SA Footy

The Dark Knight wrote:

woodublieve12 wrote:Sleep is for the weak on cruises!!!

What islands you go too?
Glad you had a great trip. but there was no need to lie about getting laid mate...

Meh.

Went to Noumea, Mystery Island and Pt Vila. Was ment to go Marè but their were reports of someone seeing a flare going off in the open water on our second night so the ship had to turn and circle around the area to check if there was anyone out there. Later on we found out it was just a shooting star or something like that so we ended up running late and missing Marè which we were ment to get to on our third day. Didn't miss anything though there apparently so I'm not too annoyed we didn't go there.

Have only just seen this thread & my family & I were on that same cruise. Totally agree Mystery Island is awesome considering not much there. Also loved dinner time when the waiters etc would put on a show.

The Dark Knight wrote:You should definitely do a cruise Booney, they make for great family holidays. I would fully recommend going with Carnival even though am Bays had a bad experience, they were great and were the same for people who have cruised with Carnival. My mum raved about Princess Cruises aswell.

If you think motion/sea sickness is going to be a problem then travel sickness tablets should do the trick, they are a god send.

Definitely would agree with encouraging you to do a cruise, Booney. I must admit to being a bit of a cruise addict, having done 9 in the past three years, with another two coming up in January and April. My favourite line is Royal Caribbean as they have a bit more activity, including: Rock Climbing Wall; Dodgem Cars; Ice Skating (and brilliant Ice Skating shows); a Surfing simulator; Skydiving simulator etc. For the kids, they also have Dreamwork characters on board - you run into ones such as Shrek, Puss in Boots etc.

Celebrity are also a great line, not so much activity on board but a bit more luxury. Would suit a slightly older demographic. They really do pamper you though.

Princess are also good but don't quite give as good service as Celebrity and RC. Having said that, they have the best Alaska cruise itinerary.

If you want to go to Hawaii, Holland America have the best itinerary, being the only one that goes to all islands.

Re travel sickness, the larger the ship you are on, the more stable it will be. Also, try to get a mid-ship cabin.

The actual itinerary of the cruise can also have a large bearing on its quality. I try to take cruises that mix it up a bit, with a sea day followed by a port day, then another sea day, port day etc.

For a relaxed cruise, the South Pacific is good. However, if you really want to see scenery, New Zealand (particularly the Sounds down south), Alaska and the Mediterranean cannot be beaten. For culture, cruises through Japan and China are great.

Cheers

Anyone booked a cruise through au.cruise.co?

We did our first cruise with the family in late Feb, 10 nights to the Pacific on Carnival, was a great experience, although we were right at the front of the boat...won't do that again.

Mystery Island, Isle of Pines, Mare & Noumea were our stops. Loved MI & IOP, then spent $600 to go our to Amadee Island in Noumea which was great also (swam with giant turtles - and also seas snakes!)

Isle of Pines we did our own tour to the Natural Aquarium which was the highlight of the trip, apart from the taxi ride out there! Narrow winding roads going 100kmh in a remote island with no hospital and my son letting me know half way his seat belt wasn't working wasn't great but an authentic island experience I guess!

One of the highlights for us was the nightly comedy shows, I had my doubts on how good they would be but there were brilliant, they flew some new ones in half way thru the trip to mix it up also.

Id go again, not sure Id ever do longer than 10 nights though, reckon 7-8 nights would be perfect.

Our family had our first Cruise in January this year aboard the Golden Princess around NZ and had an absolute ball, so much so I didn't leave the ship for the whole two weeks. Food was awesome and there was plenty of it (amazing to see how much some people can consistently tuck away in the all you can eat food court though) and available at all times of day/night. Pools and Games rooms for the kids were a hit. Activities (Trivia for me, Bingo for the Mrs) were well received, the shows were highly entertaining, there was good music and movies, impossible not to have a good time I reckon (unless you got crook, which quite a few did).

