CRUISING THE SOUTH WEST PACIFIC ON LINERS
CRUISING THE SOUTH WEST PACIFIC ON LINERS
KIRIWINA ISLAND (PNG) from GOLDEN PRINCES Sept 2017
Latest cruise was Nov 2019 - but much of this page was written after a Feb 2016 trip on CARNIVAL LEGEND.
There is an UPDATE section on subsequent cruises later on the page.
JAN 2020 - This page has become a bit of a dog's breakfast. The original idea was to give readers some info of what cruising was like out of Australia, including prices, Sydney terminals, comparisons between P+O and CARNIVAL, the only 2 lines we had traveled on at that time. You will find this stuff from 0 to 20% on page.
But since then LADY T and I have done a lot more cruises - I have not tried to detail all, but have added info on NEW SHIPS and NEW DESTINATIONS when we did them.
SHIPS - Carnival Legend and Spirit - 7% down page
- P+O Pearl and Jewel - 8%
- Voyager/Explorer of the Seas of the Seas - 52%
- Golden Princess - 56%
- P+O Pacific Explorer - 60%
-Noordam- 68%
-refitted Voyager - 75%
DESTINATIONS
- typical South Seas - 24%
- New Zealand - 45%
- Fiji - 53%
- Papua New Guinea and near - 56%
- Port Vila out of town - 57%
- SE and Central Queensland 60%
- Lifou - 67%
- Tasmania - 68%
- Singapore, Darwin, Cairns,
Whitsundays, Brisbane - 75%
NO SHORTAGE OF CHOICE
There's a heap of cruises departing Sydney - in fact you can go virtually anywhere on the world's oceans - but the most popular are the relatively short (8 to 11 days) runs around the various islands of New Caledonia and Vanuatu in the south-west Pacific east of of the central-north Queensland coast.
Um, someone left the N out of VaNuatu. I fogot to include a linear scale - it is 1600 km in a straight line from the NEW CALEDONIA place marker to that of ROCKHAMPTON and just under 2000 to SYDNEY.
The cruises tend to take 2 or 3 days to reach the islands from Sydney; then 3,4 or 5 days depending on how many call-ins around the various islands (New Caledonia has one large island and a hell of a lot of smaller ones: Vanuatu is all smallish islands); and 2 or 3 days to get back to Sydney. There can be variations - for instance two Tropical Cyclones (aka Typhoons/Hurricanes depending on where you live) forced an early retreat latest cruise on CARNIVAL LEGEND and so we spent a very leisurely 4 days getting back from New Caledonia. Hell, I think I could have swum faster - but it was all very relaxing and because we were always considerably in front of the storm we suffered no really big seas or strong winds.
Similarly our Oct 15 voyage on CARNIVAL SPIRIT saw propeller problems causing an extra half day to get home.
Island call-ins. Note that when writing this I've yet to make Lifou (those darn Tropical Cyclones) and that Espiritu Santo is a rare visit for these cruises. Early publicity for our latest trip included Santo but it was dropped, apparently because of inadequate docking/shore excursion facilities. Anyway, those cyclones came from that direction so no way would we have made it.
UPDATE - later cruises saw 2 visits to both LIFOU and ESPIRIT SANTO - see down page.
For scale - it's about 530km in a straight line between the place markers of PORT VILA AND NOUMEA
Note too I neglected to include Port Denarau and Suva in Fiji, which are sometimes additions to these New Caledonia cruises. Fiji is about 1000km east of Port Vila.
This is a March 2016 cruise on Carnival Legend. I pinched the graphic off Ozcruising's website.
Looks to be an interesting trip - I've backpacked Fiji back in the 90s: hafta get back.
UPDATE - as indicated up-page that's exactly what I did in August 16 on Carnival Spirit. Our outward leg was Sydney-Noumea-Suva - the return was slightly different to the above - Port Denaru-Suva-Sydeny. Was supposed to be Port Denaru-Isle of Pines (can be seen below Mare on the above map)-Sydney.
I've done 4 of the shorter island cruises in the 3 years to FEB 1016, plus 2 slightly longer ones - the first around New Zealand, which is probably the next most popular cruise ex-Sydney after the islands of the SW Pacific - the second extending across to Fiji. The NZ cruise involved 2 sea days each way, plus call-ins every day at 8 different locations around the two islands - 12 days in total. Fiji involved 2 sea days to Noumea and Mystery Island, 2 sea days to Fiji and 4 sea days back to Australia including the medical emergency mentioned down page- total with stops 12 days.
Much of this page concentrates on the Feb 2016 trip on Carnival Legend to the islands - but I will add information which may become useful to you from other cruises where applicable.
UPDATE MARCH 2019 - cruisers shouldn't overlook the AUSTRALIAN ONLY trips - I have done two, to SE/CENTRAL QUEENSLAND and to HOBART/PORT ARTHUR - gotta say these were as good as the islands with the added advantage of no BORDER SECURITY shit on exit/entry - which has become the major contributor of hold ups at the dock (the cruise lines are constantly streamlining their stuff: not so the government).
WHY CRUISE?
Some of you guys are probably asking why a long-time backpacker is cruising. Thing is it's so EASY. No mucking around at airports both at Sydney's pathetic excuse fer one or the hassles and scams at airports like Phuket's and Bali's. Check in and customs/emigration/immigration is so much easier.
EASIER too is access:
Sydney's Circular Quay passenger terminal for cruise liners(properly known as THE OVERSEAS PASSENGER TERMINAL - CIRCULAR QUAY) is only 300m from Circular Quay rail station. This is a 120km 2.5 h train trip from my home town, very relaxing and only costing $aud2.50 (less than $us2) on account I'm a seriously old dude with a geezer's concession. This is the Carnival Legend waiting for us on our latest Feb2016 cruise and was shot from the Quay concourse.
White Bay, from where the PandO cruises and other smaller liners usually start is a bit further west - add a $aud25 taxi ride from Central Station (the panorama shot click-expands nicely)....
....but White Bay departures have the advantage of travelling under the Sydney Harbour Bridge - something I've done many times in small ferries, but....
.....it seems so different in a large ship.
The P+0 Pearl and Jewel just make it by a few meters - the bigger Carnival boats don't.
Note use of the + instead of the usual shorthand in P&0. For some reason blogger can't handle & - as yu can see.
Relative position of OVERSEAS CRUISE TERMINAL at Circular Quay and WHITE BAY CRUISE TERMINAL.
Straight line distance between the 2 place markers is only 2 km, but you can see that the White Bay based boats have a rather twisted course before they are adjacent say the Opera House.
By the way, if I was an overseas visitor I would much prefer Circular Quay - you can walk to the Opera House, Sydney Harbour bridge, the Rocks historical area and the City - plus the Quay is a train/bus focus for more distant parts of Sydney. Buses for Bondi Beach leave from here - look for 380 or 333 in Alfred St opp wharf 2 - 45 minutes.
White Bay however is relatively isolated and poorly served with public transport - no doubt the cruise lines throw on buses etc for their exxy shore excursions but if you are like me and prefer to do your own exploring it is a difficult place to exit cheaply/quickly.
UPDATE - State Transport is now running a ferry from a wharf about 500m to the right once out of the terminal (ask directions from one of the many helpers there on arrivals time), to Circular Quay. I haven't done this yet, but it would be a pretty scenic trip - including passing under the bridge.
But THE MAIN ATTRACTION of cruising is best summed up by an old work mate met on my first cruise - it was her 15th or so. When asked what she liked best, she said "They PAMPER you". Too right - service is the big thing and you don't have to worry about cooking, house-work or most of the other everyday hassles.
I have to add that GOOD VALUE is another thing that appeals to me. You can do these cruises for less than $aud70 ($us50)** per person a day all inclusive - unlimited food, comfy cabin, entertainment, good leisure facilities, heaps of interest activities plus of course you are being transported to a variety of places in high comfort. For Australian cruises Carnival and P+O fares include tips (Oz aint a tipping culture). However, knowing how poorly most of the crew is paid, we usually give at cruise end a small number of modest sums to people who have stood out service-wise.
Note I think ALL UP costs of my recent backpacker trips would mostly be close to $70 a day - some more.
You can of course spend more - on special food, certain shipboard interest activities, shore excursions, gambling etc - but our extra spending latest cruise simply involved booze, a shore excursion bus ride to Yejele Beach on Mare and a simple wifi package for Lady Tezza (note wifi is expensive - ridiculous in this day and age). Plus the afore-mentioned modest tips
**UPDATE 2017 - COST WISE there are so many variables - even with the same type of cabin (we always go for a sea view cabin because The Lady freaks without natural light) you can end up spending way more than twice the above figures (and that is BEFORE you start adding booze packages, pay dining, spa treatments, expensive shore excursions ...yada). Pick a higher level cabin and it goes up again.
But here are a few tips:
- try to not book the opening fare (unfortunately some people can't avoid this).
- PACK AND GO (last minute) FARES are usually a good deal - but note you have less choice re cabin types, location etc. Maybe no choice.
- After the Opening Fares and before Pack and Go some good deals become available.
- CRUISE WHOLESALERS should not be avoided. Get on their email list and they will send you special offers. Sure, they get their middleman cut but we have found places like CRUISE SALE FINDER to offer some excellent deals. A few times we have been upgraded to a balcony at no extra charge.
- Often some inclusive charges like TIPS (at least on cruises leaving Australlia) can be opted out.
Thing is a lot of this is variable - THE LADY has just told me (Dec 2017) ROYAL CARRIBEAN has removed the option to opt-out of inclusive tips for cruises out of Australia. So the thing is to do your research on all this before booking.
Anyway, with THE LADY doing all this research/booking, we always end up with a good deal, Our sea-view room always costs more than the bottom budget internal cabins (think around $100 a day each for TWO people in 2017, more like $80 when we started in 2014) vs down to 60-70% of that for an interior cabin with FOUR people.
We have found LOCATION of cabin can be important - end cabins tend to move around a bit more in rough seas and cruising forums can tell you the noisy cabins (often the ones near entertainment venues) and other problems.
UPDATE - JAN 2000. The cost of a typical cruise out of Sydney has increased way over the rate of inflation in recent years. I put this down to INCREASED DEMAND -it seems all those baby boomer retirees have woken up to the delights on board. That's okay, I reckon we were no earlier than them. It's kinda hard to estimate average cost but these days we figure if we can get a sea-view cabin for $aud130 a day (abt $US90) once all the freebies they throw at repeat cruisers are subtracted, we are getting an OK deal.
THE SHIPS
As late as our 6th cruise in July 2016 we had only used 2 outfits, CARNIVAL and P+0. And even more restrictive, they are owned by the one company, Carnival Corporation plc - this outfit is the largest cruise liner operator in the world with more than 100 ships over 10 brands.
So no surprises that our cruise experiences are not radically different.
But there are several other cruise lines operating out of Sydney, some not owned by Carnival. I hope to be able to report on a few some time in the future.
OUR CARNIVAL CHOICES
We have done 2 cruises on Carnival Legend, and 2 on Carnival Spirit. They are sister ships and tend to be very similar. But not identical.
This is Carnival Legend off Mare. Carnival Spirit is a sister panamax class ship (biggest Carnival that can get thru the Panama canal) and looks more or less identical. At 86000 tons, 294m long and 32m wide, carrying 2100 passengers and 904 crew they are not small, but are nowhere the size of some later-built cruise ships - the above was launched in 2001.
There are small variations internally - Spirit has had the most recent refit (2015) and has a new Mexican style buffet section. It also has less ostentatious internal decorations, although both are pretty flash - what Carnival calls its Las Vegas style.
Legend's 8 storey Atrium. Those are lifts at left.
The Atriums's ground floor aint exactly retiring either.
The theme continues right thru the ship - this is one of the stairwells.
If all this seems a bit overwhelming, note it seemed much less chintzy on our second Legend trip. And those legend-based paintings and murals are good value to interpret (see down page).
Differences between Carnival's Legend and Spirit are small.
Apart from a more relaxed decor (but still more blingy than P+O) a more recent refit on the Spirit results in some extra food options - notably a Mexican food bar which on the Legend serves hamburger,chips etc (no worries big time gourmets - these high range options are available in another spot on the Spirit).
Fitness freaks should note Legend has a chin up bar out on the deck in front of the gym, Spirit has no chin up bar.
Chin-ups rule
THE P+O SHIPS
P+0 Pacific Pearl at Napier, New Zealand. It's close in appearance and size to our other P+O choice, Pacific Jewel. These are SMALLER than the Carnival vessels at a 63500/69850 gross tonnes respectively, 247/245m long, 1850/1900 passengers (although they as wide as the Carnivals and have an equal number of passenger decks (11) - the reason they fit under the Sydney Harbour Bridge is largely due to their lower funnels). Thing is at all times I thought I was on pretty sizable ships. They are older than the Carnivals - launched 1989. But regular refits mean they are not shabby.
Lines of the slightly larger (well heavier but actually 2m shorter) Pacific Jewel were done by world famous architect Lorenzo Piano. To me, the curved "dolphin like" profile makes it look bigger, sleeker and more modern that Pacific Pearl. Only problem is that Piano had a hand in styling Pearl (launched abt the same time) - um let's say he was less successful.
