Crusing in December from Singapore to Sydney
 

If anyone has any suggestions....please!!
We are taking a cruise in December because it was the only time we could get away, the weather will be rather hot. The cruise line is Oceania which we have been on before and liked, but the stops are not too interesting I think with the exception of Australia. Semarang, Bali, Komodo, Darwin, Cairns, Townsville, Whitsunday, Brisbane and ending in Sydney. We do like doing things on our own, but it seems that there is not a whole lot to do. Any ideas would be most welcomed.

Thanks -

P a t

I think it would be easier to comment, Pat, if we had some idea of the length of your stay in the various ports, and also your interests.

Semarang, Bali, Komodo, Darwin, Cairns, Townsville, Whitsunday, Brisbane and ending in Sydney.
I think that you will find that the stops are quite interesting actually starting with Semarang which still has a lot of traces of the Dutch rule in Indonesia. Try to find a place which serves the rijstaffel feast which is the very best of Dutch Indonesian food in my opinion. There are about 24 small servings of food which is wonderful and my favourite Asian dish. There are many buildings and monuments around Semarang that you should find interesting so when there I would suggest you have a do it yourself tour of the city and if you need to go somewhere then a taxi will be the best way and the cheapest for you. In Bali you may like to take a tour up to Ubud which is in the hills and cooler than the coast. It is a lovely drive up there and there will certainly be plenty of tours available I would think. In Komodo of course you can go looking for those dragons which the place is named after - just don't get too close! I am sure that you will get a lot of ideas of what to do in Darwin but that will really depend on how long you are in dock there as to what you can actually get to see - perhaps a trip to the wildlife centre may be a good idea but I cannot remember what its called.
Cairns, again depending on how much time you have, there is a lot to do and perhaps a quick trip out to Green Island for some snorkling will be an idea but locals can come up with a lot of ideas that you may prefer. In Townsville I would probably go out to Magnetic Island and on the Whitsunday Island it will depend really on where you dock there as there are about 70 + islands etc with all sorts of activities available. Brisbane will depend on what you want to see yourself - its a 50 min train ride to Beerwah where Australia Zoo is so that is a possibility or Lone Pine BUT as you will be in Sydney you may prefer to go to Tarongo Zoo which is beautiful.
I think that cruise would be one that I would enjoy just for the countryside that you will see and the Coral and Arafura Seas, the GBR and all the Indonesian islands etc. Enjoy!

Thanks Bokhara 2 -

Being that it's a cruise, the stops are rather short.
Semarang (10 hrs), Bali (1 1/2 days), Darwin (9 to 2:30 p.m.)
Cairns (8 hours), Townsville (8 hours), Whitsunday Island
(8 hours), Brisbane (8 hours). As for Sydney we'll spend
3 days before returning home.

We enjoy experiencing different cultures, foods, nature and exploring non-touristy places. In our previous trips we've rented cars or had private tour guides depending on where we were just to not stay within a small radius of where the ship docks. We can't be in the sun too much, so spending a whole day at the beach won't work for us. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

P a t

Hi Pat,

The thing you need to be aware of is that sometimes the main things you might want to see are actually hours and hours from the port where the ship has docked. We experienced this in Vietnam - docked at 'Ho Chi Minh city' but it took us 2 1/2 hours EACH WAY for about a 2 hour ish tour.

I also recall on another cruise when we docked at 'Kuala Lumpur' again it was hours from the city itself.

We've made a vow that for us, a cruise is just to sit back and relax and we won't bother with any more shore excursions as some of them are hardly worthwhile IMHO.

So I'd suggest that you try and find out how far you would have to travel for the various shore excursions to see if they are worthwhile.