Ozcruising, which you might expect to be spelled as two words (“Oz Cruising”) or at least with two capital letters (“OzCruising”), is a company that focuses exclusively on the Australian cruise market. Obviously, this includes cruises that go to and from Australia, most frequently in one voyage, but it also encompasses cruises in this region of the world that never call at a port in Australia (like cruises in South East Asia), as well as a few world cruises that involve Australia in one way or another. (The cruise either starts or ends here, or else it stops by one or more Australian ports.) Basically, Ozcruising is concerned with marketing any cruise that starts, ends, or is near the continent of Australia. Below is an overview of Ozcruising, covering questions like “what does it do?” and “is it legitimate?”
Although Ozcruising does not explicitly refer to itself as a travel agency, at least not to our awareness, it certainly functions this way. They are a company that helps people arrange and book vacations, which you can (if you please) do in close consultation with their staff, and this is of course the basic service provided by a travel agency. Ozcruising also participates in the “Travel Compensations Fund,” which provides “compensation to travel clients who suffer loss when a travel agent collapses and fails to account for money paid by the consumer by providing the relevant travel arrangements or a refund” (emphasis added). They are also a member of the Cruise Lines International Association Australasia, which among other things accredits travel agencies. This is really just an issue of semantics, but since everyone more or less knows what a travel agency is, we thought we should point this out to give you a better idea of what kind of services Ozcruising offers.
That said, Ozcruising does not operate like what we might call an “old-school” travel agency. Rather than telling an agent all your vacation needs and having them arrange all the details, the company allows you to search through the large number of cruises they have collected and organized, which you can book directly through their site. This is, in fact, one of their selling points: they “offer a simple to use, up to date service, allowing all potential travellers to research and book online without the need to make a phone call”. However, if you do have any questions or problems, their “experienced and qualified team” is only a phone call away (albeit at an Australian telephone number). For this reason, Ozcruising is more like a cruise deal site, such as CruiseDeals, and not a traditional cruise agency. They also exclusively focus on Australian cruises, and many cruises agencies have a broader focus.
If you are looking into taking an Australian cruise, broadly defined, a look at Ozcruising is definitely a helpful place to start. They are clearly a legitimate actor in the large Australian cruise industry, and their website has lots of good information on it and lists many of the different Australian cruises one might be interested in taking. If you find something you like, you can book directly through the site, or their staff can help you if you have difficulties or questions.