Beejay4016

Hello Beejay4016,

Thank you for taking the time to reply. After much consternation over the high prices in Auckland, I bit the bullet and booked the Sofitel. If you're on the Jan 17 Radiance of the Seas, let's keep up with each other. My DH and I are traveling from California. Meg and Ian

Hi Meg and Ian. I'm sure the Sofitel will be fantastic - it's in a great location. No, we're not on the Radiance of the Seas; we're doing a Celebrity cruise out of Auckland in February. Last year we did a HAL one around NZ from Sydney. We did plan to head back over there for a driving holiday, but Celebrity had a great offer for the cruise we're doing so it was just too good not to take advantage of. If your cruise takes you to Picton, the Omaka Aviation Museum is fabulous and I highly recommend it as an excursion. Here is a link to give you a very brief idea of what you get to see there: http://www.omaka.org.nz/ On our HAL cruise we did the Knights of the Sky Exhibition as a short excursion and then spend the afternoon wandering around Picton, but this year we've booked with Jade Tours for their Wings and Wine tour, so we get to visit the WWII exhibition at Omaka and then have lunch and wine-tasting at some of the Marlborough region vineyards. While we do have some great wines here in Australia, we personally love our New Zealand wines and a visit to a vineyard is always enjoyable.

Whatever you do, enjoy, and have a safe trip.

Cheers,

Bev

Hi TTFN2013. Wow, I'm surprised that nobody has answered you as yet. We also will be in Auckland early next year prior to a cruise. I always do all the bookings myself for accommodation when we travel, and I was stunned at the prices of hotels in Auckland. We really wanted to be in the Viaduct area, near where the ships tie up and where there seems to be a huge amount of shopping and dining options, not to mention being right near a great transport hub. Hotels in the area were showing rates of between NZ4$400 to NZ$650 a night. Insane! I then looked at Airbnb, but balked at providing them with a photograph of myself plus copies of my identity document, such as driver's licence or passport. That ruled them out. I then found a pretty good rate at a serviced apartment that I booked through Qantas, who we're flying from Perth to Auckland with, and with the added bonus of getting lots of lovely frequent flyer points. The property I've booked us into isn't luxurious but it's a nice, very comfortable-looking one bedroom apartment - always prefer an apartment if it's more than a couple of nights - and it was only Aus$250 a night.

Good luck in your searches, but perhaps it is worth checking out properties in the CBD or Viaduct area that offer good rates through the airline you're flying in with, or even through your automobile association.

Oooh, can I throw in another suggestion: Azamara Journey, Sydney to Auckland. Friends from Miami did that cruise previously and loved it. Much smaller vessels with a really superior level of service. We are HAL and Celebrity people but so look forward to trying Azamara one day. Quite a bit more expensive, but I believe the extra cost is considered well worthwhile.

We are interested in visiting Australia/NZ (which is a huge bucket list item for me) and I am starting to research all available options, but would love to hear recommendations from seasoned cruisers. Definitely have to hit Sydney, Melbourne, and all the great scenic places in New Zealand....we are young, active 60s, enjoy fine dining but certainly are not food snobs, prefer a verandah cabin, but we are most interested in a port intensive itinerary with nice floating accommodations for a decent price. We have sailed on HAL, RCCL, Princess, & a Viking river cruise, but I am not familiar with the best way to book this trip. I should mention that I might like to try Celebrity cruise line as well. Should we use our US TA? Or, book with one there in AUS? Any other advantages/disadvantages I should know about. We are thinking probably Jan. 2019. Is January the best month to visit? If not then, when would you suggest? I would like to avoid typhoon/earthquake season if possible. :eek: Ideas on what to pack for Jan. there welcome as well.

 

I appreciate all information and opinions and thank you in advance.

