Melbourne or Wellington

[wenpop]

Trying to decide on a cruisetour through Princess... Emerald or the Royal Princess... Plus trying to decide on itinerary.  Should I choose Melbourne or Wellington ?

I have read some reviews and I can't decide.  Plus, not sure what month is best for Australia and New Zealand.  If we get to go in 2022... I know Jan, Feb will be warm, so leaning to March, 

So many decisions... Would love some opinions to help decide.

thank you

Wendy

[SinbadThePorter]

If you are deciding between a New Zealand itinerary and a Tasmania itinerary, both are good but the NZ one is best.

 

Jan, Feb and Mar are all hot months in Australia. It doesn't really get hot in NZ, just warmer in summer, cooler in winter. If the number of kids on board make a difference, Jan is summer school holidays in both countries.

[lissie]

We call 25C in Wellington a heat wave ie it doesn't get hot!  Jan/Feb is the best weather. It could be warmer in Melbourne - could be 40C could be 15C 30 min later - Melbourne is notorious for weather like that. 

 

I'd agree this is not a comparison between the 2 cities - both have plenty to  offer - its more about the bigger itinerary. 

[wenpop]

Ok, which city has the best scenery?  Or is Picton a better scenery?

[Docker123]

Melbourne is a big city, 5 million or so.  It is built around Port Phillip Bay, but in many ways relatively flat. Best scenery is a bit more on the edges and out of town It has many great cultural and sport Facilities, museums etc.

 

Wellington is much smaller, 250,000 or so. But built around a lovely harbour with mountains around. It is the national Capital and has good cultural attractions.

 

I live in Melbourne. Through the city and surrounds, the is some great built scenery.

 

Edited September 16, 2020 by Docker123

[MicCanberra]

Perhaps put up your two differing itineraries and then comments can be provided.

There is also a few threads and a virtual cruise thread (that takes in many ports and has commentary and photos to go with it in this forum. Do a search and check it out.

[MicCanberra]

https://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/topic/2746097-lets-go-on-a-virtual-nz-and-australia-cruise/?tab=comments#comment-59831294

[SinbadThePorter]

2 hours ago, wenpop said:

Ok, which city has the best scenery?  Or is Picton a better scenery?

 

From someone who has never lived in either Melbourne or Wellington but has visited both, I'd say that Wellington is more picturesque purely from the point of view of scenery.

 

However, if your proposed Melbourne cruise includes Tasmania you will get plenty of nice scenery there.

Edited September 16, 2020 by SinbadThePorter

[lissie]

2 hours ago, Docker123 said:

Melbourne is a big city, 5 million or so.  It is built around Port Phillip Bay, but in many ways relatively flat. Best scenery is a bit more on the edges and out of town It has many great cultural and sport Facilities, museums etc.

 

Wellington is much smaller, 250,000 or so. But built around a lovely harbour with mountains around. It is the national Capital and has good cultural attractions.

 

I live in Melbourne. Through the city and surrounds, the is some great built scenery.

 

That's a fair assessment i've  lived in both and WEllington is pretty, compact, and has awesome coffee. Melbourne is flat and big but has great coffee  and cake in St Kilda (where the cruise ships come in). It has much bigger cultural attactions because its a big city and Wellington is a big town. Wellington has Zealandia https://www.visitzealandia.com/ which is  an easy way to see NZ bush and bird life without leaving the city. 

 

The both have changeable weather - so you -may well get rained out in both. Wgtn is unlikely to hit 25C, Melbourne may go up to early 40s - assuming you are planning a summer visit. 

 

For a 1 day quick visit I'd probably pick Wellington - the harbour is actually stunningly beautiful too. I'd compare Wgtn to Vancouver or San Francisco for the harbour. Melbourne the harbour is very wide and the land around flat so its basically not so pretty - but much larger. But if you go to Sydney you'll see the prettiest harbour in the world 

[Ondine]

Picton is absolutely gorgeous although not many ships call there. Maybe because it takes awhile to get up the sounds to berth.  I would go back in a heartbeat.  Having said that it is only a small town but if you like nature excellent. 

 

Melbourne is just another large bustling capital city (well when the curfew ends it will be) and you would have to travel well outside it to see any scenery or animal life.  It takes over three hours just to come up the bay and as it has been said it is a very flat and featureless not like Sydney which is very picturesque.