Setting is once again Mare, New Caledonia.
Decor on P+O is considerably more restrained. This is probably the blingiest spot on the Jewel, its 3 storey Atrium.
More relaxed decor in P+O Jewel's buffet's ocean view section vs....
....Carnival Legend
Differences between the P+O ships
CAVEAT - a lot of the following mentions PACIFIC PEARL - but in March 2017 P+O sold her - she is now currently sailing for Cruise and Maritme Voyages out of the UK as COLUMBUS. Lady Tezza says I should delete the following sections mentioning PEARL, but a lot is about the New Zealand Cruise which should be relevant on whatever P+O ship is doing it. Plus some UK readers may be interested in PEARL'S features.
Our two P+O boats differed more internally than the Carnivals.
I thought dining, entertainment, other activities and cabin standards were very similar.
However Pearl had a terrific cicular public lounge area up top forward called THE DOME which.....
....was a great place to sit, watch the the surrounding scene (particularly good on entry/exit to ports and other scenic areas) and to just read. play cards etc. The large central open space was good for the free dance classes, movies, talks from experts on art, craft activities etc, teen discos and so on.
Jewel has a much more longitudinally extensive area up top. However those front panoramic windows have the GYM area (with a spa downstairs) - the public lounge, still called THE DOME, is an irregular rectangle behind on the port side only (those upper rear windows you can see in the pic) and is much smaller and pokier than on the Pearl. On the starboard side are fitness suites (pay for special fitness stuff/massages) and the beauty salon.
I personally don't care if I have a sea view when working out, but I did spend a hell of a lot of time relaxing at the Pearl Dome sea-view front windows.
So obviously another big difference is GYM LOCATION. On the Pearl it is way down on deck A which is below the first of the passenger cabin decks (1) and mainly has crew quarters and auxiliary ship functions. Side areas from the gym have spa, fitness suites and the beauty salon.
At first I thought hiding the gym down there was not so hot, but it is right at the foot of the central stairway (and lifts) and because I like to do several bottom to top stair climbs after a workout (10 floors mid-ship) I grew to really prefer it - helped largely by the fact it always seemed less crowded than on the Jewel. I think Pearl's gym is slightly larger, but the main reason was that Jewel had a circus high- wire act for the main top deck at the time of my cruise and the performers spent a fair time in the gym keeping fit. On all ships performers from the shows' dance troupes etc also used the gyms, but these people did not overcrowd the other 3 gyms. Some nice eye candy too.
Another mark against Jewel's gym was that at the time of my trip all the stationary bicycles were in a separate room, obviously for the paid spin classes. Pearl had at least 6 bikes - I never had to wait for one.
A mark against both is that there are no chin-up, pull-up bars - my personal favourite.
A note here - I don't use gyms at home: no time/can't afford them. But this is the thing about cruises - you can try new activities at no cost. And a workout at the gym sure burns some of that excess of yummy food from the buffet.
The Jewel has an adults' only deck out back (the Oasis) with sun-lounges and lounging pods. plus comfy seats under cover back near the bar to right of image. A similar but smaller deck is below this, without bar facilities
The Pearl has a similar set-up, except the main Oasis deck also contains twin spas, very popular with guests.
If you want a fresh air spa experience on the Jewel there are two between the swimming pools on deck 12 (there is another pool beyond that metal hoop, but it is empty and covered by a net because of rough weather the previous night). Note pools are not huge - no place for laps swimmers.
This area on the Pearl is very similar apart from no spas and a swim up bar at one of the pools.
The rear outside extension to the buffet area above the Oasis decks was a nice place to spend time on both ships. Here Pearl passengers are checking Milford Sound, Fiordland, South Island New Zealand. Nice area.
UPDATE JAN 20 - all the above is largely** academic now because P+O has sold both PEARL and JEWEL. They were partly replaced by PACIFIC EDEN and PACIFIC ARIA (both bought from fellow Carnival PLC line HOLLAND AMERCICA) which because they were smaller had to be supplemented by PACIFIC EXPLORER (see down page) bought from sister cruise company PRINCESS also owned by Carnival Plc.
Because EDEN and ARIA are getting a bit old, the former was sold in MARCH 19 and the latter transferred to NZ based cruises. For Australian operations, the plan is to replace them in late 2020 and late 2021 with the very big PACIFIC ADVENTURE (formerly GOLDEN PRINCESS) and PACIFIC ENCOUNTER (now STAR PRINCESS)
Sounds good to me - a lot of people knock P+O, but I have found their 3 ships I've used to date fine - if the line can replicate the success of EXPLORER, I look forward to a trip on ADVENTURE and ENCOUNTER.
**largely - because P+O still operates PACIFIC DAWN which is a sister ship to JEWEL (and is running out of Melbourne and Brisbane) - so much of what I have said about JEWEL applies to DAWN.
Differences between Carnival and P+0
MORE FEATURES
Size is obviously a major difference - but I never thought the Carnivals too big or the P+Os too small.
But the extra space allows Carnival to more fit things on-board like....
.....a 3rd (tiny) pool on the rear adults' only deck. That's a spa in the elevated glass enclosed area end of pool. This deck was a popular area - has lots of comfy chairs under cover and like the P+Os, a bar. Booze prices gave this elcheapo dude a jolt, but I buy bulk from Dan Murphy's etc and I noticed prices were very similar to onshore pubs in New Zealand and considerably cheaper than rip-off New Caledonia. Nice point - booze prices seemed constant throughout each ship - so if you were at one of the flash Atrium bars you still paid $aud 7+ for your stubby of beer. For the record, P+O may have been 5-10% cheaper than Carnival.
I think FOOD VARIETY may have been slightly more on the Carnivals but at no time did I consider P+0's buffet was lacking. FOOD QUALITY was good on both lines as far as I was concerned, both in the buffets and the a la carte restaurants. Then again, I'm no gourmet.
Main difference in the buffets apart from decor was that P+Os (Jewel at top) had more pressure on seating - no big deal, but several occasions at peak times we had to search for a spot, often sharing a family table with another couple. Carnival Legend Lido buffet seating at bottom.
ALL THAT FOOD!
The amount and variety of food on the cruise is a blowout. Particularly to The Lady and me who were raised in lower working class families which back in the late 40s/early-mid 50s tended to do it tough - there was often a shortage of food and variety was restricted to the same old cheap staples. So even though our later years were hardly lower working class (bless Australia's free education system) we have remained pretty frugal and no frills. Get into a situation where we can go berserk at no extra cost and I particularly lose some restraint - despite my rigorous daily excercise regime (see down page) I put on 5 kilos (11 lbs) in the 10 days/12 nights on board FEB 2016 trip).
But our early life-experience still showed - our parents would kill us if we wasted food so we never left stuff on our cruise plates uneaten, unlike 50%+ of other passengers.
My poor old mum would be turning over in her grave. And this is small time compared to the stuff left on other plates.
Nor did we eat between meals - the amount of grazing when the buffet was closed (for only about an hour between meals after opening 0615 - closes very late) was incredible, and most of this stuff was pay extra. Similarly there would be at least a half-dozen partly finished pizzas on trays outside cabins on my coffee fetching trek each morning. I assumed room service had delivered - some room service items are free, others not. But maybe passengers had fetched these themselves from the pizzeria which like the deli sandwich counter, remains open 24 hours).
BTW - no lack of quantity in the Waterfront a la carte restaurant, and if you want more, ask. Want 2 entrees or ice cream with that fancy dessert? No problem.
SOFT SERVES RULE!
I reckon a big issue for families with kids is that the Carnivals had a SELF SERVE SOFT SERVE ICE CREAM MACHINE out on the main pool deck, which was immensely popular (and not just with the kids - I love that stuff, particularly when free). The P+0s have a pay per serve ice cream cone place - also immensely popular.
PAY?
When there is so much yummy free food? Yep, plenty did, including at a joint near the lower deck lounges on each ship selling fabulous looking cakes and pastries - but no more fabulous looking to me than the free pastries and cake up at the buffet. A pay coffee shop also did a roaring trade (sure, those coffee machines in the buffet might not hit the spot for a true coffee freak - I wouldn't know the difference between good and very average coffee but Lady Tezza does) and you would not believe the crowds in the lolly shops. Gourmets who want to step up from the free a la carte restaurants have several pay options for a fancy meal. Dunno how good they are - I thought the free restaurants served pretty good food with great service.
MORE FUN AT CARNIVAL'S A LA CARTE
You can expect Carnival's restaurants to be bigger, but in fitting with the FUN SHIPS theme of the line, the wait-staff put on some short entertainment each night which proved immensely popular.
The Carnival Spirit and Legend have 2 level a la carte restaurants called Waterfront - lower level for permanent bookings, upper for casual. These also are open for breakfast and lunch for people who don't fancy the buffet. Dinner menu has a good variety of new dishes each night and as said above, I thought the food itself pretty nice.
Towards the end of dinner, fabulous maitre d Silvestru (at right on table top) would announce song or dance. He led by example....
....busting out all the moves (great dancer and this guy is middle aged).
Wait staff joined in....
....soon followed by many diners. Sounds corny, but very enjoyable. Sorry about the quality of some shots, but I took them while doing the the Macarena
BIGGER, BETTER GYMS
Carnival's gyms were much larger - makes sense on a bigger ship but I'm thinking disproportionately so. Gyms spread over 3 levels at top front of vessels. Those windows below face forward, give ocean views.
Lowest level has some bikes, cross trainers, a few workout machines. Chin up bar is out on the front deck near windows - Carnival Legend only. Spirit does without. So do P+O Jewel and Pearl.
Mid level has this central spa (very popular) plus......
.....more bikes and a stretch/floor-exercise area
Note how Green Thunder goes past the side of the ship and over the water, 12 storeys up. Tube is transparent but I have to say I was going so fast I didn't notice where I was (this attraction is mainly for kids, adolescents and geezers like me with an emotional age of 11). I pinched this shot from a disney cruise blog - looks like they got it from WHITEWATER WATERPARKS AND ATTRACTIONS.
Take off zone for the Green Thunder - attendant gets the all clear, presses button and standing platform drops away. Young lady, who obviously likes the buffet, looks (from arms-crossed stance) like she is worried that the initial free fall will take more than her breath away. Just kidding - crossed arm stance is safest/fastest way to travel in tube both male and female.
The take-off platform for Green Thunder is the highest place on the ship passengers can reach - aft you can see a smaller open water slide for younger kids and less brave people....
....forward is a nice elevated sunning area, never crowded on my passes-by. At the next lowest level out of frame towards the camera is a nice fairly spacious wading pool very popular with parents and toddlers. P+O Jewel/Pearl have a smaller toddlers' wading pool on an aft deck just above the adults' only level.
BETTER FOR KIDS?
Well the free water slides are certainly a plus for Carnival. Both Carnival and P+0 have supervised kids' clubs which pre teens seemed to find very enjoyable. For teens they also have special areas and activities but it seemed to me Carnival's were more conspicuous. But I didn't get the idea P+O was lacking here - lotsa teens on our P+O trips and they never seemed bored.
Kids (and others) will like the zip-lines on the P+0 Jewel/Pearl. Trouble is this is a paid activity - as was the walk the plank and climb the funnel on the same ships.
THEATERS
All the ships we have been on have had main theaters which for twice nightly performances of shows plus other occasions where mass seating is required.
Carnival Legend Folies theater above - seems to me not too much bigger (if at all) than those on the P+O boats - seats maybe 800. All performances both Carnival and P+O we have seen feature professional production, great lighting etc, very loud, good choreography to this amateur viewer, singers vary from very good live to ditto mimed.
However Carnival Legend and Spirit have a bonus - a smaller sub-theater (Firebird Theater on Legend) one deck down for more performances and activities requiring less seating - maybe 250 people. Doubles as movie theater during daylight hours+ small focus groups (art lectures etc). We found the comedians after dinner very good value.
GUESTS
1500 - haven't eaten since breakfast so up to the buffet (the a la carte restaurant is also open for more discerning guests but we prefer the buffet's mind boggling choice at lunch and breakfast - not that dinner there has fewer choices). On departure days the buffet tends to stay open for luncheon until 1600 or later, meaning it is never too late to grab a bite to eat....
....go across to one of the port windows and......
....check out the Sydney Opera House, plus....
....the never ending passing parade of ferries and harbour-cruise boats.
As said up page, you can do this from your cabin too if it is port side. Even better if you have a balcony. Our deck 1 cabin didn't have a balcony but the sea view window was less than 10m above the water - when one of those larger ferries in the preceding shot went past it was actually higher than this viewpoint. Pretty cool in big seas too - one wave submerged the window. Waterproof of course - you begin to understand why deck 1 doesn't have balcony cabins.
What gets me is that the nearby area has hotel rooms where you will pay $300+ a day for similar views, and plenty of ultra expensive restaurants, none of which have the elevated deck 9 outlook of the pics 2 and 3 up.
CHECKING THE SCENE.
After luncheon it is the over an hour before the SAFETY DRILL, which gives plenty of time to wander the ship and check the scene.
