I feel cheated by cruising opportunities in Australia

[cruiser3775]

15 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

The reason there is no cruising out of Melbourne in winter is due to adverse sea and wind conditions in Bass Strait.

Bass Strait is notorious, but no worse than a lot of other places ships visit regularly. Yes, you need a pilot to get through the narrow heads of Port Phillip Bay, but multiple big ships do that every day. I wouldn't mind a couple of sea days getting into warmer weather, either.  I'm happy to fly to Sydney to start a winter cruise, because that first hour going down Sydney Harbour is magical, but it would satisfy a lot of pent up demand from Victorians ( and South Australians, too) if there was a regular cruise ship schedule in our winter.

[pully8]

Cruise options seem to offer in the main old large ships in Australia?

Some of the reviews indicate ongoing issues around staffing shortages and training, food quality and missing ports.

Perhaps that is the current state of tourism post the pandemic.

Recently on a small group land tour average cost was $500 plus per person per day.

2 motels were ok.

1 for 4 nights was dreadful.

No working smoke alarms, not clean, poor water pressure in the shower hit and miss internet and a strange tv that would stop, change stations at will.

Food was low quality.

Minimal staff.

Recently changed ownership and not wanting to spend.

Local tourism office said same owner from interstate had bought another in the town and others.

Some operators are trying hard to offer quality.

Interesting times in travel. 

[MMDown Under]

5 minutes ago, pully8 said:

Cruise options seem to offer in the main old large ships in Australia?

Some of the reviews indicate ongoing issues around staffing shortages and training, food quality and missing ports.

Perhaps that is the current state of tourism post the pandemic.

Recently on a small group land tour average cost was $500 plus per person per day.

2 motels were ok.

1 for 4 nights was dreadful.

No working smoke alarms, not clean, poor water pressure in the shower hit and miss internet and a strange tv that would stop, change stations at will.

Food was low quality.

Minimal staff.

Recently changed ownership and not wanting to spend.

Local tourism office said same owner from interstate had bought another in the town and others.

Some operators are trying hard to offer quality.

Interesting times in travel. 

I agree it is buyer beware.  I was surprised at the cost of accommodation.  When we recently wanted accommodation stopover en route from GC to Canberra, I didn't prebook because I didn't know how far we'd feel like driving.  When our choice was full, I'd ask friendly staff at reception for an alternate recommendation.  Works every time.  We stayed at Foreshore Caravan Park Nambucca Heads on way down ($140 fr 2).  It was two bedroom well equipped spotless waterfront cabin (No.1).  On way back we stayed at a spotless well equipped motel at Karuah, off the highway Karuah Motor Inn ($132 for 2).  (There was a waterfront caravan park there, but we arrived on dark.) Both had excellent friendly staff.  (The worst motels we have ever stayed at were in southern USA.  We used to check room before we booked room.)

[Auscruisefam]

I don’t think Australia is a priority for the cruise lines. They are struggling to fill ships now imagine an additional 6 months during winter. Cruises where so heavily discounted this season and I feel another round of discounting will happen later this year. 
I think the cruise lines will do the bare minimum necessary to keep cruising alive here,  but they are treading careful with us after the shut down. 
It’s the same old ports unfortunately for a while.

 

 

[MMDown Under]

59 minutes ago, mr walker said:

2-3 sea days to get anywhere warm, with similar on return leg, would make too many sea-days for most cruisers, and so limit the demand out of Melbourne. 

Maybe it is time for fly/cruise packages from Melbourne during the winter.

[Aus Traveller]

49 minutes ago, possum52 said:

There is no way I would be sailing out of Melbourne during winter months. The wind and seas would make for a very unpleasant journey at least to Sydney. 

Agreed. I wouldn't like to sail out of Port Phillip Bay into Bass Strait in winter when the overwhelming odds are that it will be very rough.

[MMDown Under]

7 minutes ago, Auscruisefam said:

I don’t think Australia is a priority for the cruise lines. They are struggling to fill ships now imagine an additional 6 months during winter. Cruises where so heavily discounted this season and I feel another round of discounting will happen later this year. 
I think the cruise lines will do the bare minimum necessary to keep cruising alive here,  but they are treading careful with us after the shut down. 
It’s the same old ports unfortunately for a while.

