South Pacific - Australia Cruise Reviews

Had we not had an issue with the noise above us, we would have given the cruise 5 stars. The noise never actually woke us up but if we were awake, you weren't getting back to sleep. Clearly last minute bookings get the cabins that no-one else wants. We have actually booked another cruise on the same ship, although after it gets a re-fit at the end of 2021. We have just booked on a lower level with staterooms above and below us.

This ship Is tired and old fashioned. There was no evening life on board. All bars deserted by around 11pm. Certainly not the life and soul of the party

Very bad temperature, ship just ok, itineray good, food repetitive

had a truly wonderful cruise, enjoyed many a good meal, met some fun people and ticked off a bucket list item

the cruise is great for over 70's, the ship looked very nice, buffet and restuarant were excellent. no sea sickness , very friendly crew , staff and passengers..

Outstanding in every way, especially service and organization.

We love the Celebrity Solstice. The impeccable service from the staff, the cleanliness, the outstanding food and beverages and the overall entertainment was outstanding. We have booked two more cruises on it's sister ship - the Celebrity Eclipse.

Fantastic cruise, visiting many beautiful places, made all the better by the excellent service, as always from Celebrity.

Ship decor: good Oceanview Stateroom (5094): modest size no chairs, good cupboards, constant machinery noise (24 hours), then maintenance noise during the day. The noise did not abate for the entirety of the cruise and is a major issue for the room. The bathroom has 3 sections (toilet, basin, shower) which is a nice idea but in reality is really small and only just works; I can see why it would be unsuitable for a team of travelling Sumo wrestlers... The toilet paper seems to be single ply (but wrapper says dual), leaning toward fine sandpaper. Restaurants and Bars: Importantly, "washy, washy" was enforced. There was a heavy concentration on making sure sanitisation was carried out. Compliments to ship for this. Tsars - good wine waiter (Heidi), else rather not. Food choice so-so. Found chicken really dry and pad thai spicy, but bland and little warning of heat. Azure - less formal than Tsars, same menu. Food same quality as Tsars. Both not up to hype. Food improved over time. Best meal was lamb shank with rosemary potato and mint jelly, whilst paella was also a stand out; unfortunately prepared on the same night. O'Sheehans Irish Pub: Maitre D initially not friendly and tended to ignore customer requests; I felt we were somehow naughty, as we were often put at a little round table in line with the pathway even though other better placed and protected seating was available. Patricia (wait staff) is really excellent. Pub grub with good choices. Great burgers and wings. Hot dogs not bad. Place of choice for breakfast as reasonable choice and no buffet queues. Garden Court Buffet: big choice, but much of food is reasonable quality at best. Ice cream here (bowls, cones). Typical issues with seating on large buffet. Great Outdoors: make your own burgers and dogs. Prefer O'Sheehans. Dufry Shops: good location, but tired. Bliss: nice layout in area, but too open. Magnum: good "sunken lounge" environment. Wait staff great. Includes Martini and Cocktail bar. Great way to end the night. Spinnaker Lounge: great spot to watch the seas go by whilst under cover and relaxing in lounges. Entertainment hotspot. Good spot. Stardust Theatre: tiered seating and tired decor. Seats worn, no room for drinks or anything. Not good on big audience occasions. Also spot for releasing shore excursions. Urk. Atrium Cafe: Coffee and Chocolate- Starbucks. Has steps up to O'Sheehans, if not blocked off for entertainers. The Asian complimentary eatery Chin Chin is popular, although its menu is small. Unless there early, expect to wait. Food is reasonable. Pool deck is an open area with a reasonable sized pool there are 4 hot tubs. On this deck are 2 eateries and bars, Topsiders on the pool deck and The Pit Stop pool observation deck (mostly for smokers). There are several eateries at which payment is required including French, Italian, Teppanyake, Brazilian, Sushi and a Steakhouse. Not tried. The Jewel Casino allows smoking. There is a cigar room, The Humidor, which was pretty well closed off from the non smoking environment. There were some rough seas, like a washing machine with 4.5 metre waves. The ship handled this well, although I think many pax were seasick. Activities: Dance lessons include 70's dancing including 90's music, although Earth Wind and Fire and Bee Gees made an appearance. Party line dancing kicked off with belly dancing music. No instruction, other than "follow me"... great when your back gets turned. Kudos to those that picked it up. Platinum Band getting funky used as the base for both line dance and 70's lessons. Go figure. Popular was the faux poker tournament. Had no need to know how to play. Excursions: Excursion staff did best to ensure orderly departure for shore trips. Burnie coastline tour had good sights, but major problems with commentary as microphone was malfunctioning. Very disappointing. Melbourne Puffing Billy trip had similar issues with equipment. Also, commentary was quite biased with a definite right leaning viewpoint. Platform crowd management abysmal, but deference given to volunteer resourcing who tried in large crowd. Guides called tours by official tour group name, rather than by relation to cruise ship name confusing many. Melbourne sights good, but as with Burnie and again with Wellington, much of the stop time was around war memorials. Surely there are other attractions with cafes and rest rooms? On this day, there was a service at the site, limiting access to detailed displays. May be a good place but service combined with poor weather detracted. Personal tour in Dunedin went like clockwork. Could not have organised better. Akaroa was from my perspective without need of formal tour. Walking at own pace on a glorious day was the best. Wellington tour with Gregory was quite good. Local person with local commentary provided best organised ships excursion. As mentioned above, much time devoted to war memorial, but the park and memorial sites are very, very good. One to put on your list for next time. Rose garden was great area too, whilst the cable car was disappointing with very crowded carriages preventing photography and splitting tour.