City and the Quay look good.....
....as does the coat hanger.
Aft on the adult's only (SERENITY) deck the pool has no takers at this early hour, but if you look carefully (click to expand on PC) you can see 4 or 5 happy souls sprawled in the spa - coctails in hand I noticed at the time.
Behind the previous shot's camera, the bar is doing a good trade. Nothing like getting in the mood early. Lady Tezza drags me away.
Kids not slow to hit the water at the twin pools main deck (a similar set-up behind camera).
SAFETY DRILL TIME
1700 - our muster station is on forward deck 3, which is way better than a previous departure on Carnival Spirit when we were on the other sunny side of the ship with poorer non Opera House/water views. That sure got hot in the crowded 20/30 minutes it takes to demonstrate emergency procedures. Tip - delay arrival after first summons to minimise time spent here - but don't delay in cabin so that cabin stewards have to roust you to drill - and suffer glares from earlier arrivals like yours truly.
Note, unlike the P+O cruises, passengers don't have to take bulky life jackets from cabins to the drills.
DEPARTURE TIME
1830 - there is no hooting of the claxon (city noise controls), jolt or increase in noise level - until I noticed the surrounding scenery sliding by I was unaware we were underway.
Goodbye city and Overseas Terminal as we back away from berth.
Goodbye Opera House.
Sydney Harbour is pretty narrow here (which may have something to do with why they built the bridge at this spot) and the reversing Legend goes a fair way across before the stern thrusters and assisting tugs start to turn it through 90 degrees.....
....so that the stern goes pretty close to being under the coat hanger. Then the pilot throws it into forward and we are off towards the heads.
Now Legend is nowhere near as long as some other ships which use the Overseas Terminal - backing out must be a pretty tight manoeuvre for them.
Sydney Harbour is very picturesque - these show a later-in-the-day departure on our previous (November 2014) Carnival Legend cruise (strong westerly winds had delayed our reverse out of the Quay on account the pilot feared we might be blown across onto the Opera House).
Best time of the day - grab a beer or glass of wine from the bar on the rear adult's only deck, find an empty seat and do a bit of reading.
Despite a higher proportion of co-eds on this trip, eye candy around the rear pool is disappointing - too many young women these days are having a serious love affair with those serial seducers Krispy Kreme and Maccas. Not so members of the Lido Theater's dance troupe who trim up nicely.
Sometimes the rear deck is a bit too hot or windy - in that case I go searching for The Lady who can usually be found head in book in one of the quieter aircon lounges down on deck 2. Lotsa places down there I can get a beer - so no complaints.
ALL THOSE LEGENDS
On the second sea day I get distracted by the artwork in the deck 2 lounge. Carnival Legend is full of murals, paintings and sculptures depicting past legends:
Each landing on the stairway has a huge artwork - I think this has something to do with a babe called Diana, sneaky/horsey tricks and that city in north-west Turkey. Was its local name Ilium?
Just about every spare surface in the corridors features a mural - I reckon this has something to do with good old Jason....
....and I seem to remember a sword called Excalibur.
But what legend is this?
BTW it seems to me those old time painters had a dodgy fixation on 12 year old girls.
And what's going on here? Don't like the look on that bloke's face.
Um, I just worked out that's Adam (okay, so I'm a bit slow) - looks like he's thinking of committing a big time sin in about 2 seconds TIM. Before the apple. How does that work?
Speaking of sinful plans, should an angel be considering what he's got in mind? At least the sweetie looks less alarmed than Eve in the previous shot.
This was a huge mural covering the back wall of one of the lifts. Once again, what legend?
Each cabin has a legend-themed painting. Now I figure this one above our bed is Roman based - but I'm darned if I know the particular legend. Lady T who is university trained in Latin (3 years) hasn't a clue.
1830 - PRE DINNER ENTERTAINMENT
Most bar/lounges on the ship have some sort of entertainment going on from about 1700 thru to very late - so while waiting for the Waterfront restaurant to open for the late setting we go down to deck 2 and see what's going on.
The Atrium lounge is a favourite - mainly because the singing duo (TAKE TWO) there is totally excellent over a huge range of stuff. This is shot pre-dinner day 3 - Meet the Captain opportunity.
Captain GUISEPPE CAZZANO patiently shakes hands, chats and poses for pix for over an hour. This is pretty standard for captains each trip - but this guy goes the extra yard. I have never seen a captain showing up in so many various parts of the ship at different times....
.....Here he is walking thru a deck 2 lounge later in the trip. The young lady to his right collars him and he spends at least 5 minutes talking to her and her friends.
Meet the captain is a chance for people to dress up a bit - once again the ladies don't disappoint. These young sweethearts are posing for one of the ship's photographers - a great chance for me to freeload on the setup.
1945 - 2100 DINNER
Dinner as usual does not disappoint - dining room staff entertainment day 3 is themed Love is in the Air - here guests dance away while maitre d and staff member belt out a rather good rendition of "Volare"
2100 ON
On account we are geezers, I have to admit most nights we simply did another quick tour of the lounges and casinos and then went back to our cabin. However night 2 we checked out the show in the Folies theatre - see comments up page (later in the trip same time/place sees a rather mediocre illusionist) and get back to the cabin real late for us at 2345 to find.....
....this cool dude waiting to greet us.
DAY 4 - MYSTERY ISLAND
Mystery Island is most people's idea of a tropical island - it is a coral cay, an ex atoll whose central lagoon has been filled (or in this case, partially filled) by wave/wind deposited detritus from the reef.
Mystery Island is pretty tiny - the land just to its north is a south western peninsula on a bigger island of Aneityum, which is in the far south of the Vanuatu island chain.
Aneityum (at left) is pretty mountainous whereas Mystery island is typical of coral cays which rarely get more than a few meters above sea level.
I reckon this is the main reason MI has no permanent settlement (the story goes it's haunted) - it would not be too great during the huge waves and tidal surges of a tropical cyclone. Lack of running water is another problem. So "locals" live on the bigger island and move across to sell beers, food, touristy souvenirs, hire snorkels etc when the cruise liners arrival. Hell, there is even a rough grass airstrip to enable access from further afield.
This beach in the island's south-east is probably the best, but there are sections of sand all around the island except at the very south end. A walking track does the circuit - took me about 40 minutes.
Note weather conditions are important - I have been here in late October and November - despite being in the sub-tropics, the SE trades and sea temps during Spring are not quite warm enough to make it pleasant on this exposed side of the island - the western lee side is a better idea. Latest trip was in mid-summer February - the trades still blowing but were welcome as a cooling agent in this hotter period. Water temp very nice.
There are a number of good snorkeling spots, but a popular one where a lot of the paid snorkeling trips go is directly to the left of the camera in the previous pic. The boat center-background is one of the snorkel trip craft - if you click-expand you will see heads in water to right of it. I swam out - it is about 250m - coral and fish were pretty good without being fantastic. Water fairly shallow.
Close to shore there were enough fish and small coral patches to make it interesting for novices.
Waiting to be tendered back to the Legend (note tender transfers are free). Mystery Island is a good anchorage - the liners can get close and the island's reef gives good protection from the SE swell so that transfers are relatively quick and stable - in 2 visits we have got off the ship each time, unlike nearby Isle of Pines (1 in 3)
I have more info, maps and pix on MYSTERY ISLAND on this page.
CHANGE OF PLANS - ENTER THE TWIN CYCLONES!
As we pull away from Mystery Island circa 1600 the captain come on the pa - 2 Tropical Cyclones (TC Tatania and TC Winston) are heading our way from the north, so we are no longer going in that direction to Vila, nor will we stick around too long in the present general area. After visiting Mare a bit to the south tomorrow we will give the next day at Lifou a miss - instead we will head further south to Noumea in New Caledonia.
I'm not a big fan of Noumea, really liked my one previous visit to Vila and was looking forward to my first visit to Lifou. However Tropical Cyclones can be very nasty - Winston later kills 40+ people in Fiji - so no doubt we are doing the right thing.
This is one of the synoptic charts put up around the ship. It is for Feb14, 4 days after we leave Mystery island, situated just off the chart above New Caledonia, which can be seen about 2/3 across the chart at the top.
TC Tatiana can be seen at left and TC Winston at right - their predicted courses well below New Caledonia and heading south (although Winston will soon veer to the east towards Samoa, the Cook Islands and Fiji). Fortunately for us both cyclones were well off the chart to the north when we left Mystery Island and the captain Gazzano made sure we stayed to their south by not dallying in Noumea for more than a day and a night.
Note our original schedule had us in Noumea on the 14th - so the Cyclones would have already passed. Thing is, tropical cyclone paths are unpredictable - there is nothing to stop one of these babies changing its supposed course and going right over Noumea. And even when at a medium distance, winds and seas can get pretty fierce.
DAY 5 - MARE
Mare, 250km south-west of Mystery island, is much bigger, but relatively small compared to the main island of New Caledonia, Grand Terre (closest point abt 110km further south-west).
Its population is mainly indigenous kanaks - abt 7000.
Cruise ships tend to anchor in a very protected (from the prevailing south-east trades) bay just off one of the main villages, TADINE. We are running 3 out of 3 here as far as success in getting off the ship is concerned.
YEJELE BEACH is one of the more popular and less expensive shore excursions - it is a relatively short bus trip from the landing area.
Speaking of shore excursions, there is as usual a selection. But Lady Tezza and I are cheapskates and have gone for Yejele Beach on 2 of our 3 visits including this one, On our middle visit we elected to just hang around the Tadine landing area.
Yejele Beach is a typical tropical beach - whitish coral based sand which is okay underfoot, an offshore reef which cuts any ocean swell (the cruises always warn of tricky currents: I haven't come across any although I have never gone out near the fringing reef which must be 300m from the sand), some trees in back of beach for shade lovers, and some okay (but not mind blowing) patches of coral (those darker areas in the water at left above the people) with a few interesting fishies not too far off the sand. It does face the trade winds but this is a plus if your visit happens to be in the warmer months.
It only takes about 15 minutes to reach from the Tadine landing area and the locals seem to have a good supply of buses and other transport to minimise any delays to and from. I think the ship charges $aud20 return for tickets.
In back of the beach locals run the usual businesses - beers and food, trinkets, snorkel/fins and beach chair hire - hair plaiting for pre-tweens thru early 20s chickens seems particularly popular.
Back at the TADINE landing area the locals have set up a market selling the same sort of things. Like at the beach, Aussie dollars are okay.
There is a village school in this area but the main village is about 800m inland and up a bit on the limestone plateau which covers most of the island (Mare is a raised coral atoll).
There are some nice sheltered coves with clear water and easy access into the sea adjacent the landing pier - on our second visit I was quite happy to spend a lot of my onshore time snorkeling around this area - coral and fish good enough to wow novices although hard liners will not be overwhelmed.
I have more info, pix and maps on YEJELE BEACH on this page.
DAY 6 - NOUMEA
Noumea is the capital of the French overseas territory New Caledonia, and is situated on the biggest island of Grand Terre.
The main islands of New Caledonia. Grand Terre is not exactly small - check scale line. I think it the 3rd biggest in the Pacific after both islands of New Zillund. Um, maybe PNG fits somewhere in there.
It is surrounded by a huge barrier reef which is can get 30+km from the shore, creating the world's largest tropical lagoon.
I'm not whelmed with Noumea. We have visited many times - twice for fly-in holiday back in the 70s, and 4 times in recent years (UPDATE JAN 19 - now 10 ship visits). The cruise lines love NOUMEA - very good facilities for repairs and dockside moorings which allows movement impaired passengers a much easier "debarkation"/embarkation than via mid-bay tender and New Caledonian authorities insist that if cruises want to visit outer islands like MARE, LIFOU and ISLE OF PINES, the ship must also call in at Noumea.
But thhe place is very expensive and French colonial types tend to be even more arrogant and pretentious than those at home - was it KATHY LETTE who said the French are borne with a condescension chromosome: No doubt they think we Aussies are loud mouth yobbos. Not wrong mes amis. And the indigenous kanaks, although not snobbish, are nowhere near as friendly and outgoing as say the Vanuatu locals.
The town itself, although having plenty of chic shops, restaurants, bars etc reminds me a bit of Wollongong NSW circa 1980. There are plenty of hotels and a few swish resorts but tourism in New Caledonia is not a big deal these days - the place earns most of its income from nickel mining. No doubt the locals feel they are on a winner here and high wage levels (and thus ridiculously high prices for goods and services) seem to bear this out. But the competitiveness of the nickel industry is propped up by the usual European Union primary industry subsidies (and thus unknowing French and other EU taxpayers).
Ships of CARNIVAL LEGEND size are forced to tie up at the container terminal. Dock security requires use of those shuttle coaches (no charge) to go across to the small cruise terminal which is the white building under the tiny black arrow just to right of top center. Fortunately this only takes a few minutes. Slightly smaller liners like P+O PACIFIC JEWEL can dock right alongside the terminal.
The terminal has places selling shore trips, some at a discount to Carnival prices, an upstairs market area selling touristy clothing and trinkets, a ridiculously expensive cafe (I saw a fellow passenger pay $aud14 for a toasted ham sandwich - at least they accept Aussie dollars like a lot but not all places in town) which has all the ambiance of downtown Pitt St Sydney 1968, plus slow unreliable BUT FREE! wifi.
