spring break 2010 -australia???

[cruisethree]

Looking to do a spring break cruise with some travel -- non Caribbean, with my DD who will be 5. The cruises around Australia seem a bit long, though we have 11 days on break next April. Anyone know if there are children on those?

 

Ren

[SelectSys]

Looking to do a spring break cruise with some travel -- non Caribbean, with my DD who will be 5. The cruises around Australia seem a bit long, though we have 11 days on break next April. Anyone know if there are children on those?

 

Ren

 

I would expect a few younger kids on any cruise. You'll have more if your dates line up with any Oz school holidays. I would also expect you'll find more if you go on one of the cruises that go north to warm sunny weather rather than the Australia to New Zealand runs.

 

You may want to post on the Australia forum which has many contributors from "Down Under"

[kitty9]

Unless your vacation lines up with their vacation, you won't find many kids on board. And the likelihood of any American's with kids on board is very, very small. Remember, you have to fly in at least two days before your cruise departs because you lose an entire day flying over. And, do you think your daughter can handle a 17 hour flight, twice? I've found that cruises in that area, unless again it's a holiday time, tend to have high average ages for the passengers.

[nenasmum]

I am an Aussie and April should coincide witha number of our states school holidays - most states have holidays that include the Easter period in some way- Easter is a 4 day public holiday in Australia but most things should be open except on Good Friday. My 5 year old managed the flight the other way- to NY - just fine. I have heard anecdotally that the circumnivigation of Aus cruises attract an older crowd but I don't know for sure. We went on the Dawn Princess around NZ in Dec before all the schools had officiallly broken up- though many of the private schools were already on holidays- and there were 200 or so kids on board. I would probably try to find a cruise that went up or down the East Coast- I imagine it would be a kid popular destination. Also most Aussies have 4 weeks holiday a year plus the Easter break factor so I imagine that April would be really popular. Our dollar is a also very weak at the moment so many Aussies are holidaying at home- great for anyone coming here!!

[notentirelynormal]

We did the New Zealand/Australia cruise last year with our family over Easter. My GD was 6 months old and my GS turned 3 the day we sailed. Yes, the flight was long. The hardest part of that was for my DD who had trouble hearing the baby because of the noise of the plane. She basically stayed awake so she could hear if the baby cried. My GS did great. Slept on the floor under grandpa's feet for some of it and in the chair for some of it. As for the kids on board - they ended up sometimes combining the little and mid groups as there were so few and some of the kids were related. I think there were only around 20 or so on board under 18. Our group was 4 of those. There were enough small ones to play with each other. I can't speak of the teenagers because our teens kept to themselves a lot, plus we were on shore excursions most of the time. Cruising for us is family time so they spent most of their time with family. There were 19 of us total so lots of family to hang with.

[cruisethree]

Wondering if winter break, mid Feb for us NYers, works better for Australia cruising, or there just wouldn't be any kids on board because of the Australian holiday schedule.

[kitty9]

You know, Americans with school age kids are not going to travel all the way to Australia for a cruise with only 7 days to travel. It's a 17 hour flight, you miss one day going out because of the International Date Line. I don't think Australia has a particular break time during US Presidents Week. Realize that exotic itineraries far from the US attracts a very mature crowd. You'll find the average age for those cruises, at that time of year, could be well above age 60.

[sassenach.girl]

Realize that exotic itineraries far from the US attracts a very mature crowd

I have to disagree with this. I'm in Australia, and the Australian cruise itineraries attract just as many families and children year-round as I imagine the US cruise season does.

 

Any of the P&O cruises departing from Australia will have children on them -- year-round -- though of course, there will be more children aboard in our holiday season, which is Dec/Jan, April, July, and September.