We had cruised around Australia and New Zealand a few years ago and while we wanted to go back, we dreaded all the flying. Our answer was to fly over and cruise back. After looking at all the options we decided to do 3 back to back cruises on Solstice.

We used Choice air and were very pleased with all the arrangements and they made it very easy.

We also decided on some time in Sydney before the cruise and used Celebrity to arrange our transportation to the hotel, the hotel and the trip to the ship. Had a private car and driver for both trips, and the Menzies Hotel was wonderful. We arrived in Sydney at 8:30 am, so had called Celebrity to see if they had early check in and were told 3 pm. When we arrived at 10 am our room was ready for us! We had read several negative reviews on the hotel, but we found it a beautiful facility with a great location. The staff went out of their way to make us feel welcome, to include sending us a bottle of sparkling wine. Dinner at their pub, which included happy hour was reasonabe and delicious. Read more