Long Review Large Medium and Small: 3 ship types in one trip

[RMLincoln]

We embarked on a 4 month odyssey to Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific islands last September. Because we would rather cruise than take long flights we used three cruises to transport us part way around our circuit and give us the luxury of cruise pampering in between some arduous touring. Generally we are value cruisers, and in this lengthy trip we looked for good deals and as usual found some.

Our cruises were on three different cruise lines and we were carried by three different sized ships. Our first cruise was out of Los Angeles to Sydney for 21 nights on Holland America’s Volendam, a mid-size ship of about 1250 passengers. After spending about 6 weeks in Australia we boarded Celebrity Solstice, a large ship of about 3000 passengers, for a 12 night cruise to New Zealand. Our last cruise was a back-to-back out of Tahiti, first with 10 nights of visiting the Society Islands and then 11 nights from the Society Islands to Hawaii, from which we flew back to the continental US. I will try to recount the pros and cons of each experience.

Volendam: We have cruised HAL several times, we are 3-star HAL cruisers and had been on Volendam before. We find it to be a pleasant traditional cruise experience. No surprises. We were glad that HAL worked into our plans.

· We find the rooms are more accommodating than some other lines, for example our inside room had a couch in a Category K room, nice to have for a 21 day crossing. Nice plus.

· Evening entertainment was varied; we had two long sets of 4-5 sea days and the entertainers, though not inspiring, were, well, nice. For classical music, what used to be the standard quartet, then a trio, is now a duet of piano with violin. We were glad HAL maintained the classical option in some form and in a decent venue. We noticed that the ship had excellent separation of venues so no noise spillover from the casino or the piano bar for example. Weak plus.

· Our guest lecturers were high quality speakers with interesting topics; these sessions were quite well attended, so kudos to HAL for continuing with that. The Microsoft classes were usually overwhelmed with interest, teaching us “old dogs” the new tricks of surviving in the modern era. Later in the cruise it was much easier to attend and excellent for those many sea days. Again kudos to HAL and big plus.

· Library! Well few ships can compete with HAL libraries with their beautiful sea views, extra comfy chairs, recliners and music stations. Wonderful variety and an excellent librarian to help us. And the complimentary DVD library had an amazing stock, over a thousand movies, plus they will happily deliver movies to your room. How can you beat that? Big plus.

· Our MDR dining on HAL was high quality as expected but their open dining system is a bit difficult. They are good about taking reservations from 5:15 to 5:45 or after 8:15 but it’s hard to get a table at an intermediate time of say 6:30. After the first 2 nights at the same table at 5:30 we were offered it for the entire cruise, so we wound up with the equivalent of early dining but with the advantage of being able to skip that time (they would hold our table for 15 minutes or we could tell them ahead of time that we would be eating at a later time) if we anticipated being late coming back from a shore excursion for example, or just wanted something different for an evening. For us this is a better option than the rigid traditional early dining option and we enjoyed it. The dining room is roomy and the tables are spread out enough for the wait staff to serve guests with ease, though lighting could be better. Overall, I give dining a weak plus, would be stronger if they could improve their open dining and lighting. Their very liberal room service menus also helps save them. The buffet is pretty neutral.

· The internet was abysmal with multiple days of no signal for us to use with our $100 package. Poorly done and very frustrating, especially as we left a friend in grave health and needed updates. Big minus.

· Shore Excursions were the usual and as expected a bit pricey but not shocking. We purchased on board, no problems. Neutral.

The Celebrity Solstice cruise was short, only 12 days. It wasn’t what we consider a particularly good deal when we booked (3 months out); insides were sold out so we reserved a guaranteed OV, from which we were upgraded to an obstructed balcony, so it became a better deal!

