South Pacific cruise on Solstice

[seahappy08]

Advice please! We are looking at 2 cruises Sidney to Sidney on Jan 1, 2020 Vanutu, Lifou etc. Or Auckland to Auckland on Mar 29, 2020, Fiji etc. We have cruised to Australia, New Zealand, French Polynesia and Hawaii, before and loved the cruise and just wanted something different. We will fly from the Uk so it will be a long journey although we will stop off on the way. We have been on Solstice before but are now running out of new places to cruise. We love to cruise!

Thanks for any help!

[gogo65]

January cruise will be mid school holidays, so lots of families, will also be paying a premium.

[johnsea]

Fly to Buenos Aires then cruise south around the horn & view Antarctica, scenery spectacular. Is a 14 night cruise & we did last year on Eclipse in January.

[tartantiara]

1 hour ago, seahappy08 said:

Advice please! We are looking at 2 cruises Sidney to Sidney on Jan 1, 2020 Vanutu, Lifou etc. Or Auckland to Auckland on Mar 29, 2020, Fiji etc. We have cruised to Australia, New Zealand, French Polynesia and Hawaii, before and loved the cruise and just wanted something different. We will fly from the Uk so it will be a long journey although we will stop off on the way. We have been on Solstice before but are now running out of new places to cruise. We love to cruise!

Thanks for any help!

 

Are you sure of your dates ? We are on the Solstice Auckland to Fiji and Tonga , but it is April 1st 2020, we are also on the preceding cruise from Sydney to Auckland, like you we are from the U.K. so we might as well make the most of our long journey 

Edited May 20, 2019 by tartantiara
miss spelled

[TFLG]

2 hours ago, seahappy08 said:

Advice please! We are looking at 2 cruises Sidney to Sidney on Jan 1, 2020 Vanutu, Lifou etc. Or Auckland to Auckland on Mar 29, 2020, Fiji etc. We have cruised to Australia, New Zealand, French Polynesia and Hawaii, before and loved the cruise and just wanted something different. We will fly from the Uk so it will be a long journey although we will stop off on the way. We have been on Solstice before but are now running out of new places to cruise. We love to cruise!

Thanks for any help!

 

I thought about booking that itinerary but then I watched a YouTube video of it and the ports just didn't seem very interesting.  Tropical islands with some nice beaches and not much else.   We did the great barrier reef cruise on the Solstice last year and really enjoyed that one. Lots of interesting ports and lots to see. We did a wine tasting tour in Newcastle, Koala sanctuary and wine tasting in Brisbane, and snorkeled the reef in Cairns.  I would do that one again.  I also liked the Sydney to Aukland itinerary.

[seahappy08]

4 hours ago, johnsea said:

Fly to Buenos Aires then cruise south around the horn & view Antarctica, scenery spectacular. Is a 14 night cruise & we did last year on Eclipse in January.

 

4 hours ago, johnsea said:

Fly to Buenos Aires then cruise south around the horn & view Antarctica, scenery spectacular. Is a 14 night cruise & we did last year on Eclipse in January.

We are booked on a cruise for there already and we have visited South America before.

[seahappy08]

We have been to Australia and New Zealand a few times before.

[seahappy08]

3 hours ago, TFLG said:

 

I thought about booking that itinerary but then I watched a YouTube video of it and the ports just didn't seem very interesting.  Tropical islands with some nice beaches and not much else.   We did the great barrier reef cruise on the Solstice last year and really enjoyed that one. Lots of interesting ports and lots to see. We did a wine tasting tour in Newcastle, Koala sanctuary and wine tasting in Brisbane, and snorkeled the reef in Cairns.  I would do that one again.  I also liked the Sydney to Aukland itinerary.

 

I am now thinking perhaps to look at somewhere else.

[seahappy08]

4 hours ago, tartantiara said:

 

Are you sure of your dates ? We are on the Solstice Auckland to Fiji and Tonga , but it is April 1st 2020, we are also on the preceding cruise from Sydney to Auckland, like you we are from the U.K. so we might as well make the most of our long journey 

These are the dates printed in the brochure I have in front of me. I may move it back to 2021 but am undecided? I am going to South America in 2020 but it would be a different experience and colder weather in parts.

