Joined the Ship in Sydney Circular Quay for an 11 nights South Pacific Cruise, trips to Fiji were cancelled because of Cyclone Pam and the ship was diverted to Hobart, Tasmania.

On boarding there is a sign for check-in appointment to limit queues and wait times describing the cabin levels boarding times in an order from deck 10 at 11:30 AM to Deck 2 at 4:30 PM, unfortunately this rule was ignored as all passengers boarded by pushing their way at the same time. The signing on itself was fine and a seapass was issued for my cabin and for the onboard expenses. Lunch (buffet) was available in the Windjammer Café on level 11 and the food was satisfactory. The interior cabin was fine comes with the new virtual screen which give the illusion as if you are on a real balcony. The Sapphire dinning rooms are well presented and organised; unfortunately the menu and food did not fit with the décor. On the same large one page menu there is an upgrade for premium dishes if you wish but come at a cost of up to US$ 41

Now with the sport activities, there are 2 tennis tables that are damaged, and the bats are of the cheapest quality and that’s why they don’t let players using their own during competitions and as there are so many competitors matches went only to 11 points instead of the normal 21 and a game can only last for about 5 minutes and the looser out. The volleyball, on competition day the staff takes on contestant’s names and straight away the competition took off with no warm up and sadly on the first tournament an 80+ player fell off on his first ball, luckily no injury. Soccer, and again names are taken and the competition started, last for 3 minutes only game with a flat ball and for the Basketball challenge fast throwing games, all over in 15 minutes. The staffs want to rush thing off with the above competitions so they can attend to other commitments, due to staff shortages. Read more