We had to cancel a previous cruise to New Zealand, with this cruise being our first of NZ and on Diamond Princess. We selected this cruise as it was when the weather should be the best and after the school holidays, there we 500 children on the previous Diamond cruise to Fiji. It also coincided with our 42rd wedding anniversary.

Having cruised on the Golden and Emerald previously, it didn't take long to familiarise myself with the ships layout. We selected anytime dining and after enduring waits of up to 20 minutes at the Santa Fe dining room, we changed to the Pacific Moon and had no problems getting a table, thanks Mario.

Our cabin, C507, was spacious and located close to stairs and lifts in the middle of the ship. The on demand TV system was riddled with problems. Various different error messages were displayed onscreen. After 3 service calls I gave up contacting them. Others I spoke to around the ship also experienced problems with their TV. I was surprised to find current release movies such as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. I viewed this movie in the Princess Theatre and it was not modified. Read more