How to choose a cruise: a guide for first-time cruisers

Whether you’re into high-end food and wine or looking to entertain your young family, there’s a cruise out there for you. The trick is knowing where to look, writes Dilvin Yasa.

Fancy an ’80s cruise complete with distressed denim workshops and Let’s Get Physical workouts, or how about a luxury experience in the South of France teeming with Michelin moments?

When it comes to cruising, there isn’t a single market that isn’t catered for (hello, The Walking Dead and Star Trek cruises), which is great if you know what you want, but problematic if you’re still a little unsure.

Cruise length means a lot

Carl Frier, managing director Australasia, Cruise 1st, says long before you try to work out what kind of experience you’re after, it’s a good idea to take into account how long you’re willing to travel for and whether you’ve travelled internationally before.

“If you love the idea of staying on a ship and you don’t suffer sea sickness, then that’s when you can start looking at longer itineraries which are heavy with days at sea," he explains. “But those who’ve never travelled internationally before might find trips with plenty of port visits stressful and could be better suited to keeping things close to the Australian coastline."

While it’s never easy – or advisable – to fit yourself within one specific category, this is a good time to think about who you’re travelling with, what everyone’s interests include and what your expectations are of the trip itself. Once you’ve got a firm list of random words such as ‘tropical’, ‘food’, ‘penguins’ and ‘personal butler’, you’re good to move on to the following itinerary matches.

Gentoo penguins at Neko Harbour — The Gentoo penguin colony lies nestled in Andvord Bay, Neko Harbour, surrounded by the mountains and high glacier walls of the peninsula.

First-time family cruisers

Whether you’ve got little rug rats, energetic tweens or tricky teens, you’re going to need two things: a larger style cruise ship that’s loaded with amenities such as sky diving simulators, kids’ clubs and family-friendly shows, but also, good-old fashioned tropical sunshine.

“Any large ship that sails to Hawai‘i is a great – and tellingly popular – choice for this group, but you can’t go past itineraries around the South Pacific," says Deb Long, owner and manager of Weston Cruise & Travel.

“This is a trip that offers plenty of sunshine so that everyone can actually enjoy the outdoor amenities of the ship, but [also] have plenty of time and space to frolic once they get to that tropical island." Think New Caledonia, Fiji, Vanuatu and Tahiti.

Amédée lighthouse, New Caledonia — Amédée lighthouse near Noumea, New Caledonia.

Need tips, more detail or itinerary ideas tailored to you? Ask AT.

First-time cruisers on a budget

If you’re still unsure whether cruising will be for you but don’t want to spend a decent chunk of coin finding out, opt for a closed-loop cruise (departing and returning to the same port) from a major Australian city, or take a two- to three-day sail along the Australian coastline, such as one from Melbourne to Adelaide.

Station Pier, Port Melbourne — An increasingly popular stop for domestic and international cruise ships, Station Pier is the gateway to your next cruise adventure.

Best of all, you can either go with a luxury ship, or get even more bang for your buck with a ship that is considered more suited to families. Itineraries around the South Pacific also tend to be geared towards the more affordable end of the cruising market.

First-time cruising for foodies

Blame it on the popularity of cooking shows or the rise of celebrity chefs, but culinary travel is one of the biggest travel trends of 2019 and happily, it’s a trend that transcends oceans.

Close to home, cross the Tasman Sea and experience the joys of wine tasting in New Zealand’s Marlborough region.

Cruising New Zealand — Book a New Zealand cruise and enjoy breathtaking scenery of the Fiordland National Park.

Further afield in Europe, there are plenty of food cruises with exclusive access to wineries across France, Germany and Austria onboard either a river or ocean cruise. If you have ever wanted to indulge in the best of Bordeaux or the Dordogne and Garonne without the hassle of planning, contacting the wineries and booking the restaurants yourself, then this is your ticket to hassle-free foodie heaven.

First-time cruising for the mobility impaired

Cruising is an outright winner for those with disabilities. The cruise lines, and Royal Caribbean in particular, are well versed in making memorable travel highly inclusive of the mobility impaired.

The bigger and newer ships will be able to accommodate the mobility impaired better with more up-to-date fit outs and technology, and dedicated accessible rooms and services.

As for itineraries, the city-based New Zealand itineraries are probably best, with great access to land without tenders. Having said that, the crew are adept at getting the mobility impaired in and out of tenders.

The Mediterranean is also a winner: you’ll find many ports here, such as Naples and Monaco, are located right in the middle of town, thus reducing the need to travel too far once onshore.

Cruising the Greek Islands — A cruise on the Mediterranean will take you to destinations like Greece, Italy and Spain.

