South Pacific - Australia Cruise Reviews

Just a great experience with excellent ship, ports, weather, entertainment and food.

The schedule itinerary of the cruise resulted in five sea days. A better routing could have eliminated 1-2 of them. Princess needs to audit the excursions they are offering and make sure the product description on their website is accurate and complete.

The Ovation is a wonderfully big ship and I was glad to have that stability in the rough Southern Pacific seas. The ride was comfortable and as smooth as could be expected. The food is ever-present and tasty but I also think the quality of the dinner in the main dining rooms has fallen short of some my previous cruises. Still, I’m sure preparing for 5100 guests is a daunting task so I am willing to give them a break. In Tasmania I booked a lengthy excursion to Mount Field National Park and the Bonorang Wildlife Sanctuary through AA.vacations and couldn’t have been more pleased. A young man named Luke was very accommodating and offered excellent commentary throughout. Our embarkation back in Sydney was a bit unorganized and chaotic but we finally left the ship and set out to enjoy the city. We stayed 5 more days in Sydney and loved every minute.

It was a very good cruise. The extra day at sea after Tauranga is absolutely NOT NECESSARY. Being in New Zealand for 10 days it would have been nice to invite a local Maori show on board.

The staff was wonderful, our cabin person, WayIn, was super helpful Our table 440 had an amazing wait staff However I felt that everything was designed to get more money, the charge for the non alcoholic drink card should be per couple, it was truly not worth it. There were very little things to participate in unless you were a drinker. Only 2games of bingo and that too was overpriced. I think when we spend that much money for a cruise then we should not be nickeled and dimed the whole trip. I can say that this is the best way to see New Zealand

Unlike Royal Caribbean that has the adult only and super fun Quest game , this ship doesn’t do that. The 3 tenors show, Forza, was great along with the Cirque like acrobat show but most of the other shows were lackluster. The lobster and most lamb dishes in the dining room were delicious but many other food items weren’t that good. Pizza in the buffet was terrible. Apple pie in dining room was horrible as well as the pitiful cannoli desert.

The ship was beautiful . Staff was very nice and helpful. Limited shops not enough. Activities boring and few.

ship and staff great, shore excursions felt i did not have time to see all of expected sights (zoo) due to travel time and making ships departure and tended ride was a little rough.

6th celebrity cruise. They are penny pinching, no daily news digests printed for guests. No speciality restaurants for suite guests other than excellent luminae. have to ask for fruit in suites. Cannot use beverage package for room service drinks. only 1 device allowed on internet package. generally felt crew arrogant, not as friendly as Constellation. Still had very good cruise/holiday.

Great experience visiting the ports and surrounding areas via shore excursions. The cliffs and mountains were spectacular. Wonderful tours of the land where Lord of the Rings was filmed.

Dining staff had bad attitude towards solo travelers. Food was no better than a cafeteria / diner. Nothing to do on sea days. Casino staff were great!

We loved the cruise, the formal dining room food and staff and our amazing room steward, Michael deserves a raise! He was outstanding!

Australia was wonderful. We got to experience the opposite seasons of the Southern Hemisphere and differences in climate - hot in the north and cool/chilly in the south. Every port of call was unique and enjoyable. It was a long cruise but well worth it.

The cruise gives you a great overview of New Zealand, but my husband and I should have done a land tour to give us more time to see New Zealand. So much more to see, but you are limited on time when you are cruising. Also, do NOT book your tours directly with Princess. They overcharge for their tours. We purchased out tours with and wth Viator. Note: Make sure your allow time to get back to the ship in time.

We planned for this particular cruise for over a year. In hindsight we would have inquired about what type of ship in more depth. Having our favorites missing on the Diamond made a difference. We were very disappointed we missed two ports, and also disappointed in how the ship was infested with crickets! There were many passengers who were ill on this ship. It ultimately brought my husband down with an awful cold.

Very disappointed in this cruise. The couple that went with us also disappointed.

The process for signing up for the cruise with Marriott was less that satisfactory. Misinformation was given and sometimes calls were not returned. Will probably not use Marriott again for vacation planning. Also the transfer to the airport was a disaster, see above. Otherwise the cruise itself was very enjoyable. I would especially commend our Cabin Steward and Kay in the Ensemble Bar and Sebastiano in the Blu Dining Room. There were many other attentive and helpful crew members on board. Did not like being constantly harrassed and hawked to by crew members trying to sale additional cost items such as the specialty restaurants and photo opps..

For the price, it was a good deal. I would prefer a newer ship. Better buffet food, and more things to do on sea days. Vary things

overall a good cruise. Celebrity needs to work on people getting off ship for stops. One stop had to wait over an hour to get off ship to visit port. excursion people got off right away. with time to get into city (40 minutes each way) it did not allow us time for the things we wanted to do.

Not worth the money would not recommend it. Chose a different cruise line