 

 

The cruiselines won’t change unless we change.  Same old ships, same old itineraries, etc.  

I used to fly to the US/Uk annually with stopovers on South Pacific islands. Currently looking at the Cook Islands and Tahiti.

[lyndarra]

35 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Maybe it is time for fly/cruise packages from Melbourne during the winter.

I get offers from a TA for cruises in Europe and also to N America. The fares include return flights. They are mostly MSC cruises and, having been on one, I know what to expect but the offers are tempting non the less.

 

Edited to add. These cruises are port intensive and usually on shoulder season.

Edited April 16, 2023 by lyndarra
typo

[Aussieflyer]

1 hour ago, possum52 said:

There is no way I would be sailing out of Melbourne during winter months. The wind and seas would make for a very unpleasant journey at least to Sydney. 

Ah but isn't that part of the fun of cruising. Love it when it's rough (but not so keen when it's rough, wet and cold). 😁

[MMDown Under]

Just now, Aussieflyer said:

Ah but isn't that part of the fun of cruising. Love it when it's rough (but not so keen when it's rough, wet and cold). 😁

 

Just now, Aussieflyer said:

Ah but isn't that part of the fun of cruising. Love it when it's rough (but not so keen when it's rough, wet and cold). 😁

Not when passengers are sea sick.  On my first Australian cruise from Sydney to Fremantle most passengers were sick in the Great Aust Bight.  Turned me off cruising for 30 years!

[Aussieflyer]

2 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

 

Not when passengers are sea sick.  On my first Australian cruise from Sydney to Fremantle most passengers were sick in the Great Aust Bight.  Turned me off cruising for 30 years!

That's unfortunate. I don't care if they are seasick as long as they stay in their cabins. The Drake's Passage a couple of years ago had a few pax looking a bit green around the gills, and I saw lots with ship supplied patches behind their ears. Lots of sick bags were laid out along the corridors in case needed. The outside deck was closed and anyone on a low deck with a balcony had their furniture stowed. 

[MMDown Under]

1 minute ago, Aussieflyer said:

That's unfortunate. I don't care if they are seasick as long as they stay in their cabins. The Drake's Passage a couple of years ago had a few pax looking a bit green around the gills, and I saw lots with ship supplied patches behind their ears. Lots of sick bags were laid out along the corridors in case needed. The outside deck was closed and anyone on a low deck with a balcony had their furniture stowed. 

It was an Italian ship with many Italian passengers,  Some were sick at the dining table!!

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Auscruisefam said:

I don’t think Australia is a priority for the cruise lines. They are struggling to fill ships now imagine an additional 6 months during winter. Cruises where so heavily discounted this season and I feel another round of discounting will happen later this year. 
I think the cruise lines will do the bare minimum necessary to keep cruising alive here,  but they are treading careful with us after the shut down. 
It’s the same old ports unfortunately for a while.

 

 

I disagree that cruises were heavily discounted this season. Certainly the Princess restart cruises, from June until early October, were priced below normal, presumably to entice passengers back on to the ships after the bad publicity at the beginning of the pandemic and concerns over whether Covid would spread out of control on cruises. But the peak season fares were similar to pre-Covid fares as far as I could see. 

 

The reason for the same old ports is that there just aren't that many viable ports around Australia, NZ and the South Pacific. Ships can't just rock up to any coastal town and decide to have a port stop there. There needs to be either a wharf that the ship can dock at or a relatively sheltered anchorage for tendering. Even some of the current port stops are cancelled at the last minute due to adverse weather conditions either stopping the ship from entering the port to dock or where conditions are too rough to allow tenders to operate safely.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, MMDown Under said:

The cruiselines won’t change unless we change.  Same old ships, same old itineraries, etc.  

I used to fly to the US/Uk annually with stopovers on South Pacific islands. Currently looking at the Cook Islands and Tahiti.

I wish Princess did still have some of the same old ships - the smaller ones like the old Sun Class ships. Yes, we currently have Coral Princess but she disappears after the 2024 world cruise.

