South Pacific Cruise Reviews

This was my favorite cruise, for I have always wanted to visit New Zealand and Australia ever since I was nineteen years old. The people were so friendly and kind and ready to answer all my questions. Both Australia and New Zealand were beautiful and green and some what different than what I had expected. This is the first time we have cruised with a veranda room, and we loved it. We had breakfast in bed about every morning. The entertainment, I think, was greater than our last two cruises. We did not miss one night. However, we did have a couple rough days at sea, and a couple of port changes, but this was to be expected. 

We chose this cruise as a way to see many ports that we had not visited, but in particular, Easter Island, Lima (Peru), Belfast and Dublin.  We were not disappointed in the itinerary.  As we have sailed on Oceania many times, we anticipated that the service would be friendly and efficient and the food terrific.  Once again, Oceania came through with a great cruise experience.

The itinerary was wonderful and the Marina is a beautiful ship. We had a Penthouse Suite and it was very roomy and comfortable. There was more than enough storage space for our belongings. Our butler was attentive and the appetizers offered were very nice. Unfortunately, we didn't order the appetizers very often as they were served after 5PM and we wanted to enjoy Happy Hour from 5 to 6.

We arrived in Papeete by ferry from Moorea along with quite a few other passengers. The Marina was very close, but it was extremely difficult trying to get our luggage down the road from the ferry dock to the ship. The road was so rough our bags would not roll. It was also very hot. We had two in our group who have difficulty walking and it was almost impossible for them to roll their bags. It would have been nice if the ship's crew would have met the ferry with a luggage cart to assist us. It would not have taken long and it would have made the embarkation process so much better.

We did have a negative experience in the Grand Dining Room. Perhaps our expectations were too high, but the food and service in the GDR was spotty. The first time we visited, the waiter originally brought me the wrong entrée and the maître d' spent way too much time trying to assign blame. Our companion ordered the broccoli slaw and when it was served, there was no broccoli to be seen. They then brought a dish covered in broccoli and the maître d' seemed sarcastic when he said he had personally added the broccoli. Our companions ordered a fish dish that was cold when served. Our second try was much better, with excellent service and food. At our third and final visit, we found the service acceptable, but the food mediocre and fairly bland.

The service and food in Toscana was superb. Maria, the maître d', Vincent, the assistant maître d', Max our waiter, and Alexandra, the sommelier, all made us feel special and welcome. We wanted to try everything on the menu and everything we did try was wonderful both in presentation and taste.

We ate several times in the Veranda Café for dinner. Although I am not too fond of buffets, we found the atmosphere and the food superior to the GDR. It was rarely crowded and there was a large selection of food available and the food was delicious and either hot or cold as appropriate.

We ate in the other specialty dining rooms and found them to be very good. We did feel that since we had booked a penthouse suite, we should have had more opportunity to eat in the specialty dining rooms. We were given four reservations. It would have been nice to have the opportunity to eat in each restaurant twice at least.

Oceania should have been more honest about the stop at Pitcairn Island. It obviously was not a good place to go ashore and the alternative of having the islanders come on the Marina was a good one. It should have been advertised as such, not giving an excuse three weeks ahead that bad weather precluded us going ashore.

Kudos to the Captain for finding an alternative tender site on Easter Island when the swells made it too dangerous at Hanga Roa. The tender staff were excellent in making sure everyone transferred to and from the tenders safely. The tender ticket system was terrible and the Destination Services staff allowed themselves to get very frustrated as the passengers became very frustrated. Again, on other ships, if we were in a suite or above, we had a chance to get tender tickets without waiting in the lounge with the other 1200 people. At Easter Island, I was in line 45 minutes before the tickets were to be given out. By the time I got our tickets, we were in the second to last group before open tickets.  Some people were getting 50+ tickets! The second day wasn't any better. When I asked the schedule for the colors so we could anticipate when our group would be called, the staff member said I didn't need to know that. I later asked another staff who disclosed the color before ours so our group of 4 knew when we could proceed to the elevator as we had 2 people who have difficulty with stairs.

The disembarkation in Lima was very difficult. It seemed like everyone wanted to get off at the same time and the shuttles could not cope with the number of people. There was a very long line and it seems like there has to be a better way to control the crowds and make the process less stressful.