Why not HAL again? We did HAL for a 14 night round trip out of Sydney last year. The itinerary was fabulous, through the wonderful Fjordland, up the east coast of the South Island and then the various spots on the North Island. The size of the vessel - the Noordam - suited us at just under 2000 pax, and of course the service on HAL is always superb. Next year we are doing a 16 nighter from Auckland to Perth with Celebrity. I think if you're used to HAL or Celebrity then P&O Australia is definitely one to steer clear of. I wouldn't dream of booking through an Australian agent when you can book via a US agent as Australians pay way, way, way more for cruises than do Americans. We would love to be able to get our cruises for what you pay in the US. Even drink packages are more expensive. I just booked a drink package for our forthcoming cruise as it was offered at a 20% discount if booked within the last few days. The 20% discount actually brought it down to what Americans pay for the same package. Sad, but true. Whoever you decide to book with, I'm sure you will have a wonderful time.

We have ben on various cruise lines but this will be our first on Celebrity - booked on Millie for 18th Feb for 2 weeks from Singapore, visiting Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Very excited about this trip but we have a few questions -

In a balcony cabin are there US or European plugs? Is there a coffee machine? Are bathrobes supplied?

Can anyone give us an idea of weather in these places at this time?

Do Celebrity have formal nights? Is it Tux or black tie for men or shirt and jacket? And do ladies wear cocktail dresses or more formal with long dresses?

Sorry for all the questions and TIA, I am sure we will have loads more questions.

Hi there fellow champagne lover. Just a few words re the weather etc. Singapore is just about as close as a city can get to the Equator. It rains almost every day, usually mid-afternoon, and it is hot and humid. The best time to be out and about is early in the morning or in the evening. In the middle of the day try to stay in air-conditioned places, and there is plenty of good shopping to be had in the MRT (subway) malls. If you have a few days there, try to fit in something like a luncheon cruise. Chinatown (seems almost a joke to use that expression) is always great for a visit and to catch some bargains. Wherever you go, always carry an umbrella with you. The south of Vietnam (Ho Chi Ming city etc) will also be VERY hot and humid, and extremely crowded with fascinating but hectic traffic. It is a long, skinny country, however, and as you travel up the coast the weather becomes much nicer so that by the time you reach somewhere like Ha Long Bay it is quite lovely. Thailand is HOT - HOT and HUMID. Carry a good trusty fan with you (everybody uses them in Asia), and don't forget the deodorant. We haven't been to Taiwan, but Hong Kong is, like Singapore, a favourite place for us to visit. The weather there is February should be quite nice - it's the end of their winter. You may find that of an evening you need a jacket or at least some sort of wrap. We love being there in December and January when it can get quite cool, particularly up at the Peak. You shouldn't have any issues with weather in Hong Kong, and you should enjoy some great shopping - do take a local bus through the hills to Stanley Markets. Fantastic little shops and market stalls at good prices, and some excellent eateries. I think that Chinese New Year is around the middle of February next year, and it will be the Year of the Dog, so everywhere you go you will find trinkets, both cheap and expensive, resembling the dog. Always good souvenirs. This year, the Year of the Rooster, we picked up some charming stuffed fabric roosters at Singapore's Changi airport to give as gifts to friends back here. Asia is colourful and exciting, so enjoy.

Oops, posted in the wrong area. Where oh where has the "Delete" option gone?

Hi we haven't been yet but as I understand we will get the bottle of Kailua with mixes of my choice etc. We also have the classic wine package ( omg we sound like big drinkers lol) .

 

 

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No, you just sound like fun. :) Enjoy.

I'll admit it, I had to look up Pokarekareana. I watched the video of Hayley Westenra singing it.

My goodness what a beautiful song and a great singer she is. Do you really know the words? Wow!

 

Hi Muushka. Yes, it is indeed a beautiful song, and I think probably most Australians do know the words - and love the song so much. I guess that the Australians and the New Zealanders are a bit like the Americans and the Canadians. The lovely thing is that what we find with the New Zealanders is that so often they have amazing voices, particularly the Maori. I love to hear them singing. On our NZ cruise last year we sat out on the balcony as the New Zealand coastline grew smaller and smaller and on my iPad I played the superb Maori farewell song:

They also can render old hymns in such a way that it just about brings tears to the eyes. For example:

Oops, I do seem to have led this thread into different directions, but I'm hoping for lots of lovely Maori music at the sailaway party from Auckland.

We will be sailing out of Auckland at 9pm next February. I'm intrigued as to what might be played - perhaps Pokarekareana. If that be the case, I hope nobody will object to me singing along. So looking forward to it - the sailaway feeling is fantastic.