 

On the other-hand Tassie is lovely if that is included.  Wellington and Picton are on opposite sides of Cook Strait and I reckon that is the way to go.  When I went to Picton my middle aged son took one look and said "Mum I would like to move here"

[LittleFish1976]

9 minutes ago, Ondine said:

Picton is absolutely gorgeous although not many ships call there. Maybe because it takes awhile to get up the sounds to berth.  I would go back in a heartbeat.  Having said that it is only a small town but if you like nature excellent. 

 

Melbourne is just another large bustling capital city (well when the curfew ends it will be) and you would have to travel well outside it to see any scenery or animal life.  It takes over three hours just to come up the bay and as it has been said it is a very flat and featureless not like Sydney which is very picturesque.

 

On the other-hand Tassie is lovely if that is included.  Wellington and Picton are on opposite sides of Cook Strait and I reckon that is the way to go.  When I went to Picton my middle aged son took one look and said "Mum I would like to move here"

 

I couldn't agree more. Go to New Zealand - everywhere you go there it is beautifully scenic. Melbourne is a big city. Nice place to live but unless there's a particular aspect of Melbourne you wish to engage with (i.e. theatre, art gallery, fine dining, vineyards) then go to NZ.

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

Definitely Wellington. 

[Aussieflyer]

Really it would come down to the itinerary - Melbourne and Wellington I am assuming are the departure ports and you would perhaps stay in each for a day or so? 

Wellington is known as the Windy City and I must admit every time I've been there it's been quite cool and windy. Melbourne is a much bigger city but for a few days there is plenty to see and do in Wellington.

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

11 minutes ago, Aussieflyer said:

Really it would come down to the itinerary - Melbourne and Wellington I am assuming are the departure ports and you would perhaps stay in each for a day or so? 

Wellington is known as the Windy City and I must admit every time I've been there it's been quite cool and windy. Melbourne is a much bigger city but for a few days there is plenty to see and do in Wellington.

 

I don't think Wellington is a departure port in NZ, especially for Princess.

 

I thought the OP might be trying to compare two very similar itineraries with the difference that one has a port stop in Wellington and the other visits Melbourne.

 

Both Royal Princess and Emerald Princess are operating out of Sydney in 2022.

Edited September 17, 2020 by OzKiwiJJ

[MicCanberra]

If the only difference in itineraries is Wellington or Melbourne, then Wellington gets my tick of approval.

[Aussieflyer]

29 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I don't think Wellington is a departure port in NZ, especially for Princess.

 

I thought the OP might be trying to compare two very similar itineraries with the difference that one has a port stop in Wellington and the other visits Melbourne.

 

Both Royal Princess and Emerald Princess are operating out of Sydney in 2022.

Thanks for the clarification. Thought it unusual to have wellington as a departure port. If just a one day port stop then Wellington would get my vote.

In Picton, the larger ships dock at the logging (?) area and need a shuttle into the town, smaller ones like SS Muse which we were on last year,  dock in the town itself. We had a Princess ship there as well and say the shuttles going back and forward.

Edited September 17, 2020 by Aussieflyer

[LittleFish1976]

There's lots to do in Wellington. I was there for two days on a cruise last year. There's the Lord of the Rings locations tour; the Weta workshop where they make stuff for films (interesting tour). There's Zealandia which I believe is wonderful. I went on a ferry trip to Matiu/Somes island where I went on a guided walk over the island looking at wildlife and plants and stuff - nice place to be.

[Ondine]

17 hours ago, Aussieflyer said:

 

In Picton, the larger ships dock at the logging (?) area and need a shuttle into the town, smaller ones like SS Muse which we were on last year,  dock in the town itself. We had a Princess ship there as well and say the shuttles going back and forward.

 

We were there in March on Carnival Spirit (got back on 14th, day before self isolation began) and were at the logging pier.  It was beautiful.   We were surrounded by mountains some seemed so close you could touch them!  Unbelievably quiet and serene.  We even had some excursions depart from the ship with the tourist boats coming directly alongside like the tenders.

 

It is like stopping in Milford Sound.

 

The shuttles were free and didn't take long to reach the town.  No problem there.

[GUT2407]

Picton wins hands down.

 

For me.

 

But really it comes down to your likes and dislikes and as Mic said the entire Itinerary May change suggestions too.

[lyndarra]

2 hours ago, GUT2407 said:

Picton wins hands down.

 

For me.

 

But really it comes down to your likes and dislikes and as Mic said the entire Itinerary May change suggestions too.

I liked Picton. Took the steam train to Blenheim first time there.