We've always heard about how beautiful New Zealand is!! Being Aussies, it's just across " the ditch ", so we thought we'd take the opportunity on Celebrity Solstice to cruise this beautiful country. We flew into Auckland and stayed at the Sofitel Viaduct Harbour - a fantastic hotel ( with the softest bed I've ever slept in !!! ), well appointed rooms and in a wonderful spot - many, many restaurants, cafes, bars all within 5 minutes walk - it was a great start to our holiday.

Upon embarking Celebrity Solstice ( not an easy embarkation area to find though.. ) we found the ship to be beautiful and luxurious. We had also found that we were booked into a cabin with wheelchair facilities so of course the cabin was HUGE especially as it included a balcony!!! As on each cruise we have been on (though first with Celebrity ), we found the cabin staff to be wonderful and very attentive. We also booked into each of the speciality restaurants and once again, impeccable food.

We like to book our excursions independently of the ship, but often we are happy exploring on our own, which was especially easy to do at each of the ports. I guess the only thing we were surprised at was that our age group ( 50 ish ) seemed to be in the minority! With the many elderly passengers on board, we felt the entertainment was a bit on the boring side for us and very limited activities of interest. We were actually told by two of the dining staff on seperate occasions that this cruise is geared towards people of an older age group because of the days at sea and this particular ship is typically booked by elderly people. We had no idea this was the case at the time of booking - it certainly showed with the activities, entertainment and on-board shopping. Read more