We've ordered a bottle of Crown Royal several times. $95 total & included a bottle of Crown (6 cans of ginger ale & a good sized box of very good mixed nuts. Plenty for husband to have a drink or two on balcony. I opted to sip my wine (from the 2 750ml bottles we bring on board)

 

 

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Hi awhfy. Taking the extras into consideration, that price isn't bad. I guess I'll go onto the website and see what the choices are.

Hi

I've ordered the classic stateroom bar set up and at checkout I was only charged £61.60 (English pounds) so fingers crossed that's all I will pay!

Kim

Hi Funnybunny70. What did you get for that cost? We usually take our own Schweppes tonic on board with us and top up in each port and so normally we would just have a bottle of spirits delivered.

I just looked on the pre-cruise planner, what is showing up for the "in room bar set up" says it is $100/day/pp. That isn't right. It must be another snafu in the new website. You should call them to order your bar set up.

 

 

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Thanks Maven3. I couldn't believe $100 a day. With HAL I think we paid about $49 for a bottle of Sapphire Bombay gin. If they're going to charge us $100 then I think I can manage a few trips to the nearest bar as part of the Classic package.

Hi Chemmo and dkjretired. Many thanks for those comments. I did look at the drink packages on the Celebrity website, but I think I must have misread something as it seemed to me that the cost shown is a daily cost whereas we just like to have a bottle of gin (or whisky) in our room to just have a couple of drinks on the balcony each night. I certainly don't want to pay $100-odd per day as we'll probably opt for the Classic drink package anyway. I think I'd better go back to the site and have another look at what is on offer. Cheers .

Hi all. Our cruise next February will be our first with Celebrity. We have sailed with HAL in the past, and we were always able to go onto their site and order a bottle of gin to be delivered to our room so it was there when we boarded. I haven't found anything on the Celebrity site to indicate the possibility of arranging to have a bottle delivered to our room. Any advice would be welcome. :)

Regarding the library, there is a book trolley in the atrium deck 6 where you can swap books. There are plenty of quiet bars for reading during the day. I forgot to mention in my review that the beds were the absolute best ever. I have never had such a comfy bed, I wish I had checked the make and model. I slept like a baby. The wine probably helped lol

I think they kept the HAL beds. They are superb. After our first HAL cruise, the first thing we did when we got home was buy a new bed as we had forgotten how wonderful a good bed felt and the difference it makes. I think HAL actually sell those mattresses, and we have been tempted. My husband slept through a typhoon on our first cruise.

Love your writing! Would definitely buy a book written by you!!

I'd be queueing up for one also.

Someone told me that there's a type of cabin availability game that happens. I'm not sure what else to call it. You can book a suite for instance and Celebrity guarantees that you'll be put into that class of cabin or higher if that one's not available. You have to prepared to accept wherever the cabin is though. Sometimes you won't know until you board the ship (really?), but if you're told say 2 months before departure and you want to cancel, you lose a percentage of your deposit. I'm probably not explaining this correctly, but Celerity cruisers might know what this is about. Has anyone experienced this? Ever ended up not knowing which cabin you have? Sounds a bit crazy. If Celebrity has those suites available why aren't they just showing them and selling them?

Go for it. It's usually a lot cheaper. With HAL we booked a guarantee verandah and got upgraded to what they now call a Vista Suite (just a slightly better positioned verandah but perhaps a tad bigger). We found out that we'd been upgraded before sailing, but didn't get our actual room number until a week beforehand. For our forthcoming Celebrity Cruise we booked a guarantee concierge. That cruise isn't until February, but we've already been assigned the cabin. We're very happy with it, like the position, and the saving was fantastic - Aus$2700 more if we opt to choose the concierge cabin ourselves. I have heard people complain that they ended up in a location they weren't keen on with a guarantee cabin, but I've heard many more who are thrilled with both the cabin and the savings. The amount we've saved should just about pay our bar bill.

Can't say as I didn't look for it, I bring my own books when travelling.

It was just a great place to sit and read, do crosswords etc, and had a great coffee shop.

Granted the Volendam is 50 feet longer and 5000 tonnage more than Aria.

