Cruises

[The Dark Knight]

Today it's a month until mine and my girlfriends end of year holiday and within that is our New Years cruise to New Calidonia and Vanuata through P and O cruises. We both can't wait for it and getting more and more excited as it draws nearer. We booked it back in June so it's been what feels like a very long time coming and it's been booked and ready for quite awhile now.

We leave Adelaide on the 28th of December and fly to Sydney where we stay overnight at the Hotel Ibis for only $54 each. Then on the 29th our 12 night cruise takes off from Sydney, travels to Nourma in New Caledonia, and then through Vanuatu stoping off at Mystery Island, Vila, Wala, Champagne Bay and then Santo before returning to Sydney on the 10th of Janury, as we spend New Years on the cruise. The last stop on the trip was supposed to be Emerald Bay in New Calidonia but because of Tribal unrest there the last stop will now be Santo in Vanuatu. We stay in Sydney for another 2 nights in Sydney after we return at Medina Classic Martin Place apartments for $87.50 each per night and we fly home on the 12th. Our trip should be amazing!!

We booked our cruise through a website called aussiecruisefinder.com and got a very good deal. Booking back in June, it was quite cheap at $1850 each, $150 off of what P and O was offering at the time. Originally it was $1950 but because we booked it so early we got $100 off and $100 of onboard credit. We expect the onboard credit won't go too far but still, it's a great bonus. The price of our overall holiday was very impressive.

We've both heard heaps of different stories from all different people about their experiences on cruises. What about the folk on here? How many cruises have you been on? Where did you go? Are you in the process of planning to go on one?

[woodublieve12]

one of the best trips ive ever gone on.. left from sydney, went to noumea, pentecost, ouvea and vila... value for money for sure... would go on another one in a heart beat...

[The Dark Knight]

one of the best trips ive ever gone on.. left from sydney, went to noumea, pentecost, ouvea and vila... value for money for sure... would go on another one in a heart beat...

How many nights was it WUB and when did you go?

[woodublieve12]

one of the best trips ive ever gone on.. left from sydney, went to noumea, pentecost, ouvea and vila... value for money for sure... would go on another one in a heart beat...

How many nights was it WUB and when did you go?

went back in april 2007, so a few years back on pacific sun... 10 nights... went with my bro and his mate... we hired scooters in noumea which was pretty cool... make sure when you get on board and they put on the activities for the islands you go to get in early for what you want to do... also make sure if any of you suffer from sea sickness, it is costly to get fixed on bored so if you suffer from it maybe go see your doc prior to leaving just as a precaution he may be able to give you something for you to take on board.. i personally had no problem with it... when you have dinner you are stuck with the same people every night.. you will make friends, thats one of the best part of the cruise, meeting new people all over oz...
you'll have a blast mate... go look on pocruises.com.au there is pages designated to information you need to know.. also you can have a tour of the ship you are on...

[woodublieve12]

oh and leaving island parties were awesome!!!

im so jealous, my wife hates water!!!

[The Dark Knight]

one of the best trips ive ever gone on.. left from sydney, went to noumea, pentecost, ouvea and vila... value for money for sure... would go on another one in a heart beat...

How many nights was it WUB and when did you go?

went back in april 2007, so a few years back on pacific sun... 10 nights... went with my bro and his mate... we hired scooters in noumea which was pretty cool... make sure when you get on board and they put on the activities for the islands you go to get in early for what you want to do... also make sure if any of you suffer from sea sickness, it is costly to get fixed on bored so if you suffer from it maybe go see your doc prior to leaving just as a precaution he may be able to give you something for you to take on board.. i personally had no problem with it... when you have dinner you are stuck with the same people every night.. you will make friends, thats one of the best part of the cruise, meeting new people all over oz...
you'll have a blast mate... go look on pocruises.com.au there is pages designated to information you need to know.. also you can have a tour of the ship you are on...

Yeah we're now going on the Pacific Sun aswell.

For all those onshore tours and activities we've been told to wait because until we get off the boat to decide what to do because the locals have the same sort of tours and activities for much cheaper than what P and O has it for onboard?

I've never had much sea sickness in the past, I usually get that 'rocking' feeling big time. We'll look into the sea sickness factor before we go and as you said maybe go to Doctors to see if they can give us something for it just incase we get it.

Yeah, I've been on the P and O website quite a bit, looking at all the information about the cruise.

