We are a retired couple in our middle 60,s and this was our 5th cruise. We have cruised with Celebrity and Holland America. Since this was a very long flight and we live on the east coast, we overnighted in Los Angeles and Auckland and would highly recommend this if possibly. We overnighted in Auckland at the Copthorn Auckland Harbourcity Hotel, which is across the street from Prince Wharf.

I awoke at approx. 5:30 am the next morning and was able to see the Solstice arrive at and back into the pier. The ship was about 100 yards away from the hotel. At 11:00 am we crossed the street to get in line to start our embarkation process. There were about 400 or 500 people in line at the time; yet, we were onboard by around noon, which I think was pretty fast. We had lunch in the buffet and it was announced that we could go to our rooms around 1:30 pm. We were in room 6202 and had all of our luggage by approx. 5:30 pm.

Our room was clean and ready for us when we got there. We met our head cabin steward, Elizabeth. She and her assistant were very pleasant and attentive to all of our needs and wants during our entire cruise. After a day or two, she knew our usual routine and would time her duties to correspond to ours. All in all a very nice and efficient duo and a pleasure to sail with. Read more