With Reuben Goossens
Cruise’n’Travel
Journalist / Cruise Reviewer
&
Maritime Historian
Please
Note: Cruise-Australia is a non-commercial and privately owned cruise site and
it is NOT associated with any cruise company or travel agency! Although the
author has been in the passenger shipping industry since 1960 and is currently
semi-retired, but continues to write cruise and ship reviews and articles in
order to better to inform cruise and ship enthusiasts and provide information
for those intending a cruise in the future. Please read my
statement at the bottom of the page!
The
Results Are In
--The Best & Worst Cruise Lines of 2009--
Cruise-Australia
is happy to present the official results from our 2009 survey, which
has been compiled from 32,758 entries received. Our survey instructions
were as follows: "According to your cruise experience please list the best
Cruise Line according to their Star rating. Please only rate the cruise line
within the appropriate rating, and a company you have actually sailed with
during 2009. See our extensive list of cruise companies associated with each
rating."
Enter the “Results” page.
Please Note: our Main-Page is located at: Cruise Australia.com.
Also: There is a list of Special LINKS at the bottom of the page
Site Index
NEW – Tauck European River Cruises
P&O
Cruises Australia - Australia’s Number ONE Cruise Company!
Pacific
Dawn … This magnificent
70,000-ton cruise ship departs year round from Brisbane’s Portside Cruise Terminal.
She became largest cruise ship ever to be permanently based in Brisbane. When she arrived in Brisbane on December 19, 2009.
Pacific
Sun
… Pacific Sun has a whole new life,
having had several refits making her a much better ship, and the author has
sampled her after one of these refits and frankly she was “Not bad at
all!” Pacific Sun will noe be sailing annually out of Fremantle,
Newcastle, Auckland New Zealand as well as Sydney, and later in 2011 she will
again operated in tandem with the Pacific Dawn out of Brisbane.
Pacific
Sun Reviews … These two reviews were written
by the author and there is another review by frequent cruisers Barry and Jackie
Moore. It provides an excellent picture of this superbly rejuvenated cruise
ship after her 2008 refit. Western Australia, Newcastle and New
Zealand has something to look forward to as she offers a superb value for money
cruise combined with some of the finest food and service at sea!
Pacific
Jewel … She has now joined the P&O fleet and
commenced cruising out of Sydney
whih is her home port. Just by looking at her, you will know that she is the
identical sister to the Pacific Dawn. The only major internal differences is
that this ship has had been through a number of Carnival
companies hands and each have made major changed t her internally, including
the tragic removal of the “Dome” which is now a massive money
making machine known as the “Lotus Spa,” and fitness centre. But it
is the loss of the finest lounge at sea!
Pacific
Pearl … The new addition to the P&O
Australia fleet will be in 2010, she has
visited our shores before as the P&O UK Arcadia, before that she was
Princess Cruises’ Star Princess. Before entering service she will be
fully refurbished in Singapore
and become part of the New
Zealand and Australian fleet. She will be
P&O Cruises first ship to have an outdoor 7m x 4m “LED Movie
Screen” with a super sound system. Pacific Pearl will first commence cruising
from Auckland New Zealand in December 2010, before heading for Sydney in March 2011.
P&O/Carnival
News Updates
… All the latest from Carnival
Corporation & plc, which includes; P&O Cruises UK, P&O Cruises
Australia, Princess Cruises, Seabourn, Cunard Line & Costa Cruises. P&O
Australia could teach them a lesson when it comes to food and entertainment!!!
P&O
Celebrates 77 Years
... in December 1932, the elegant three
funnelled RMS Strathaird became first cruise ship to undertake a
cruise out of Sydney.
Now 77 years later, P&O Cruises Australia operates three fine modern ships
out of Sydney, Brisbane
as well as Fremantle, Newcastle and Auckland with a fourth
ship arriving in 2010.
P&O
Cruises UK - There is no better
Cruise Company for a World Cruise by far! Beats Princess & Cunard!!!
MV
Aurora … Aurora
2006 Cruise Reivew. Having sailed on her maiden world cruise, there is no
doubt that Aurora
is the perfect cruise ship.
MV
Oriana … 2005 World Cruise review. The author sailed on Oriana for 42 days, from Brisbane Australia
to Southampton UK.
The review includes 162 photographs of all lounges, facilities and decks
spaces. Enjoy!
2008 & 2009 reviews also online.
MV
Artemis … P&O’s
smallest member of the fleet, but a popular one!
Classic International
Cruises - My all time favourite company operating a fine fleet of superb Classic Cruise
Chips!