Just past the terminal is a waterfront cafe/bar which is a nice but exxy place to spend time and across the road a medium size supermarket which is an interesting place to check out (can't take food or booze back onto the ship).
Noumea has a nice setting on a hilly peninsula meaning there is no shortage of bays and surrounding water. Watersports are naturally a big deal - particularly wind surfing and diving.
Carnival has a host of shore excursions you can do in and around Noumea. Diving, snorkeling and visits to small offshore islands seem attractive but Lady Tezza and I know that longish fast boat trips in this area tend to be a uncomfortable (the distance of the barrier reef offshore means the SE trades can kick up a fairly big chop within the giant lagoon) - plus the cost of nearly every excursion whether offshore or on is beyond our cheapskate budget.
There are some attractive rain-forest and waterfall locations in the hinterland around Noumea but they are pretty exxy shore excursions. Ditto most of the guided site-seeing trips around Noumea itself.
So we settle for the cheapest shore excursion possible - a ticket on the hop-on, hop off bus which goes every 10 minutes or so from the small cruise terminal mentioned above to the far end of Anse Vata/return. Other popular stops are at the Marina markets, the Aquarium and Lemon Bay. People wanting to visit one of Noumea's casino will find one in the Chateau Royal resort just north of Anse Vata and at Hotel Le Surf on the headland near the aquarium.
We know much less expensive and frequent town buses go where we want to journey, but they start/finish in "the city" a short walk from the shore terminal. (Since I originally wrote this I have used them a couple of times to go to outlying beaches - but you need the local currency which you can get in the Cruise Terminal. Routes etc are available online - Google "Noumean buses")
We have just hopped on the ho/ho bus at Anse Vata. This area has some okay restaurants and bars, but not as many as the nearer to ship Baie des Citrons which is the local name for Lemon Bay. Later at the ship the captain tells all we are staying in port overnight (normally we would leave abt 1800 that evening) and Carnival will run a free shuttle to Lemon Bay all night for people who want to party.
Lemon Bay has a beach - it tends to be much more sheltered than Anse Vata but there is less sand.
Lady Tezza and I spent an hour or so at the small beach just past Anse Vata outside Chateau Royal resort where we stayed back in the 70s. As you can see, the beach is nothing to write home to mum about, particularly towards full tide. But this area is sheltered from the SE trades, unlike Anse Vata in background.
I grab my face mask and swim about 400m offshore. The water is pretty clear, doesn't get much more than 2m deep. The bottom has mostly sea grass with a few very small clumps of coral. I see few fish.
Anse Vata is probably the best close to ship beach in Noumea, but by world standards is not all that good. At least there is more sand in this shot than at the Chateau, but this was taken on our 2014 visit, closer to mid tide. Anse Vata's orientation means it really picks up the SE trades - this makes it a popular wind surfing beach but we found the wind chill on this blustery, overcast September day was sufficient to need us wear jackets.
This is just past the Chateau beach/250m behind camera in the pic 2 above this - if you round the small point the area is nicely exposed to the prevailing trade winds and is another popular wind surfing location.
{I have a fair bit of info/maps/pix on 9 NOMEA BEACHES on THIS PAGE)
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DAYS 7, 8, 9, 10 - AT SEA SYDNEY BOUND
After clearing Grand Terre's barrier reef abt an hour after leaving Noumea at 0600 day 6, we make a bee line fer good ol' Sydney town. We are not exactly in a hurry, having 4 days to do what normally takes 2 - the captain goes just fast enough to keep us a safe distance in front of TC Tatiana.
DODGING CYCLONES (aka HURRICANES/TYPHOONS)
Might need to click expand image for labels to be clearer.
TATIANA (white path left of center) soon veers left and then heads back north almost to its starting point, where it blows itself out.
WINSTON (yellow path) on the other hand, keeps on keeping on. As said up page, it soon turns east away from us - but it keeps going to near Samoa (it is 2600 km in a straight line from the GRAND TERRE place marker to that of SAMOA), where it turns back west, cleans up Fiji on 19/20 Feb with 325kmh winds and heavy rain (over 40 people lose their lives), and gets back to the south of GRAND TERRE around 25/26 Feb. Ironically CARNIVAL LEGEND is doing its next cruise at this time and a ship tracking website shows it has once again scurried for home early when it should be in Noumea.
WINSTON keeps going, veering north towards the Queensland coast. In late Feb it eventually loses some power and is downgraded from a TC to a Tropical Depression - finally it hits the far north Queensland coast on the 3rd of March - lotsa rain but no wind damage. Next day the L has disappeared - it has finally blown itself completely out.
WINSTON'S path thru Fiji
Nearly a week later it is south of New Caledonia again
Late on March 3 is the last I see of ex TC WINSTON (image top right - sorry I couldn't crop the above further but the primitive photo editor on my version of Windows would not allow).
I enjoy the slow cruise back over the next 4 days - quickly settling into much of the same routine as the early sea days outlined above. To me, cruising is about being on the ship more than the destinations.
GOOD NEWS
On the first of these sea days the captain tells us Carnival has decided to compensate us for the cut in destinations by giving each passenger a $aud250 credit on any Carnival cruise taken in the next 18 months. Not a bad deal for people who can schedule it - we certainly can, and it represents at least 25% discount of what we normally outlay.
Some people start to spend their $250 early - passengers comment about the pick up of business in the casino and bars.
DAY 11 - HOME
The captain said we would be passing thru Sydney Heads abt 0600 so imagine my surprise to wake abt 0530 to find the Sydney Opera House sliding by our window. I rush up to deck 10 for some pix - those lights in background belong to another cruise liner parked mid harbour - this is unusual; looks like it was out of luck for a tie up. Sydney is pathetically served for bigger cruise liners which can't fit under the Harbour Bridge. And only has about 3 pier spaces for those which can.
The coat hanger looks okay....
....as does the cruise terminal.
In a couple of hours we will be "debarking" thru there - and 3 hours later back at Chez Tezza by the Sea.
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MISSED DESTINATIONS
I made it to LIFOU in 2018 and 2019 - some information down page.
However before this particular TWIN CYCLONE CRUISE I had visited PORT VILA - called in there on our November 2014 CARNIVAL LEGEND cruise
PORT VILA
The ships tie up in a very sheltered part of Vila's harbour - locals who are the friendliest and least pushy of any in this blog set up the usual services and stores along the road leading to the ship.
The waterfront street in downtown Vila has a number of bars - this one had live music and reasonably priced local beer ($sud5 compared to $8 in Noumea) - note the ship in center background abt 3 km from downtown - I walked it in abt 45 minutes but there were taxis (both road and water types) for $aud5 each way.
There is a nice waterfront park a bit closer to the boat than the above - has some markets and a nice bar/cafe type place.
Despite being the largest town and capital of Vanuatu, Port Vila is pretty small at around 45000 people. Downtown is tiny - a couple of blocks of low rise.
The place gets most of its money from tourism, export of primary products and as a tax haven.
That beach near the ship is okay although there are some resorts near town with nicer beaches you can visit on some of the paid SHORE EXCURSIONS. A range of other excursions similar to those at/out of Noumea are offered.
Vila has the lowest duty free prices I've seen ANYWHERE - here one of the duty free stores in town is delivering to the Legend. The ship impounds these until "debarkment" in Sydney. The ship claims it can match any price in town - I haven't put this to the test.
ANOTHER TROPICAL CYCLONE!
I feel sorry for the lovely people of Port Vila and Vanuatu - the place was cleaned up badly by TC PAM in March 2015. This caused a lot of damage to the tourist infrastructure which saw a big drop in visitors, exacerbated by the refusal of most airlines to keep using the damaged local runway in recent months.
Quite a few cruise liners cancelled call-ins for some time which would have hurt the businesses pictured above. I reckon our cancellation latest trip must have been an added blow - at least TC WINSTON and TC TATIANA missed Port Vila.
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ISLE OF PINES
This wasn't on our itinerary this trip, but was part of our 3 previous cruises into this area.
The Isle of Pines is abt 2/3 the size of Mare, and if you check the map up-page you can see it abt 50km off the eastern-most tip of New Caledonia's big island, Grande Terre.
We first visited in the 70s, flying in from Noumea for a 4 day stay. It is a real nice island, but unfortunately the cruise ship anchorage is nowhere near as protected as at Mare, Noumea, Port Vila or Mystery island, which lessens the chance of successfully landing - we have only managed 1 in 3 on our cruise visits at the time of writing. (UPDATE JAN 2019 - I'm now 4 in 6. Lady Tezza is doing better: 5 in 7 and my son is running 1 in 1!)
Missed "debarkments" are not for want of trying - on our November 2015 call-in, the captain of CARNIVAL SPIRIT manoeuvered for at least 40 minutes to different parts of the bay trying to find calm-enough water to make tender loading safe for the old and infirm. November 2014 on CARNIVAL LEGEND was much the same. Both times no luck - we had to sail away. This must be heartbreaking to the locals who would have already set up their tents and stalls in the landing area - plus of course all those engaged in sightseeing, snorkeling and diving trips - there is the usual diverse range of paid SHORE EXCURSIONS.
This is the region where the tenders land - a nice spit area in the island's south-west, coincidentally where our resort back in the 70s was located - with frontages to both bays (a riot by indigenous people during the independence push of the 80s burned it down).
When ships are due, locals set up their tents and stalls along that clearing where the spit is narrowest. Both the beach and that small island vicinity (right of lower-center) are popular with people off the ship.
Area around this small island (ROCHER DE KAA NUE MERA - the rock of Kanamera Bay) has no lack of swimmers and snorkelers. I grabbed my face mask (don't take snorkel and fins - too bulky) and did a circumnavigation. Some okay coral and a few fish but some parts very ordinary - a lot of dead coral on the other side of the island.
Water surprisingly un-tropical at around 21 c - but this was November: sea temperatures always lag the atmosphere's by 2 to 3 months. Air temp at this time very pleasant.
Plenty of nice shaded areas on spit adjacent island. I got the impression well over half the passengers had decided to spend time close to the tender landing area rather than pay for one of the SHORE EXCURSIONS.
Interestingly (at least fer us); Lady Tezza and I found some ruins of our 70s resort near here.
This is PLAGE de KAA NUE MERA to the east of ROCHER. Sweet beach.
Across on the other side of the spit, "Kuto Beach" was pretty nice. This has fine white sand a la the Bounty ad. (maybe the overcast washes out a bit of the white). If you click-expand you will more clearly see (mid shot) the pyramid roof of the Hotel Kou-Bugney which seems to be a boutique place built in the bush behind the beach since the riots.
This cool beachfront bar/cafe was abt 300m up the beach from the previous pic. I'm assuming it is part of the nearby boutique resort. Quite a few cruise passengers were swanking it out on the deck above the sand - I resisted: partly because I thought the combination of New Caledonia and boutique resort would ensure eye-watering prices (UPDAT - yep, a beer late 1017 was $12aud) - partly because nearby storm clouds warned it would be a good idea to retreat to the tenders. Indeed it was.
I have more info, maps and pix on the ISLE OF PINES on this page.
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THE BIG DADDY (so far) - THE NEW ZEALAND CRUISE DEC 2015
I can't leave this page without some stuff on the most enjoyable of my 5 cruises to date.
I have already said that to me, cruising is abt being on the ship - not where you visit. But that is maybe not quite right if where I visit is new to me. Thing is, I have never been to NZ and I found the various places we checked out very good value. Plus the ship itself, P+O Pacific Pearl was pretty sweet.
2 days at sea from Oz, then a call in each day the 8 locations shown, then 2 days at sea to get home.
HIGHLIGHT - MILFORD SOUND
Our first sight of NZ - the narrow entrance to Fiordland National Park's Milford Sound.
0600 arrival plus fairly high latitude means people are well rugged up despite it being Spring.
After Milford Sound we head south - an hour or so later we turn into DOUBTFUL SOUND, which has entrances both north and south allowing us to cruise right thru - followed by the similar but longer DUSKY SOUND. Both are pretty good (saw some whales in the latter) but not as gob-smacking as Milford.
NOTHING FANCY AS USUAL
Our other stops involve getting off the ship. At all, there is a good array of paid SHORE EXCURSIONS available, some to iconic NZ tourist places like Rotorua and Canterbury, but I was content to simply get off the ship and wander around, checking the local scene. Thing is, I intend to do a fly in visit to NZ soon which will give more time to check the well known spots at my leisure.
A really nice thing about most stops was that not only were there shops, museums, pubs, houses etc to speck out, but also a VIEWPOINT within 40 minutes walk of the ship.....
....such as PORT CHALMERS
(these panorama shots usual click-expand nicely).
....WELLINGTON.
Not only did this area give a nice outlook - it was a high income area. Checking out the houses was interesting - rich Kiwis tend to keep the fabulous old timber homes of the early C20th in good condition rather than replace them with modern stuff or remodel the hell out of them as in Oz.