 

As to the same old itineraries - there aren't that many alternatives. For it's size Australia has surprisingly few good ports and those are mostly a sea day or more apart. New Zealand has some very good ports on the east coast but very few on the west coast. I think some of the South Pacific ports have been out of action due to wharf damages. I saw a post elsewhere saying the Port Vila is going to allow ships to anchor and operate tenders until their wharf is repaired/rebuilt. Other small Pacific Island ports may not want cruise ships to visit at the moment for health reasons, or even at all in the case of some of the bigger ships that have too many passengers for them to cater for. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Aussieflyer said:

Ah but isn't that part of the fun of cruising. Love it when it's rough (but not so keen when it's rough, wet and cold). 😁

Unfortunately those of us who aren't bothered by rough seas are heavily outnumbered by those who are, and I don't think there would be enough seasoned cruises to make winter cruising out of Melbourne viable. 

 

Also Captains aren't too keen on taking the ships through more than about 5 metre seas if they can avoid it as there is risk of damage to the ship's fittings, and risk of passengers falling and getting injured. Last year we had three cruises affected by high seas:

- the first was having our departure from Sydney delayed by one day to avoid 6-8 metre seas off the Queenland/NSW border.

- the second was getting stuck in Melbourne for three days to avoid 6-8 metre seas between Melbourne and South Australia

- the third was on the Round Australia cruise where we spent an extra day in Fremantle, and had the Albany port stop cancelled, to try to slip between a couple of nasty weather systems. Unfortunately that wasn't totally successful as a medical emergency delayed our journey from Busselton so things were a bit bouncy going around the south-west corner.

Then there was the storm that stopped Coral docking in Brisbane for a day or so, so even Brisbane can be affected by bad weather in winter (as well as the risk of possible cyclones in summer).

[MMDown Under]

5 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Unfortunately those of us who aren't bothered by rough seas are heavily outnumbered by those who are, and I don't think there would be enough seasoned cruises to make winter cruising out of Melbourne viable. 

 

Also Captains aren't too keen on taking the ships through more than about 5 metre seas if they can avoid it as there is risk of damage to the ship's fittings, and risk of passengers falling and getting injured. Last year we had three cruises affected by high seas:

- the first was having our departure from Sydney delayed by one day to avoid 6-8 metre seas off the Queenland/NSW border.

- the second was getting stuck in Melbourne for three days to avoid 6-8 metre seas between Melbourne and South Australia

- the third was on the Round Australia cruise where we spent an extra day in Fremantle, and had the Albany port stop cancelled, to try to slip between a couple of nasty weather systems. Unfortunately that wasn't totally successful as a medical emergency delayed our journey from Busselton so things were a bit bouncy going around the south-west corner.

Then there was the storm that stopped Coral docking in Brisbane for a day or so, so even Brisbane can be affected by bad weather in winter (as well as the risk of possible cyclones in summer).

Trouble is Australia doesn't have many safe harbours for shipping. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

7 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

I agree they need more competition but also smaller ships which can visit more places.  Coral Expeditions, based in Cairns, do a great job with its small ships.  They are now venturing further afield than Australia.  There have been other small ships which have had great itineraries cruising around Australia, on small ships.  Yes, expensive, but I'd like to do one more than a world cruise, with fewer ports close to Australia.  

What we need is some medium sized ships. Small enough to get into ports that can't handle the bigger ships (even the smallest P&O ships) but big enough that they aren't too expensive. But the trend is "bigger is better". Well, probably more cost effective for the cruise lines but I predict that sooner rather than later the bigger ships will find fewer and fewer ports willing to accept them, particularly in Europe. 

 

But the other issue is how long it takes to get anywhere by ship. Sydney to Darwin takes five sea days without any port stops. Brisbane to Darwin is four sea days. So it makes it hard to build itineraries to some of the closer Asian countries as those itineraries would need to be longer than two weeks, which is fine for us retired folk but not so easy for those who have limited annual leave. Yes, cruises could depart from Cairns or Darwin but that adds extra travel costs on top of the cruise, and some extra travel days. We just have to put up with the fact that Australia, and NZ, are a long way from everywhere.

[OzKiwiJJ]

4 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Trouble is Australia doesn't have many safe harbours for shipping. 

