My husband and I just returned from 13 day itinerary New Zealand and Sydney, Australia. We loved the more intimate smaller cruise, enjoying the ship, getting on and off, longer port days all pluses with less passengers. The staff were all very accommodating, and kept all public areas and our room extremely clean.

The specialty restaurants had more interesting choices, and executed miles above the main dining room. There were always choices for breakfast and lunch, and the grill available in the afternoon worked well for us, especially after returning from tours.

It was a shame that our cruise was one of the last before going in to be updated. Luck of booking when we did. I usually book my tour excursions privately and have always found doing it this way saves substantial money. We did use the cruise tour in one port and it was very good, small number of other passengers, great guides. Read more