Melbourne Cruise Port Guide — Ships, Excursions & Tips

Currency

Australian dollar (AUD); Myki card for trams (tap-on at machines outside the terminal); cards accepted everywhere.

Language

English

Time in Port

Ships typically dock 8am-6pm at Station Pier; check overnight schedules.

Pier Location

Station Pier, Port Melbourne -- 6 km from the CBD; tram 109 runs directly to the city centre (Collins St) from the stop outside the terminal gate.

Best For

City culture, coffee, street art, sporting events, Great Ocean Road, and the Yarra Valley

About Melbourne

Melbourne is Australia's cultural capital -- a city of secret laneways plastered in world-class street art, a cafe culture that takes coffee with the seriousness of a religion, and a sporting obsession (Australian Rules Football, the Australian Open, the Melbourne Cup) that defines the city's identity. Ships dock at Station Pier in Port Melbourne, 6 km south-west of the CBD, with trams running directly to Flinders Street Station from the stop outside the terminal. On a single port day you can walk from the Victoria Market through the CBD laneways to the Royal Botanic Gardens, or take a day trip to the Great Ocean Road's Twelve Apostles for one of the most spectacular coastal drives on earth.

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Insider Tip

Tram travel in the CBD is free within the Free Tram Zone (marked on the Myki app and on tram-stop signs) -- buy a 2-hour Myki cap at the Station Pier newsagent for the ride into the city, then use free trams for everything within the central grid.

Highlights

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Hosier Lane & CBD Laneways
The CBD's famous bluestone lanes -- Hosier Lane, Degraves Street, Centre Place -- are covered floor-to-ceiling in sanctioned street art that changes daily; Degraves is the heartland of Melbourne's legendary coffee scene.

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Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)
The MCG is one of the world's great sporting cathedrals -- a 100,000-seat stadium offering daily guided tours of the Australian Sports Museum, dressing rooms, and the members' stand. A 20-minute tram from the pier.

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Royal Botanic Gardens & Shrine
35 hectares of manicured gardens on the south bank of the Yarra, 15 minutes from the CBD by tram -- the lake walk, the Aboriginal Heritage Walk, and the attached Shrine of Remembrance precinct are all free.

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Queen Victoria Market
A working wholesale market since 1878, Queen Vic is the largest open-air market in the Southern Hemisphere -- fresh oysters, Victorian cheese, deli meats, and the essential Melbourne experience of a long black and a fresh jam doughnut.

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Great Ocean Road & Twelve Apostles
The most spectacular coastal drive in Australia begins 1.5 hours south-west of Melbourne -- limestone stacks rising 45 metres from the Southern Ocean; full-day coach tours run from Station Pier to Loch Ard Gorge and the Twelve Apostles.

Local Food & Drink

A Melbourne long black or flat white -- Melbourne takes coffee more seriously than anywhere else in Australia; Degraves Street and Hardware Lane have the city's most celebrated independent roasters.
Dim sum yum cha in Chinatown -- Little Bourke Street's Chinatown is the oldest continuous Chinatown in the Western world; the Sunday yum cha at the long-running restaurants there is a Melbourne institution.
Wagyu beef at the Queen Victoria Market deli -- Victorian grass-fed and grain-fed Wagyu from the Vic's Meat stall is priced for the public and is outstanding as cold-cuts or a hot sausage.
A laneway bar snack and local pale ale -- a pulled-pork jaffle and a Victorian craft pale ale in a Flinders Lane basement bar captures everything Melbourne does well.

Shore Excursion Ideas

1 Great Ocean Road full-day coach -- Lorne, Apollo Bay, Gibson Steps, Twelve Apostles, and Loch Ard Gorge; departs from Station Pier.

2 Yarra Valley wine and farm tour -- Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and a cheese board at Healesville Sanctuary (Australian native wildlife) combined in one day.

3 MCG guided tour and Australian Sports Museum -- a 2-hour behind-the-scenes look at the spiritual home of Australian Rules Football.

4 Dandenong Ranges steam train and village lunch -- the iconic Puffing Billy narrow-gauge steam railway through mountain ash forest to Gembrook.

5 Melbourne laneways self-guided walk with coffee stops -- Hosier Lane street art, Degraves espresso, Croft Alley murals, and a rooftop bar at sunset.

Sailings to Melbourne

Upcoming Royal Caribbean & Celebrity cruises that visit Melbourne

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