The Australia to New Zealand Cruise is a must see!
Embarkation
3 out of 5
Embarking from Melbourne was uncomfortable due to the thousands of people queuing with no airflow through the building. However, once onboard you are greeted with bubbly and given a chance to relax.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
The main dining room is beautiful. Staff were very friendly. We only dined there a few nights though as on port days we chose to eat late in the evening at the buffet. Food from the Oceanview Cafe was great. Loved getting blueberry bagels with cream cheese and jam, coffee and orange juice, in the mornings,
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
I participated in quite a few activities on board. Including swimming, karaoke, music challenge, archery, dance nights, presentations, books from library etc. It was great being able to choice between being active or relaxing.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
I really enjoyed the different shows that were put on. We got to experience broadway performances from Nick Page, The Oz girls of Motown, The boys of December ‘63, Rietta Austin, Comedy & comedy magic. The cast shows Rock City & Broken Strings was also good. My favourite performances however involved the dancers & acrobats in Euphoria & Amade. Both incredible!
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
All the staff were incredibly friendly. It was our waiters first time serving in the main dining room. We saw great progress from him without the cruise. There was however a few favourite crew members of ours. Ari from Cafe al Bacio, who greeted us upon embarkation, easily sorted out our drink package, & continued to be a friendly face throughout. Ninad from guest relations who quickly managed to have my suitcase wheel fixed & personally dropped it back.Ryan our room steward who worked so hard to keep our room in order.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The ship was very clean & the layout easy to navigate. Due to the Coronavirus outbreak the staff went above normal to ensure that everyone maintained good hygiene. Having sanitiser points throughout the ship, people on hand at all eating areas, toilets clean, stocked with soap & hand towels.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We were randomly assigned this inside state room due to last minute booking. Was gladly surprised to be given a disability friendly room. Because of this the room itself & bathroom was incredibly spacious which made up for not having a view. Enjoyed having plugs by the bed & on the dresser. Lots of storage & hanging space. The automatic open/close door to the room was fun.
Ship tip
Bring a whiteboard if you aren’t purchasing a wifi package. I met passengers who brought walkie-talkies but were unable to use them out at sea. My whiteboard came in handy as our first day at sea I was separated from 10:15am-2:30pm due to everyone doing different activities etc. So we learnt to write memos of where we would be, eating times etc
Arrived around 6:30am to the entrance of Milford Sounds. Got to enjoy stunning views as we ate breakfast. The weather & visibility was great so we were able to see the peaks of all the mountains & the difference in water colour. At the main waterfall Captain Alex did 360• spins so we could see everything. Incredible!
The ship Anchored in the harbour so we took a tender which dropped us off right at the Sydney Opera house. From there we were able to catch a ferry to Parramatta & then to Manly. It was a fun & inexpensive way to explore. Got some stunning pictures of Sydney.
The main shops are close to the port. Lots of things to look at. Would highly recommend taking a drive throughout the whole town. Wifi readily available on the Main Street.
Super pretty tourist town. Lovely walk around the bay. Souvenir prices however were inflated so we held off. Limited wifi access at restaurants etc but can be found at the BNZ & food market. A little wait on the tender process but that’s to be expected with everyone eager to get off.
Lovely little town. Lots of NZ bumble bees flying around, they don’t sting & are super fluffy. Free wifi is available all over town. You can catch a shuttle bus into Dunedin.
Gave this port 4 stars only because once disembarking we were only focused on making our way to the Skycity bus to the airport so did not truely experience Auckland. The ride took around 45mins but was made enjoyable looking out the window at everything.
The process was very straightforward. We chose to arrange our own transport so bags were collected by 10pm the night before & we were off 25mins earlier then our allocated time. I appreciated having porters who formed a chain down the stairs in the terminal to pass suitcases down for those who didn’t want to line up at the lifts.
17 months ago we started counting the days for that beautiful cruise down under and with 31 days on the counter, the dream felt down.... We would start april 14 in Auckland 😞
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