[kowhairob]

 

Theres a pretty good deal on the Jan 4 2020 Sydney to Sydney cruise @US 1639 plus  taxes and the extras below.

Balcony Offer! Book select categories and choose TWO of the following offers:
1. A $300 per cabin onboard credit, or
2. FREE pre-paid gratuities for two, or
3. A FREE Classic Beverage Package for two, which includes select alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages onboard, or
4. Unlimited Internet access for two

 

Be aware this is a very busy period as its the School Holidays in Australia and New Zealand plus the weather can get lumpy between Australia and New Caledonia as its Cyclone season .

 

The second cruise in March would be less likely to be hit by Tropical weather but please remember there are no guarantees in this part of the world . 

[Muffinz]

We are also doing the Auckland / Fiji / Samoa / US Samoa / Tonga cruise on 1 April next year and I believe it is all but sold out - with just a few inside staterooms available last time I checked.

 

as others have mentioned January is school holidays in NZ and Australia, so airfares / accommodation will be at a premium

[tjunmin]

7 hours ago, seahappy08 said:

Advice please! We are looking at 2 cruises Sidney to Sidney on Jan 1, 2020 Vanutu, Lifou etc. Or Auckland to Auckland on Mar 29, 2020, Fiji etc. We have cruised to Australia, New Zealand, French Polynesia and Hawaii, before and loved the cruise and just wanted something different. We will fly from the Uk so it will be a long journey although we will stop off on the way. We have been on Solstice before but are now running out of new places to cruise. We love to cruise!

 

My suggestion is to spend a little bit of time researching the shore excursions at each port and see what appeals to you. I'm booked on the Auckland to Auckland cruise. At the moment, the ship is sold out, except for inside cabins. When I booked, more than a year ago, I did it based on the itinerary, as it seemed exotic, and we are also running out of destinations to cruise. The issue is that now I started planning our shore excursions, and I'm starting to have doubts. As an example, the places I want to visit in Fiji are not possible due to the time the ship arrives and leaves Lautoka and Suva; the other issue is that many of the tours I'm interested in depart from Denarau, not Lautoka, which is a problem when booking independent tours. This is not a straight answer to your question, but I hope this helps.

[tartantiara]

17 hours ago, seahappy08 said:

These are the dates printed in the brochure I have in front of me. I may move it back to 2021 but am undecided? I am going to South America in 2020 but it would be a different experience and colder weather in parts.

Ah, that’s probably when you leave UK with flights included, we always book our own flights as we have more control over them I hope you find something to suit you 

[seahappy08]

16 hours ago, tjunmin said:

 

My suggestion is to spend a little bit of time researching the shore excursions at each port and see what appeals to you. I'm booked on the Auckland to Auckland cruise. At the moment, the ship is sold out, except for inside cabins. When I booked, more than a year ago, I did it based on the itinerary, as it seemed exotic, and we are also running out of destinations to cruise. The issue is that now I started planning our shore excursions, and I'm starting to have doubts. As an example, the places I want to visit in Fiji are not possible due to the time the ship arrives and leaves Lautoka and Suva; the other issue is that many of the tours I'm interested in depart from Denarau, not Lautoka, which is a problem when booking independent tours. This is not a straight answer to your question, but I hope this helps.

XThanks your post was most helpful. We are now looking at 2021 as that cruise has just been released. Still not sure what to do as we want to visit somewhere on the way to NZ and on our return but it is proving very expensive.  We may have to look at other cruise lines!

[Suzi66]

I have done both of these cruises in the last couple of years if you want to ask about ports.
The Auckland to Auckland one was this last March and we really enjoyed Samoa and the final port in Tonga.  The others not so much, but we have been to Fiji several times and stopping at the cities is not the best way to see it.

The South Pacific cruise is great if you want to do a lot of beachy things and snorkel etc.

Ask away.