[Pag]

Went on P&O Pacific Sun from Brisbane in November 2009. Did Noumea, Lifou, Mystery Island and Vila.

We pre-booked our tours through P&O before we left, they soon fill up very quickly on the boat. The problem with booking independent tours when you get to the islands is if a bus brakes down or a cab runs out of fuel, the boat will leave without you if you're not back in time.

We booked two tours for our Vila stop and still had time to do some independent exploring in between. We went for an 'Underwater Walk' in the bay in the morning. About a 500m track set-up on the seabed with the oxygen tanks remaining up in a hut above the water. Just take your time walking around it, they also give you a couple of pieces of bread each to feed the fish with. amazing experience, I couldn't see a metre in front of my face because of the amount of fish that were down there.

In the arvo we were booked to go Zorbing. Bus trip was about 20 minutes along the coast, location was amazing, a private block on a huge hill between the ocean and the rainforest, would do it again just to get back to the spot. Zorbing is as much fun as it looks, you get out knowing how your clothes must feel when you put them in the washing machine. Would highly recommed this if you haven't done it before, especially if you're younger.

Lifou had the best snorkelling beach I've ever been to, but since you're not going there, I wont bore you with the amazing details.

Noumea was a bit different for us, we left from Brisbane so we arrived at 3pm instead of 9am like I think Sydney cruises do. We didn't book a tour in the afternoon, just walked a round the city centre. It was so different, one street was full of top-line jewellery stores and looked very French, the next was a ghetto with shutters pulled down and graffiti and rubbish everywhere. Huge culture clash. We booked a Pub Crawl Tour for the evening, hopped on a kids train you'd find at the Port Dock Station at Port Adelaide and spent 20 mins driving along the beach to a couple of pubs. The tour included a 2L stein of local tap beer which took a fair bit of work to get through, but was an amazing atmosphere. We also saw a 16 year old from the cruise (with her mother) passed out in the gutter outside the pub as we were leaving (no drinking age in New Caledonia). I didn't see her for the rest of the trip

On the boat, we did a bit of everything. Went to a couple of stage shows (and I'm not really a 'musical' person), but they were pretty good. Had a couple of stand-up comedians perform in the theatre as well who were excellent. Had a couple of movies on the big screen in there one night. Rest of the time was spent in the casino, piano bar, the 'pub' bar and the nightclub after midnight.

Food was excellent, we ate at the buffet most of time because we were lazy, we did eat twice at one of the restaurants and got really good service there too. Drinks were about $6.50/beer, $8/spirit and $10-15/cocktail, not much different to pub prices here. I actually got used to drinking Fosters (wasn't too bad), but Corona was drink fo choice for most people.

Hope that helps, can't recommend it highly enough.

[AFLflyer]

do people sneak booze onboard?
it would p#SS me off buying a beer for $6.50 each time.
surely you could get some spirits on?

[Alaska]

Worst holiday I have ever had! The Pacific Sun is well past its use by date (went in March this year) It only had one engine working so we only got one stop and that was shortened because of the Tsunami. Stuck on a small boat, with expensive drinks and poor bar service. Shows were ordinary and extra activities poorly organised. They arrived back in Sydney 6 hours late and we only just made the flights back.
The only good point was the food was great no matter were you went to eat.

[The Dark Knight]

The problem with booking independent tours when you get to the islands is if a bus brakes down or a cab runs out of fuel, the boat will leave without you if you're not back in time.

Really?? That won't matter to us booking through the cruise finder would it??

[Pag]

The problem with booking independent tours when you get to the islands is if a bus breaks down or a cab runs out of fuel, the boat will leave without you if you're not back in time.

Really?? That won't matter to us booking through the cruise finder would it??

If it's an official tour booked on the boat through P&O or on the P&O wesbite prior to leaving, they will wait if something like this happens. If you don't, you're on your own, and it's your responsibility to be back at departure time.

You should have a booking reference number mate, browse though the tours here and then using your reference number, log into Cruise Personaliser and you can book tours before you leave so you get in to what you want. It's first-in, best-dressed and the popular ones are sometimes full by the time the boat leaves.

We did the Night Train in Noumea, and Wet n Wild Zorbing and something similar to the Helmet Dive Ocean Walk in Vila.

[The Dark Knight]

The problem with booking independent tours when you get to the islands is if a bus breaks down or a cab runs out of fuel, the boat will leave without you if you're not back in time.