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First-time cruising for adventurers

If you want to treat your cruise like an energy drink commercial, combining a pleasant onboard experience with action-packed port adventures such as hiking, kayaking with wildlife or rock-climbing, it’s hard to go past the Kimberley or Canada, says Long. “[Cruises here] tend to be [on] smaller ships as they need to navigate tiny waterways, but itineraries around these areas are often filled with adventure sports, wildlife and plenty of action."

Elsewhere, expedition cruises around the polar caps, Galápagos Islands and Alaska attract cruise passengers keen to get to know their penguins, tortoises and marine iguanas intimately.

Expedition cruise, Antarctica — Some of sights to behold on an expedition cruise around Antarctica.

First-time cruising for niche markets

Food and wildlife are great, but what if your interests are a little less… pedestrian?

In Australia alone, we have plenty of options. Have a passion for the performing arts? There’s a cruise for that (Bravo). Or country music? Yep, there’s a cruise for that too (Cruisin’ Country).

Head stateside and it gets a lot more wacky. If you are obsessively into hair metal bands, science fiction television shows or conspiracy theories, then head directly to Florida, do not pass go and do not collect $200.

First-time cruising for luxury lovers

Dreaming of a high-end onboard experience complete with personal butler service, heated marble bathrooms and Michelin dining?

As the luxury end of the market continues its upward trajectory, so too does the desire to visit polar caps and other obscenely cold places. It is, say our experts, a perfect match.

Those looking to enjoy the finer things in life should look at locking in a place on a luxury expedition voyage taking in Iceland, Greenland, the Russian Arctic and Antarctic itineraries. Or if you’d like something a little less adventurous, opt for either the Canada-Alaska or Norwegian Fjords routes. As Long recommends, “Another great itinerary for the luxury market is sailing along the coastline of Norway where you can take in the fjords or sail around the archipelago of polar bear-heavy Svalbard."

Cruising the Geirangerfjorde — The Geirangerfjorde is one of the most spectacular sites in Norway.

Located just an hour north-west of Melbourne, the largely undiscovered Macedon Ranges quietly pours some of Australia’s finest cool-climate wines and serves up some of Victoria’s best food.

Mention the Macedon Ranges and most people will think of day spas and mineral springs around Daylesford, cosy weekends away in the countryside or the famous Hanging Rock (of enigmatic picnic fame). Or they won’t have heard of the Macedon Ranges at all.

But this cool-climate destination has been inconspicuously building a profile as a high-quality food and wine region and is beginning to draw serious attention from oenophiles and epicureans alike.

The rise of Macedon Ranges wine

liquid gold barrels at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery — Barrels of liquid gold at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

With elevations ranging from 300 to 800 metres, Macedon Ranges vineyards are among the highest in the country. This altitude, combined with significant day/night temperature swings, makes for a slow ripening season, in turn nurturing wines that embody elegance and structure. Think crisp chardonnays, subtle yet complex pinot noirs and delicate sparkling wines, along with niche varietals, such as gamay and nebbiolo.

Despite the region’s natural advantages – which vary from estate to estate, as each site embodies unique terroir depending on its position in relation to the Great Dividing Range, soil make-up and altitude – the Macedon Ranges has remained something of an insider’s secret. Unlike Victoria’s Yarra Valley or Mornington Peninsula, you won’t find large tour buses here and there’s no mass marketing drawing crowds.

Many of the 40-odd wineries are family-run operations with modest yields, meaning the wineries maintain a personal touch (if you visit a cellar door, you’ll likely chat to the owner or winemaker themselves) and a tight sales circle that often doesn’t go far beyond said cellar door. And that’s part of the charm.

Though wines from the Macedon Ranges are just starting to gain more widespread recognition in Australia, the first vines were planted in the 1860s, with a handful of operators then setting up business in the 1970s and ’80s. The industry surged again in the 1990s and early 2000s with the entry of wineries, such as Mount Towrong, which has an Italian slant in both its wine and food offering, and Curly Flat, now one of the largest estates.

Meet the new generation of local winemakers

the Clydesdale barn at Paramoor. — The Clydesdale barn at Paramoor. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Then, within the last 15 years, a new crop of vignerons like Andrew Wood at Kyneton Ridge Estate, whose vineyard in 2024 was the first in the Macedon Ranges to be certified by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia; Geoff Plahn and Samantha Reid at Paramoor, who have an impressive cellar door with a roaring fire and studded leather couches in an old Clydesdale barn; and Ollie Rapson and Renata Morello at Lyons Will, who rapidly expanded a small vineyard to focus on top-shelf riesling, gamay, pinot noir and chardonnay, have taken ownership of local estates.

