Having just returned home 3 weeks ago from our cruise, I thought it best write about it straight away instead of waiting for weeks and weeks and losing my mojo (and memory).
Firstly, I must point out that I thought I would hate cruising! My BF originally was the one wanting to cruise and since it was his long service leave from work (2009 / 2010), I went along with it while thinking I would need to take up knitting, crochet and embroidery to fill in the time on board. So we booked a 30 day cruise that left from Sydney and finished up in LA (and that was after spending a month travelling in Thailand after celebrating my 40th birthday in Ao Nang, near Krabi). More on all these trips later.
This last cruise was our third to date and for 11 nights departing from and returning to Brisbane. To date we have always travelled with Princess Cruises, because of feedback from seasoned cruisers and also to build up our loyalty status. Also we always pay for a Future Cruise Booking while on board our current cruise as this has added benefits of a lesser deposit required with the next booking and some onboard credit.
Generally I search a couple of Cruise booking websites for the cruises as these sites usually also provide some onboard credit and offer a special price too.
www.justcruises.com.au
www.cruiseaway.com.au
However I always do a new search also in case there is a new website up that may also offer extra good specials.
So getting back to this cruise, we departed from Brisbane - which entails dropping off your main luggage (head onboard only with what you will need for that day and night), lining up to check in where you receive your cabin cards and number allotment for boarding the ship. As there is a great range of shops and eateries at Brisbane Cruise Terminal we got our allotted number and headed off for a wander and a meal before boarding the ship around 3pm.
After 2 days at sea our first port of call was Noumea, New Caledonia where we caught the locally provided shuttle bus into town to wander around. We checked out the Museum showcasing the local history, War Histories and Nickel Mining history. Small but informative. We just basically wandered around for a few hours then caught the bus back to the Wharf to board another bus shuttling everyone to Lemon Beach offering Cafes, Restaurants and Bars overlooking a very busy beach. Again we just wandered around a bit and then headed back to the ship.
Isle Of Pines we arrived at after 1 day at sea and due to the size of the wharf we were all tendered over to the island, which took about 20 minutes. Isle of Pines was my favourite out of all the places we stopped. Apart from being completely overrun from the passengers on the cruise ship the beauty of the aqua clear water and crisp white sand made up for it. The local folk had little market stalls set up selling sarongs and the usual tourist souveneirs (all made in Thailand or Indonesia incidentally). We had a lovely afternoon just sitting on the beach, going for the occasional dip in the ocean and we tried a local beer at the only food/bar establishment on the beach. There was a huge line up to board the tenders back to the ship so we just planted ourselves on the beach nearby and waited the few hours till the line had dwindled enough.
After another sea day we arrived in Suva, Fiji. As we had been here before and didn't really enjoy the haggling and hassle, this was the only day we booked a Princess Tour which drove us an hour away to a resort where we were provided with a buffet lunch, local dance display and a very informative tour guide. We had the use of the resort for swimming and relaxing, however we were happy to sit at one of the outdoor bars and try some of the yummy cocktails. As the ship leaves port the local Fijians put on a fantastic and energetic farewell.
Next stop was Port Denarau, Fiji and we didn't leave the ship to explore. Two reasons being that the tender ride was a lot longer and we also wanted to enjoy the ship with a lot less passengers onboard. We had a lovely day!! After hearing some reports back that there wasn't much to look at onshore we didn't feel AS guilty.
One more sea day and we arrived at Port Vila, Vanuatu and as again as we hadn't booked any tours we just toddled off the ship and went for a wee stroll until the heat got too much and we took a taxi to town ($10 for 2 of us). As we hadn't done any shopping at all, this was our last chance so that was first on our agenda. I pretty much bought my usual fare of sarongs (nice large ones for $5 each), a dress, a skirt, a tropical top which were all very well priced (again made in Thailand or Indonesia). BF always likes to stock up on his alcohol so we visited a Duty Free shop with the most amazing prices we have ever seen. Half price of the duty free prices on the ship!! BF used my quota too! For lunch we found a restaurant as we wandered along, BF ordered a coconut crab and while the Flying Fox on the menu sounded interesting I settled for a good ol' burger and must say it was the best I'd had for a long time (I don't eat burgers much anyway but YUM!) We did a fair bit of wandering around, found a very lovely flash looking restaurant/bar overlooking the water and I tried a few very refreshing and filling mocktails and smoothies. Just to try something different we hired a water taxi back to the ship which was really nice to be in the breeze and also a different view.
After a few more nights at sea (with another formal night thrown in) we returned to Brisbane - sniffle... Princess offered a shuttle to the airport which we gladly paid for just for simplicity of it all. We did learn some more from this trip - for future trips we will study the ship size and capacity and age. Also we think we will stick to balcony bookings again - can get fresh air instead of having the air conditioner on 24/7.
All in all - I was very happy with my holiday and we both made future cruise bookings but also decided to try another cruiseline or ship next time.
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