Really?? That won't matter to us booking through the cruise finder would it??

If it's an official tour booked on the boat through P&O or on the P&O wesbite prior to leaving, they will wait if something like this happens. If you don't, you're on your own, and it's your responsibility to be back at departure time.

You should have a booking reference number mate, browse though the tours here and then using your reference number, log into Cruise Personaliser and you can book tours before you leave so you get in to what you want. It's first-in, best-dressed and the popular ones are sometimes full by the time the boat leaves.

We did the Night Train in Noumea, and Wet n Wild Zorbing and something similar to the Helmet Dive Ocean Walk in Vila.

Ah ok then, cheers mate I guess we'll see how we go when we get to planning the tours/activities for us to do.

Yes we do and we've been looking through the tours and activities, the cruise personaliser is a very handy thing to have and organises everything really well.

[valleys07]

Went on mine in May this year and had an absolute blast!

Ours departed from sydney and was on the pacific jewel, booked through p&o direct.

9 night cruise and we visited Noumea, Lifou, Mystery Island and Isle of Pines, all amazing (except the weather ruined mystery island )

Recommend you book your tours pretty much as soon as you get on the ship, like pag said, that way you dont miss out on your preferred time slot. I went with my finance' and 2 other couples and the lads did a jetski tour whilst the girls did a tree climb tour. The rest of the islands were spent snorkelling and shopping.

On the ship we ate at a restaurant every night (the waiters were sensational!) and never felt the need to try buffet or other restaurants. Like pag mentioned, the rest of the time is spent in casino bars, night clubs, movies and gnenerally mingling with others from around the world. We went to see 2 comedians and a magician and i thought all were pretty entertaining. And yes, the leaving island parties are pretty good!

All in all mate you will have a blast, would definately go on another one without hesitation. Already have my eyes set on a caribbean cruise but will be a while away yet

[The Dark Knight]

Around about this time next week we'll be getting ready to board the boat.

[Pag]

do people sneak booze onboard?
it would p#SS me off buying a beer for $6.50 each time.
surely you could get some spirits on?

Can't mate, gotta get through customs before departing. Can buy duty free on the boat, but they keep it in the shop until you disembark.

[Psyber]

do people sneak booze onboard?
it would p#SS me off buying a beer for $6.50 each time.
surely you could get some spirits on?

Can't mate, gotta get through customs before departing. Can buy duty free on the boat, but they keep it in the shop until you disembark.

Duty Free seems to be a bit of a con from the prices I've seen at airports here and in Singapore and Heathrow.
Generally things are cheaper at my local bottle shop for the stuff I buy.

[The Dark Knight]

do people sneak booze onboard?
it would p#SS me off buying a beer for $6.50 each time.
surely you could get some spirits on?

Can't mate, gotta get through customs before departing. Can buy duty free on the boat, but they keep it in the shop until you disembark.

I was told you could by a bottle of something duty free and take it on the boat as long as it remains unopened?

[Farbs]

How did you enjoy the Cruise DK?

I just went on 2 cruises recently - one was a 15 nights with Celebrity Cruises down coast of Mexico, Central America and through the Panama Canal - was awesome

The other was a Caribbean cruise on Allure of the Seas - that boat is unreal! Would love to see it down in Australia sometime - would definitely go on it again - that thing blew me away!

[valleys07]

How did you enjoy the Cruise DK?

I just went on 2 cruises recently - one was a 15 nights with Celebrity Cruises down coast of Mexico, Central America and through the Panama Canal - was awesome

The other was a Caribbean cruise on Allure of the Seas - that boat is unreal! Would love to see it down in Australia sometime - would definitely go on it again - that thing blew me away!

Holy Crap! Allure of the seas is huge!!!!

[devilsadvocate]

I've always thought the idea of a cruise was pretty naff unless you're a 450 pound granny who gets the sweats if you're more than 10 mins from the next buffet.

Anyhoo, that was until Getaway did a special on these guys:

http://www.auroraexpeditions.com.au/expedition/lost-in-paradise-our-fallen-heroes

It's no 5 star behemouth of a boat and it doesn't have a 24 hour buffet or casino, but it takes you to some of the most beautiful places on the planet. Add to that the cultural significance of seeing some WW2 sites, I'll be doing this trip one ANZAC day.