You either love cruising or you hate it, and we are one of those couples who absolutely love it! You unpack once and if you find a place you really like, you can come back to it later. We try to take at least one cruise every year. The New Zealand cruise we booked two years out while on board the Celebrity Eclipse (a sister ship) for two weeks in the Caribbean. We decided it was time to go ...
We were interested to try a Celebrity cruise out of Australia, and this one offered an interesting itinerary as it visited Newcastle and Hobart as well as New Zealand ports. Embarkation was quick but we had special assistance with elderly mother, and we also had an accessible stateroom for her.
Generally the public rooms of this ship were in excellent condition, and they were very elegant. We ...
We wanted to cruise NZ and after a good experience sailing with Celebrity in the Caribbean on the Eclipse decided on the Solstice. The ship was well appointed, the same set up as the Eclipse. We boarded smoothly around 11.30 but didn't receive luggage until after 6pm. Never experienced that before. After a long trip to Sydney my wife, having no change of clothes etc , was not happy. The staff ...
We choose cruises based on places we want to stop, and have preferred Celebrity when possible for the past 15+ years.
Things we liked:
Every place we stopped. Love New Zealand.
Cruising the fjords of New Zealand.
Select dining started at 5:30 so you could catch the 7 pm show.
Everyone tried hard to please, and most succeeded. They really do have good people.
Liked the Elite ...
We chose this cruise to see New Zealand, it was our first cruise and we were not disappointed. We picked this particular one for the stops in Sydney and New Zealand.We had wonderful service and would like to thank especially Catalin, Larissa and the wine waiters for table 271 they were especially attentive and pleasant and very helpful when I was feeling under the weather. The captain was great ...
My wife & I were fortunate enough to have enjoyed (for $75) a TA ship's tour, including coach travel & lunch, on the Solstice whilst it was in port in Sydney just prior to Christmas in 2017. That sold us & shortly after, we booked the 2018 Christmas/NY New Zealand 12 night cruise. We'd not been to NZ previously & certainly hadn't sailed during the festive season. It would also be first time with ...
We wanted to spend Christmas and New Year on the Solstice. We would highly recommend this cruise to anyone. The ship was decorated, and the staff were exceptional. This was our fifth cruise on Celebrity, and have four more coming up. We love the decor of the Solstice class ships, and always go to the Specialty Restaurants. The Main Dining room is just beautiful, and the food is fabulous. We ...
We paid an awful lot of money for the cruise. Even when you have a cabin with a balcony you have to pay extra to have an unobscured view (a balcony without a lifeboat outside). The cabin was remarkably small and cramped. Despite the already high cost we still had the extra expense of over £200 for wi-fi. The vast majority of hotels these days offer free wi-fi and what is a cruise ship but a ...
going around new zealand was wonderful watching as depart was so cool! we enjoyed ourselves so much, we got spoiled rotten by the staff ,the Elton jack show was amazing , Picton and Akaroa are gorgeous, the food was Excellent not to forget the amazing, Joseph, Jay Jay, Thia and Victoria the made our experience triple! the last night was tough, the whole ride was very smooth, except for some bumps ...
As a first-time cruiser, I choose this cruise because of the dates fitting in with my work Christmas closedown and the opportunity to visit friends. Unfortunately, when I got the booking sorted, Napier had fallen of the list of ports to visit. I also chose Concierge Class because of the room location and concerns about safety as a solo female traveller.
Embarkation.
Slow and no promised ...