Australia and New Zealand

[savva0122]

Did anyone do these cruises with RCI? I would have loved to do Fjordland on Legend but they scrapped the itinerary.

WOndering whether should petition RCI with their multitude of ships to send one to the South Pacific or go with Princess.

Cheers

Savs

[NYDee]

In Feb. 2003, we sailed the Legend from Sydney to Auckland and loved it. We had booked the Legend Auckland to Tihiti for 2004 when they discontinued it. I heard that the Australi/New Zealand cruises were not selling well. Our cruise was the last of the season and was only about 75% occupancy after offering great deals to the locals. However, according to the staff all the other cruises had been full.

[RSGS315]

We sailed the Legend of the Seas in January 2001 from Singapore to Sydney (16 nights), and the 14 night sailing from Sydney to Auckland, N.Z. It was fabulous. We had a good back to back rate and were able to stay in the same cabin.

In March of 2002 we cruised on the Legend from Auckland to Honolulu (our favorite cruise, of many).

These itineraries were all part of the Royal Journey, that RCCL offered then.

We booked these cruises without air,as we used our frequent flyer miles on United to upgrade from coach to business class for these long flights. It made all the difference in the world!

We had flown in coach to and from Singapore in 1997, when we sailed on the Sun Viking on a 14 day cruise.

The Sky Princess was our first cruise from Auckland to Sydney in late March of 1998. We missed several ports and were stranded in the Tasman Sea for several days because of a Cyclone. On April 1, 1998 we had seas between 50 and 60 ft. The doors were chain locked to the outside for several days, as it was too dangerous to go outside. Many people were very ill, but other than staggering we were fine. We no longer carry medication for sea sickness, as we don't need it.

We met crew members on the Dawn Princess a few years later, that had been on this ill fated sailing. They remembered it well, as we did.

It was too late in the season to sail this itinerary, as this was their autum.

The second time on this itinerary was totally different, the seas were calm and the weather great, but that was in January.

If you have a chance to sail in this area of the world, do so. It is a once in a lifetime experience. We had to do it twice, in order see the ports we had missed.

Happy Cruising, Ginnie

[xpcdoojk]

We did Auckland to Tahiti to hawaii. We loved it. It was on the Legend of the Seas. We are planning in 2006 or 7 to go back to New Zealand and do a cruise that will do the south island and Eastern Austrailia. Currently, I don't believe RCI is scheduled anything to those locations, hopefully that will change, but if not I will look at Princess or HAL.

 

jc

[savva0122]

Thanks for your feedback!

I don't think they'll bring it back as RCI seem to be more into mass market cruising now which is a real shame :(

However, heard that my friend that lives in Wellington, NZ, is getting married so just have to go next year :) , but not on a cruise :eek:

[sgdg]

My wife and I did the Milennium cruise which left Sydney in December 1999 and arrived in Auckland three weeks later in January 2000. The views when we were in Milford Sound were worth the trip by itself. We also did a one week pre-cruise. For that long of a flight, we were going to get our moneys worth.

 

This was probably our favorite cruise of all time (we're been on seven).

 

..steve

[MattInFLL]

Well, I was going to do Sapphire Princess from Auckland to Sydney in Jan 05... but after being on her sister, Diamond Princess, I know I would not enjoy either Princess or that ship for 12 days... even for such an amazing itinerary. So we cancelled. I don't think you'll see RCI on any exotic itineraries any time soon... but perhaps Celebrity will go back at some point.

 

The other thing was that Princess had no real airfare deals, and booking an Aukland, return from Sydney itinerary is really difficult, and eve using award miles is almost impossible.

[jezzdogg]

What was it about the Sapphire Princess that you did not like? Would love to do one of the exotic intineraries such as Sidney/Auckland

[MattInFLL]

Well, out of the 8 cruises I did from 9/02, ending with the Diamond in May... ranking my favorites, the Diamond finishes number 6. Personal choice dining is way behind NCL freestlye dining. NCL makes sure that their restaurants are all distinct with very different menus with lots of different choices on each menu. The PC menus were quite limited and bland bland bland... as was the food. The buffet was the worst set up I have ever seen. I am not one of those foodies that complain about cruise ship food. I always find something I like. 12 days of Princess food would have been torture for me.

 

And for such a huge ship, I have never felt so cramped. Also, for being a new ship, I thought the decor and finishings were very Ramada. There wasn't any space on that ship where you went "wow"...

 

But you know, on a port-intensive itinerary, maybe those factors would be less important.. except that Princess service, at all levels of crew and staff was lackluster and sub standard. When I spoke to Princess staff people it was as if you were bothering them. And I was not the only one complaining. I spoke to many many people on board who felt the same way.

 

I know many people love Princess, and perhaps I just got a bad cruise, but I

personally am not going to spend that kind of money - the cruise is very expensive and the airfare is very expensive and award seats are almost impossible to get - and have so many factors at risk. I'd rather spend a little more and go with Radisson, where you also get a lot more included in the cruise price.