Sydney Stay, Hunter Valley Winelands & Outback Byways, 28 November 2026 (18 nights)

A very “foody” / very expensive ship, very expensive cruise, that didn’t live up to expectations. It is a relatively small ship , which was fine but when we first boarded we were rallied into the buffet area which I found very overwhelming with the sheer number of people. The Speciality Restaurant bookings were difficult to get into before 8.30- 9 pm . (Much too late to eat really) in addition There is only one “theatre show” a night at 9 pm- , so having to have a late dinner means not being able to go to the theatre- very frustrating. I Literally saw one show the whole week. We went to Alaska - The ports called at were not appropriate for the number of people - especially the trips on offer- one of our trips was cancelled before the cruise- no explanation at all- just a refund. The booked trips- 1@ in one port the booked trip (£120 each) was definitely not worth the money, as it was a bus visit to a (free) museum and then a free beach ( all within 1 mile of the ship- my fault - I should have done my homework) not enough trips for the size of ship- the port shouldn’t be visited- it’s just a little village - only 16 people could go on a boat to see the glacier- very disappointing. 2@ In another port I paid for a “forest hike”, again very disappointed- my Apple Watch showed we literally walked 0.4 mile at the edge of a woods- (£150 - complete waste of money) . 3@ The sled dogs trip at about £200 each- there were so many people on the trip coming to the mushers camp- the actual experience turned out to be 10 minutes long! and then just petting the dogs after wards and having a hot chocolate, was a total waste of money. 4@ a whale watch/ sea otters etc trip was very good - but only 20 people from the ship could go, other people didn’t have that opportunity and there weren’t enough troops for everyone. The ports themselves were geared up for tourists- all had a lot of gold/ silver jewellers shops, ( not owned by locals) and souvenirs were made in China- so a bad tourist experience, not much real culture. I think I was expecting us to sail near a Glacier Bay, and see allot more actual culture and wildlife than was actually experienced. The description of the trips are very clever and make them sound amazing, but they were consistently disappointing. The state room we had was very nice, the stewards did their job very well. The food on offer was beautiful choice and thoughtfully prepared, waiters were friendly. All in all not what I was hoping for.

Enjoyable cruise in spite of at times the very wet weather . The cruise was well organised though the 2 hour wait to clear customs at Vancouver was tiring and when we finally arrived on board there was no welcome drink ! We found all Staff were excellent and committed to delivering good service. Food was very good especially in the feature restaurants. We avoided Waves buffet restaurant at Breakfast whenever we could. It got very full and chaotic, The Serving area is not really big enough for the number of guests it is catering for. So we opted for Breakfast in the Grand dinning room where the service was excellent and timely. The entertainment on board was good though we would have liked to have seen the show team more often. We went on couple of the excursions from the ship which were well organised but expensive . We were disappoint that ' Cruising the inside passage ' as described on the itinerary the main scenic part of the inside passage we past during the night. We found the disembarkation well organised, much better than arrival.

Lovely ship good service well organised but is it worth a premium price were not so sure, Cabin lovely big shower very impressive Not so greats - No welcome drink upon boarding? - Cocktails were poor often delivered poorly mixed or wrong had the same cocktail multiple times never the same drink. Very poor for a 5 Star ship. - Slow service in bars staff were nice but either not enough of them or they are slow to serve less drinks re drinks package - Restaurant opening times odd. Go on an excursion get back 2pm buffet closed. Only a semi outside pool bar open. Very poor in our view. - Food good but not wow as they advertise best cuisine at sea it’s good but not amazing in our view. - Swimming pool closed 2 days out of 7? One of 2 jacuzzis closed 6 out of 7 days …. Overall it was decent but just not the wow we expected stepping up from so called lessor cruise lines. I don’t think the premium price was worth what you got lovely cabin but the rest was little to no better than P&O and alike.

Cuisine very good and Staff very welcoming and helpful. Cabin was always maintained very clean and tidy. Barista cafe served good coffee and a great place to relax and catch up with fellow passengers.