Our negative comments are presented with the idea to improve service on the ship. All in all, however, it was a wonderful cruise and the crew and ship were excellent.

1. Ship is old but in good condiion

2. Staff are Generally friendly. Noticed (slight) discrmination toward 

    non-whte passengers (Paid more attention to the white passengers).

3. Food needs some improvements Not as good as before.. 

4. Everything seemed more expensive as compare to our previous cruises

5. Excursion directors not performing as excepted and as attentive. 

Otherwise, we are fairly satisfied. 

This cruise was very good for us.  We met many friendly and interesting people.  The food was excellent, the service friendly and helpful.  Our cabin was comfortable and pleasant. We were not happy with the many many extra charges for everything, including soft drinks and cookies, and the high charge for WiFi.

The ship is old and shabby and overdue for maintanance.Tho' I heard that only  the public spaces are going to get treatment. My bed was in need of a new mattress the carpet was thread bare. But the powers that be decided that all should be happy with movies under the stars even tho' the temperature was 15 and 16 degrees. They left the guest lecturer ashore(he would have cost money) and the promised book club did not exist. The food went from mediocre  to just bad. And with everything was the hard sell. For a 50 year experience they look like they are on their last legs.

The experience was nice and pleasant, except for the dining hostess.  American Airlines promised that they would help coordinate seating for our party of 18.  Instead, when we arrived, our group of 18 was broken up during dining.  Sometimes we were seated on different floors and sometimes on different sides of the room.  

Excellent experience. 

The only negative experience was the Photo Dept.  Misleading signs posted at the Kiosk.  Staff not trained to help and serve the customer.  Photo cost were prohibitive ( cost of a disk cost 10 cents) Your charge was $5.00.  Better to charge an affordable price, people would buy more and with each photo shared at home, would advertise Voyager of the Seas, which means more business.

our suite was under the buffet and they started moving something around @ 5:00 am, whatever it was woke us up every day. would never get a room under that kind of noise again.

We were quite disappointed in the overall experience aboard the Rhapsody. Unfortunately for Royal Caribbean we had just come off of a Holland American cruise that offered excellence across the board from service to food quality and selection to entertainment and activities available.

    On the Rhapsody the food quality was below average with a poor variety of selections. The circular layout of the buffet area was extremely poor with no directionality to the traffic flow resulting in chaos in trying to view and select food and proceed in any sort of orderly fashion through the area. The selections in the main dining room were very limited unless seafood was your objective, however this was the one area where the service was acceptable. The staff of the casino was almost non existent with hours passing without seeing someone serving drinks. The quality of the entertainment varied widely from very poor on two occasions to average on most evenings with only one or two evenings providing good entertainment. Late night food service was almost non existent with only one very small location open offering one selection only on the three evenings we visited.

    The one positive I will offer was the actions and adjustments made by the Captain in negotiating our path through hurricane Marsha. His decisions and actions kept the ship in the least vulnerable position and best sea conditions possible under difficult weather conditions.

    Having 15 cruises under our belt with Carnival, Norwegian and now Holland America, It would be unlikely that we would select another Royal Caribbean cruise if other options were available.

Good itinerary, if you are into snorkeling.

Old, small ship.  Bounces too much even in low swells.  No onboard entertainment to speak of, mostly low quality shows (single singers, single comedian).  No passenger participation games, contests.  Makes live onboard very boring.

Suitable only for people who like to do nothing.

Service was excellent; food was good. Shore excursions were very good but excursion office and staff were very limited in access once on board. We were sorely disappointed when the trip was rerouted mid- cruiseand eliminated Fjord land National Park and Hobart, Tasmania. Talk amongst guests was that this happens often. We would have chosen a different cruise or time to go if we had known this. Loved our main deck room; service from cheap was outstanding.

The ports were wonderful...my complaints are:  windows should be cleaned prior to beginning of cruise, internet wifi should be included, specialty restaurants are average-main dining room just as good.  Wish i could have spent more time in NZ...add Auckland as a port...Australian ports were great.  It was chilly in NZ...would be warmer in January.  Loved this vacation...the people and ports were great.

