Cruise from Oz

Wife and I are thinking of a cruise in the Australia New Zealand corner of the world. No specific dates as of yet. Any info on how hard/easy travel to this area is from the US west coast would be appreciated. Also any comments on cruises in this area.

Retired Delta agent in Seattle.

There are several options to get down here from your part of the world, pending the retiree agreements you have with OAL's. More obvious options would be SEA-YVR-SYD on AC, SEA-SFO/LAX-SYD on UA, SFO/LAX-SYD/BNE-CNS on QF, YVR/SFO/LAX-AKL-CNS/SYD on NZ and then the Far East carriers.
How easy it is depends on the day of week and time of year. There are very defined peak seasons for flights into/from Oz and in those seasons flights are packed.

P&O cruises Australia (sister company to Princess) operate 2 or 3 vessels from various ports in Australia year round. Variety of options to choose from - round Oz, South Pacific etc.
If the time of year is right (very broadly NOV-APR) then some of the more familiar names cruise around down here, either as segments of world journeys or dedicated short cruising.
Royal Carribbean, Holland America, Princess, Cunard, Crystal, Silver Seas etc.

Thanks for the info.

Could you tell me what those packed peak times are so I can avoid them?

The worst season would be mid-Dec through very early Feb. Southern summer holiday season.
In an average year on the NthAm-Sth Pac route where there are no super special events going on (like the current World Youth Day event in Sydney) other bad times of the year would be May and August with July also usually heavy due to Northern summer breaks.
Midweek travel (Tu/We) always the best.