· Our balcony looked across a lifeboat which was almost as high as the rail level so that part was fully obstructed, poor for picture taking but otherwise lovely for distant views and certainly no complaints for an OV price! And again our room had a couch for us to spread out, nice! Plus we had a frig which we missed on HAL; otherwise quite similar room amenities, baths, closets, robes etc. Celebrity does provide umbrellas to use which was nice but we used our own in windy, wet Wellington (ours were easier to put in our packs). But Solstice had no self-service laundry which I dearly missed with our long travel schedule. Oh well. Still a Plus for Solstice rooms.

· Entertainment on Celebrity is, well, different and varied. It was nice to have variety and the flying acrobats are amazing to watch. The Hot Glass Show is up top and outdoors; it was rather cool and windy to stand there for the entire show; seating is extremely limited but the show is captivating and so different that it stands out as a plus. I was glad we got to enjoy it. Music venues are more varied on the larger ships and we liked that part. Entertainment venues included a smaller lounge with shows and we liked the option of that variety also. The venue for the classical strings was in a horrible spot but at least they had classical strings, a music option that is getting harder to find, so a negative for venues but kudos to Celebrity for keeping classical music. Overall entertainment I think is plus on a large ship because they have the room to work in more options.

· Our lecturer was a very dynamic science speaker whom we enjoyed on our one previous Celebrity cruise and enjoyed again. The computer classes were Apple oriented and we didn’t participate. The library was ho-hum and no complimentary DVDs… so neutral on these topics for us.

· One MDR dinner on Celebrity was momentarily disappointing when I had the absolute worst prime rib ever, just unbelievably tough, but there were other options and other meals were quite good, (so maybe it was a fluke) and it did not ruin our cruise. Overall though I think the budget cuts have hit the tables. Their room service menu is lacking protein for breakfast so it was up to the buffet for us. With 3000 passengers the buffet is necessarily quite large and dispersed, but even more crowded than I remember from our previous Celebrity cruise on Constellation. The best part about dining on Celebrity is that they have open dining down to a science! One can get a reservation for any time desired…. 6:30? Of course…. a table for two, no problem! NICE! Just call a day ahead or early that morning to be assured of getting what you want. The dining room was more crowded than on the HAL ship, the tables very tight, and the servers have a harder time serving but the job gets done and the guests get what they want. Open dining definitely a plus! The rest neutral.

· Downside of the large ship: there were often lines, or if not lines then the issue was no available seating. The passengers were often in groups on this cruise and that made for more issues of loudness and reserving seats, neither of which we wanted to deal with, so time for us to move on to a different plan for the moment.

· The internet was more functional than on HAL but we paid $50 for our 12 day cruise, so not a bargain but at least it worked well, even with 3000 passengers. A plus there.

· The shore excursion we took was well done and not extraordinary on price. On and off the ship was not difficult even with 3000 passengers. I give a plus for this topic.

Our last cruise was a two cruise back to back on Ocean Princess out of Tahiti. She carries about 670 passengers, but one leg was only 570 guests, so we had a very different experience on this small ship.

· We wanted a room low and mid-ship to avoid sea sickness while crossing the Pacific in a small ship. We had a porthole room on deck 3 and happily, it too had a couch for us to spread out and enjoy during our 21 days aboard. Ocean Princess was one of the original R ships from the Renaissance line which went bankrupt in 2011, so she was not built by Princess who usually only puts a couch in mini-suites and above, so this was a big deal for a Princess ship! Big plus here!

· Entertainment was presented in a “cabaret” lounge which had terrible lines of sight. The ship’s band kept shrinking due to personnel issues and the entertainers and venue were very disappointing to us. And very few venues or options, so more entertain yourself opportunities. For us, this is a negative of being on a small ship.

· There was an excellent lecturer who specialized in the South Pacific history and culture and although his presentation style was often difficult to follow we still felt he added to our experience. Internet was free for us as Platinum Captain’s Circle members and quite reliable; the library was lovely with views of the pool area and very well stocked, very quiet but no librarian, oh well, again it’s a very small ship. These add up to plus.

