Celebrity Solstice Review

4.5 / 5.0
2,220 reviews

Cruising New Zealand

Review for Australia & New Zealand Cruise on Celebrity Solstice
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gragra48
2-5 Cruises • Age 70s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Nov 2018
Cabin: Concierge Class 3
Milford Sound, Fjiordland, New Zealand
Looking down onto Akaroa Harbour from the Hilltop Tavern. We found a tour (
From a roadside vantage point looking out toward the entrance to Akaroa Har
Captain Tasos and crew on the bridge. We were fortunate to be among a few c
Snow capped peaks in Milford Sound
Entering the harbour at Dunedin.
Looking down on Akaroa harbour from the Hilltop Cafe.
Captain Tasos and crew preparing to depart from Tauranga. Thank you for the

I chose the Sydney to Auckland cruise on Celebrity Solstice to celebrate our 50th Wedding anniversary. The service and other features of the cruise justified my choice. This was our second cruise on Solstice, the first being to New Caledonia etc. We travelled C3 Concierge and our cabin was deck 10 a little aft of the bulge on the starboard side.

Everything about the cruise was just perfect, from the very quick embarkation procedure in Sydney to our sad farewell to Solstice in Auckland. In Sydney after we dropped our bags off it was pretty much straight through Customs and Immigration - probably a 15 minute process at the most. We went aboard and were greeted with the customary glass of champagne and then proceeded to Cafe al Bacio to kill some time before lunch and wait for our cabin to be ready. Shortly after we had finished lunch we got the call that cabins were ready so went to check ours out. As we might have expected our cabin was immaculate, everything as it should be in Concierge, including the welcome bottle of bubbly. We couldn't fault the cabin, plenty of storage, a very comfortable bed, quiet and a more than adequately sized balcony. Our Cabin Steward Eduardo was one of the most pleasant and obliging people you could wish to meet, times we didn't encounter him in the hallway or in or about our cabin when we returned made me wonder if he wasn't hiding in the wardrobe.

We dined most nights in Grand Epernay and the service and food was faultless. We opted to eat in Oceanview on the first night because we wanted to be up on deck for our departure from Sydney and it was certainly worthwhile. It was a beautiful clear evening and the buzz among fellow passengers on deck 12 as we cleared the International Terminal and eased out into Sydney Harbour was palpable. There was no hiding the excitement we were all feeling. The food on offer in Oceanview was also quite good - there was a very wide range of cuisines to choose from.

Cabin Review

Concierge Class 3

Cabin C3

Our cabin was perfect, Very well presented, perfectly clean, a beautifully comfortable bed, plenty of storage space, an ample lounge area and a large enough balcony with an unobstructed view. We had no issues with noise from adjoining cabins or decks above and below and no problem with cigarette smoke.

Our cabin was about a third of the way back from the bulge toward the stern on the starboard side, not all that far from the elevators.

Port Reviews

Dunedin

We took the Shuttle from the port in to the Octagon. We had quick look around the market which was set up in the Octagon then headed for the nearby I-Site. There we got directions to the Otago Settlers Museum and set off on the half kilometre walk. After about an hour and a half looking around this very interesting and educational location we headed to the adjacent historic Dunedin Railway Station to admire it's beautiful architecture. From there we made our way back to Stuart Street which took us back up to the Octagon where we picked up the shuttle back to Solstice.

Bay of Islands

We took the tender ashore to Waitangi and walked the short distance to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. The Modern museum here is beautifully set up with really interestig displays. We opted to take the guided tour which turned out to be extremely helpful. Everyone in the tour group was given a portable headset so we could hear everything our guide was saying. As we walked from one location to the next the guide was explaining about Maori history and some background to the Waitangi Treaty. The first stop was at the war canoes where he explained about their construction and how they were used etc. From there we walked up to the flagpole which is located where the Tribal Chiefs Met with the British representatives to discuss and sign the treaty in 1840. From there we were taken to Te Whare Runanga - the carved meeting house where some Maoris performed a welcoming ceremony outside and then invited us inside to witness some Maori cultural dancing and singing. At the conclusion of that performance we were free to wander the grounds and inspect the renovated home of the initial British Goverment Representative in New Zealand, James Busby. What was originally in 1934 a four roomed house with a seperate kitchen, storeroom and servants quarters at the rear was extended in 1941 by adding three bedrooms at the rear.

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