Cruise to New Zealand from US?

[FFC1964]

Has anyone cruised from the US to New Zealand or Australia? I hate long flights and can not sleep on planes. Business class super expensive. We are considering cruising one way but would love to hear the experiences of others.

 

[Flyfish1]

No - but we splurged for business class this spring to Australia with lie flat seats. I slept very well even with some turbulence. On the way back we did Premium Economy and it was fine.
However, I would absolutely consider a cruise across the Pacific , my wife however...

I wonder what the price differential is , since a cruise is several weeks ??I haven't looked yet have you?

 

[TheWizard]

First question: does such a cruise even exist?

 

[Aerides]

That would be at least 10 days each way, and probably eclipse your flight prices.

 

[braumeister]

First question: does such a cruise even exist?

Certainly.
CRUISES FROM USA TO NEW ZEALAND

 

[brett]

Have you been on a cruise with multiple sea days? We have cruised frequently. On one European land trip we snagged a last minute cruise home to FLL. Five or six at sea days. We had only ever had 2 consecutive sea days prior to that.

Everything about the cruise was wonderful, ship, food, weather, except that by day 3 three were ready to jump ship.

We have done a 21 day Oz/NZ cruise from Sydney to Perth. Great cruise...we enjoyed every day including a great weather day through Milford sound.

 

[braumeister]

Five or six at sea days.

Everything about the cruise was wonderful, ship, food, weather, except that by day 3 three were ready to jump ship.

I would have to agree. Never did anything like that, but with so many "at sea" days I would be bored out of my skull. Not for me.

 

[FFC1964]

I have not been on a cruise with multiple sea days. Just a couple. My biggest concern would be getting sick of the food. I can spend a bunch of time at the pool and the gym.
The cruise would be about the same price as the business class flight but would also be seeing several ports so I think it would be a wash for us price wise.

 

[Aerides]

I can spend a bunch of time at the pool and the gym.

Sure, we all think that. But then it's rough weather, or just plain overcast...and if it's not, everyone else is at the pool and the gym. And after a day or 3? 10? Few are going to go direct from the US mainland, so you'll have stops in Hawaii and other islands.

Doing 3-4 days at sea, then getting off for a day, facing that boat for another 3-4 day leg? You're trading over a month of your life to avoid an expensive 24 hour flight, doesn't seem to be much of a trade to me.

 

[FFC1964]

We would be getting out of Iowa cold, crappy weather so it still sounds appealing.

 

[TheWizard]

I would have to agree. Never did anything like that, but with so many "at sea" days I would be bored out of my skull. Not for me.

When it comes to Multiple Sea Days, we should always get Gumby's opinion.
Hahaha....

 

[ctbktb]

Hello FFC1964- My wife and I did this cruise in 2008 on Celebrity. Hit me up with specific questions. In our case, we boarded the ship in Honolulu and cruised around the islands for a few days. We spent about 5-days crossing the Pacific and cruised around French Polynesia for 3-4 days (Moorea, Papeete, Bora-Bora) then on to New Zealand with another 5 sea days. Our return to the States, many months later, was through Bali for several days. Try to do Business Class if you can and shop it. I use this site and do a calendar search around the month(s) I would like to travel (Matrix - ITA Software by Google) Maybe do a stop/visit to Japan or Hawaii on the return to break the long-haul up a bit.

On sea days, we did a lot of reading, an occasional chess game, bingo, cooking classes, trivia....

 

[Souschef]

We compromised by flying Air Tahiti Nui to Tahiti, then staying overnight, We caught the plane to NZ the next day. We repeated the process on the return, spending an extra day in Tahiti.

 

[anothercog]

I am considering this. There seems to be an annual departure from San Francisco to Sydney. But there are a lot of sea days. I like the idea of picking it up in Honolulu instead of SF. I can handle the 5 hour flight to Hawaii in economy and flights are usually pretty cheap in the fall.

 

[brett]

We have friends who love sea days. They often do trans Atlantic and trans Pacific cruises. To each his own I guess. Definitely not for us.

 

[levindb]

We took a world cruise from Los Angeles all the way around the earth and back to Los Angeles in 137 days. It took 29 days to reach New Zealand from LA, with 4 stops in Hawaii, 3 ports in French Polynesia, Tahiti, Samoa, and 2 ports in Fiji. Lots of sea days, but the ship offered classes, presentations, evening entertainment as well as games (bingo, trivia, etc.), affinity groups (people from different parts of the USA/world). We were not bored...it was a smaller ship with just 500 passengers. Once in a lifetime journey.

 

[emmaswan]

We took a world cruise from Los Angeles all the way around the earth and back to Los Angeles in 137 days. It took 29 days to reach New Zealand from LA, with 4 stops in Hawaii, 3 ports in French Polynesia, Tahiti, Samoa, and 2 ports in Fiji. Lots of sea days, but the ship offered classes, presentations, evening entertainment as well as games (bingo, trivia, etc.), affinity groups (people from different parts of the USA/world). We were not bored...it was a smaller ship with just 500 passengers. Once in a lifetime journey.

Would you happen to remember the name of this cruise and how much it was?

 

[levindb]

Would you happen to remember the name of this cruise and how much it was?

The cruise line was Regent Seven Seas. We had a mid level balcony room and the cost for the 137 day cruise was about $73,000 per person. While that seems like a HUGE amount, it was an ALL-INCLUSIVE pricing: all food (even specialty restaurants), all drink (including alcohol), gratuities, on board medical, excursions in every port, laundry, business class airfare to/from the starting/ending ports, hotel night the evening before the cruise, gala party at the departure hotel....and I am sure I left out a few things.
Consider this the equivalent of 20 7 day cruises, that is only $3,650 per cruise week for each of us...and we only unpack once. This cruise was back in 2018.

 

[FFC1964]

Thank you so much for the replies! I have friends who have taken the longer cruises....FLL to Barcelona and really like them. Your replies definitely give me something to ponder. We might just fly from LAX to Honolulu and then to Auckland. I just totally hate sitting for so long! My legs get wiggly!

 

[brett]

We have returned home to Canada from Australia after two SE Asia extended snowbird trips.

Both times we flew budget airline Jetstar (owned by Qantas) SYD- HNL. Then chilled for a few days. Then picked up a low cost flight from HNL to our home. What we saved by flying on Jetstar paid for our hotel in HNL.

We have also done SF to Singapore one way on United's lay flat seat. 17.5 hour flight. We originally booked coach, then bid on lay down seats about three weeks prior to blast off. I cannot imagine doing that flight in economy. 10-12 hours is about our limit in an economy or premium economy seat.