This Company is part of my “Classic Ocean Voyages” Campaign and Promotion!
MV
Athena … This
is Classic International Cruises flagship, which was built in 1948 as the famed
Swedish America Line’s Trans-Atlantic Liner MS Stockholm. Today she is a modern cruise ship with her original
solid steel hull, but she is more like a brand new ship as she was totally
gutted and rebuilt in 1994 and is constantly updated and refitted. She is loved worldwide and now
she sails each year out of Australian waters from Fremantle and Adelaide.
MV
Funchal … This
is a very special intimate classic liner that has an atmosphere that is just
not found on many other classic ships still sailing today. The main reason for
this is that they have been radically rebuilt and although they are technically
old ships, but in many cases all that remains is just the hull, for the rest of
the ship will be newly built, and thus lacks that superbly classic feel,
something that Funchal is famed for! Funchal is fully SOLAS 2010 compliant and
will sail on well into the 2sticentury! The author would love to see this
wonderful ship back in Australian waters, but for now she continues to sail
mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, thus it may be worth heading to Europe and join Funchal for a cruise there!
MV
Princess Daphne … This is a ship that has a close connection with
both Australians and New Zealander’s as she came to our waters originally
as the famed Port Lines Passenger cargo liner MS Port Sydney. Today, this fine classic
liner has become an ultra modern and greatly loved cruise ship in many parts of
the world!
MV
Arion … An intimate
yacht-like cruise ship that exudes ambience, charm, grace, and loads of style!
Sailing mostly around the Adriatic Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean, visiting Croatia and nearby countries and various Middle
East countries including Israel,
Egypt, and Lebanon.
Tauck European
River Cruises
Tauck River Cruises
… Three
award winning Tauck River ships will take you to some treasured
cities and towns along Europe’s most
fabled inland waterways, and Tauck are famed for being in a class of their own
as they are described by leading travel magazines as having that
“legendary Tauck Style.” There is no doubt that a Tauck River
Cruise will enchant you with intimate portraits of countless Fairytale Castles
and a Storybook of Villages. Also visit the: Tauck River Cruises News
Updates page.
Holland America
Line - My
personal favourite Cruise Company in the world!!!
Holland
America Line … Covering a short history of Holland
America Line and a looks at several of their superb luxury ships.
HAL
-News Updates
… Read Holland America
Lines latest news - Commencing May 2010.
MS
Nieuw Amsterdam
… This fine new 68,700-ton accommodates
just 2,106 passengers providing more space than other ships of her size. This
is the ship other companies should look at. One of the finest afloat!!!
MS
Rotterdam … Offering
HAL quality and a reputation other
cruise lines simply yearn for!
MS
Volendam … The superb MV
Volendam and her sister MS Zaandam will be sailing from Australian and New Zealand
Ports in 2010 and 2011. She is a fine ship and comes highly recommended!
MS Prinsendam … The “Elegant
World Explorer” and after
recent refurbishments she is even better!
Orion
Expedition Cruises - This Company has Won
Cruise-Australia’s “Best Cruise Company of
2009”
MV
Orion
… Australia’s own luxury expedition
cruise ship. In 2011 the Orion II will join the fleet.
MV Orion II … Online in the
near future
Royal
Caribbean International - Great value American style
cruising!
Royal
Caribbean Fleet (RCI) … Currently RCI
operates 19 magnificent ships, ranging from 48,563 ton Empress of the Seas to
the massive 158,000 ton Freedom of the Seas. RCI’s MV
Rhapsody of the Seas operates regularly out of Australian and New Zealand
waters.
RCI-MV
Rhapsody of the Seas … This 2,435
passenger French built 78,491 ton cruise ship operates out of Sydney during our Summer months and has
proven to be reasonably popular. With the massive success of P&O and
Princess Cruises, this is Royal Caribbean’s attempt to enter our
lucrative market! The only complaint to date is that “she too
americanised.”
RCI-
Freedom of the Seas … The
158,000 GRT (ton) Royal Caribbean
Cruises super cruise ships. Freedom of the Seas, was floated out at “Aker
Finnyard” Finland
on Friday August 19. She is 339 metres long and 38.6 metres wide and will
accommodate 5,740 passengers and crew. This massive ship will be handed over to
Royal Caribbean in April 2006. with two further ships in the series are due to
be delivered in 2007 and 2008. Thus, as she is now in the water, she officially
becomes the largest passenger ship afloat.