Didn't take long to get a decent little routine going. fun with the family throughout the day (although we did scatter a bit), lunch and dinner together, shows or activities in the evening, then when Mrs and kids were done I got some serious froff and whiskey time in at the casino til about 1am. Rinse and repeat for 13 days and this little Black Duck had an awesome time.

Hoping to do the Pacific Islands with the same mob next Feb, although this time I do plan to hop off and check out some sights when we Port.

JK wrote:Our family had our first Cruise in January this year aboard the Golden Princess around NZ and had an absolute ball, so much so I didn't leave the ship for the whole two weeks. Food was awesome and there was plenty of it (amazing to see how much some people can consistently tuck away in the all you can eat food court though) and available at all times of day/night. Pools and Games rooms for the kids were a hit. Activities (Trivia for me, Bingo for the Mrs) were well received, the shows were highly entertaining, there was good music and movies, impossible not to have a good time I reckon (unless you got crook, which quite a few did).

Didn't take long to get a decent little routine going. fun with the family throughout the day (although we did scatter a bit), lunch and dinner together, shows or activities in the evening, then when Mrs and kids were done I got some serious froff and whiskey time in at the casino til about 1am. Rinse and repeat for 13 days and this little Black Duck had an awesome time.

Hoping to do the Pacific Islands with the same mob next Feb, although this time I do plan to hop off and check out some sights when we Port.

Glad you had a great time, JK! I am yet to meet more than a handful of people who have not had a blast on a cruise... even if they thought it would be boring before they went! I do hope you managed to look out from the ship at the amazing Sounds (Dusky, Milford etc.). One of the most spectacular places I have ever been!
Up for cruise number 16 in a few weeks time... this time Alaska. Yes, I am definitely a cruise addict!
Cheers

If you have to lookout for amazing sounds do you have to listen for the amazing sights?

Good point!!

10 days away from heading for my next cruise: Vancouver to Seward. Should be a good trip to Alaska, although I was preferring the Baltics. My friend won the toss on this one!
Spending four days in Las Vegas on the way over, plus three in Vancouver at the end, one night in Anchorage and one night in Seattle.
Will be in Las Vegas for American Independence Day - hope I survive the Trumpstas!!!!
Will also be a contrast in temperatures: 40+ in Vegas, 15 or so on the cruise!
Cheers

How did this trip go?

mighty_tiger_79 wrote:How did this trip go?

An absolutely beautiful trip, MT. All towns in Alaska were beautiful, with very hospitable people (a shock in the US ). The weather was not so good but the scenery was spectacular. I would well and truly recommend anyone cruising Alaska.
Cheers

bulldogproud wrote:Glad you had a great time, JK! I am yet to meet more than a handful of people who have not had a blast on a cruise... even if they thought it would be boring before they went! I do hope you managed to look out from the ship at the amazing Sounds (Dusky, Milford etc.). One of the most spectacular places I have ever been!
Up for cruise number 16 in a few weeks time... this time Alaska. Yes, I am definitely a cruise addict!
Cheers

@bulldogproud Apologies for delayed reply mate, forgot all about this topic. Alaska is my dream cruise, who'd ya go with and how was it?

We ended up doing the South Pacific earlier this year and next month get back on for just the 5 day Melb-Tassie trip, short and sweet but with a week in Melbs this time so can't wait.

We are going on the Ovation of the Seas next March to the Pacific for a friends 50th, wasn't that keen on doing a cruise again to places we went only 3 years back but should still be good. Going with some friends should be a positive.

Just purchased our drinking package when it was on special, $67 per day including full internet package (we are going Round 1 of AFL - my only need really), 2 days later it went back out to $85 a day.

Dutchy wrote:We are going on the Ovation of the Seas next March to the Pacific for a friends 50th, wasn't that keen on doing a cruise again to places we went only 3 years back but should still be good. Going with some friends should be a positive.

Just purchased our drinking package when it was on special, $67 per day including full internet package (we are going Round 1 of AFL - my only need really), 2 days later it went back out to $85 a day.