Note the bigger ship (GOLDEN PRINCESS) parked in front of PEARL; - it had intended to cruise MILFORD SOUND soon after us, but cancelled according to passengers. GOLDEN PRINCESS at 109,000 tons is a good 50% up on P+0 PEARL - it's 290m length (same as CARNIVAL LEGEND/SPIRIT) is an extra 45m on PEARL which probably accounts for its difficulty in the Sound. Interestingly it is only 4m wider but 2 decks higher.
....NAPIER.
Free shuttle from ship to nice downtown area - abt 10mins. Several high areas for good surrounding views.
....TAURANGA
If you like trekking you'll love Mt Maunganui and its 360 degree panorama. Took a little more than afore-mentioned 40 minutes to get up here from the ship. Maybe 60.
....AUCKLAND.
The Sky Tower is worth the modest cost/wait. Make sure you go to the second (higher) viewing area.
Auckland's Sky Tower is less than 20 mins walk from the cruise terminal. Thrill seekers can bungey jump from the tower. I'm a bit of a thrill seeker, but too tight on the wallet.
THE ONLY PAID SHORE EXCURSION
The Bay of Islands is NZ's version of Australia's Whitsundays. I know from many visits to the latter that the only way to appreciate such places is to do a small boat cruise.
Highlight for me of the many islands observed was Hole in the Rock at Motukokako Island - we didn't get to pass thru on account of the swell and chop that afternoon. Even in good conditions it would be a bit of a tight squeeze. Lady skipper said morning cruises are usually calmer.
I think for many others the dolphin watching was tops. These guys apparently wait around for the cruise boats and put on a show (for a bucket or two of fish of course).
Back to the ship...,
....and back (after 2 days) to Oz.
Note - Lady Tezza has no like of small boats excursionsand so elected to tender ashore to Paihia - where she did the usual wander around/check the scene. She said Paihia was a typical charming small NZ landing town, not unlike Port Chalmers and Akoroa. She reckoned I would have particularly liked the display of old cars (NZ is the home of original condition/restored classics) - warning: this was a Sunday visit. If your cruise comes in on a weekday quiet a few of the old car guys may be at work.
WHERE NEXT?
Well we have to fit in another Carnival cruise sometime in the next 18 months to redeem our $250 each compensation for missed places.
And we'ed like to try another cruise line, preferably to another location. PRINCESS has some attractive Fiji trips which look promising.
I have a hankering to try one of the giant super-liners. There are a few visiting Australia in 2016, but Lady Tezza shows little interest in cities afloat.
Whatever we chose, I'll do a bit on it below.
UPDATE - SUBSEQUENT CRUISES
Have done several cruises since but still waiting on the super-liner thing. The Speaker of the House (She Who Must Be Obeyed he he he he) is as ever not keen.
JULY 2016 - CARNIVAL SPIRIT - VANUATU, FIJI, NEW CALEDONIA.
SPIRIT backs out of Circular Quay
Lady Tezza was in a hurry to redeem our $250 each compensation from Carnival and booked their next cruise where costing seemed a bargain. I didn't mind - I really like the no effort and comfort of cruising. Not to mention the food.
The itinerary was an 11 day Noumea New Caledonia, Mystery Island Vanuatu, Suva Fiji, Port Denarau Fiji, Isle Pines New Caledonia.
Carnival Spirit must be jinxed. It had further propulsion problems on this trip - caused us to substitute Noumea for the Isle of Pines on our outward leg to Fiji (Noumea has repair facilities). The revised plan was to call in at the Isle of Pines on our return leg instead of Noumea, but a passenger medical emergency saw us turning back to Suva shortly after leaving Fiji thereby losing a lot of time and forcing an abandonment of any Isle of Pines visit. Such is cruising. Fortunately the ill baby recovered well and was back in Australia before us.
Not much to say about the stops: SUVA was worth a walk around from the pier but the shore tours were expensive and seemed to be a long way out of town, PORT DENARU ditto (plus I backpacked Fiji long before this blog: did as many offshore islands, kava ceremonies, village visits etc I ever want to - but way cheaper than from the ship. Non-Fiji stops we'd done before.
SPIRIT from hospital heights Suva
PORT DENARU has an okay shopping-eats-entertainment complex where the tenders come in: worth an hour or two. As is a roam around the nearby island resort zone. You can spend some time in these resorts but been at similar/seen that.
MARCH 2017 - ROYAL CARIBBEAN'S "VOYAGER OF THE SEAS"
My wish came half true here because for a few years at the turn of this century this was the world's biggest cruise ship. Dwarfed now, however.
The cruise was an 11 day thing taking in Lautoka Fiji – Port Vila Vanuatu – Mystery Island Vanuatu – Noumea New Caledonia.
Voyager didn't seem bigger than Legend or Spirit. Maybe because it's abt the same length (at 290m: actually 4m shorter), But it's a bit wider (37m vs 32), has one more passenger deck and seems to have a bigger superstructure - which means it can fit in a hell of a lot more passengers (3100 vs 2100). One thing for sure - it weighs a lot more (138K tonnes vs 86K)
I really liked Voyager ....
....it had a standout 3 story central atrium running 75% the length of the ship called the GRAND PROMENADE where special parades (the kids loved the Dreamworld themed parades and other events) plus a lot of the ships bars, shops etc were located ....
....the 3 level a la carte restaurant was similarly impressive with enough seats for all passengers - although quite a few had dinner in the buffet which was pretty good. Above, restaurant staff is doing its nightly entertainment.
VOGAGER also has a neat SKATING RINK with ICE SHOWS and FREE SKATING (a camera ban when I took in a show saw me pinch this one from https://www.cruisecritic.com.au/)....
....plus an upstairs al-fresco WAVE RIDER and a nearby CLIMBING WALL.
Passenger makeup was interesting - although more expensive than family favourite CARNIVAL, VOYAGER with the wave rider, ice show-free skaing, climbing wall plus frequent DREAMWORLD THEMED parades on the GRAND PROMENADE, has a lot of kids on board. Naturally the usual kids' clubs were available.
I also spent a lot of time in an upstairs lounge area.....
Which had a great outlook over the central pool area. This seemed an area a lot of people found difficult to find and would be a good bad weather port exit viewing spot for those in the know.
OTHER FACTORS - Buffet, and gym areas were pretty good as was general service and food presentation. Booze prices not bad and they allowed us to bring a free bottles of wine each on board . The only inferior area to us was the adults' only relaxation area (that means no kids) which was undercover, next to a pool - thus rather dim and chlorine-smelling. The other cruise lines have these areas out the back with sunshine, sea views plus shade if you want it.
COST WISE I think we paid abt $130aud a day which was up on our just under $100 sea-view rooms on CARNIVAL but which I thought fair value.
SUBSEQUENT TRIP ON THE SISTER SHIP - EXPLORER OF THE SEAS
I won't detail this because it took in no new destinations and the ship itself is a near clone of VOYAGER. Near clone but I thought slightly better - they had no ATM phone booth or MORGAN car near the Promanade deck cafe which created more room, and I'm not sure what had been done, but there seemed more outdoor tables at the nearby PIG AND WHISTLE PUB. Overall I thought it the better ship.
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AUGUST 2017 - GOLDEN PRINCESS PNG
PRINCESS CRUISE LINE is further step upmarket within the CARNIVAL family. Some people refuse to cruise with P+O, CARNIVAL or ROYAL CARRIBEAN - only PRINCESS will do.
Size-wise she sits between th SPIRIT/LEGEND twins and VOYAGER OF THE SEAS with 2600 passengers (vs 2100 and 3100), tonnage of 109K (91k and 138). But physically she looks about the same, mainly because she is - same 290m length as VOYAGER and actually 4m shorter than SPIRIT/LEGEND, with a similar width (36m-32-37). Once again she has an extra passenger deck over SPIRIT/LEGEND. She's a few years younger than the others and to my eye has more contemporary styling.
Very distinctive is the high rear SKY WALKER lounge - this is shot at KIRIWINA ISLAND - PAPUA NEW GUINEA.
That high lounge became a great scenic place to relax, do a bit of reading yada. Bar service after abt 1600. It was not usually crowded despite being able to get reasonably close by lift.
After dinner the place turned into a night club and at port exit time was a HIGH ROLLER (multiple repeat customer) area.
Both shot at LUGANVILLE - VANUATU
The open area below the lounge....
....was a multi-decked adults' only area. Real nice.
PORTS OF CALL
I was unimpressed with BRISBANE (been there many a time) and not whelmed by Papua New Guinea's ALOTOU and Vanuatu's LUGANVILLE (typical south-Pacific small port towns - not much going on but not doubt some good tours out of town for the cashed up), deja-vued by PORT VILA (lovely bay, wicked duty free but been there many times) but was impressed with Papua New Guinea's RABAUL (volcanoes, hot springs, fabulous bay, war ruins).
Hot springs just out of town
Fabulous Bay is actually a CALDERA caused by a huge volcanic explosion way back. Pic shot from rim viewpoint. Yellow sub-volcano is TAVURVUR - still smokin'. Blue is VUCAN which last erupted in 1994 flattening (with help from TAVURVUR) the town.
Japanese hid boats in tunnels to escape allied bombing
Note that we took a 3 hour town and surrounds tour with KOKOPU TOURS to see these sites and more - at 40-70% of the price of ship bought tours. Recommended.
The other CALL IN I really enjoyed was at KIRIWINA ISLAND (one of PNG'S TROBRIAND ISLANDS) - the reason being the cruise line decided to forego its usual stop in the small-port town of LOSULA to call in at KAIBOLA BEACH in the island's north.
KAIBOLA BEACH
Because of the steep drop-off from the fringing reef the ship was able to get within a few hundred meters of the beach (looks further here because of the focal length of the wide angle lens - shot at top of page more like the real deal). I thought this beach a classical south sea island beach - just what JAMES A MITCHENER had in mind (much of his "TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC" was set in the TROBRIANDS). Sand soft, coarse coral based with fairly steep profile and a few broken coral pieces (reef booties make walking easier), more white than yellow, sufficiently wide at the top of the tide and with vegetation back of the sand for shade.
A small village just inland from the small pier was an interesting place to take a stroll. Villagers had a lot of handicrafts, clothing and touristy trinkets on sale. Were the most polite and patient hawkers I've met.
With no paid excursions from this area, the beach visit was understandably popular.
There was enough coral and fish in the shallows just off the sand to keep novice snorkellers happy but the dropping tide made the area increasingly shallow. Reef booties recommended.
There were a few small channels made for local outriggers in the reef - experienced snorkellers could sneak out between boats to the drop-off where fish and coral were impressive.
I have a lot more info, maps and pix on KAIBOLA BEACH on this page.
Overall I was impressed with Golden Princess - I thought it well worth the extra $20 per day over Royal Caribbean. The entertainment on board was a step-up. Initially I wasn't impressed with the layout of the buffet but I came to realize that someone had worked out an excellent system - there seemed to be way fewer problems with crowding and self-service. Plus buffet food itself also seemed a step up (what's a step up from excellent?) I also was impressed with the pools - mains ones were bigger than our other ships and others were in spots that avoided the crowds. There seemed more neat little niches for sunning out of the wind. The gym was smaller, but given the older age demographic of PRINCESS, never crowded - and it didn't seem lacking in any equipment. On our cruise the booze set up was good with a happy hour in a nominated bar each day with 2 for the price of one deals, pretty good when the price of one drink was generally a bit less than all out other cruise lines. The purchasable coffee card was a good deal fpr those wanting better than the 24 hour coffee machines in the buffet.
CAVEAT - a lot of the above varies; cruise lines are constantly changing their offerings so do your research - don't rely on my stuff on HAPPY HOURS etc.
This older demographic is sometimes criticized but I have to say that whatever the oldies have lost in physical ability they more than make up in conversation skills and affability.
DOWNSIDES?
- Well the dining room was poor: food quality on our second sitting was way inferior to the other liners, so much so that after the first night vacant spots on tables grew - we bailed out after the 3rd night, Fortunately dinner in the buffet was excellent - the already good standard of other meals stepped up.
- The auditorium was too small. One had to turn up at least 30 mins early to ensure a seat at the nightly show and to listen to the excellent older lady giving her spiel on upcoming shore excursions.
- organized ship tours seemed more expensive than other lines.
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NOVEMBER 2017 - CARNIVAL LEGEND: NOUMEA, MARE and ISLE OF PINES
PLAGE DE KAA - free beach excursion ISLE OF PINES November 2017
Back on the Legend after 19 months. This was a typical 8 night cruise to NOUMEA, MARE and ISLE OF PINES. Not much new to add except after a gap of almost 2 years I thought Legend was getting a bit weary. Face it, she is hard at work 24 hours a day, every day. Even when she turns around in Sydney everything except the propulsion system is flat-chat - it is no small job to transfer 2000 people (who have hit the dining room around 0600 instead of 0800 or later) off and a similar number on, (and those in the know head straight for the buffet) along with all their luggage and the huge amount of ship's supplies.
The good news is that she is going into dry dock soon for refurbishment.