· Dining on Ocean Princess is only traditional. We requested a table for two and were seated at a table for eight. We enjoyed our tablemates but for our second cruise we asked the Maître d’ for a 2-top and he met our desires. Service and food were both very good to excellent. The buffet on OP has a notably tiny serving area and comparatively limited selections, but we gladly accepted this in exchange for never a line for anything! We had no problems finding enjoyable choices and they frequently made special themed spreads. And the buffet experience was graced with lovely outdoor seating and exceptionally attentive service, all making it a big plus for us. This made the buffet area an unusually comfortable zone.

· We had some good and one terrible shore excursion. The prices were pretty high but if you got a good one, worth it. Our bad experience was very high priced and really should not have been offered this time of year because we were literally going against the current. We tried to get to the Na Pali coast of Kauai but the boat operators told us they hadn’t been able to get up there for at least 6 weeks, so they first proved to us that it wasn’t possible by driving us into the waves and soaking us with deluging waves and stinging spray before they turned around and substituted a short snorkel and a visit to a gift shop… $210 each. I was extremely disappointed in Princess and told them so but they really didn’t care to make any offer of amends. Although this isn’t a ship-size issue it did impact our experience. Many excursions were canceled apparently due to lack of numbers, and that may be a reflection of a small ship experience, so negatives for this topic.

Overall we found our choice of using cruises as transportation and relaxing pampering interludes during our long odyssey to be an excellent choice for our sanity and good value compared to land touring. I would neither avoid nor seek any of the ship-size choices we had singularly based on ship size but I would anticipate the pros and cons of each type of experience and enjoy them for what they are.

[homeinboca]

Thanks for your review. I enjoyed your comparisons of small vs. large ship cruising. Sounds like it was a wonderful trip overall.

[TracieABD]

Thank you for the review. You should contact customer service with Princess to discuss your experience in Kauai. The may offer you a rebate as you were not delivered the shore ex.that you booked.

[Lanwood]

Thanks for the review. Nice read, and interesting comparison's.

[caribill]

Our first cruise was out of Los Angeles to Sydney for 21 nights on Holland America’s Volendam......

· The internet was abysmal with multiple days of no signal for us to use with our $100 package.

This problem may have occurred no matter which cruise line and cruise ship you were on.

 

Much of that travel was in uninhabited areas of the Pacific Ocean where satellite coverage needed for WIFI may not have been available.

[Keith1010]

Thank you for your extensive review.

 

Keith

[dorisis]

Thanks for the excellent review. You chose a most civilized way to travel.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Thank you for the timely review! Can I ask how you spent your time in Australia? Nothing personal, just wondered if you were a house guest, stayed in hotels and moved around or got a short term apartment rental in one city.

[Mom33]

Thank you for your most interesting and informative review of your journey.

Having cruised 30 days in the South Pacific on one ship of 2600, it was helpful to see what it would be like on a larger and smaller ship. It still remains a favorite trip we would like to repeat.:D

[RMLincoln]

This problem may have occurred no matter which cruise line and cruise ship you were on.

 

Much of that travel was in uninhabited areas of the Pacific Ocean where satellite coverage needed for WIFI may not have been available.

 

I thought that too, but we had no issues, or almost no issues on either of the other ships, especially considering that the Ocean Princess started out in Tahiti and went nearly due north across a lot of open water, across the equator to Hawaii for 4-5 days and we had no problems with the internet. So I really do think HAL can do better.

[geoherb]

Thanks for posting your review. We still haven't sailed on the little Princess ships. I do like the HAL medium size ones, having enjoyed our cruises on the Maasdam and Veendam.

 

As for the shore excursion, I was unable to get a refund from the shore excursion desk when I tried on our Ruby Princess cruise a couple of months ago, but I did get one after contacting Princess's customer service. We received a refund for half the amount paid since a significant part of our tour was skipped.

[RMLincoln]

Thank you for the timely review! Can I ask how you spent your time in Australia? Nothing personal, just wondered if you were a house guest, stayed in hotels and moved around or got a short term apartment rental in one city.

