Weather? SYD to New Zealand Cruise end of December 2023

[ozcruizier]

We saw a nice cruise with Princess from SYD to  New Zealand over Christmas 2023 and were wondering how the weather's like usually over this period, on board and on the ground as well? 

We want to make sure we'll enjoy the balcony or is it too cold and too rainy/windy? 

 

Happy to read you if you have done it before. 

 

thank you 

[Aus Traveller]

As the saying goes, "Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get." The middle of summer is the best time to cruise NZ, but you could have some very cool weather when you are in the far south of NZ. Rain and wind? Luck of the draw.

[SinbadThePorter]

58 minutes ago, ozcruizier said:

We want to make sure we'll enjoy the balcony or is it too cold and too rainy/windy?

 

If you get a sunny day in Milford Sound you will be one of the few.

 

We cruised to NZ last month and it was cold and wet in Milford. In Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington it was sunny and warm. In Napier, Tauranga and Auckland it was various varieties of windy and wet.

 

The NZ cruise before that in Feb 2018 it was very cold and cloudy but dry in Milford. Cold and wet in Dunedin, sunny and warm in Akaroa and Tauranga, and cloudy in Auckland.

 

Which is to say, it could be anything.

 

As far as balconies go, you need to decide how much you enjoy looking at the sea, because that is what you'll be looking at 95% of the time. Personally, I always try to get a balcony just for that reason.

[ozcruizier]

8 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

If you get a sunny day in Milford Sound you will be one of the few.

 

We cruised to NZ last month and it was cold and wet in Milford. In Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington it was sunny and warm. In Napier, Tauranga and Auckland it was various varieties of windy and wet.

 

The NZ cruise before that in Feb 2018 it was very cold and cloudy but dry in Milford. Cold and wet in Dunedin, sunny and warm in Akaroa and Tauranga, and cloudy in Auckland.

 

Which is to say, it could be anything.

 

As far as balconies go, you need to decide how much you enjoy looking at the sea, because that is what you'll be looking at 95% of the time. Personally, I always try to get a balcony just for that reason.

Thanks for the details, 

 

well balcony is more for our young kids, so they can have a bit of place. (we secured one room with a pretty big balcony, in front of the ship). 

 

What cruise did you do last month? there is a chance we are looking at the same one for next december. 

 

Did the weather was pleasant overall or were you unhappy?

[Aus Traveller]

9 minutes ago, ozcruizier said:

Thanks for the details, 

 

well balcony is more for our young kids, so they can have a bit of place. (we secured one room with a pretty big balcony, in front of the ship). 

 

What cruise did you do last month? there is a chance we are looking at the same one for next december. 

 

Did the weather was pleasant overall or were you unhappy?

Is your balcony right at the front, as in forward-facing? If so, you might not be able to use it while the ship is under way.

[OzKiwiJJ]

We've just finished a Xmas/NY NZ cruise last week and had gorgeous weather most of the time. One showery day in Napier and the rest were lovely. Mostly warm too. It was cool crossing the Tasman though, a bit too windy for sitting on the balcony. Weatherwise it was the best of the four NZ cruises we have done. We were exceptionally lucky.

 

But I never do an NZ cruise expecting perfect, warm weather. Particularly in December. It can be very variable. On our first NZ cruise, also in December, it was 30°C in Akaroa, and 14°C in Dunedin the next day. 

 

Princess does have good kids clubs, if your children are old enough for them, so that's an alternative if the weather isn't the best.

[SinbadThePorter]

1 hour ago, ozcruizier said:

What cruise did you do last month? there is a chance we are looking at the same one for next december. 

 

Did the weather was pleasant overall or were you unhappy?

 

The cruise was on the Coral Princess. Brisbane to NZ return, 5th Dec to 19th Dec. Unbeknown to us we went with a dirty bottom! Luckily nobody noticed.

 

The weather at Milford was as good as you can expect. The weather across the South Island was far better than expected. The North Island weather (apart from Wellington) was disappointing, but not surprising.

 

I'm never unhappy on a cruise. I always say if you can't take the rough with the smooth, don't go!

 

If NZ had perfect weather, they'd have to call it Queensland. 😁

[queenslander]

3 hours ago, ozcruizier said:

We saw a nice cruise with Princess from SYD to  New Zealand over Christmas 2023 and were wondering how the weather's like usually over this period, on board and on the ground as well? 

