Schoolie question

We are planning a trip to Aus/NZ and I am over the top excited as it is somewhere I have always wanted to visit. I have a question about timing - we are thinking of doing a 6-day Princess RT from Sydney to Tasmania followed by a 13 day RT to New Zealand. They begin Nov 20 and end Dec 9th. I think this is prime "schoolie" time but could you tell me if these itineraries are of any interest to them? My understanding is they would be more northerly along the beaches and GBR area. Just as I would never take a short Caribbean cruise here during spring break months, I wouldn't want to trip up and hit any other country's high school/college break time.

Any help/advice you might share is most appreciated. Thanks so much!

Peanutter, those dates that you have notated should be devoid of "schoolies". Generally, the schools in all states in Australia and in New Zealand do not break for the summer holidays until mid December, so with your last sailing day being 9th December everything should be OK.

The NSW final exams should be over by November 4 in 2016. Dates for other Eastern seaboard states will be similar. Final year students are not required to attend regular school during and after their exams. Many students will finish earlier than that. Schoolies weeks commence in early November. I have done a Tasmania and a NZ cruise from Sydney in November to December and a longer 2 week Pacific cruise in November and all were free of schoolies. They were on HAL and Princess which would not be the line of choice for a schoolies group.

If Princess no worries about schoolies, if P&O or Carnival the 2nd cruise may have some.

Thank you all for the information - I do appreciate it. We are thinking of Princess, so sounds like we should be in good shape. Lot's of information to still filter through, but looking forward to it :)

We were looking at 2 cruises both in November we ended up taking the early November one when we found out schoolies week starts on the 19th November same date as the 2nd cruise

Peanutter, those dates that you have notated should be devoid of "schoolies". Generally, the schools in all states in Australia and in New Zealand do not break for the summer holidays until mid December, so with your last sailing day being 9th December everything should be OK.

yr 12s get out earlier but dont think they could really afford a cruise anyways and what goes with cruises , i think if they did go would be on more the ones with the rock climbing etc , i know some could afford but not all of them they will go more to surfers or phillip island or a few other beach places where they arent banned or priced out of renting

Schoolies like to party (and drink) and this wouldn't be tolerated on Princess. You should be fine. We're also doing a Tassie + NZ B2B , but in December.

Enjoy your cruise!