Embarkation was hopeless. We arrived at our designated time of 12:30 and even with priority boarding it took over 2 hours to get on the ship. The worst part was that there were not enough seats for all the people waiting so you had to stand or sit on the floor, there was no explanation given for the delays and there were no drinks made available until they finally started letting people board after more than 1.5 hours wait for us and probably 3 hours wait for those that got there early.
Our balcony cabin appeared a little smaller than on some other ships but similar to some. There was new carpet, new doors on the cupboards, new curtains, a new sofa and new outdoor chairs and table on the balcony. The doona cover was old and damaged but the fabric strip on top appeared new. There was only 2 cakes of soap and a body wash dispenser in the shower. No other toiletries were supplied. The cupboards were small and poorly designed so that we ended up never unpacking our suitcase. - just left it open on the sofa. The bar fridge in our room worked fine although it was often stocked with the wrong things and the snacks we were supposed to have never showed up. The jug was a good idea but as others have said there was no coffee or milk only tea. My partner bought a small jar of good quality instant in Darwin to use for the rest of the cruise (milk wasn't an issue as he drinks it black). The TV worked OK but reception was poor and the stations available pretty woeful. Once we got to Darwin we could get some Australian channels but infuriatingly just as you got to the important bit of a show the signal would fail and would usually only come back as the end credits of the show were running. Also, the only free movies to watch were kids ones after we lost the free old black and white movie channel about 3 days into the cruise. As we often like to relax in our cabin in the afternoons and watch a movie at the same time we found this a little disappointing. Most of the movies shown in the main theatre in the afternoons and evenings were also mainly kids movies or you could watch some very old movies near the pool if you could cope with the noise and the weather. We did enjoy the 3D Penguins of Madagascar movie in the theatre (which was very popular with both adults and children) although I thought it really wouldn't have made much difference if it was shown in 2D instead.
Our cabin steward and his assistant were excellent, helpful, friendly and professional. Equal to the best we have had.
Our balcony cabin appeared a little smaller than on some other ships but similar to some. There was new carpet, new doors on the cupboards, new curtains, a new sofa and new outdoor chairs and table on the balcony. The doona cover was old and damaged but the fabric strip on top appeared new. There was only 2 cakes of soap and a body wash dispenser in the shower. No other toiletries were supplied. The cupboards were small and poorly designed so that we ended up never unpacking our suitcase. - just left it open on the sofa. The bar fridge in our room worked fine although it was often stocked with the wrong things and the snacks we were supposed to have never showed up. The jug was a good idea but as others have said there was no coffee or milk only tea. My partner bought a small jar of good quality instant in Darwin to use for the rest of the cruise (milk wasn't an issue as he drinks it black). The TV worked OK but reception was poor and the stations available pretty woeful. Once we got to Darwin we could get some Australian channels but infuriatingly just as you got to the important bit of a show the signal would fail and would usually only come back as the end credits of the show were running. Also, the only free movies to watch were kids ones after we lost the free old black and white movie channel about 3 days into the cruise. As we often like to relax in our cabin in the afternoons and watch a movie at the same time we found this a little disappointing. Most of the movies shown in the main theatre in the afternoons and evenings were also mainly kids movies or you could watch some very old movies near the pool if you could cope with the noise and the weather. We did enjoy the 3D Penguins of Madagascar movie in the theatre (which was very popular with both adults and children) although I thought it really wouldn't have made much difference if it was shown in 2D instead.Our cabin steward and his assistant were excellent, helpful, friendly and professional. Equal to the best we have had.