We want to make sure we'll enjoy the balcony or is it too cold and too rainy/windy? 

 

Happy to read you if you have done it before. 

 

thank you 

I was recently on a Christmas cruise with Celebrity and the weather was great! The crossing was the best I have ever experienced - so calm  - but on a previous cruise it was a rough crossing! 

[Aussieflyer]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

We've just finished a Xmas/NY NZ cruise last week and had gorgeous weather most of the time. One showery day in Napier and the rest were lovely. Mostly warm too. It was cool crossing the Tasman though, a bit too windy for sitting on the balcony. Weatherwise it was the best of the four NZ cruises we have done. We were exceptionally lucky.

 

But I never do an NZ cruise expecting perfect, warm weather. Particularly in December. It can be very variable. On our first NZ cruise, also in December, it was 30°C in Akaroa, and 14°C in Dunedin the next day. 

 

Princess does have good kids clubs, if your children are old enough for them, so that's an alternative if the weather isn't the best.

You were very fortunate. We did a similar itinerary in 2019 and it was very cold. I bought a puffer jacket and a new thermal in Christchurch. Eating at the Hot Rock grill (which did have plastic covers) we had rugs supplied and we were well wrapped up. The only times the weather was warm was the first couple of days out of Auckland and when we reached Burnie.

[Over from NZ]

19 minutes ago, Aussieflyer said:

You were very fortunate. We did a similar itinerary in 2019 and it was very cold. I bought a puffer jacket and a new thermal in Christchurch. Eating at the Hot Rock grill (which did have plastic covers) we had rugs supplied and we were well wrapped up. The only times the weather was warm was the first couple of days out of Auckland and when we reached Burnie.

That's luck of the draw unfortunately. It's odd that you would get more than a few days cold. . X-mas is the middle of summer. We've just finished 10-days in the bottom half of the South Island.. dry.. hot.. high 20's and low 30's pretty much every day. But they are copping some hurricane weather up in the North. Pack for all seasons in NZ is the mantra!  😄

[NSWP]

With NZ be prepared for anything weatherwise.☂️🌊💨🌧🌤☀️

[ozcruizier]

Thank you all for your lovely answers. 

 

it should not be an issue then, I think I prefer a 20 degree day rather than a 40 dry hot canberra summer day. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Aussieflyer said:

You were very fortunate. We did a similar itinerary in 2019 and it was very cold. I bought a puffer jacket and a new thermal in Christchurch. Eating at the Hot Rock grill (which did have plastic covers) we had rugs supplied and we were well wrapped up. The only times the weather was warm was the first couple of days out of Auckland and when we reached Burnie.

I was prepared for cold weather but didn't even need a cardigan in Fiordland where I normally wear a fleece, hat and gloves.. It was surprisingly warm and crystal clear.

[ozcruizier]

17 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I was prepared for cold weather but didn't even need a cardigan in Fiordland where I normally wear a fleece, hat and gloves.. It was surprisingly warm and crystal clear.

We might be lucky next year as well with La Nina going away and La Nino coming back.

 

I guess there is no better period to visit New Zealand as well, December/January seems the warmest months. 

[ozcruizier]

3 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

The cruise was on the Coral Princess. Brisbane to NZ return, 5th Dec to 19th Dec. Unbeknown to us we went with a dirty bottom! Luckily nobody noticed.

 

The weather at Milford was as good as you can expect. The weather across the South Island was far better than expected. The North Island weather (apart from Wellington) was disappointing, but not surprising.

 

I'm never unhappy on a cruise. I always say if you can't take the rough with the smooth, don't go!

 

If NZ had perfect weather, they'd have to call it Queensland. 😁

How did you find the excursions with Princess? Thank you 

[SinbadThePorter]

4 hours ago, ozcruizier said:

How did you find the excursions with Princess? Thank you 

 

We very rarely do ship excursions. One of the problems (apart from the outrageous prices) is that you never know if the weather is going to make a booked excursion into a misery. So we prefer when possible to get any excursions on the day.

 

In Port Chalmers we picked up up an excursion at the tourist office at the dock. It was to Lanarch Castle plus a short cruise out the mouth of the bay around the albatross preserve. It was excellent, especially the cruise.

