The Sydney embarkation was a major problem and bad impression for the start of the cruise but after learning it was due to sanitizing the ship after an outbreak of the Noro virus I was happy to wait. It was a problem for older people with many of them deteriorating with the heat and having to get priority boarding - the staff were very stressed by the situation.

Once on baord all was well - the ship was lovely, the activites varied and interesting, the entertainment wonderful, the food suberb, the staff fantastic and the specialty restaurants a nice change for dining.

I think a lot of the problems could have been solved by quickly if communication was a bit more forward coming - they only had to explain what was happening and why and a lot more people would have been a lot more understanding - especially with the tendering process which was hampered by winds and choppy seas which did not allow for the ships tenders to be used. Also as the towns visited are quite small they did well to organise alternative tenders. Read more