Finally after waiting 12 months for this holiday we were on board, first time cruisers. Golden Princes from Melbourne to NZ Jan 2016.Balcony room in Caribe Deck 10 was spacious. Forget the shoe bag over the door idea. There is plenty of shelving hanging space and shelf under basin in bathroom. Clip magnets a good idea, we hung our landyards and important papers on the wall. Bed made morning and during dinner. Nice to come back to a cleanly made room. Room service free including tea and coffee. International cafe is open 24 hrs but coffee and tea you have to pay for. We partook of the food offerings late took them back to our room and ordered room service for the tea and coffee! Entertainment was good. Magician and comedians esp the one from NZ was very funny and had tears running down throughout his performance. Nathan from Hi5 era was excellent. The crew review was funny but get there early as it was standing room only in the Princess Theatre. Not having another ship to compare to it was great though others did say it looked tired. Service was spectacular, waiters get to know you and your preferences fairly early. Could not fault the service. Food was amazing, far too much if anything!! Go on a diet before you cruise otherwise its so easy to put on the kilos, so take the stairs not the elevator, walk the deck on level 7. We have a 15 yr daughter and 17 yr old son. Daughter loved the remix area for teens and have kept in touch with them via social media. 17yr old was not interested. The tender ports are a pain, esp the waiting to return back to boat. Not pleasant if its boiling hot or raining as you wait outside in all types of weather. Excursions we did were Wellington Weta Movie tour. Hubby and daughter loved it. Son and I checked out Wellington. Hobbiton and Rotoroa the Luge. We rented a car from Rite Price rentals in Tauranaga, they collected us from the boat, short trip to their shop and we were quickly on our way to Hobbiton. Organised this on line. Highly recommend them. They then shuttled bus us back to ship. Great day though weather abysmal in Rotoroa. The luge fun though not so much because of the appalling weather. Nice hot chocolate in their shop though! Dunedin is a far way from Port Chalmers, where we docked. I pre organised a 4 hour tour from PC to Dunedin and back via back roads, picturesque scenery. Again booked not through the ship. Most of the time though just happy to walk around the towns. Gisborne a beautiful town. Kids did the Skydeck walk in Auckland, not for the faint hearted. The wharf there is well worth a walk around. But its mostly about the ship. If you want to see a lot of NZ then a cruise isnt they way to see it. Overall we as a family had a fantastic time. It takes a bit to readjust to beds not swaying! We would do it again in a heartbeat. Smooth waters all the way. We also bought the unlimited drinks package for son well worth it as he drank like a fish! Specialty coffee card also good value. Forget Lotus Spa far far too expensive even for a special treat I couldnt justify their prices. But each to their own.

Getting a taxi back to the suburbs in Melbourne was a farce. Where are all the taxis when you need them. It took us an 1 and 30 mins to get a stationwagon to get us home. Hats off to Barry who rung the taxi companies tirelessly to try and get more taxis to come to the wharf. Maxi cabs were even more rare. Not the best way to end our time away.