RCI – Oasis of the Seas … This is the first of the
220,000–ton Project Genesis ships that set sail mid in 2009, the second in
the series, the Allure of the Seas will arrive in 2010. Oasis is the largest
passenger ship ever built and she is certainly the most revolutionary ship ever
conceived. She accommodates a massive 6,400 passengers in the ultimate of
luxury and she has facilities, some of which have never been heard of before on
a ship, let alone on a land based resort! This page has many images that will
leave you astounded with the grandeur of this ship, or should I say a floating
resort, or better still City, for she has two buildings placed lengthwise on
top of her hull, one starboard and one portside and there are balconies out to
sea and the rest into the interior Boardwalk and Central Park that has real
trees. If it sounds all too American for you, well for many Australian’s
and New Zealanders it may well be! But, it really is some ship,
it’s a BIG Yankee style ship and somewhat gaudy to our taste, but, hey,
give it a try! It is just like going to Disneyland!
Celebrity
Cruises - One of the best luxury
cruise Line operating larger cruise ships!
MV
Celebrity Solstice … This is without a doubt the most
remarkable and the most advanced modern cruise ship in the world. This is a new
class of ship with innovations never seen before, she is certainly not a ship
like we used to know, and will not be liked by the genuine ship lovers, for the
truth is, she is a massive building, a hotel and a resort that happens to float
and take you to places. But, we have to admire the ingenuity that has gone into
this massive floating super luxurious hotel! She may not be my kind of ship,
but I come from another generation, for those who have discovered the new world
of cruising, she will be just “super!” Also visit Celebrity Solstice - Page Two.
Cunard
Line - The
name says it all, although I hate their exterior design!
MV Queen Mary 2 … The
Grand Queen of the Sea – Includes a comprehensive photo album.
MV
Queen Elizabeth … The new Queen Elizabeth is
due to set sail
MV
Queen Victoria … She is slightly larger
that P&O’s UK Arcadia, but just as ugly looking. She is just another
Carnival Vista Class ship just like those of Carnival, Holland America &
Costa Cruises. She is unattractive, but very nice inside and makes a good hotel
and that is what she is, a hotel, and she is already reputed as a shocker in
rough waters!
Seabourn
Cruises - Luxury yachts that cruise in style and
with all the sublime comforts and with class!
Seabourn
Yachts … The
intimate and luxurious Cruise Line for those who demand nothing than the best!
PV Ocean Mist Cruises - This Company is part of my “Classic Ocean Voyages” Campaign and Promotion!
PV
Ocean Mist
… This is
the famed classic Italian liner MS San Giorgio that became the famed expedition
cruise ship MV Royal Star and she has now been extensively refitted to be come
the Ocean Mist operating Indian Ocean cruises.
Princess Cruises
Australia -
Sun
Princess … Sadly this ship replaced the popular
smaller and much better ship, the Pacific Princess. In addition, the service
food and overall cruise experience was 100% better, now Princess Cruises
Australia has lowered the standard to the point that it has become almost to
what I consider it to be a 3 to 3.5 Star product! Woeful!
Dawn
Princess … Dawn Princess did
the world cruise in 2009, and the author partook of the full voyage and believe
me, she is the wrong ship for such a long voyage. This ship is fine for a week
or two, but that is about it! The comments I made with the Sun Princess apply,
Australian’s are treated like second class citizens! Read my review via
the link below.
Cruise
Review … I
sailed on the Dawn Princess’ 106 night around the world cruise –
Sydney/Sydney and extended to Brisbane
(5 July to 18 October). I am sorry it is not such a great review, although
there are some good points, mostly for a good international crew, but certainly
no bouquets for Princess Cruises! Having sailed with Princess many
times, this cruise has cured me forever and I will now go on other cruise
lines, for I found that P&O UK is a far superior world voyage product, and
for shorter cruises, P&O Australia, and the delightful MV Athena of Classic
International Cruises operating out of Fremantle in the summer are both
excellent value for money, thus, I am NOT canning the Carnival product as
P&O UK and P&O Australia are both Carnival companies. The 2009 Princess
Word Cruises was simply a poor experience for the money I spent spent!
Comment: Please bring back the Pacific Princess or the Royal Princess and send the aging Sun Princess
and the ever breaking down Dawn Princess back to the Americans, but then they
won’t have them, for they are far too old and would consider them ready
for the breakers! If Princess wants to market a “premier” cruise
product to Australian’s then do so, and not sell us cheap rubbish under
the “Premier” label! SHAME on Princess!
