We booked the back to back from Sydney to Auckland then back to Perth. The cruise ticked all the boxes of places we wanted to see and we thought it would be easier than the alternative of lots of flights because of the sheer scale of the Australia and to some extent New Zealand. On hindsight we should have done a couple of weeks driving round New Zealand - even for us oldies it would have been very doable but we only realised that once we got there - and we could have done Australia by cruise and train - a number of people we spoke to on the cruise had done the train across Australia from Perth and said it was well worth the money.
The ship was bigger than we are used to and we found it busier and noisier - really difficult to find somewhere to chat with folk over a quiet drink or a coffee - so difficult to find a seat in Cafe Baccio. We spent more time in our cabin than we have done on any other cruise just because it was quieter. The design of the central atrium sends music playing at the bottom right the way up to the library on deck 10. Having said the groups singing and playing were very good and we would have enjoyed the music more if it hadn't always seemed so loud.
Staff as always were amazing and happy to assist but with Premium Drinks Package pre-purchased the ship ran out of our tipple on day one. They did seem to do everything to remedy that situation but hmnn. Food was first class in Blu and Epernay we found good too - the buffet up top was too busy and a bit of a free for all so we mostly avoided it.
Our cabin was fine - nice roomy bathroom with good shower. Cabin was clean and well maintained.
This was a missed opportunity for us because we weren't organised. We went up to Victoria Markets and jaunted about on the tram - so much we could have done here - the State Library is apparently beautiful
We loved Wellington - shuttle took into centre and nice walk along harbour and marina to Te Papa - amazing - then took Cable Car up to where we could have got free shuttle to Zeelandia but we didn't have time so we walked down through the Botanic Gardens - superb. Very doable on your own off the shuttle. Go for cable car early because it gets very busy but it is very efficient too and wait isn't too bad.
Beautiful - we just walked around Maunganui where the ship docked.