Pre Cruise accommodation: We stayed at The Crowne Plaza in Darling Harbour. Our room was very spacious with large bathroom and a very deep bath tub. Staff were all very friendly, polite and extremely helpful. The hotel is situated in an ideal position to walk to the harbour for meals, shopping or the Casino and to Circular Quay to visit the Opera House, etc. or one can take a ferry to Circular Quay. Transfer from the hotel to the ship was one hour late then the bus was not big enough to take all the passengers so we waited for a second bus. We arrived at the port and although it all appeared hectic with people everywhere and long queues it only took us an hour from transfer to getting on the ship and that was with going to the duty free rebate counter as well so l didn't think it was that bad. Stateroom: We had a stateroom with a Queen bed and a balcony which could have been a bit bigger - there was not much room to walk around in it. There was just enough cupboard space and plenty of coat hangers supplied. The time in our room was spent either sitting/standing out on the balcony which was lovely watching the ocean go by or sleeping so the room size didn't matter that much. We saw an inside room and they had larger ensuites. There was also a TV which played movies, showed CNN and the Discovery channel along with a few other channels. The ensuite however was not user friendly though. One had to practically sit sideways on the toilet so you could shut the door and it wasn't pressing against your knees and you had to step around the toilet to get from the basin to the shower. Rooms are totally sound proof, we only heard our neighbors when the balcony door was open and never heard any noise from the hallway. We were supplied with toiletries, the shampoo, conditioner and body lotion were all lovely and l usually don't like the stuff supplied in hotels (it is all labelled Lotus Spa). Room service is available (l think 24 hours) and was delivered within 5 minutes every time we phoned for coffee (there are no in room coffee facilities). Our cabin steward was pleasant and helpful and even left us some towel animals scattered throughout our trip which we loved - a bird, a dog and a monkey. Dining: We had second sitting in Regency Dining Room. Our waiters Enrique (prefers to be called Louis) and Benjamin (junior waiter) were marvellous. They provided excellent service throughout the whole cruise. They would pull out my seat when they saw me approaching and ask about our day, they ensured our water glasses were always full, offered other drinks when our glasses were empty and went out of their way to make sure we enjoyed our meals. If there was something we didn't like they would quickly offer another meal and bring it to us in no time. They bent over backwards to ensure we were happy. We sat at a table for 6 although larger tables are also available. The other couple were close in age to us and we all got along very well. We would often sit chatting after our meal as time got away from us but neither of our waiters was in a hurry for us to leave so they could clean up. They were marvellous. Meals ranged, some dishes were absolutely delicious and others were inedible, some bad ones in mind were an entrEe (they call it an appetizer) which was a slice of precooked turkey which was then drowned in Thousand Island dressing and another was their Sticky Date Pudding which was cold custard type stuff with a caramel sauce on top and 3 pieces of a date underneath. Cream of Pumpkin soup in which you couldn't taste the pumpkin and they had a strange idea of a Pavlova - that was more like a Bomb Alaska. Breakfasts and lunches we had in the Horizon on deck 14 as then we could eat at whatever time we wished to. It's a cafeteria style setting and quality (nothing impressive) although there is a large range to choose from. You are handed a plate on arrival and walk along serving yourself. Stewards are very quick to collect plates, cups, etc when you have finished using them and always kept the tables clean. One may however have breakfast and lunch in the dining room which is only open during specific times. Entertainment we thought was more based on the older guests, they regularly had music being played by musicians in bars however their music was either older or chamber type music. They also had one band- Nexus who could play some younger type music which was more entertaining. They had twice daily trivia games and bingo sessions along with other activities such as golf, carpet bowls and cards and of an evening they had a country night, an Hawaiian night, and 50s, 60s night where they would play 2 slow songs, a rock 'n roll song then send everyone back to their seats so they could play a game or have a competition and 3 different shows for the whole cruise. They also had guest artists which