Better time to cruise N QLD, S Pacific?

Hey everyone. if you haven't seen some of my posts on several different areas on the boards here, I am planning a cruise for myself mum and aunty. After some how thinking i had picked the right cruise with little or no research only to realise the dates didn't work I am going back to the drawing board. Or rather message.

No i have a few options and i am trying to find the best one. Considering things like price, dates cabins and now weather. I am complying the information for my mum and aunt so we can make our final decision. My aunt has never cruised before so i want to make it the best possible trip. Maybe then my mum and her will go on some future trips together. :) I am looking at doing a cruise to either South Pacific or Northern Queensland.

Is their a better time of year to cruise either of these areas in regards to weather, cyclones, stingers, anything else i may have missed. we are looking at the first half of next year.

Thanks lovely CCers :)

The wet season in North Queensland and the South Pacific runs from November to April, with the worst of the weather generally being in Jan-March. I've been on a South Pacific cruise in early December and we only had 1 1/2 rainy days out of 10, and I've been to Port Douglas in late April and it rained nearly every day, so it can still be pretty variable. I would definitely avoid Jan-March, and try more for Late April onwards. This may limit you to the Australian based lines though as the seasonal ships may have left by then.

Avoid. November to March inclusive,hot as hell, wet season so very humid,plus its the cyclone season. Why cruise lines schedule Northern Australia, Queensland and South Pacific at these times defies all logic. Seems the poor souls based in HO. in Miami do not appreciate the seasons are reversed in the Southern Hemisphere.

I would like to add another view to the above. I've cruised numerous times in the South Pacific in January and February and once in November and never encountered more than a brief tropical downpour. Ditto for two trips across the Pacific, one from the US and one from South America.

I've also cruised between Sydney and Darwin and beyond 4 times in the above period and never experienced a drop of rain. In fact, the seas between Cairns and Darwin have been like glass.

Definitely it's hot and humid and of course it is the cyclone season and you can indeed strike a cyclone, I'm merely pointing out that there are tons of cruises that come and go without really bad weather over that time.

No doubt, there is a risk but I wouldn't hesitate to sail at that time again especially if your choice of dates is limited. Of course you need to take into consideration the possibility that you could get unlucky and run into a cyclone.

I hope you experience great weather and smooth seas whenever you sail.:)

Well I am :( and :D So all up a little :confused:

Well we have narrowed it down to 2 cruises in feb up to NQ. South Pacific is still an option but its 3rd. Two of us have done that exact itinerary and ship before and weren't really impressed with the times for Noumea on top of that. But its a option with several dates.

We cruised that one in Aug LOl I cant see my signature below but I am sure it was Aug. It rained in Noumea I had a thin long sleve sweat shirt in under my thin fleece hoodie. I swam in the rain in Lifou and remained damp all day after dipping into a waterfall in Vila. I remember on our last full day on the ship me and 2 friends I had made on the **** decided we were going to swim in the pool no matter how cold it was as we hadn't yet and we wanted to make use of everything on the ship. I was cold but stayed in pool, for a bit. mmm yeah then took a few days off work the next week when I came down with a cold.

Ive visited Brisbane/Surfers paradise in july, July/Aug, 2x September and I know it was winter/spring but I as cold. Our first September visit actually a year ago today there was a bit of a storm now that I remember.

I guess seeing how we have had a super cold winter we decided to cruise in warmer weather. Oh well. Mum is clueing aunty in on all the details and will have the final decision on Monday. Fingers crossed all goes to plan but I will mention weather could be dicey.

Thanks again

Feb + NQ (often) = Cyclone.

Generally it's late January before we see the serious lows up this way.

Choosing the right time for a cruise in the early part of the year is sometimes a gamble.