My mate landed the same drinks package price at the same time as you I'd say mate. Pretty sure he'll be on that same trip, will have to check with him.

The missus got her way with another cruise (my turn next year when we go back to Thailand for my 50th), doing 10 nights out of Sydney to Noumea and New Calendonia in November.

Going to work out some day trips while at Isle of Pines, Mare, Mystery Island and Port Vila.
A pub crawl tour in Port Vila looks attractive!
Any suggestions of things to do/see?

Wedgie wrote:The missus got her way with another cruise (my turn next year when we go back to Thailand for my 50th), doing 10 nights out of Sydney to Noumea and New Calendonia in November.

Going to work out some day trips while at Isle of Pines, Mare, Mystery Island and Port Vila.
A pub crawl tour in Port Vila looks attractive!
Any suggestions of things to do/see?

Isle of pines - google natural aquarium which is on the other side of the island, its a lagoon full of sand/reef/fish - if you like snorkling its the best place Ive ever been for it, its an adventure getting to it but very worthwhile.

Mare - we just sent to a beach and swam, not many options there IIRC

Mystery Island - great spot, island about the size of 5 foot fields, dont book anything on the boat, you can do all the same stuff with the locals for 1/3rd of the price once you get dropped off, we went on a turtle spotting tour with the locals in a tinny, was great fun again snorkeling over waist deep reefs and then a 30m drop off into deep blue water, one of the guides grabbed a reef shark by its tail to show us

Port Vila - We did a tour with Tony, a local legend, went to the blue lagoon (pretty good), saw some turtles (not so good as it was like a zoo), but the highlight was the waterfalls/natural swimming holes, just awesome

I did a short video of our day back in March this year - here -> https://www.instagram.com/p/BvbIi5iDtld ... _copy_link

We did that Blue Lagoon in Vila too and can recommend. Apparently Vila has the cheapest Duty Free too, nearly all the passengers we hung with ran the gauntlet and brought back heaps more than you're supposed to. Not one bag even got checked on disembarkment lol and a mate of mine saved enough on grog and smokes to pay for another cruise.

JK wrote:We did that Blue Lagoon in Vila too and can recommend. Apparently Vila has the cheapest Duty Free too, nearly all the passengers we hung with ran the gauntlet and brought back heaps more than you're supposed to. Not one bag even got checked on disembarkment lol and a mate of mine saved enough on grog and smokes to pay for another cruise.

haha wish I knew that, it was bloody cheap, just finished my first bottle of CC, 2 to go

Smokes were less than $4 a packet!

Dutchy wrote:

JK wrote:We did that Blue Lagoon in Vila too and can recommend. Apparently Vila has the cheapest Duty Free too, nearly all the passengers we hung with ran the gauntlet and brought back heaps more than you're supposed to. Not one bag even got checked on disembarkment lol and a mate of mine saved enough on grog and smokes to pay for another cruise.

haha wish I knew that, it was bloody cheap, just finished my first bottle of CC, 2 to go

Smokes were less than $4 a packet!

Yeah I didn't buy any ... I'm one of those types that if only 1 person gets caught it's odds-on to be lol so I didn't bother. Spewing I didn't, there was some big $$ to be saved.

JK wrote:We did that Blue Lagoon in Vila too and can recommend. Apparently Vila has the cheapest Duty Free too, nearly all the passengers we hung with ran the gauntlet and brought back heaps more than you're supposed to. Not one bag even got checked on disembarkment lol and a mate of mine saved enough on grog and smokes to pay for another cruise.

Brought back 6 x 1lt bottles on my last Thailand trip. 2 of them for free with Singapore Airlines Singapore Airport $$'s.

*allegedly*

About to book our first cruise with Celebrity for Jan 2021. Depart Singapore, to Bangkok, through three major stops in Vietnam and finishing in Hong Kong.

Been on three before with P&O, Princess and MSC through the South Pacific, New Zealand and around the bottom of South Africa but this will be the first one with the little one (she will be three when we set off). Different sort of experience this time round.