Exactly. Surprisingly few given how much coastline Australia has. And many of the ones we do have are in the southern parts of Australia which get clobbered by the winter weather conditions. 

[MMDown Under]

2 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

What we need is some medium sized ships. Small enough to get into ports that can't handle the bigger ships (even the smallest P&O ships) but big enough that they aren't too expensive. But the trend is "bigger is better". Well, probably more cost effective for the cruise lines but I predict that sooner rather than later the bigger ships will find fewer and fewer ports willing to accept them, particularly in Europe. 

 

But the other issue is how long it takes to get anywhere by ship. Sydney to Darwin takes five sea days without any port stops. Brisbane to Darwin is four sea days. So it makes it hard to build itineraries to some of the closer Asian countries as those itineraries would need to be longer than two weeks, which is fine for us retired folk but not so easy for those who have limited annual leave. Yes, cruises could depart from Cairns or Darwin but that adds extra travel costs on top of the cruise, and some extra travel days. We just have to put up with the fact that Australia, and NZ, are a long way from everywhere.

My younger daughter is currently driving around Australia in a van.  She fell in love with SA, the Nullarbor and SW WA.  She

said there was so much to see and do along her route, she could have spent twice as long.
Australia is a big beautiful country best savoured at a slower pace.   I flew around Australia once on an air pass but always dreamt about driving around.  We have driven the bottom half.  

[MMDown Under]

2 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

My younger daughter is currently driving around Australia in a van.  She fell in love with SA, the Nullarbor and SW WA.  She

said there was so much to see and do along her route, she could have spent twice as long.
Australia is a big beautiful country best savoured at a slower pace.   I flew around Australia once on an air pass but always dreamt about driving around.  We have driven the bottom half.  

I must admit I didn't think cruising around Australia would be as popular as it is.  Could it be because we are an ageing population and people are getting too old to drive around?

[MMDown Under]

2 hours ago, lyndarra said:

I get offers from a TA for cruises in Europe and also to N America. The fares include return flights. They are mostly MSC cruises and, having been on one, I know what to expect but the offers are tempting non the less.

 

Edited to add. These cruises are port intensive and usually on shoulder season.

Good idea.  I did two cruises on MSC but don’t think they included flights.  They have so many cruise ships I thought they could do a trial of

a medium ship based in Australia. There is

a large population here of Italian descent.  We shared a table with an Italian lady on one cruise where we ate like Kings on her recommendations.  

[lyndarra]

12 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Good idea.  I did two cruises on MSC but don’t think they included flights.  They have so many cruise ships I thought they could do a trial of

a medium ship based in Australia. There is

a large population here of Italian descent.  We shared a table with an Italian lady on one cruise where we ate like Kings on her recommendations.  

I just had a quick look. 38 night holiday with 29 night cruise, 18 ports, Athens to Buenos Aires Nov 2023 for $7999.00 including flights and hotels. Drinks package $799, Bargain. Imagine a Holiday like that!

[MMDown Under]

8 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

I just had a quick look. 38 night holiday with 29 night cruise, 18 ports, Athens to Buenos Aires Nov 2023 for $7999.00 including flights and hotels. Drinks package $799, Bargain. Imagine a Holiday like that!

I always thought they were good value.  I think they would be wonderful in Australia with just a couple of main languages, say English and Italian. Too many languages brought out the worst in people (rude and arrogant).

I loved the itineraries, the spotless ships and the quality entertainment).

[OzKiwiJJ]

54 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

I must admit I didn't think cruising around Australia would be as popular as it is.  Could it be because we are an ageing population and people are getting too old to drive around?

Or that it's more cost effective to cruise it. Plus much, much less hassle - unpack once, no worries about where to find breakfast/lunch/dinner, where to do your laundry, etc. But on the other hand you see a lot less from a ship.

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

I always thought they were good value.  I think they would be wonderful in Australia with just a couple of main languages, say English and Italian. Too many languages brought out the worst in people (rude and arrogant).

I loved the itineraries, the spotless ships and the quality entertainment).

The multiple languages would drive me nuts! One extra language is bearable but any more is tedious.