But the general setup on board is very very similar, even the staterooms on Aria are the same as on Volendam - no refurbishing to most as yet.

P&O have refurbished most public rooms nicely on Aria but the olde worlde style (as on Volendam is no longer there). Only cruised on Volendam

and P&O Aria, not when it was with HAL.

I think HAL did a lovely welcome back brunch, a nice afternoon tea service and good meals. But it wasn't necessarily the cruiseship for us although it was nice and with great crew and service.

But on P&O if you watch the sales and offers mostly you won't be charged the premium prices as per HAL. And expect a mostly younger clientele.

We've cruised once on the Ryndam and twice on the Volendam, most recently in February. The Ryndam was quite a different vessel, with a totally different feel. For a lot of HAL regulars, she was a favourite - at least amongst those of us who could never afford the Prinsendam - and a lot of people were really sad when she was transferred over to P&O. HAL is indeed pricey, though, and we've ended up cancelling a Konigsdam cruise for May of next year and opted for a Celebrity one instead at half the price. If I had a young family I'd probably not cruise with HAL, but we don't have a problem with the age group on there, and most of the friends we've made on board (from UK, the USA, Canada and Ecuador) have averaged out to the 50s age group. As you say, the service with HAL is fantastic, the afternoon teas superb, and that welcome aboard lunch for Mariners a really nice touch. I'm certainly up for an Aria or Eden cruise - just love those blue bottoms - but a cruise two years ago on the Pacific Pearl was pretty offputting. The room was okay (I wouldn't put it higher than that), but most of the food in the dining room was pretty disgusting. Even the Salt Grill was a real disappointment. All that aside, still better than a day ashore.

I enjoyed my cruise on the Aria, bigger rooms than the usual on P&O or Princess.

Did they do away with the beautiful library when it was changed over to P&O?

Just looking for any fresh reviews of Pacific Eden since the latest refurbishing in Singapore.

We have planned an extended family short cruise later in the year. Some of the family are reading reviews and a bit nervous.

We've been on Pacific Aria (and Volendam - same size) and they weren't too bad at all.

Told them a lot of reviews are usually from those who haven't enjoyed their cruises and for a variety of reasons.

But hoping some of the previous problems as per reviews have been fixed.

The Aria isn't the same size as the Volendam. The Pacific Aria used to be the Ryndam, a smaller vessel than the Volendam. We've been on both, and loved the Ryndam. When she was with HAL her capacity was a couple of hundred less passengers than with P&O, but I believe she still has the fabulous HAL beds, which are superb. We sailed with P&O Australia once and swore never again, but the Aria or the Eden could certainly tempt us.

Yes... as you walk in the door there are glasses of champagne, Mimosas, or juice. Nice touch!

 

Also nice for those of us who do not smoke to be able to walk throughout the ship without smelling any cigarette smoke.

 

 

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Thanks for that; a lovely touch. I look forward to it when we board Solstice in February - our first Celebrity cruise. So excited.

Third trip to Alaska... first on Celebrity. Impressed with the ship so far. Have sailed mostly Royal... will be Diamond after next cruise in Feb... have tried NCL and Princess once each. Nothing special there for us. Will see what Holland America has to offer on a short cruise next May.

 

First impressions... nice touch to have champagne/mimosas when you walk on the ship. Decorating is understated with nice colors. Comfortable seating in many lounges and on deck. We are not main dining room lovers and enjoy being totally casual in buffet. Food on this ship is comparable to all the rest. Usually try a specialty restaurant and may do that.

 

Wifi is tolerable in most areas as well as in cabin. Good enough for email, texts, and checking FB, etc.

 

Anyone with questions, ask away... will try to find the answer. Suggestions for things we should not miss onboard are appreciated!

 

 

 

 

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Does everybody get a drink when boarding? How absolutely civilised. I love it already.

TLCOhio, I think that both the Australian and New Zealand tourism authorities should employ - and pay you. You do a wonderful job for enticing people to our lands down under. A joy to read.

Oops, I should have noted the date of the OP. I had responded re the name Tasmania, but if I trawl through the 34-odd pages I will no doubt come across somebody who has already given a potted history of that.