WIRED for sounds

A luxe landscape sets the scene for a cruising reboot in New Zealand’s majestic south, writes Susan Skelly.

The helipad at the bow of Celebrity Eclipse is awash with puffer jackets and cameras as the 122,000-tonne cruise ship glides into Milford Sound, the geological diva on the southwestern tip of New Zealand’s South Island.

It’s glacial grandeur at every turn. As J.H. Richards enthused lyrically in a 1955 history of Milford Sound: “Can you imagine … a whole mountain range shedding the rain in a thousand silver waterfalls, many of them two or three thousand feet in height?”

Milford Sound (or Piopiotahi), along with its Fiordland siblings Doubtful Sound and Dusky Sound, has long attracted explorers, scientists, painters and poets. British writer Rudyard Kipling declared it “the eighth wonder of the world”. In more recent times, the Sounds have inspired pop artists, cartoonists and satirists.

Celebrity Eclipse is the first cruise ship back to New Zealand’s south since the COVID hiatus, and the mood is buoyant. Yes, it’s busy (2,800 holidaymakers onboard) but there’s a sense of being in your own curated holiday bubble.

Celebrity Eclipse’s 12-night voyage to New Zealand, departing from Sydney in a blaze of sunset glory, visits Fiordland, Dunedin, Christchurch (near the bucolic port of Lyttelton, now rebuilt after the earthquake of 2011 flattened it), Napier, Wellington, Tauranga and Auckland.

On board, the living is luxe and as relaxed or lively as you want it to be. What the voyage might lack in intimacy it certainly makes up for in choice. Passengers are consulting their cruise app on the whereabouts of glass-blowing classes, lectures on semi-precious stones, a 1,000-flower detox wrap; must-see theatre, cabaret and comedy; and a gin masterclass.

At a VIP art auction in the Sky Lounge, five Rembrandt etchings are up for grabs (Descent from the Cross, 1633, has a reserve of US$149,500), along with works by Albrecht Dürer, the master of the woodcut.

But the big buzz is for the pop aesthetic of American contemporary artist Michael Godard, who talks up his artwork with the chutzpah of a New York stand-up comic.

Food lovers are blissing out on premium sashimi and Kobe beef sliders at Sushi on 5; on prima-donna porterhouse in the Tuscan Grille; or on milk-fed veal in Moonlight Sonata.

There’s truffled five-cheese ravioli with a creamy green tea matcha cake on the menu at Le Petit Chef, where the tablecloth is a 3D animation by the artistic collective Skullmapping, a projection that tells the story behind the food on your (French) plate.

The hedonist’s diner is Murano. You’ll dream about the foamy mushroom cappuccino, lobster tail flambéd in cognac, and Grand Marnier soufflé.

For the quiet drink you deserve, hunt down a French red – a Grands-Échézeaux Grand Cru or a burgundy from Domaine Mongeard-Mugneret – in the clubby Cellar Masters. Find the ambient Ensemble Bar and ask the bartender where he’s hidden the Macallan 1824 Series Oscuro single malt.

Menus on Celebrity Cruises ships are created by Michelin-starred New York chef Cornelius Gallagher. Celebrity’s Global Culinary Ambassador is French chef Daniel Boulud.

The shopping list for this Celebrity Eclipse cruise includes more than 900 kilos of lobster, 4,000 dozen eggs, 8,164 kilos of prime beef, and 500 nearly 20-kilogram tubs of yoghurt.

There are 26 loadings of fresh food during the Australia and New Zealand cruising season. Onshore, passengers are doing their bit for local economies depleted by earthquakes and the pandemic.

At Christchurch’s Shopology, specialising in the Untouched World clothing label, books, jewellery and woodcarvings, founding designers Sarah Gamble and Sally Paterson report sales four times that of a normal Thursday, thanks to the influx of Celebrity

Eclipse passengers.

“We’ve had no cruise ships for the past 11 years as they haven’t been able to dock close to the city,” says Gamble.

Come next year, Celebrity Edge will be cruising in Australia and New Zealand, elevating the experience for luxury seekers even further and taking their travels to the next level.