We wanted to go on this ship so chose a short trip with going to Hobart as a bonus. It was a very relaxing cruise. We were very surprised that we did not encounter many queue issues given the number of passengers.

Traveling from Norway, that tripp take about 27 hours. First stop was Sydney for five days. Her rent we a nice apartment and look at different attractions. Sunday whas it time to enter the cruice ship in horribel weather, sow the ship had to stay one night in the haubour. After that we drive to Brisbane, Cairns and Darwin in beautiful ocian . Good stop in clean citys and friendly people. Indonesia and Bali must we se from the ship beacuise the compani was afride of Krona virus. That was said. Port hedland Geraldton and last station Perth walked in a coward. After that starting we preper us to flying home. I hope that this tripp not stop me to visiting Australia again.

This cruise attracts an older cohort of passengers so be prepared for retirement age +. Excellent service from most staff. Cruise director was quite absent, only appearing a handful of times during the 16 nights. Good sized ship to get to know crew and other parameters quite well.

It’s such a beautiful ship with the most amazing crew. Captain Alex just makes the cruise even better. The best captain we have ever sailed with.

It was very short (Only 2 nights) but had a very good time

Great ship very stable not much movement in rough seas. Excellent option for families and couples. Plenty to suit everyone

Great weekend away with friends great ship with wonderful facilities and entertainment

a fantastic weekend away,is what we took the cruise for and it did not disappoint

Overall quite a relaxing cruise. Ship was of a decent lick after it’s 2018 refit. Though there really isn’t much to do. Would have hoped for a better casino and more variety of entertainment, as well as better onboard activities. Kudos to wait staff in restaurants, very pleasant. Ladies in pursers office need some customer service training.

Having sailed on the infinity last month this ship let us down on food in the main dining room. Not a patch on the chefs on the infinity.

Really enjoyed Aqua class, loved the Persian garden. Excellent cabin stewards. Great shows and guest performers but house and lounge bands need improvement. Looked the photo staffs approach to more spontaneous pics, even bought 3! Beautiful itinerary, as NZ is just beautiful. Very enjoyable cruise director and Activities Staff, very fun and engaging. Captain Alex might be the most fun CRUISE SHIP CAPTAIN, ever!