Went on this cruise as I travelled on the same boat when on the New Zealand Christmas cruise. The boat is well maintained, has good staff, however has a somewhat impersonal feeling and the food in the ocean view buffet is definitely sub par. The excellent naturalist Brett Nixon gave 4 fabulous talks. His wife, Miss Amanda, the historian is also excellent and gave interesting talks about the ports we were going to. Their Beyond the Podium talks greatly enhanced the cruise for me and if Brett Nixon were going to be onboard I would definitely have a preference towards that ship for future cruises.

I booked a 1a cabin, 7286, I was travelling solo. Had previously been in a 2a, cabin 7282 with smaller deck but right out on the hump. 7286 had a much larger deck and also had a deck lounger and table and chair. There is much discussion on cruise critic on the merits of larger decks. I guess if there are two of you and you plan to spend a lot of time on the deck then it's worth the extra money. I've posted a photo of the cabin from shore so you can see the deck I got. However next time I think I'd save my money and even book an obstructed view cabin. I like the central location near lifts and level 7. If the lifts are busy you can take the stairs.

Ate mainly at the ocean view buffet. I think you could liken this to flying econmy class. The food on the whole is mediocre. The quality of the food is not there. Tasteless bake beans, unripe tomatoes, eggs with very pale yolks, everything seems to lack flavour. I would put money aside next time to dine half the time in the speciality restaurants. Read more