Cruising to New Zealand was number one on the list and the words of my wise Mother before she passed away, "Do it sooner rather than later!" Prompted us to book. We had only every taken one other cruise and that was on the Zuiderdam in the Caribbean. Since the Noordam and Zuiderdam are sister ships we pretty knew what to expect as far as the layout and age of the ship. Although many more experienced cruisers found the ship run down, we were quite happy with every aspect. The staff worked tirelessly to keep all areas "shipshape" and always greeted us with a big smile.

Our room stewards, Maryo and and Hari were second to none. All requests were quickly taken care of. We opted for open seating and enjoyed chatting with new people each night that we went down to the dining room. Forty-three days of fine dining were a bit much for us so we often opted for the Lido for a lighter fare. Sometimes it was crowded so we would come back a bit later. Very difficult for the staff to judge how many would opt to go there. Always found the servers cheerful. We especially enjoyed the Canadian Thanksgiving dinner. A very nice touch.

A highlight of the trip was seeing the lava flowing into the ocean after we left Hilo. Beautiful! The Polyenesian Islands were all new to us. Thanks to Nicola at the excursions desk for suggesting we try the Zip and Dip excursion in Suva Fiji. What a great time. The group we were with were great sports and for many of us it was a first time zip lining! Read more