Greetings PA... neighbors maybe?

We had about 6 weeks in Australia. The Volendam docked in Sydney; folks we met on a cruise in 2010 picked us up and we stay with them for 6 nights while they showed us around that region. Australia is huge, like the US so it's hard to get form place to place on land in a short time (6 weeks was a very short time to see their country.) We then flew a local airline to the Gold Coast where other Ozzie friends who we met on that same cruise in 2010 (both those couples were traveling together) picked us up and we stayed with them for about nights. Then we were on our own.

 

From Gold Coast we flew to Cairns to visit the Great Barrier Reef (so glad I did, not only an icon of Australia but truly a grand natural wonder of the world!) and a day at the nearby rain forest. The GBR tour I booked on line before leaving home - excellent!; the rain forest tour we booked through our cairns motel desk, very helpful folks, I'm sure any motel/hotel would do that.

 

From Cairns we flew to Melbourne, stayed at a budget hotel downtown, location excellent, room poor, price ok, only 3 nights) and enjoyed a pre-booked tour to Philip Island to see the Penguin Parade, plus a day to roam around Melbourne. We pre-reserved a rental car at the Melbourne airport for after our 3 nights in MEL and we drove the great Ocean Road for 4 nights, found motels from tourist booklets we picked up at an Info site. Returned the rental car to MEL airport and flew to Tasmania.

 

At Hobart Tasmania we rented (pre-reserved) a car for 10 days and drove around Tasmania; we found bed and breakfasts or motels from tourist booklets we picked up in the airport. We did have a cell phone with us which was rather useful (we borrow one form Ozzie friends, but could have had our Verizon phone unlocked and then added a local SIM card, which I will do next time.). That all worked quite well. B&Bs usually had internet included; motels sometimes had internet, otherwise it was hard to find internet or expensive (AU$ 5-10 per hour were not uncommon charges at hotels, especially Melbourne, but there we used free WiFi at Federation Square park.)

 

From Tasmania we flew to Sydney and spent a week there in a hotel not too far from Circular Quay (We stayed 2 train stops away but only 10-15 minutes from the hotel, maybe only 1.5 miles but I was have foot/heel pain so tried to save my walking for more interesting places.) We purchased a week-long transit pass for AU$61 pp which covered our trains (used everyday at least some), buses(used only a trolley once), and ferries(used almost every day to get to different sites and communities around the huge harbor), plus the railroad out to the Blue Mountains to which we did a long day trip. At the Blue Mountains train station we purchased a tour package for about AU$75pp which included transportation and entry into the cable car systems. Maybe not the best value but it met our needs, otherwise it's hard to get around to see anything there.

 

In Cairns we used taxis to and from the airport, very easy and reasonable. In Melbourne we used an airport shuttle bus to and from the airport.

 

From Sydney hotel we hailed a taxi to take us and our luggage to the Circular Quay cruise ship terminal to board Celebrity Solstice.

 

Our selections of hotels/motels and B&Bs all had frige and micro so we could do most of our own meals from local grocery shopping... make a zip-lock bag of ice for the day trips and put lunch and snacks into an insulated sling bag with the ice. We tended to be very basic meal-wise on land because we knew we'd be well fed on the cruise ships!

 

If you have follow-on questions, I'd be happy to do my best to provide answers. m--

[PescadoAmarillo]

Thank you for your detailed answer. We've been to Australia twice, but only on the east coast. We would love to spend 2-3 months in an apartment in Sydney, and thought perhaps you had done something similar. There's a wonderful rental on VRBO that's right across from the Opera House, but it requires a 3 month rental (in the past you could rent it by the week).

 

BTW, we've also used those unlimited transit passes in Sydney and really, really enjoyed seeing the city that way (I think we bought 6 day passes). We stayed right in The Rocks, which I would love to do again, but it's pricey for an extended stay.