The ports of call had very little to offer if you did not take the ships tours. Rangiroa had nothing to do or see without a tour and due to the current you could not have swam even if you could get ino the water. There are very few beaches and most in Tahiti are contaminated as sewer flows into them. There is very

Little to do if you are not into water sports.

the people are very nice and the weather is awesome.Most spoke at least some English. The islands have very small populations. Other than vanilla farms and pearl farms there is little else. The small ship was a nice experience.

I think that this cruise line may have made it difficult for us to use any other.  People who have cruised before have told us this is the best and it certainly was.  Everyone on the crew wear fanastic and the luxury of everything was outstanding.  Our cabin stewards were fantastic as were our waiting staff in the dining room.  The food was excellent.  When we next cruise it will be celebrity, no matter where in the world we do it.

This was the second half of our back-to-back cruise of New Zealand and Australia and comments might be different for single cruise passengers. Overall the ship is excellent with roomy staterooms, excellent service and elegant common spaces.  Many stops on this cruise are dictated by the size of the ship rather than interest or accessibility of the ports. Thus the stop in Port Hedland was basically a waste of time - it was very hot and there was nothing to do in a town which is basically an iron ore export site. The stop in Airlie Beach is also dictated by the fact that it is the only port in the area accessible to Solstice Class ships. The best stop was Bali, Indonesia and Celebrity's handling of visa formalities was excellent (although it would have been nice to know about in advance!) with Celebrity charging the visa to the onboard account and Indonesian officials issuing visas onboard.  Stops at Darwin, Airlie Beach, Brisbane and Freemantle were enjoyable although access to town varied by stop. At Brisbane the only option was a 19 dollar shuttle bus (or a Celebrity tour). There were 10 day sea days on this cruise so if you don't like entertaining yourself this is not the cruise for you. Celebrity is known for its onboard lecturers but on this leg there was only one and he repeated lectures already given on the previous cruise. Ships officers who gave talks about the ship were not all fluent in English. (on the other hand, videos on demand describing the ship were excellent) The gym on board was good although not all machines were working properly and it could be crowded. Food was excellent but repetitive for those onboard the full 35 days.  Speciality restaurants were good but pricey.  The sense of two classes onboard - Elite Class members and Aqua and Suite guests - vs. the rest was strong with tender tickets available to the 1st class at the expense of the rest not to mention special dining for Aqua Class guests. There is nothing wrong with 2 classes onboard but Celebrity should be more upfront about it.

This was our first Celebrity Cruise and we would definitely rate Celebrity among the best cruise lines we have experienced.

I enjoyed the cruise and the sea days.  I wish more aboriginal experiences would have been offered.  I could have learned as much about the indegenous people at home.  The only 2 offerings for this were failures.

We were very impressed by the services in buffet, D.R., cabin, especially by the very friendly staff all over ship!

Food was excellent!  Shows in theatre were great!! Very well done! We absolutely enjoyed every cruise we have taken with you!

Disembarkation Day was made so relaxing by allowing passengers with late flights, to be able to get off & back on ship for the entire day, also for being able to take showers up on 9th floor

Thank You Princess Cruise Line..

While the Solstice is a wonderful ship, in many ways it is not as pleasant as some of Celebrity's smaller ships - notably the Millenium and the Summit. The ship was clean both in the public areas and in our cabin. Staff was excellent about getting entrants into the buffet to use the hand solution. We really appreciated that. However, the constant playing of music in the buffet area was not pleasant. Both my sife and I found this continuous noise to be irritating. Changing the selection of music to something a bit less POP might help. The Solstice doesn't have the thelassotherapy pool that some of Celebrity's other ships have. We missed this amenity and found the enclosed solarium pool and both hot tubs to be too cool. The solarium itself was very serene and the attendants in that area were excellent.

Food was fairly basic. Red meat wasn't the best I have eaten. Service was great, ship is great. Great wine list. I had tried to obtain wine list before trip to no avail so I purchased 16 bottles of wine in Sydney and paid Princess $15 corkage per bottle. After arriving on ship and seeing the wine list I realized i would have been very happy with the selections and price.