Australasia Cruise Reviews

The foods served in the Dining Room (Da Vinci) are salty making them not edible. More so for elderly where sodium intake must be kept to its minimum. To make matter worse, there isn't much choice of specialty dining available as compared to the Golden and Diamond ship. Otherwise, we could have opted for specialty dining to replace those served in Da Vinci and Michael Angelo. Unlike the Golden and Diamond ship, the Grill and Pizza served in the sun deck of the Emerald are tasteless.  

The ports can be divided into essential and non essential. The essential ports being Port Chalmers, Akaroa and Tauranga. The rest are non essential.

This cruise, we have to skip Port Chalmers and Akaroa i.e. 2 out of 3 essential ports. While skipping the 2 essential ports are unavoidable due to fog, it would be good that an alternate ports be planned ahead rather just skipping the ports.

The saving grace for this experience being the good service crew. We appreciate their friendliness and hospitality. The embarkation and disembarkation were efficiently conducted. Kudos to the crew.  

This cruise was great and relaxing. It was our first time cruising and we really liked the convenience of getting to different islands/ports without having to pack/travel/unpack. In the future I'd book a cruise with more port stops as we got a little bored on the sea days. The food was pretty good, lots of sodium, but that's really the best you can hope for with buffets.

Overall, I was very pleased with this cruise.  We are veteran cruisers (20+), so my comments come with that background.  We were in a Grand Suite on Deck 10 and had access to concierge services and concierge Denzil was absolutely fantastic.  Our room was also nice and spacious, and stateroom attendant Nicholas kept the room nice and tidy and was super friendly.  The food in the main dining room and at Chops Grille was also pretty good, though this was first cruise kitchen that couldn't get a soufflé right (texture was like angel food cake).  On the minus side, this boat had some new and inexperienced staff and it showed.  The casino dealers were mostly new and several couldn't deal the poker based games (i.e., Texas Hold 'Em and 3 Card Poker).  I'm guessing they over- or under-paid several patrons.  The waitstaff in casino also took until day 7 or 8 out of 12 to remember your name and drink when when you had a beverage package, and so it was a pain to provide your seapass card every time you ordered, and the staff was slim, so getting drinks took a long time many nights.  This was also an uncommon experience as typically by day 2 or 3, I would never have to provide my seapass card to a casino waitstaff as they knew my name, order, and would have a record of my account reflecting that I had a beverage package.  I also found several public bathrooms to be rank--just lack of cleaning or regular cleaning needed to keep them fresh.  Casino bathrooms and bathrooms near the pool and Windjammer were the worse.   I learned from a spa staff that some of the inexperienced and new staff were due to where this cruise ported (Sydney, AU), and that it was far away from many places where the cruise companies recruited workers or too costly for workers to leave that part of world to visit home; hence some areas of ship had lots of brand new staff.  This was also the only ship I have been on with a single nail technician, which made getting nail appts more challenging. Lastly, we mostly had great experiences with shore excursions but, in Vanuatu, we were delayed into port due to another cargo boat.  That delay caused our excursion to be cancelled.  However, we received untimely notice of that cancellation and no alternative excursion was arranged or suggested despite being in port for another 7+ hours.  Again, while we experienced some issues, I still loved my time on the cruise, and enjoyed the beautiful ports we visited with some of the prettiest beaches with clear water (Mare, Lautoka, Isle of Pines) that I've ever seen. My son (age 10) also won an iPad Mini in the kids arcade playing a Stacker game, so he couldn't have been happier either.  He also generally enjoyed the Kids club and activities onboard (pool, rock climbing, bingo--free for kids, etc).

good ports of call for touring, crew were all very helpful and seemed to enjoy their jobs.

ship could use a facelift, it was clean but tired looking.

this ship in sydney sometimes tenders to port and is usually a huge problem off loading and on loading. wait to board can take 3 hours standing with no places to sit. just be aware if you tender to the ship its going to be a zoo.

We've taken 8 cruises on RCCL over the last 16 years and have watched the quality steadily decline. We have also cruised with Celebrity ,  NCL, Princess and Carnival, so we do have a basis for comparison.

The service has declined, probably due to noticeable reduction of staff, to just average. Many of the staff appear unhappy or overworked. Food  is just average; no entree that we had in the main dining room was exceptional.  The Voyager is  in need of some repairs as well; nothing major that we noticed, but little things.

