South Pacific Cruise Reviews

Loved the staff on the ship. Everyone was friendly and they did an exceptional job accommodating some special requests and making up for a cabin issue we had (see cabin review). The service was truly beyond reproach! 

We were unable to make it until Akaroa (Christchurch) due to rough weather, so that was disappointing but probably not their fault (some other passengers questioned whether or not we really needed to cancel that port, or if they were just trying to save money, but we'll never know). 

By today's standards, the ship was a bit small, old, and unimpressive. However, it was clean, nice-looking enough, and easy to navigate around. Just not one of these mega huge, modern ships. The only thing I was a little disappointed in was the on-board entertainment. With the exception of one or two great performers and/or activities, most of it was pretty poor. We went for the ports and excursions though so it wasn't too bad. It just made the at sea days a bit boring. 

Also, be aware that the reputation Holland America has for catering to an older crowd is very true. The average age on the ship was about 65-75. We were very much in the minority, being in our 40's. But again, we were there for the excursions and ports, so this wasn't a big issue for us. 

After a very tiring flight, we got on board and discovered a very well worn room.  There was no place to plug in our CPAPs for sleeping.  We had informed the cruise line that this was necessary.  Our cabin steward had to get an extension cord and tape it across the floor.  The bathtub was peeling and very difficult to get in and out of.  The crew was very nice and we enjoyed meeting so many interesting people.  The docking for the ship was far from the communities and required a bus ride or shuttle to get to anything.  We loved our tours and I particularly enjoyed going into the bush to see kangaroos and koalas.  For anyone planning to go, give yourself an extra day or two at the beginning of the cruise to be over jet lag by the actual departure day.

Celebrity Solstice is an amazing ship that has pretty much anything you could need. We enjoyed great dinners in the main dining room with excellent staff. 

Many of the destinations offered snorkeling and interesting cities to walk around. The fitness facilities were nice, with well maintained machines and plenty of options of machines. There was always something going on to keep us entertained. 

We have cruised on Regent Seven Seas Cruise Lines many times. The friendliness and service of the staff has always been a "Plus" when comparing Regent to other cruise lines. The personal touches  supplied by our cabin Stewardess such as decorating our cabin to help us celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary were unexpected and much appreciated.

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).

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!

One comment:  We were given vouchers for $500 each for the next cruise, which expire May 2018.  We signed on for a next cruise on board - London to Stockholm, which starts in June ! Any suggestions ?

 As very experienced cruisers with close to 30 past cruises we Definitely would NOT recommend  this ship to anyone.  The best part was of our trip

getting offf the ship halfway through the cruise.  Most attractions were either closed or broken most of the time.  On the rare occasions that things were operating the lines were long and the experience very short and disappointing.  We were told that we would be dining in a different themed restaurant every night and this was not the case.   No steam or sauna in the locker rooms.   A very small, very poorly designed thermal suite was available at a pricey additional charge and often times the steam room was broken.   It is also a coed facility.  Mattresses were hard and no supplemental padding was available.   Most entertainment  was fair at best and often canceled and rescheduled.   Ports of call canceled which left many sea days with nothing to do as there were no real activities offered other than gambling and sales pitch type of seminars in the spa.  Outdoor decks were often CLOSED due to poor weather.   Ifly, Northstar, flow rider, walking tracks etc. all located on outdoor decks and not accessible.  Flowrider not operating properly much of trip and when operating correctly & when operating  staff arrived late and quit early most of the time most of the time.  Staff also lost key to basketball hoops and bumper cars.   We were told there is only one key which is really hard to believe.   Much difficulty with the spa when trying to book appointments.   We attempted to rectify many situations by discussing with upper management and things only got worse.    We have never before left a cruise halfway through but things were so bad that we decided to disembark the day before Christmas Eve and attempt to make other arrangements to salvage  what was left of our vacation.  

This is an complete cruise package, including meals, non-premium alcohol and gratuities. Excursions were reasonably priced. Our stateroom had a problem with toilet flushing, but it was manageable. The staff are very attentive. On-board medical facilities are limited and any serious problem must be handled "on-shore." Embarkation began at 3 PM, with nowhere to wait if arriving early.

Two years ago my husband and myself took the same cruise but for 2 weeks. This year we wanted to celebrate our wedding anniversary and my son's school graduation. The day that we were supposed to celebrate, dinner was a disaster. My daughter and I are lactose intolerant, we had already picked our special food a day before, and we were told that they had a surprise for us. When we arrived for dinner, they make us wait for 45 minutes, even thought we had a reservation for 6:00pm, and once we were at the table, we had to wait for another 35 minutes. We couldn't even enjoy the show at the Scala because it was too late. We also notice that the ship is lacking service and some areas and bathrooms were liking.

From the start everything was very good organized. As always, room was great, service - excellent, dining - very good, excursion - all "A+".

We are glad we sailed this cruise.

The last time I cruised on Holland America was 9 years ago on the Rotterdam on a 16 day South American cruise.

The deterioration in the quality of the cruise, from the food to the service to the entertainment to the educational presentations to the shore excursions, is very evident.  

I thought Holland America was better than Celebrity in 2007.  Clearly, that is no longer the case.  I would put Holland America as a last choice in the middle market cruise category.

Great service; great spa (for a fee); very good gym; good food; good entertainment; spacious balcony stateroom.  Met or exceeded my expectations in every way. 

We have done 18 cruises. This cruise is fantastic.

All crews are so helpful.......restaurant waiters, housekeepers, concierge, tender boats, bar tenders, name them all.

Food are excellent.

Programs are super.

Art and craft classes are marvelous.

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.

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!

The food and waitstaff were wonderful. Excellent variety, presentation and taste.

The ports-of-call, optional excursions and at-sea days were exceptional and fun. The relatively small ship which had been re-furbished since our last trip on her was a very nice surprise.

One of our best cruises. The Maasdam is excellent with very good food, activities and crew.  The smaller passenger size is a definite plus as it was easy to find seating in the restaurants and shows with an very friendly ambiance and crew interactions. It has essentially all the amenities and public areas pluses of a larger ship but is easier to reach and has a higher comfort level relative to crowing and noise due to the smaller to mid-size of the ship.

We really enjoyed the opportunity to sail on Crystal for the first time.  They win awards every year for a reason.  The service is great as is the food and entertainment.  The Polynesian islands are gorgeous.  The typical passenger is very friendly and well traveled.  Many of the men on board wore sport coats to dinner even though it was not required and the women were dressed elegantly - such a pleasant change from the average cruise line.  This was a theme cruise - Film & Theatre - and that added to the enjoyment because the talks and entertainment were very interesting and the entertainers on board were very accessible.  We will be back on a Crystal Cruise again if I can afford it.

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.