Best Month or months to cruise

[Cellagirl]

Can you give your opinion which month or months are good to sail in Australia/New Zealand?  Doing my research for first time in this part of the world.  We are from N America.  What months would have a lot children because of holiday time or school vacation?  Thanks!!!

[GUT2407]

Peak cruising time Oct to April. (That’s when the most ships are here) If during that Dec and Jan are school holidays, as is a few weeks around Easter. There isn’t a lot on offer from May to Sept

 

Dec to Feb will be hot.

 

much will depend on your itinerary

 

 

[Russell21]

IMHO depending on a suitable available cruise, the best time to cruise down here is anytime the water is wet.

[Port Power]

2 hours ago, Cellagirl said:

Can you give your opinion which month or months are good to sail in Australia/New Zealand?  Doing my research for first time in this part of the world.  We are from N America.  What months would have a lot children because of holiday time or school vacation?  Thanks!!!

If the cruise is over 12 days long, even in January there is less likelihood of lots of children. Particularly with Celebrity, Holland America and Norwegian. Royal Caribbean has more appeal for families.  Schools go back around February 1st, so even less chance then.

[OzKiwiJJ]

For New Zealand the best time is late February and March. For Australia it very much depends on where in Australia you are intending to cruise. If it's the southern half then anytime in the peak cruising season (Oct-Apr) is OK but if you're looking at cruises up to North Queensland or around the top of Australia then the shoulder seasons of Sep/Oct or Mar/Apr would be best. It gets very hot and humid up north in our summer.

[SinbadThePorter]

In Australia/New Zealand there are broadly three main climatic zones.

 

New Zealand is oceanic temperate.

Southern Australia is continental temperate.

Northern Australia is monsoonal tropical.

 

This means that NZ has mild summers and cool to cold winters.

Southern Oz has hot summers and cool to cold winters.

Northern Oz has hot wet summers and hot dry winters.

 

So the best time for NZ is from December to March.

Southern Oz is October to December and March to May.

Northern Oz is May to September.

 

There is no best time to visit all three areas, so you need to prioritise. Which area do you want to visit the most?

 

If that is NZ, then you would come here between December and March and take weather you get in Australia as it comes.

 

The summer school holidays in Oz/NZ are middle of December to the end of January.

 

All but the budget cruise lines disappear from May to October. They go north to either Asia or Alaska.

Edited January 30, 2019 by SinbadThePorter

[Hapylady]

It seems that the spring season( September thru November) is much drier than the autumn season. So it seems that would be better for cruising. Am I correct? 

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, Hapylady said:

It seems that the spring season( September thru November) is much drier than the autumn season. So it seems that would be better for cruising. Am I correct? 

Spring in NZ can be quite rainy, as can Tasmania. Sydney varies, some years are drier than others. The wet season hasn't really started in Northern Australia, and Melbourne gets four seasons in one day at any time of year.

 

Personally we prefer to cruise NZ and the South Pacific in February/March for the best chance of stable weather, other than the risk of the odd cyclone. For Northern Australia and PNG winter is best. 

[SinbadThePorter]

6 hours ago, Hapylady said:

It seems that the spring season( September thru November) is much drier than the autumn season. So it seems that would be better for cruising. Am I correct? 

 

For Australia or NZ?

 

For southern Australia that is not correct.

For northern Australia that is kinda correct, but not really important.

For NZ, I defer to OzKiwiJJ.