Special Links
ssMaritime.net … Featuring
the world oldest liner the Doulos built in the USA in 1914 and still sailing the
world. This is a 29 web page book covering the ships life from conception to
her recent visit to New Zealand
and Australia
in 2008. The author spent a month onboard and sailed on her.
Cruising
News … The magazine “World Wide Cruising News &
Pictorial” is
without doubt one of the best cruise magazines available anywhere in the world
as I have seen it grow over many years. But you need to subscribe to this full
colour quality production that is crammed with information and superb
photographs.
Maritime
Matters … Maritime & Cruise
News with Peter Knego and martin Cox
Cyber Cruises.com … News and other cruise related pages
Work on Cruise Ships … Seeking employment on a
Cruise Ship, check these links
Dutch
Cruise Site … Harm Brink of the Netherlands
has an excellent cruise site in Dutch and English and has a complete listing of
all cruise companies, accompanied by excellent photographs.
Das
Ruderhaus … A site by well-known
German cruise enthusiast, Raoul Fiebig. This site has hundreds to photographs
taken by Raoul and will not be seen on any other site.
Tutto
Crociere … An English cruise site by our
Italian friend, Stefano Fermi.
***************************************
For
all cruise enquiries and reservations contact:
Australia’s first fully dedicated cruise agency –
Established in 1982
The perfect agency Australia-Wide, Queensland &
Northern Territory
Operator
of the “Classical Concert Cruise”
&
“Drama on the High Seas Cruise”
On
Sun or Dawn Princess
Brisbane based “The Cruise Specialists” was Australia very first fully
dedicated Cruise Specialist, and they have been serving the Australian cruise
passengers since 1982. The agencies Director Corie Lisignoli looks forward to
hearing from you and providing you with the kind of cruise service and
experience that you deserve! You will not only receive quality service, but the
latest and the best information possible.
Are
you a lover of Classical Music and or Drama and Theatre? Then enquire about the
annual or bi-annual Classical Concert Cruise and the Drama & Theatre
cruises all sailing with Princess Cruises.
For Information and Reservations
Email Corie: info@cruisespecialists.com.au
www.cruisespecialists.com.au
Or
Phone Corie
--1800 427 847--
Brisbane
& International – Phone: +61 7 5546-6798
Fax: + 61 7 5546
6849
***********************************
Who is the
Author of Cruise-Australia & ssMaritime?
Commenced in the Passenger
Shipping Industry in May 1960
Contact the Author …
When
sending an email please name the ship you are requesting information or
speaking about!
Please Note: Cruise-Australia is a
non-commercial and privately owned cruise site. The author has been in the
passenger shipping industry since 1960 and is currently semi-retired, but
continues to write cruise and ship reviews and articles in order to better to
inform cruise and ship enthusiasts and provide information for those intending
a cruise in the future.
However, if you are interested in
a cruise, I am happy to refer you to a dedicated cruise agent in Australia, New Zealand or further afield on my
recommended “cruise agents” page, for these are agents that
specialise in cruising and they will be able offer excellent service you and
the best fares available! Be assured, I do NOT receive any commissions or
favours from these agents, and in the vast majority of cases these agents will
not even be aware of my, or mu site’s involvement, as I provide the
enquirer with the requested information of the agents (in their region)
including their contact details. Reuben Goossens.
Return
to the - Cruise-Australia.com - INDEX
Cruise-Australia.com
&
Cruise-Australia.net
Classic
Liner enthusiasts visit
ssMaritime.com & ssMaritime.net
Where
the ships of the past make history the 1914 built MV Doulos Story
Visit our “Classic Ocean Voyages” Campaign
Feature
Photographs
on cruise-australia are: 1. By the author. 2. From the author’s private
collection. 3. As provided by Shipping
Companies and private photographers or collectors. Credit is given to all
contributors. However, there are photographs provided to me without details
provided regarding the photographer concerned. I hereby invite if owners of
these images would be so kind to make them-selves known to me, that due credit
may be given. I know what it is like, I have seen a multitude of my own
photographs on other sites, yet they either refuse to give me credit and even
refuse to remove them, knowing full well that there is no legal comeback when
it comes to the net. However, let us show the charlatans up and do the right
thing at all times and give credit where credit is due! Note: I do not credit those who send me photos as they are not the owners
of the photographs concerned, unless the image is part of their private
collection.
This
notice covers all pages, although, I have done my best to ensure that all
photographs are duly credited and that this notice is displaced on each page,
that is, when a page is updated!
cruise-australia
is owned and © Copyright 2010 - by Reuben Goossens - All Rights Reserved
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