Three of  the four  ports of call were nothing special. I guess an island is an island whether it is  in the South Pacific or the Caribbean.  The island of Mare had  a lovely beach with a coral reef about 100 yards out where the waves broke; beautiful. 

We arrived in Sydney 5 days ahead  of cruise and it was a wonderful place to explore on our own. It was the highlight of our trip.

A fun cruise from Sydney to Honolulu.  Lots to do, including the Equator crossing, at which point I stopped being a polliwog and became a shellback.  Great visit to Auckland to see the Hobbiton movie set.  Bilbo was not at home.  Enjoyed French Polynesia, incredibly beautiful, and journeyed to Hana on the fabled road of 690 curves and 59 one lane bridges, again with incredible views.

Food was great, weather was reasonable.  Had a couple of windy days and rough seas.  Some folks went to Medical, I landed at the Passport Bar, prosecco in hand, watching the surf occasionally reach up to wash the windows.

New Zealand is gorgeous and green this time of year, but still not hot (in fact, rather cool).  The highlight was cruising Milford Sound in Fjordland National Park.  Also loved the Te Papa museum in Wellington, Christchurch, and the Moeraki Boulders and Larnach Castle in Dunedin, Tasmania, and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.

Getting on the ship in Singapore was a huge mess.  Hours and hours of waiting and the ship ended up leaving about 3 hours late. 

All ports that required us to tender were a mess also.   The cruise director was actually Boo'ed off the stage one night as guests were so upset.   In short, it appeared they had not actually run tenders before. 

The food in the dining room was on par with what I have had in my 10 + other cruises.     Food options and quality outside of the dining room were a huge let down.   The windjammer food was horrible.   It was a rare occurrence when you actually found food that was hot, compared to luke warm or cold.

The ONLY other non paid food options outside of the windjammer was a small sandwich shop on the 5th floor that handed out small sandwiches horrible pizza slices that reminded me what we got in school lunches 35 years ago. 

I would absolutely recommend this cruise to anyone considering a relaxing vacation, needing a break from stress, and seeking an adventure!

My husband and I planned this trip about 9 months prior. We scheduled amazing excursions at most of the ports. At others we just walked the town and enjoyed the local restaurants, shopping, and people.

As for the ship, the Maasdam is a bit dated and shows it age in several places. The stateroom furniture is a bit worn and the paint layers are very thick! However, none of that mattered to us. We were there to relax and we did!!! We enjoyed room service for breakfast and the balcony for great views and moonlight!

The food was delicious everywhere on board. We were surprised by the scrumptious hamburgers served poolside! We sampled strange new adult beverages during happy hour in the Crows Nest. We were spoiled at dinner in the dining room by Heri, our server and his team.

Entertainment was delightful in a variety of areas and times on the ship. We walked around each evening to see what was happening, and we were never disappointed, with the exception of not winning the raffle at the jewelry counter!

Can't wait to plan our next adventure with Holland America!

11 days cruise that supposed to have visited 6 ports but have to skip 2 of the 3 main places of interest due to fog. As a holidays maker, we can understand that safety is paramount but skipping places of interest is unfair. You may have no alternatives at that point in time but am pretty sure there should be contingency plans on hand whenever face with such situation. An established cruise company like Princess would have better plan to make up for such a situation.

Ship refurbished recently. Public areas very nice. Cabin bad, king size bed fit into space that leaves less than two feet at either side to get out of it. On one side of bed, a picture hanging on the wall plus a curtain used to separate the sleeping from the sitting area blocking the way out. You bump into the picture and have to push the curtain out of the way every time you want to get out of the bed.

Food quality poor. Service very bad. Number of wait personnel not enough. It takes forever to get someone's attention to get your order and get a waiter to clear table of dirty dishes.

Waiting lists at Compass Rose (a novelty). When you are finally seated, you see a number of empty tables around you that are never taken. Maybe this system is used to keep number of guests down to make up for the lack of enough wait and kitchen personnel.

Entertainment has been grossly downgraded to include mostly one-performer show, the type you see at a bar. Gone are the Broadway-type shows. Cruise line has been downgraded ever since Norwegian took it over. What a shame!

There are 3 key ports in this cruise that one aspire and look forward to visit. They are Port Chalmers, Akaroa and Tauranga. We have to skip 2 out of these 3 ports due to heavy fog. Other than Tauranga, nothing else is worth visiting. Worse of all, having to skip Port Chalmers and Akaroa resulted in us having to cruise from 15Feb evening to 20Feb with limited entertainment. The entire cruise was a disaster and investment for cruise is as good as pouring our money into the seas.