ANSE VATA beach NOUMEA on city tour 2017. This shot is taken from the excellent OUEN TORO viewpoint high up from the resort/casino area north of ANSE VATA. We access this on the excellent TCHOU TCHO TRAIN CITY TOUR run by LYVAI TOUR from the CRUISE TERMINAL.
LYVAI'S green chooty puff is around half the price of the cruise lines' yellow version. The latter takes an extra half hour, stops at one more attraction and has the advantage of leaving from the pier in the container port rather than from the CRUISE TERMINAL 10 minutes away by free coach shuttle, which is a real advantage for movement impaired people.
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FEB 2018
MARE - MYSTERY ISLAND - PORT VILA - NOUMEA on VOYAGER OF THE SEAS
VOYAGER OF THE SEAS from the beach at MYSTERY ISLAND, VANUATU
This cruise was the same old same old destination wise, so I decided to check some new places out when revisiting certain ports.
PORT VILA
I usually do the scenic cross-harbour water taxi into town and then check the excellent duty free stores and have a local beer in one of the waterfront bars or just wander thru the extensive ship-side markets and along the harbourside beaches in rear of the ship - but this 5th visit decided to take a tour to see some of the places close to town, such as:
RARRU CASCADES
Pleasant but nothing to get excited about. Nice big pool for a swim, an okay rope-jump which I just had to give a go.
BLUE LAGOON
A step up from RARRU but you won't be writing home to mum about it. Nice big pool, 2 popular rope jumps (which I just had to give several goes), entrance to the open ocean.
CRYSTAL BLUE TURTLE FARM
Underwhelming - 7km down a bumpy dirt track, very ordinary bbq-luncheon, poor turtle and other exhibits if you have seen similar places, and no chance for the promised SWIM WITH THE TURTLES AND TO A LOVELY BEACH (which is the main reason I picked this tour - I'm a beach guy looking for a PORT VILA area beach to add to my collection), Also some dodgy human handling of smaller turtles and other animals.
Overall I was disappointed with YUMI TOUR'S effort and would not recommend this one. Poor organisation at the meeting point seemed to put us behind schedule from the start and added a rush-factor to the fairly ordinary destinations.
NOUMEA
Not having been impressed by NOUMEA mainland beaches in recent years I decided to take the short trip offshore to DUCK ISLAND (ILE aux CANARDS) and because of proximity to the water taxi departure point, to revisit ANSE VATA and LIMON beaches to see if they had stepped up.
DUCK ISLAND
This is a nice one - inexpensive to reach (LYVAI TOURS at the CRUISE TERMINAL does a good JUMP ON JUMP OFF BUS - WATER TAXI TICKET which is only a few more dollars more than city bus/water taxi), no entry fee (sun-lounge, snorkel gear hire, refreshments a bit steep but no need to spend on these). Main beach area in the lee of the islet from those pesky south east trade winds. Okay coral but hard core snorkelers will have seen way better. Reef booties recommended.
ANSE VATA
Still disappointing - exposed to the brisk prevailing trade winds, lack of sand most tide levels. Great for wind surfers though.
LEMON BAY - LIMON BEACH (BAIE DES CITRONS)
Immediately WEST of ANSE VATA, this one is a step up IMHO, but it still wouldn't make my list of top 500 beaches.
YOU CAN SEE A BUNCH MORE PIX AND FACTS OF ALL 3 PLACES ABOVE ON THE NOUMEA'S BEACHES PAGE.
MARE
In half a dozen visits I'd never wandered the 10 minutes up the hill from the landing point and visited the upper section of TADINE village.
UPPER TADINE
UPPER TADINE is no collection of grass huts - a few dozen western style bungalows on big blocks. Street paved and mostly wide. Place at left was about the most run down I saw.
VOYAGER OF THE SEAS from upper TADINE.
FROM THE SHIP - UPPER TADINE (charcoal), tender pier and rock snorkel area (yellow), buses to YEJELE BEACH and another rock snorkel area (blue).
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AUGUST 2018 - SOUTH-EAST and CENTRAL QUEENLAND COAST on P+0 PACIFIC EXPLORER
This was a 7 night cruise that took in MOOLOOLABA, GLADSTONE and MORETON ISLAND. Okay, they might not be Pacific Islands but they are definitely SW PACIFIC locations.
Google Earth image of destinations
"PACIFIC EXPLORER" is another fairly big but not huge liner. She sits between the CARNIVAL twins and "PACIFIC JEWEL" at 260m long, 32 wide, 77500 gross tonnes, 10 decks and 1900 passengers. She is low enough to fit under the SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE thus starting at WHITE BAY, although this shot is at CIRCULAR QUAY at cruise end. I've seen her at NOUMEA when I was visiting on "EXPLORER OF THE SEAS" where her shallower draft allowed her to dock at the CRUISE TERMINAL.
Carnival Corp transferred her in 2017 from the Princess line where she was known as "DAWN PRINCESS". P+O immediately sent her to Singapore for a refit.
Not all that much clearance under the coat-hanger.
MOOLOOLABA - SUNSHINE COAST.
Liners moor off the surf beach and shuttle passengers to shore via the nearby river mouth (white arrow). Each incoming tender does a pretty nice cruise along the MOOLOOBA R. which runs parallel just inland from the long beach (yellow) - and unloads at a terminal not far inland from the surf-club.
I'm not sure how reliable this mooring location is - I reckon in any south-east, easterly or north-east swell it may be a bit bumpy. In the south-westerly conditions of our arrival it was pretty benign - POINT CARTWIGHT left of the white arrow gives good protection. Which makes the whole beach a great location in such conditions. Many passengers, particularly families were content to spend all day at the beach. THE LADY and I walked a bit further north to this viewpoint at the HMAS "BRISBANE" memorial - then a little further where we could see the nearby lovely beach at ALEXANDRA HEADLAND and the coast all the way up to NOOSA HEADS.
MOOLOOLABA is one of the SUNSHINE COAST'S MAJOR HOLIDAY TOWNS. Along the beach road behind the surf club in shot are a number of beach condos which feature lotsa footpath cafes/restaurants. There's lower cost accommodation nearby, including holiday homes, units and a caravan park.
Queensland SURF CLUBS btw are pretty good places to spend time - all are licenced to sell booze, can do a feed and most have patios with a great outlook over the beach as above. Outsiders are welcome.
I modified this GOOGLE EARTH image to show the layout.
GLADSTONE
This is an industrial, coal and grain loading port further north in SE QLD (although many claim this is southern CENTRAL QLD). At first glance its estuarine location doesn't offer too much for cruise ship visitors without spending big time on shore excursions to fairly distant places like the lovely beach at 1770 - but in fact I found plenty of interest near the ship.
Liners tie up at the GRAIN TERMINAL less than 2km from the CBD and only a few hundred meters from EAST POINT park pictured below.
The locals put on a street MARKET in EAST POINT PARK (white arrow) starting less than 400m from the gangway. Reached from path/stairs (not too steep) near the green arrow. To arrow's right (north) is an open area, with picnic facilities and a popular splash park for kids. The pink arrow shows "HMAS GLADSTONE" a retired patrol boat open for paid inspection. Yellow points at the GOLDING LOOKOUT which has panoramic 240 degrees view. There is a popular cafe up there. Plenty of food trucks in the market area too.
People doing paid ship excursions are mainly picked up from an area the other side of the park and so get to do a walk thru. Ditto people wanting to catch a shuttle up to town.
For anglers there are fishing stations with cleaning tables along the riverside near HMAS "GLADSTONE" - looked a bit tide-dependent to me and I'm not sure about bait availablility.
I thought variety and quality of products and food available a fair bit better than the 2 weekly markets at my own touristy home town. Note proximity of ports' grain silos.
MORETON ISLAND
This is one of the big sand islands off BRISBANE - it and the more southern NORTH STRADBROKE ISLAND isolate MORETON BAY from the open ocean.
Much of these islands are bush covered sand dunes with little settlement. Our destination was the area around TANGALOOMA
One of the main attractions is the TANGALOOMA WRECKS area - small fishing boats sunk off the beach to provide a marine habitat. Apparently snorkeling and diving are very good. I don't know - the ship could not do any tendering because of excessively rough conditions and so after trying several different locations for a few hours we set sail for home.
One consolation - just north of the island we saw quite a few WHALES which were doing their usual migration south from wintering further north in the WHITSUNDAY ISLANDS area.
I pinched this pic from P+O's in-cabin ATTRACTIONS folder. Note how clear the water is.
Looking from the ship towards the wrecks - irregular shapes at waterline adjacent beach are tops of wrecks: tide must be down a bit.
The dunes of these islands are among the highest in the world - that highest point is the top of a dune.
Water doesn't appear very rough in this shot - maybe the captain has had a bad experience and is super-cautious.
TANGALOOMA RESORT is about south of the wrecks. It's a popular holiday spot and a day-trip destination from Brisbane. Liner tenders land at the resort pier - I was looking forward to having a look around before snorkeling the wrecks.
There is also a council-run camping area a bit out of frame to the left.
HOW RELIABLE IS SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND WEATHER IN COLDER MONTHS?
I've holidayed the SUNSHINE COAST a lot when surfing and backpacking. From many visits I have always regarded the coldest 3 months of the year as a bit marginal temperature-wise. In this period I like to be north of ROCKHAMPTON which is nearly 360km closer the Equator from MOOLOOLABA, over 400km from MORETON ISLAND. But I do know that if you can get a section of sheltered beach on a sunny day, even mid-July can be great. And here's the thing, August is one of the 3 coolest months, but I didn't think conditions during our visit were unpleasant.
But GLADSTONE is a bit different - only 55km further from the Equator than ROCKY so mid-winter temps are getting pretty safe here even in more exposed areas.
RAINFALL WISE, the wet season is in summer, particularly JANUARY. Cooler months tend to be driest. I don't think I've experienced August rain in maybe a dozen visits.
THE SHIP - "PACIFIC EXPLORER is not bad at all. I personally thought it a step up from smaller P+O liners and equal to the CARNIVAL TWINS.
P+0 has a lot of knockers on cruise forums with many people claiming it is downmarket and the bogans' cruise line. I disagree, I've never thought food, service and facilities lacking and at heart I'm a bogan too - but then, there is a lot of snobbery on cruise forums. One thing LADY TEZZA (who does all our pre-cruise research and bookings) told me - P+O offers fewer really good specials than most other lines, but when they come up they are worth looking at.
Aft adults only deck a good place to spend time.
I thought a standout was the amount of lounges on board - always somewhere quiet to go sit with a book and to grab a drink from an always close bar.
P+O does not offer a happy hour deal or allow free wine to be bought on board. However booze prices seem a bit lower than other lines and always in $aud unlike CARIBBEAN and PRINCESS. Ten bucks aussie is a hell of a lot less than 10 bucks US.Our cabin was the usual design although a bit smaller than on most liners. Not too small - hell those JAPANESE moderate-priced hotel rooms are much small and they are not too small.
Buffet layout was different - designated "THE PANTRY and divided into MEX, INDIAN, AUSSIE, TRADITIONAL, CHINESE etc stations. Most food served by counter staff rather than self-serve which lessens the chance of norovirus etc - yet didn't seem to slow things down. Buffet food was fine. Plenty of seating. And the buffet was at the front of the ship - all our other ships have had a rear buffet.
Food in the dining room was okay and another difference - apart from the paid dining options there was also the chance to dine at no extra cost in a CHINESE restaurant and an ITALIAN. We tried both - nothing special however apart from a longer wait for food. I swear it came from the same galley as dining room stuff.
Entertainment standard and venues okay without being standouts.
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NOV 2018 NOUMEA MARE MYSTERY ISLAND, LIFOU
"EXPLORER OF THE SEAS"
"EXPLORER OF THE SEAS" off EASO BEACH, LIFOU.
EXPLORER IS A SISTER SHIP TO "VOYAGER OF THE SEAS" - main difference was that public areas seemed a bit better organised providing more space.
LIFOU was a new destination for us - rather than repeat stuff I have a full description on THIS PAGE
MYSTERY ISLAND and MARE were much the same, but at NOUMEA I managed to get to a new location - the beaches of NOUVILLE PENINSULA. I have a fair bit of info and pix towards the bottom of THIS PAGE.
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JAN 2019 HAL "NOORDAM"
14 NIGHTS ISLE OF PINES, LUGANVILLE, CHAMPAGNE BEACH, PORT VILA, MYSTERY ISLAND, LIFOU, MARE, NOUMEA.
HOLLAND AMERICA LINE is regarded by cruisers as a step up from ROYAL CARIBBEAN, maybe even PRINCESS. So when THE LADY managed to get a price per day around the same level as RC, naturally we went for it. One other plus was a new destination - we have never been to CHAMPAGNE BEACH in northern VANUATU.
The "NOORDAM" is another of these intermediate sized liners - it's slightly shorter than the CARNIVAL TWINS, about the same in width, passenger numbers and gross tonnage - a noted difference is that without the high funnels etc it can fit under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and so started at White Bay although finishing Circular Quay.This was of great advantage to international travellers still on board - and a big difference to our previous cruises was the high number of US citizens and other nationalities doing an extended cruise.
Note though the draft is enough to bar it from NOUMEA'S cruise terminal unlike the slightly smaller P+0 "PACIFIC EXPLORER" - we docked at the container terminal nearby.