usually only entertained for about 45 minutes at a time. We left Sydney in the rain an hour after schedule. As we headed to Milford Sound we encountered some very choppy seas and very large swells due to the cyclone up Fiji way as it was breaking up and heading south. Milford Sound was lovely even though it was raining and 14 degrees Celsius. We even saw snow on the higher mountains even though it was January. We travelled through calm waters in Milford Sound, Dusky Sound and Doubtful Sound then back out and onto Lyttleton (Christchurch). There we went on the Tamaki Heritage Village tour which was really good 10/10, we thoroughly enjoyed it. Afterwards we went for a walk in Lyttleton and walked up the massive hills to visit the cemetery where the movie Frighteners (with Michael J Fox) was filmed and see the house that was being built in the movie. There are 2 cemeteries there and we walked to the wrong one first; the right one is on the left hill when looking back at the ship from the town. At Wellington we walked around the shops then took a cable tram up the hill to see over Wellington and look at the gardens. Lady Norfolk Rose gardens were beautiful. Napier is a lovely little town and an easy walk from and to the ship. Prices are reasonable and the people are friendly. They also have a market there not far from where the shuttle bus drops off. Tauranga we went to the Wai O Tapu thermal wonderland tour. This was good except we didn't get to stay there long enough to do all 3 sections before going on the gondola ride where we were treated to fantastic views, a lovely lunch and entertainment. Then on the bus again to travel next door to Rainbow Springs where we saw Rainbow Trout swimming around. They have a kiwi there too but it was asleep in the back corner when we were there so didn't see it. This tour was nice but very rushed; we didn't even have time to buy from the souvenir shop at Rainbow Springs which seemed fair-priced. Auckland we went on the Dolphin & Whale Safari which was a huge flop. We were advised by Princess that there is no lunch provided on this tour and that it will be only 4 to 4 ½ hours not the 6 hours as per the tours guide prior to arriving at Auckland. Then on the tour we did not sea any marine life whatsoever. We were compensated by the company in the way of a voucher to go on another tour at a later time (OK if we go back to NZ), we could also use the voucher at Bay of Islands - Swim with the dolphins (but we had already booked a tour there and it was too late to cancel) and it ended up the tour at Bay of Islands did not get to see and dolphins or whales either (they also got vouchers). At Bay of Islands, we went to the Glow Worm Cave tour. This was good; we were within touching distance of the glow worms even though we weren't allowed to touch them. We then went to the Kauri forest which many felt was a waste of time really, it was a 5 minute walk around a boardwalk at the same height as the ground. After the tour ended we went into the town for a look around and some final shopping, a very nice place. Then came the wait for the tender to get back to the ship. It probably was only 30 minutes wait but seemed longer. We were disappointed with the Champagne Fountain on board the ship. We waited eagerly to see it, we through our streamers from over every railing in the atrium to start it and then they stopped pouring and started the extremely long parade of getting people up on the steps to have their photos taken with the Maitre D who splashed a small amount of champagne on to the top for every photo. 2 hours later they were still doing this so we gave up on seeing the champagne actually flowing. Disembarkation was a breeze. We were asked to meet in the casino at 9.45 with the expectation to leave the ship at 10.15 as we did not have a plane to catch. By 10.15 we had our bags and were already through customs and in our taxi leaving the port. We chose to arrange our own transport to Mascot as it cost under $30 for a taxi for the 2 of us whereas Princess was charging $45 per person for the shuttle bus to Mascot Airport. I must also mention that there are only 2 washing machines and 2 dryers per Laundromat (of which there is only one on each accommodation deck) and the Laundromats are only to be used between 8am and 10pm so sometimes there can be an extremely long wait for a machine to be free. Machines and dryer only cost $1 each load which l thought was very good and ldry pdr, conditioner and bleach can be purchased for $1 per packet. Good deals available for purchase on board are the unlimited soft drink package and the coffee card for those who like specialty coffee. The duty free shop also had deals either 2 for $40 and 2 for $50 of spirits (depending on the spirits) which was cheaper than we found in the duty free shops on land. Happy sailing