Need help deciding on ship

We are planning a trip to NZ next January 2015. We want a port-laden itinerary, and wish to spend most of our time in NZ. From looking at the offerings, it seems that the Oosterdam out of Sydney on Jan 30 is the best fit. But I also noticed that Celebrity and Princess have similar itineraries (but fewer ports and more sea days). Have any of you had to make a similar decision, and what did you choose? From what I can tell, no one has said that the price, amenities, and ship/crew are wildly different. Since we want a balcony cabin I guess the smoking policies would be pertinent (we don't want any second hand smoke.) Any thoughts? And is there a general price trend;.i.e., do prices drop the closer you get to the sail date, or is it just the opposite?

We are planning a trip to NZ next January 2015. We want a port-laden itinerary, and wish to spend most of our time in NZ. From looking at the offerings, it seems that the Oosterdam out of Sydney on Jan 30 is the best fit. But I also noticed that Celebrity and Princess have similar itineraries (but fewer ports and more sea days). Have any of you had to make a similar decision, and what did you choose? From what I can tell, no one has said that the price, amenities, and ship/crew are wildly different. Since we want a balcony cabin I guess the smoking policies would be pertinent (we don't want any second hand smoke.) Any thoughts? And is there a general price trend;.i.e., do prices drop the closer you get to the sail date, or is it just the opposite?

Princess has an area near the pool deck on the starboard side set aside of smokers, and starboard on deck 7. Book a port side balcony.

As for price drops, I have noticed that the October sailings sometimes experience price drops, but the holiday time ones are less likely.

Seeing you wish to spend the most of your time in NZ, you might like to consider cruises departing Auckland to Sydney. Celebrity Solstice (14 days) and Diamond Princess (12 days) both do this cruise in January. Then, time permitting, you could do land content in the north of North Island, NZ, prior to the cruise.

January is summer school holidays here, so February may be better, if you don't wish to cruise with children.

I did the Solstice Auckland to Sydney earlier this year and thought it was a great blend of ports and sea days. If given the choice between the Solstice & Oosterdam (which I have also sailed on), no question I would pick the Solstice.

In my opinion the Solstice is a much nicer ship, the standard balcony cabins are very comfortable, service is good throughout the ship and, as a non-smoker Celebrity has the best lack of smoking. I believe HAL still allows smoking on balconies and definitely in the casino. If you get an Aqua Class cabin on the Solstice you eat in Blu, which I enjoyed on an earlier Solstice cruise.

The Diamond or Golden Princess would be my second choice, especially of the Emerald Deck 8 mini suites are available. No balcony smoking on the Princess ships but they do allow smoking in the casino.

Thanks for your helpful replies. It seems odd to me that there is no NZ cruise that begins and ends in Auckland--must be some advantage for the cruise lines to add Australia to the mix.

I have another question, a little embarrassing. Years ago, I was in NZ and received a speeding ticket which I refused to pay for several reasons. It was in a remote area on the South Island, heading out of a small town, I was the only vehicle on the road, and the officer seemed to be gleeful that he had bagged a tourist. Plus I was only going a little over the speed limit and I never noticed a sign. I had also read an article in a Wellington paper that almost no one paid traffic tickets since there were no consequences or follow up if it were ignored. So do you think I will have to pay or be arrested when I try to enter the country?

We are planning a trip to NZ next January 2015. We want a port-laden itinerary, and wish to spend most of our time in NZ. From looking at the offerings, it seems that the Oosterdam out of Sydney on Jan 30 is the best fit. But I also noticed that Celebrity and Princess have similar itineraries (but fewer ports and more sea days). Have any of you had to make a similar decision, and what did you choose? From what I can tell, no one has said that the price, amenities, and ship/crew are wildly different. Since we want a balcony cabin I guess the smoking policies would be pertinent (we don't want any second hand smoke.) Any thoughts? And is there a general price trend;.i.e., do prices drop the closer you get to the sail date, or is it just the opposite?

As noted in the live/blog below, we got off of the Celebrity Solstice in February. Ours was a 14-day cruise and that gave us a couple of extra NZ stops compared to what many of the 12-day cruises provide. Our "extra" NZ stops were Napier and Bay of Islands. Both of these worked super. We also did the two-day, Queenstown overnight excursion that was excellent in sampling the scenic interior of the South Island. You should consider this option if want to get a better, added and different NZ experience.

As I monitored pricing leading up to our cruise, there were price drop for November and early December cruises. BUT, for ours at the more "prime" time of later January and in March, costs went up, not down. Glad we booked ahead and got our pick of location and better pricing. No problems on the smokers for our Solstice sailing.

Lots of more details and visuals on many of the great options on things to see and do in Australia and New Zealand. Added questions?? Don't be shy!! Happy to share more.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Back from doing a 14-day Celebrity Solstice, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure on this ship and getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for much more information and lots of wonderful pictures on these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 62,121 views for this fun posting.