This was our first time on Celebrity and it certainly impressed us. Our transfer from the airport to the ship at Auckland harbour was expertly handled by the Celebrity staff. The embarkation procedure was quick but a little chaotic. They failed to tell us that we had to fill out a form to activate our teenage daughters' cruise cards which stopped working after a couple of days. For some reason the embarkation photogaphers had packed up and left even though there was still 4 hours to departure. No big deal - just one less thing we would be tempted to spend money on.

Cabins are small but comfortable and the Aqua-class amenities are nice but nothing exceptional. Our stateroom attendant (the wonderful Theresa) quickly sorted out our adjacent cabins and removed the divider on our balconies giving us extra room to stretch out.

Food and service in Blu was wonderful. We considered eating elsewhere but quickly realised that everywhere else would probably be a step down (except perhaps Murano). We did attend the MDR for the brunch on our last sea day which was absolutely incredible in terms of food but terribly chaotic from a service viewpoint - the staff didn't realise how overwhelmingly popular it would be and were run off their feet. The MDR looked nice enough but I much preferred the ambience of Blu. Read more