Going back to the early days, Llew Knight’s family was one of the pioneers of the 1970s, replacing sheep with vines at Granite Hills when the wool industry dwindled. Knight is proud of the fact that all their wines are made with grapes from their estate, including a light, peppery shiraz (some Macedon wineries purchase fruit from nearby warmer areas, such as Heathcote, particularly to make shiraz) and a European-style grüner veltliner. And, as many other wineries in the region do, he relies on natural acid for balance, rather than an additive, which is often required in warmer regions. “It’s all about understanding and respecting your climate to get the best out of your wines,” he says.

farm animals atKyneton Ridge Estate — Curious residents at Kyneton Ridge Estate. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Throughout the Macedon Ranges, there’s a growing focus on sustainability and natural and low-intervention wines, with producers, such as Brian Martin at Hunter Gatherer making waves in regenerative viticulture. Martin previously worked in senior roles at Australia’s largest sparkling winemaking facility, and now applies that expertise and his own nous to natural, hands‑off, wild-fermented wines, including pét‑nat, riesling and pinot noir. “Wild fermentation brings more complexity,” he says. “Instead of introducing one species of yeast, you can have thousands and they add different characteristics to the wine.”

the vineyard at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery — The estate’s vineyard, where cool-climate grapes are grown. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Most producers also focus on nurturing their grapes in-field and prune and pick by hand, thus avoiding the introduction of impurities and the need to meddle too much in the winery. “The better the quality of the fruit, the less you have to interfere with the natural winemaking process,” says Wood.

Given the small yields, there’s also little room for error, meaning producers place immense focus on quality. “You’re never going to compete in the middle [in a small region] – you’ve got to aim for the top,” says Curly Flat owner Jeni Kolkka. “Big wineries try to do things as fast as possible, but we’re in no rush,” adds Troy Walsh, owner and winemaker at Attwoods. “We don’t use commercial yeasts; everything is hand-harvested and everything is bottled here, so we bottle only when we’re ready, not when a big truck arrives.” That’s why, when you do see a Macedon Ranges product on a restaurant wine list, it’s usually towards the pointy end.

Come for the wine, stay for the food

pouring sauce onto a dish at Lake HouseDaylesford — Dining at Lake House Daylesford is a treat. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

If wine is the quiet achiever of the Macedon Ranges, then food is its not-so-secret weapon. In fact, the area has more hatted restaurants than any other region in Victoria. A pioneer of the area’s gourmet food movement is region cheerleader Alla Wolf-Tasker, culinary icon and founder of Daylesford’s Lake House.

For more than three decades, Wolf-Tasker has championed local producers and helped define what regional fine dining can look like in Australia. Her influence is palpable, not just in the two-hatted Lake House kitchen, but in the broader ethos of the region’s dining scene, as a wave of high-quality restaurants have followed her lead to become true destination diners.

the Midnight Starling restaurant in Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery — The hatted Midnight Starling restaurant is located in Kyneton. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

It’s easy to eat well, whether at other hatted restaurants, such as Midnight Starling in the quaint town of Kyneton, or at the wineries themselves, like Le Bouchon at Attwoods, where Walsh is inspired by his time working in France in both his food offering and winemaking.

The beauty of dining and wine touring in the Macedon Ranges is that it feels intimate and unhurried. You’re likely to meet the winemaker, hear about the trials of the latest vintage firsthand, and taste wines that never make it to city shelves. And that’s worth getting out of the city for – even if it is just an hour down the road.

Delicate dishes on the menu at Midnight Starling. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

the accommodation at Cleveland Estate, Macedon Ranges — Stay at the Cleveland Estate. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Soak up vineyard views from Cleveland Estate near Lancefield, embrace retro charm at Kyneton Springs Motel or indulge in lakeside luxury at the Lake House.

Eating there

Enjoy a four-course menu at the one-hatted Surly Goat in Hepburn Springs, Japanese-inspired fare at Kuzu in Woodend or unpretentious fine dining at Mount Monument, which also has a sculpture park.

Drinking there

wine tasting at PassingClouds Winery, Macedon Ranges — A tasting at Passing Clouds Winery. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Settle in for a tasting at Boomtown in Castlemaine, sample local drops at the cosy Woodend Cellar & Bar or wine-hop around the many cellar doors, such as Passing Clouds.

the Boomtown Winery and Cellar Bar signage — Boomtown Winery and Cellar Bar. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Playing there

a scenic river in Castlemaine — Idyllic scenes at Castlemaine. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Wander through the seasonal splendour of Forest Glade Gardens, hike to the summit of Hanging Rock, or stroll around the tranquil Sanatorium Lake.

purple flowers hanging from a tree — Purple flowers hanging from a tree. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

The best itineraries for first-time cruisers