After this episode, I am putting my plan for the 104 days world on hold.

Currently on a 3 day Australia day cruise. The boarding was smooth and easy. We were shuffled into the buffet for lunch as our rooms werent ready. The food was ok. Buffet is very small and not a huge selection. There is always a wait. The ship is small and very tidy. Food in the restaurant is the same as the buffet - just served to you. Service is slow and staff are quite rude  we have to ask several times to get drinks and was told at dinner to wait until they clear the table because they are busy!!! The bad service was consistant through out the ship. Rooms are small but ok. Bathrooms are good.

Drink prices are quite cheap,  $4.50 for a small glass of wine,  $4 for coffee, $25 for bottle of wine.

Breakfast is like an army buffet. You can only order an omelet.

We got the feeling the staff didnt want to be there. We have to pay $10 per day for gratuities.  .i feel like asking for it back. 

We've taken 8 cruises on RCCL over the last 16 years and have watched the quality steadily decline. We have also cruised with Celebrity ,  NCL, Princess and Carnival, so we do have a basis for comparison.

The service has declined, probably due to noticeable reduction of staff, to just average. Many of the staff appear unhappy or overworked. Food  is just average; no entree that we had in the main dining room was exceptional.  The Voyager is  in need of some repairs as well; nothing major that we noticed, but little things.

Three of  the four  ports of call were nothing special. I guess an island is an island whether it is  in the South Pacific or the Caribbean.  The island of Mare had  a lovely beach with a coral reef about 100 yards out where the waves broke; beautiful. 

We arrived in Sydney 5 days ahead  of cruise and it was a wonderful place to explore on our own. It was the highlight of our trip.

Favorite part of cruise was south New Zealand. We took 2 days exeercusion tour at Floid National Park. Which includes Mildord Sound, Queenstown. Due to weather problem trip was extended to three days on ground and we were able to see most of South Island,

Princess treated us very nicely, food , hotel, transportation and guide was excellent.

thanks princess.

huk456@aol.com

A pleasant cruise . Food and dining good . excursions not memorable. Recommendation that people check other websites before booking excursions . Ask HAL.to have a representative check excursions before listing as booking options 

The ports were excellent and the number of sea days perfect which made the trip great. (A+ ) The ship was very clean throughout.(A+)  Our room steward, Nanda, was the best we have ever had and that is saying a lot as we have been on some 25 cruises, 13 with Celebrity.(A++)  The shortcomings were the main dining room food, entertainment and excursions.  The main dining room food (C) was seriously lacking as well as the service.(Oceanview Cafe food and service was very good and far superior to main dining)  Customer service and attitudes by main dining wait staff needs serious improvement.  Far too many acted as if they just did not care, with one actually trying to debate my wife as to what she wanted that evening.  Theater shows would get a grade of B.  There were a few good guest entertainer shows with the two folkloric shows in French Polynesia and Maui being the best of all ..The shows of the production cast was the worst of any Celebrity ship we have been on.  Excursions are a waste of money.  We took the whale watching tour in Maui and it was a total waste of time and money.  The tour guide on the boat stated that he did not know why the ship sold this tour to us, as the whales had been gone for 3 to 4 weeks.  Independent tours on shore were excellent and about half the price of the ship.

We still like Celebrity very much and favor them over most of the others however, it is not the cruise line it once was.  Becoming more and more main stream.

The itinerary and the cruise ship were both very good. Great ports of call and nice rooms. The food was just OK and the food at the pay restaurants wasn't worth paying extra for. I wouldn't even give them a try if you are going. My biggest complaints were the alcohol. We bought the package...but the drinks were so week I don't even know why they call them alcoholic drinks. Plus, even if you have the drink package, if you want a double you have to pay extra. There were a few martini's that had decent alcohol...but that was about it. Lastly, I bought the internet package in advance in US dollars because they were promoting it as a discount to buy in advance. When I got on board, they were selling internet for the same price...but in Australian Dollars. There were some other customer service issues that makes me want to try a different cruise line the next time around.

I think this cruise is OK if it is your introduction to cruising. If you go on bigger ships and see how efficient they are then you can only compare them with the lack of efficiency on the Astor.

This was a very unorganized and disappointing experience, you would think this was the first time they put together a cruise and not an established name in cruising.