 

From Lyttleton we went into Christchurch and on the way back took the gondola, which was OK.

 

In Wellington we took the cable car up to the botanic gardens and then back down. Then walked to Te Papa and afterwards just wandered the city shopping for a while before catching the shuttle back. You can walk back from the botanic gardens to the CBD, but it's a lot quicker and easier to get a return ticket on the cable car. Te Papa is excellent.

 

At Napier we took our umbrellas and walked around town until it got too miserable and went back to the ship. I imagine the town looks much better when the sun is out.

 

In Tauranga, we went to see what excursions were going. We got as far as the excursion booths, but the weather was so miserable we gave up on the idea. Very cold horizontal rain, almost lost the umbrellas to it.

 

In Auckland it was foggy and drizzly. Walked around the city for a bit before giving up.

[Jean C]

7 hours ago, ozcruizier said:

We might be lucky next year as well with La Nina going away and La Nino coming back.

 

I guess there is no better period to visit New Zealand as well, December/January seems the warmest months. 

Hi, yes, December and January are summer months, as is February. February is notoriously hot and humid. March is a lovely month and the favourite for weddings - generally very nice weather, pleasantly warm, sunny, calm days 🌞

[Aus Traveller]

9 hours ago, ozcruizier said:

How did you find the excursions with Princess? Thank you 

Just use Google - Princess Cruises shore excursions for Brisbane (or anywhere else you are interested in) and they will all appear. 🙂

[arxcards]

9 hours ago, ozcruizier said:

How did you find the excursions with Princess? Thank you 

Excursions - Princess Cruises

[NumnuT_OZ]

13 hours ago, NSWP said:

With NZ be prepared for anything weatherwise.☂️🌊💨🌧🌤☀️

Exactly this....

 

you need to pack for everything, hot sun, sunscreen, poring rain, jackets & jumpers.

We were VERY lucky on Ovation depart Sydney on 23 Dec 2022.

 

flat calm for the first 10 days, 24 degrees & sunny in the sounds & Dunedin, Christchurch & Tauranga.

 

missed Bay of Islands stop & was too rough to tender.

 

Another perfect 3 days cruise home, with a 25 knot easterly pushing us back to Sydney

 

was great!

Edited January 12, 2023 by NumnuT_OZ

[ozcruizier]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

Excursions - Princess Cruises

 

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

Just use Google - Princess Cruises shore excursions for Brisbane (or anywhere else you are interested in) and they will all appear. 🙂

 

Sorry, I meant "How was it" not "Where did you find it"

[ozcruizier]

1 minute ago, NumnuT_OZ said:

Exactly this....

 

you need to pack for everything, hot sun, sunscreen, poring rain, jackets & jumpers.

We were VERY lucky on Ovation depart Sydney on 23 Dec 2022.

 

flat calm for the first 10 days, 24 degrees & sunny in the sounds & Dunedin, Christchurch & Tauranga.

 

missed Bay of Islands stop & was too rough to tender.

 

Another perfect 3 days cruise home, with a 25 knot easterly pushing us back to Sydney

 

was great!

 Wow very nice and lucky !!!

[NumnuT_OZ]

1 minute ago, ozcruizier said:

Wow very nice and lucky !!!

that's for sure,

 

just want to quantify "flat calm" as being seas under 3m for a 300m ship!

[Aus Traveller]

18 minutes ago, ozcruizier said:

 

 

Sorry, I meant "How was it" not "Where did you find it"

OK. Misunderstanding. By "how did you find the cruises with Princess" you meant how were they, not literally how we found them.😁

 

I haven't taken any excursions in Brisbane because I live here. In other parts of the world I have gone on several Princess excursions. Generally, they are well-organised, but they are usually in full-size coaches so there are large groups. They are also expensive but sometimes they are the best option. We have also gone on many excursions organised by someone on this forum. They have been excellent, nearly always smaller groups and at a better price than the Princess excursions where there are extra costs to cover. 

[arxcards]

48 minutes ago, ozcruizier said:

 

 

Sorry, I meant "How was it" not "Where did you find it"

No help from me either I'm afraid. We haven't done a ship tour in years. At the Princess link, there is a star rating for each tour, left by passengers who have done them. That might provide a bit of a general guide.