Another difference to normal HAL cruises which attract an older demographic is that being the Australian school holidays, there were (ok, "was" is technically more correct) a fair few kids on board.
CHAMPAGNE BAY is drop dead gorgeous - everyone's idea of a tropical beach. I have a fair bit more info HERE.
Other call-ins were much the same although I did manage to get back to CHATEAU ROYAL BEACH, and at last to PLAGE DU MERIDIAN both at NOUMEA and that locals had introduced BEACH CABANAS at MYSTERY ISLANDS. I have details of the former HERE and the latter HERE
THE "NOORDAM" ITSELF is a pretty nice ship. I thought the cabins and general service equal to other lines, the buffet/dining room food better in quality and particularly variety; most entertainment was good. There was no shortage of sit-down space at the buffet. Booze was a good deal - each passenger could bring a bottle of wine aboard no charge and there were several HAPPY HOURS per day where the second drink was only $US2 extra. Plus the pool bars had a 2 for the price of one offer going on a range of beers all day. Inferior was dining room service - at least the amount of time it took to deliver meals. The buffet - a little tricky to see all offerings and get them. And the rear ADULTS ONLY area was not policed properly - I couldn't swim or spa without jumping splashing kids. BTW there is another great pool area for families midships most of these times.
The gym was smaller than on most of our other ships with fewer workout machines. None of my favourite chin up bars (roof a bit low but they could put a bar outside in a quiet deck area). However the gym seemed to have more professional staff than most other outfits and plenty of stretching, yoga, spinning etc classes.
In summary LADY TEZZA was so taken she has already paid a refundable deposit for any HAL cruise in the next 4 years. I've no objections.
THE LADY managed to score a balcony cabin at no extra cost.
Top-front CROWS NEST LOUNGE got quite crowded at times like SAIL AWAY, HAPPY HOUR, TRIVIA QUIZ. Otherwise an excellent, quiet, scenic place to read, talk etc. Aircon a tad enthusiastic though.
OFT-READ CRITICISMS OF HAL SEEN ON SOCIAL MEDIA.
- not many activities: not much to do. Gotta disagree - I thought HAL had heaps of interesting activities, talks, movies, ship tours etc going throughout the day. Maybe younger people are the complainers - the scene slows after 2200. But young people are not part of the HAL demographic and THE LADY and I tend to be tucked up in the sack by then.
- not much for kids. Okay, no ice skating, dodgems, water slides, zip-lines, Disney parades etc. But I did see a couple of younger crew ladies leading a group of sub-teens around the place which suggests some kind of kids' club, plus a definite hit (and not just with the kids) was the usually-open ice cream section in the buffet with a wide selection of flavours. This beats the sometimes-only-available and restricted choices on ROYAL CARIBBEAN and PRINCESS, the always available soft-serve only on CARNIVAL and the pay-only deal on P+O. But yes, on reflection, this is not the best line for people with kids - which is maybe why HAL had a relaxed policy on policing the adults only area for this particular school holiday cruise.
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MARCH 2019 - CARNIVAL SPIRIT TO HOBART/PORT ARTHUR
This was a short (5 nights) trip, but to a place we had not been. The LADY was keen - and I'm a tart travel-wise (would be happy in a GOULBURN BACKPACKER).
PORT ARTHUR
PORT ARTHUR is the perfect cheapskate's cruise stop in that just about everything can be done on a self-guided walk thru the area - no shortage of plaques explaining WHAT'S HERE plus locals handing out tour maps and advice.
Port Arthur is a tender port - tenders (yellow arrow) bring passengers into new HISTORIC SITE dock where enthusiastic locals provide maps, info. Cruiser at right is for ISLAND OF BONES trip (pay for). A shuttle for the mobility impaired picks up at the dock - I think this is gratis but should be booked. I'm not sure if ships' passengers get a free GUIDED tour - but a guide is not necessary - plus it is dead easy to sidle up to a guided group somewhere around the site and have an eves-drop.
Goal (jail fer you yanks) cells' plaques told you who was there and why.
Pretty atmospheric
The gaol.
The historic site is quite compact and either flat or gently sloping. There's way more than the gaol - officers' and staff housing, hospital, church, school, gardens, massacre memorial site yada. The lady and I strolled around in a leisurely 120 minutes although we did not go to the new and comprehensive VISITORS' CENTER. Several sites around the area can provide tea/coffee and eats.
The GOVERNMENT GARDEN is a nice area on the downhill back towards the pier.
PORT ARTHUR MEMORIAL GARDEN commemorates those killed in one of Australia's rare (and the worst) mass-shooting at this site n 1996.
Names of those lost. The perpetrator is not dignified by naming.
HOBART
THIS IS A GREAT CRUISE DESTINATION BECAUSE THERE IS PLENTY TO SEE WITHING EASY WALKING DISTANCE OF THE PIER FOR CHEAPSKATES LIKE ME - PLUS QUITE A FEW ATTRACTIVE VENUES OUT OF TOWN FOR THOSE NOT TOO TIGHT TO SPEND A DOLLAR
CARNIVAL SPIRIT alongside the HOBART CRUISE TERMINAL
NEAR SHIP VENUES - Constitution Dock (white arrow), CBD (charcoal), Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (purple). The Brooke St Pier Ferry Terminal is just out of shot to the left.
Yellow Arrow shows panoramic Mount Wellington - at 21 km one of the more popular paid excursions.
Immediately off ship, the CRUISE TERMINAL has plenty of touristy-type shopping stalls, a (closed for our non-international cruise) duty free counter far background, and....
....a very good TOURIST INFORMATION COUNTER with heaps of maps, brochures and a gentleman dispensing good advice. FREE WIFI very popular - this was ubiquitous in the docks-CBD area.
Guided walking tours of the CBD can be organised from here.
CONSTITUTION DOCK (background - has cranw) - this is where I've seen the SYDNEY-HOBART racing yacht winners tying up end of race since my family first could afford a TV in 1959. Probably less than 500m flat stroll from the cruise terminal
The BROOKE ST FERRY PIER - note the two fast ferries to the ROMA-MONA art precinct across the Derwent (in camouflage) moored alongside.
Schedule and trip duration seems frequent/short enough to allow cruise-line visitors an easy visit even before or after lunch on board.
1345 - ferry returning.
Inside the ferry terminal were a number of touristy-type retailers, at least 3 cafes and several outlets selling river-cruise, bus and other day-trips. Buses pick up in a bay out the front.
Daytrip sailboat waiting for passengers adjacent ferry pier
Heading out for afternoon run up river (and under the arched TASMAN BRIDGE) about 1400. I'd earlier seen her coming back down river under sail presumably after the morning cruise. Not sure if this is one put on by SPIRIT'S Cruise Counter or if it is open to all customers. Maybe both. Seemed pretty popular - standing room only both times I saw her on the river.
From the FERRY PIER it is only a few hundred yards walk up into the CBD - worth a wander even on our Sunday, when many businesses were closed.
Hobart city center is a mixture of traditional and modern buildings - here the GPO
FRANKLIN SQUARE (named after JOHN FRANKLIN, early governor of TASMANIA and later Arctic explorer) is a nice shaded central area with plenty of seating to take the load off.
You could probably walk every street in the CBD inside an hour - we didn't, cruising the central BUS MALL and then returning via adjacent streets to the waterfront area.
Just short of the waterfront is the TASMANIAN MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY. Entry free. This is about 400m from the ship - was tempted to return after raiding SPIRIT'S BUFFET. But the gym beckoned.
Just short of the Cruise Terminal was this great old rig - passengers CHINESE** from the SPIRIT ** always disproportionately more Chines passengers on cruises out of Sydney than other nationalities - I reckon this reflects the good value of the cruises: the Chinese know value when they see it. However even more than normal Chinese passengers on this cruise.
OTHER ATTRACTIONS - our little gallop didn't take much more than 2 hours, but there is enough in the small area covered to fill a day - things we missed besides the Art Gallery and Museum include the MARITIME MUSEUM, a replica of explorer Mawson's ANTARCTIC HUT, several historic pubs, the original IXL jam factory and sundry civil buildings.
THE SHIP
Our 4th trip on CARNIVAL SPIRIT saw few changes. One was a much slicker check-in: CARNIVAL now does not issue CRUISE PASSES at the check in counter - they are waiting in your cabin door card holder. Regulars can probably see a downside - but it sure sped up book in: virtually no lines - the quickest of any cruise yet by far.
Another plus was a new multi-exercise machine in the gym which included my favourite CHIN UP BARS. Some new stationary bikes too. SPRIT and LEGEND continue to have the biggest gyms of our 8 different ships to date.
Negatives included the dining room - ANYTIME DINING was overbooked and our LATE DINING finished too late for us to take in following shows which finished well past this happy camper's usual hit the sack time. One meal was excellent, others overcooked and not very hot (gave the impression they had been sitting in the galley since first sitting). The only other couple on our table were VERY COLOURFUL nouvea-riche types who regaled us with stories of their nouveau-riche friends and bling at home and gave the impression they found us (retired working class dudes and admitted tight-wads) boring (no doubt correct). Consequently we bailed out of the dining room for dinner at the buffet mid cruise - at least we could time it to make an early show.
Another possible downside is that SPIRIT now has quite a lot of LEGEND'S over the top corridor wallpaper art - didn't worry me but could upset sensitive types already offended by CARNIVAL'S typical LAS VEGAS style interiors.
Apart from those few things SPIRIT was the usual good value for money, had the normal excellent hard working crew and those other pluses of the high water slides, 24 hour soft serves (!!!!), spacious deck relaxation areas (although maybe a bit short on seating areas lower decks), and a well policed adults' only area.
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I won't detail it on account it was a ship and locations we had used/been to many times - suffice to say it was as good as ever (fer both of us, it is the fun and relaxation of being on the ship which is the main thing).
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Nov '19 - VOYAGER OF THE SEAS -
Singapore - Darwin - Yorkeys Knob (Cairns) - Airlie Beach (Whitsundays) - Brisbane - Sydney.
This was a new one - sure we have used the ship twice before but not since the very recent refit: all the places I've visited before, BUT only BRISBANE on a cruise liner. And it was our first RELOCATION cruise - Voyager was moving south for its season in Australia.
So something different.
OK - all you pedants will point out this is not in keeping with the heading: "CRUISING THE SW PACIFIC IN LINERS: - in that it has a lot of the INDIAN OCEAN too. Sue me.
ROUTE
Note being a global projection, the above NORTH marker and SCALE line are only true of the middle areas.
THE SHIP (seen here in Darwin)
The refit involved dry-docking at Singapore, refurbishing many areas, adding 72 extra cabins up top forward where the gym/spa was, building a new gym/spa top rear, adding water-slides and other kid-friendly facilities, ditto extra facilities for upmarket passengers and most noticeable - a new blue hull colour to match her even bigger sisters.
SUCCESS? Not all that much at the time we cruised (it was the worst of our 3 on this ship) although many problems were probably down to insufficient shake-down time (despite a month of short shake-down cruises out of Singapore before our relocation) Some things probably NOT down to insufficient shake-down included overcrowding in many areas (added cabins put a strain on the buffet and dining room at peak times, tender operations (insufficient shake-down probably contributed too), and room around the pool deck at peak times.
But there were successes - new furniture, carpets yada seemingly everywhere and somehow more space had been created up the back of the buffet seating area thru good planning (fewer dirty plate storage areas) and perhaps smaller tables (although not too small).
And as usual the cabin and wait staff were their usual excellent selves and the captain was brilliant.
SINGAPORE
Getting there was not much fun - our package included a flight across via SCOOT, our fist on that budget airline. I have to say I was not whelmed. This was the most UNCOMFORTABLE medium distance flight I've ever done - all down to SCOOT'S tight seats and maybe lack of seat-back entertainment for distraction (they do offer streaming for bring yer own devices which is fine except for geezers like me without devices). Otherwise I thought SCOOT did it well -ULTRA CLEAN RESTROOMS with staff constantly entering with cleaning product (not even full service airlines like QANTAS do this), a better staff-passenger ratio than JETSTAR (the only other medium distance budget carrier I've used - which ALSO flies DREAMLINERS which are just about state of the art regarding noise, pressure, window size etc. I thought SCOOT'S staff gave brilliant service vs very good for JETSTAR.
But overall I have to say if I ever fly budget to SINGAPORE again (prices being close) it will be with JETSTAR - that's how uncomfortable those seats were.
CHANGI AIRPORT - again I was underwhelmed. I must have "debarked" (cruise term - sorry) at least a dozen times here in the past - transited as often. Have for a long time regarded it the best airport in the world. NO LONGER - our 2am arrival involved a 10 person 40+ minutes in the immigration line - the holdup seemed to be the introduction of the "cousins'" dreaded finger-print routine. But maybe more to the point: perhaps CHANGI figures the BUDGET TERMINAL does not deserve an adequate level of immigration staffing. NOT GOOD ENOUGH CHANGI. Lift yer game.
