A cruise that fit the bill perfectly as we wanted to see Australia and New Zealand for our honeymoon but were both limited by work to 3 weeks.
Decided on Princess due to other good reviews and the promise of being comfortable at sea, something we have found lacking on Thompson vessels.
Brilliantly organised by Pam at Bolsover, original flights had us out of London with long stopovers, Pam instead managed to organise Birmingham flights via Dubai with minimal stopover time for no extra cost which made getting to and from the airport much easier.
Very impressed with embarkation, boarded efficiently at Sydney just next to the opera house and the bags were waiting for us in our mini suite on dolphin deck.
The room was everything we had hoped for (D630), large and very very comfortable bed with a huge balcony and walk-in wardrobe, plus its positioning in the ship made for a very smooth a quiet place to be.
Joey our room attendant did a fantastic job and was very friendly.
The ship was by far the largest we have been on and by far the nicest.
Nothing looked worn or dirty and there was plenty to see and do.
Food wise despite opting for anywhere anytime dining we found our self’s in the horizon buffet for most meals due to the large windows allowing us to look out at the spectacular landscape this journey affords.
There was a great choice on offer and everything we tried tasted fantastic.
We were especially grateful to the chefs who helped my wife (who suffers from food allergy’s) around the buffet to make sure she didn’t pick up anything that might make her ill.
Nothing seemed to be any trouble for the staff, they are all an absolute credit to Princess Cruises.
Entertainment wise there was a good onboard entertainment team (lead by a fantastic cruise director) who put on some great shows but the star of the show had to be the Robbie Williams tribute act who gave it 120 %, its probably the first show we have seen at sea that I would go out of my way to see again back home.
The onboard Japanese baths are well worth a visit too, always quiet, very relaxing, fantastic views, great value and a much much better service then the overpriced and half-functioning spa at the front of the ship.
The only negative thing I can say about this ship and voyage was despite being in very calm waters the ship always seemed to move about much more then I would expect from a ship of this size.
It seemed to have a slow corkscrew motion, something that neither myself or partner seemed to be able to adapt too, despite 3 previous cruises on much smaller ships.
