having had been to many continents and beautiful places around the world.

GradUT makes some wonderful suggestions, there are SO many more places to visit on both islands. I realize a cruise can only make so many port stops and you'll only plan so many vacation days but again, there's just no place in the world as spectacular (nor people) as wonderful as NZ. You'll see ;)

Do you plan to return again Down Under? I only ask because once you have had a "taste" of NZ and particularly South Island, I have no doubt, and I am sure others will agree, you'll wish to see more if not all of both islands. It is like NO place else on earth and quite possibly the most beautiful and wonderful place on Earth. I say this not without exaggeration and having had been to many continents and beautiful places around the world.

 

GradUT makes some wonderful suggestions, there are SO many more places to visit on both islands. I realize a cruise can only make so many port stops and you'll only plan so many vacation days but again, there's just no place in the world as spectacular (nor people) as wonderful as NZ. You'll see ;)

I'm probably spoilt because I live in BC. I don't need to go to Alaska for Glaciers, we have them. I of course can't compare friendliness but I'm told BC and New Zealand are very similar in landscape. I definitely do plan more trips down under 😍