Beautiful New Zealand

Celebrity Edge Cruise Review to South Pacific - Australia

Poncholaurie

Contributor Level: Purser

58 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 28

Overall rating:

4.6 out of 5

12 Night New Zealand (Sydney Roundtrip)

Sail date: March 24, 2024

Ship: Celebrity Edge

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 7131

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 6 months ago

Review summary

Ship is beautiful, staff are the friendliest,🤗 Drink prices are too high ($18-$20) for most cocktails. Definitely pushing the upgrades here. Wasn’t enough waiter’s in the main lounge, met my friend for a cocktail before dinner every night and would take 20 minutes to get a drink 😡

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Smooth with all kinds of staff to help get you through.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Food was very good, service was the best.

Normandie

5 out of 5

Had the same table (147) every night for 21 nights (back to back cruise) wonderful service. Made us feel welcome and asked about our day. And Ryan was there with our drinks waiting for us.

Room Service

1 out of 5

Over an hour to arrive and cold. They even call to see how breakfast was before it arrived 🥴.

Le Petit Chef at Le Grande Bistro

5 out of 5

Not a specialty dining person but everyone should do this one.

The Martini Bar

1 out of 5

$20 for a martini? Never seen prices like this on any other ship. This alone will make me consider a different cruise line 😡

The Casino Bar

4 out of 5

Ended up being the go to bar as we could order from the bar and get a drink fairly quickly before dinner.

Café Al Bacio

5 out of 5

The best and friendliest People on the ship. Great way to start your day.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Deal or no Deal is always fun. The “ beyond the podium” talks were very good.

The Grand Plaza

3 out of 5

We normally could find a table but could wait 20 minutes to get a waiter/waitress.My friend and I like to meet before dinner to have a drink or two. But normally we could just get one and sometimes have to take it to dinner as no time to enjoy in the lounge.

Boutique Shops

2 out of 5

End of New Zealand cruise season. Not very much stock and very few large and Xlg shirts. Tried to by a necklace for my wife but even with staff help couldn’t get the right person to buy the necklace 😡unfortunately we walked away with no necklace.

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Ships stage production and main headliner (Will Martin) was fantastic. Musicians and comedians were so so.

Children's Programs

Had no kids

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

The best part of the cruise was the wonderful staff. The staff at the coffee shop in the morning to the dining room at night. (Could have had a few more waiters in the cocktail lounges though (20 minutes to get the first drink when meeting with friends)

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Beautiful ship. Could use a few more lounges to set and have a drink. No walking deck mid ship only on top, and no access to the front of the ship (except for the “ upper class”)

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

The infinity veranda is the best we’ve ever had. Made the room feel larger with space. Lots of storage (for a ships cabin) loved the room.

Ship tip

Upgrade drink and internet package before you sail. All they want to do is sell you upgrades. It’s a Royal Caribbean thing. (Nickel and dime)

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Sydney, Australia

5 out of 5

Beautiful city take a tour with a good guide, so much to see you don’t want to miss anything

Thumbs Up 0

Bay Of Islands, New Zealand

4 out of 5

Tender port, not much room for tender vessels, get the feeling they don’t want us here. Small town lucky they had a craft fair the day we were there.

Thumbs Up 0

Auckland, New Zealand

5 out of 5

Tauranga, New Zealand

5 out of 5

Napier, New Zealand

5 out of 5

Lyttleton (Christchurch), New Zealand

5 out of 5

Open downtown on Easter Sunday and lots to do. Live music and bars and shops open

Thumbs Up 0

Port Chalmers (Dunedin), New Zealand

5 out of 5

Cruise Dusky Sound

5 out of 5

No wind, beautiful day

Thumbs Up 0

Cruise Doubtful Sound

5 out of 5

Cruise Milford Sound

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

Smooth disembark, easy to get off early to meet tour with luggage (7:30am) luggage was ready when we arrived. Again lots of staff to help get you to the right place.

9 Comments

deconz 5 months ago

Thanks for sharing

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Gwbigdog 6 months ago

Thanks for sharing

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Lavilooloo 6 months ago

Sounds pretty perfect. I'm so happy you enjoyed NZ. Looking forward to my turn in 366 days. Thanks for your review

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bubbles60 6 months ago

Wonderful itinerary. I agree that drinks and drink packages are getting expensive.

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javawoody 6 months ago

Wonderful itinerary, thanks for sharing

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cruising2004 6 months ago

Glad you had a wonderful time! Thank you for your review.

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HeavySeas 6 months ago

Thanks for sharing and glad you enjoyed your cruise

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AuntPinkie 6 months ago

Appreciate your feedback. Sadly, drinks seem to be getting more expensive across the industry. Glad you enjoyed your in spite of long waits for service.

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RoynKaren 6 months ago

Thanks for your review

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Other reviews of this sailing

A surprisingly nice cruise