Was once. Not any longer baby
SINGAPORE HOTEL
Our package put us up at the HOTEL MI, Bencoolen St, central city. This was the typical Singaporean lower-midrange hotel in a good position - quiet, comfy, good staff with quick check-in/out yada.
Took way less time and money than estimated for our taxi to make it from CHANGI at 2am (the TEZZA cheapskate option, the excellent MRT subway, doesn't run after mid-night).
This is a good area - not too far from shopping or the main tourist attractions of the near city area and with plenty of eating options nearby.
CRITICISMS
Well some would moan the rooms are a bit small, but I thought given the location/price they were adequate. But maybe the clothes-hanging required a bit more than a rail on top of a bench.
SINGAPORE ATTRACTIONS
I like the way the lion city keeps reinventing itself - adding stuff to entice people visitors both first-time and returnees, not to mention keeping the locals happy.
In this respect we decided on a place new since out previous visit - THE GARDENS BY THE BAY.
Shot from the DRAGONFLY BRIDGE soon after entry from BAYSIDE MRT (bridge 350m from the platforms - follow the signs), you have the SUPERTREE GROVE in back (the CLOUD FOREST is just behind) and the DRAGONFLY LAKE closer.
Entry to the GARDENS is free, but we eschewed the normal TEZZA cheapskate mode by grabbing a (low cost) shutte to the other side of the gardens (terminates at the CLOUD FOREST) to orientate ourselves. Walked the short distance back.
Time shortage precluded paid entry to the CLOUD FOREST but there were some pretty good nature-sculpture stuff in the foyer. Check arrowed dude.
We did intend to walk the paid SKYWAY, but it was temporarily closed due to lurking electical storms. As our time-shortage precluded waiting around, we moved back towards the entrance via the excellent SUPERTREE GROVE beneath.
MARINA BAY CRUISE SHIP TERMINAL
Like the other big cruise liner terminal (SINGAPORE CRUISE CENTRE near SENTOSA a few km to the right), MBCST was relatively close to the city meaning a quick and inexpensive taxi ride from our hotel - we could have used the subway but this entailed a bit of walking both ends, something my shot knees are not too keen on these days. Particularly when it is a humid 33C in the shade (those spotless SINGAPOREAN cabs have real nice aircon).
I was impressed with this facility having read bad things from LADY TEZZA's cruise-forum buddies - it worked surprisingly well seeing how ROYAL CARIBBEAN was also loading the even bigger QUANTUM OF THE SEAS at the same facility (over 7000 passengers and their gear between the two). But organisation was well done, traffic flow in some rather tight areas nicely organized, there was plenty of seating and certainly the cruise line had not stinted on employing lotsa helpers. A potentially stressful time made easy.
DAYS 12345 SINGAPORE-DARWIN.
After leaving SINGAPORE late afternoon on DAY 1it was 5 nights and 4 days at sea until DARWIN. I don't have any pix but I can remember first afternoon going at least 25km past all those ships waiting/unloading off SINGAPORE. Then sliding down the east side of INDONESIA'a BINTAN ISLAND (round abt then was twilight, not conducive to any pix) BINTAN- somewhere I have been before.
Route out of SINGAPORE. I forgot to put on a LINEAR SCALE - it's abt 85km in a straight line from the SINAPORE marker to that of BINTAN. North of course is straight up.
Subsequent days featured CALM SEAS (with that lovely TURQUOISE colour you get in equatorial areas) and more shipping than I was used to (face it, given SINGAPORE's position and entrepot-trade function, the relatively narrow sea between SUMATRA and KALIMANTAN is pretty busy) and not much sight of land except a few islands, until the 3rd night out of SINGAPORE where we passed thru the narrow gap between BALI and LOMBOK - I personally regarded this as the point where we went from NORTH to SOUTH, despite the fact that we had traversed the EQUATOR a few hours into the first night. I was kinda disappointed we didn't go thru when visibility was good - having holidayed both sides frequently and crossed this strait even more frequently. Consequently I know this area well, but all I could see in the dark was a few lights for towns on the NE tip of BALI, spreading up the steep slopes.
DARWIN - DAY 6
VOYAGER OF THE SEAS at DARWIN's cruise dock in the newish WATERFRONT PRECINCT of DARWIN (not to be confused with the older DARWIN PORT AREA a short distance north).
THE WATERFRONT PRECINCT
- here's the thing. There is a whole bunch of CRUISE-LINE DAY TRIPS around/out of DARWIN, but if you are a heavy duty tightwad like me who rails against the CRUISE LINES' exorbitant pricing, the WATERFRONT PRECINCT is the area you want. Immediately off the ship, with a whole load of FREE or LOW COST attractions - I reckon I could spend a whole day in this area alone. And half a day easy, which allows either to go up to the rather good CBD MALL or to go back on-board to that yummy BUFFET. Actually I managed ALL in my cruise day in DARWIN.
CAVEAT - the CRUISE LINE SHORE EXCURSIONS offered a whole bunch of attractive albeit expensive excursions. The most distant was a LITCHFIELD NATIONAL PARK trip. I would not pick this having done a similar one day trip back in 2016 - different in that I was staying at a DARWIN backpacker joint and had plenty of time. That trip was excellent but we left soon after sun-up, didn't get back to well after dark. The CRUISE LINE TRIP compresses this into way less time - the way I see it you would spend most time on the bus. Be aware also that this excursion requires a reasonable level of fitness - something that the average cruise line passenger lacks.
WATERFRONT PRECINCT FROM THE SHIP
ATTENTION: I THINK FEW PEOPLE WILL READ THIS PAGE. THE WAY GOOGLE WORKS WILL THROW IT UP WAY DOWN THE LIST FOR PEOPLE LOOKING FOR SHORT CRUISE INFO OUT OF SYDNEY.
GOOGLE SNAGS ME A LOT OF READERS LOOKING FOR STUFF ABT THAI/INDO/MALAYSIAN BEACHES AND ISLANDS - BUT I FIGURE MOST WILL NOT BE INTERESTED IN BIG SHIP TRIPS INTO THE SOUTH WEST PACIFIC.
NEVERTHELESS, IF YOU SEE MISTAKES OR HAVE ADDITIONAL INFO, PLEASE POST IT BELOW. BUT IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, PLEASE ASK THEM IN THE FORUM WHICH CAN BE ACCESSED VIA THE INDEX LINK TOP RIGHT OF THIS PAGE. I RARELY CHECK INDIVIDUAL PAGES LIKE THIS WHEREAS I VISIT THE FORUM MOST DAYS.
Latest cruise was Nov 2019 - but much of this page was written after a Feb 2016 trip on CARNIVAL LEGEND.
There is an UPDATE section on subsequent cruises later on the page.
JAN 2020 - This page has become a bit of a dog's breakfast. The original idea was to give readers some info of what cruising was like out of Australia, including prices, Sydney terminals, comparisons between P+O and CARNIVAL, the only 2 lines we had traveled on at that time. You will find this stuff from 0 to 20% on page.
But since then LADY T and I have done a lot more cruises - I have not tried to detail all, but have added info on NEW SHIPS and NEW DESTINATIONS when we did them.
SHIPS - Carnival Legend and Spirit - 7% down page
- P+O Pearl and Jewel - 8%
- Voyager/Explorer of the Seas of the Seas - 52%
- Golden Princess - 56%
- P+O Pacific Explorer - 60%
-Noordam- 68%
-refitted Voyager - 75%
DESTINATIONS
- typical South Seas - 24%
- New Zealand - 45%
- Fiji - 53%
- Papua New Guinea and near - 56%
- Port Vila out of town - 57%
- SE and Central Queensland 60%
- Lifou - 67%
- Tasmania - 68%
- Singapore, Darwin, Cairns,
Whitsundays, Brisbane - 75%
NO SHORTAGE OF CHOICE
There's a heap of cruises departing Sydney - in fact you can go virtually anywhere on the world's oceans - but the most popular are the relatively short (8 to 11 days) runs around the various islands of New Caledonia and Vanuatu in the south-west Pacific east of of the central-north Queensland coast.
The cruises tend to take 2 or 3 days to reach the islands from Sydney; then 3,4 or 5 days depending on how many call-ins around the various islands (New Caledonia has one large island and a hell of a lot of smaller ones: Vanuatu is all smallish islands); and 2 or 3 days to get back to Sydney. There can be variations - for instance two Tropical Cyclones (aka Typhoons/Hurricanes depending on where you live) forced an early retreat latest cruise on CARNIVAL LEGEND and so we spent a very leisurely 4 days getting back from New Caledonia. Hell, I think I could have swum faster - but it was all very relaxing and because we were always considerably in front of the storm we suffered no really big seas or strong winds.
Similarly our Oct 15 voyage on CARNIVAL SPIRIT saw propeller problems causing an extra half day to get home.
UPDATE - later cruises saw 2 visits to both LIFOU and ESPIRIT SANTO - see down page.
For scale - it's about 530km in a straight line between the place markers of PORT VILA AND NOUMEA
Note too I neglected to include Port Denarau and Suva in Fiji, which are sometimes additions to these New Caledonia cruises. Fiji is about 1000km east of Port Vila.
Looks to be an interesting trip - I've backpacked Fiji back in the 90s: hafta get back.
UPDATE - as indicated up-page that's exactly what I did in August 16 on Carnival Spirit. Our outward leg was Sydney-Noumea-Suva - the return was slightly different to the above - Port Denaru-Suva-Sydeny. Was supposed to be Port Denaru-Isle of Pines (can be seen below Mare on the above map)-Sydney.
I've done 4 of the shorter island cruises in the 3 years to FEB 1016, plus 2 slightly longer ones - the first around New Zealand, which is probably the next most popular cruise ex-Sydney after the islands of the SW Pacific - the second extending across to Fiji. The NZ cruise involved 2 sea days each way, plus call-ins every day at 8 different locations around the two islands - 12 days in total. Fiji involved 2 sea days to Noumea and Mystery Island, 2 sea days to Fiji and 4 sea days back to Australia including the medical emergency mentioned down page- total with stops 12 days.
Much of this page concentrates on the Feb 2016 trip on Carnival Legend to the islands - but I will add information which may become useful to you from other cruises where applicable.
UPDATE MARCH 2019 - cruisers shouldn't overlook the AUSTRALIAN ONLY trips - I have done two, to SE/CENTRAL QUEENSLAND and to HOBART/PORT ARTHUR - gotta say these were as good as the islands with the added advantage of no BORDER SECURITY shit on exit/entry - which has become the major contributor of hold ups at the dock (the cruise lines are constantly streamlining their stuff: not so the government).
WHY CRUISE?
Some of you guys are probably asking why a long-time backpacker is cruising. Thing is it's so EASY. No mucking around at airports both at Sydney's pathetic excuse fer one or the hassles and scams at airports like Phuket's and Bali's. Check in and customs/emigration/immigration is so much easier.
EASIER too is access:
Note use of the + instead of the usual shorthand in P&0. For some reason blogger can't handle & - as yu can see.
Straight line distance between the 2 place markers is only 2 km, but you can see that the White Bay based boats have a rather twisted course before they are adjacent say the Opera House.
By the way, if I was an overseas visitor I would much prefer Circular Quay - you can walk to the Opera House, Sydney Harbour bridge, the Rocks historical area and the City - plus the Quay is a train/bus focus for more distant parts of Sydney. Buses for Bondi Beach leave from here - look for 380 or 333 in Alfred St opp wharf 2 - 45 minutes.
White Bay however is relatively isolated and poorly served with public transport - no doubt the cruise lines throw on buses etc for their exxy shore excursions but if you are like me and prefer to do your own exploring it is a difficult place to exit cheaply/quickly.
UPDATE - State Transport is now running a ferry from a wharf about 500m to the right once out of the terminal (ask directions from one of the many helpers there on arrivals time), to Circular Quay. I haven't done this yet, but it would be a pretty scenic trip - including passing under the bridge.
But THE MAIN ATTRACTION of cruising is best summed up by an old work mate met on my first cruise - it was her 15th or so. When asked what she liked best, she said "They PAMPER you". Too right - service is the big thing and you don't have to worry about cooking, house-work or most of the other everyday hassles.
I have to add that GOOD VALUE is another thing that appeals to me. You can do these cruises for less than $aud70 ($us50)** per person a day all inclusive - unlimited food, comfy cabin, entertainment, good leisure facilities, heaps of interest activities plus of course you are being transported to a variety of places in high comfort. For Australian cruises Carnival and P+O fares include tips (Oz aint a tipping culture). However, knowing how poorly most of the crew is paid, we usually give at cruise end a small number of modest sums to people who have stood out service-wise.
Note I think ALL UP costs of my recent backpacker trips would mostly be close to $70 a day - some more.
You can of course spend more - on special food, certain shipboard interest activities, shore excursions, gambling etc - but our extra spending latest cruise simply involved booze, a shore excursion bus ride to Yejele Beach on Mare and a simple wifi package for Lady Tezza (note wifi is expensive - ridiculous in this day and age). Plus the afore-mentioned modest tips
**UPDATE 2017 - COST WISE there are so many variables - even with the same type of cabin (we always go for a sea view cabin because The Lady freaks without natural light) you can end up spending way more than twice the above figures (and that is BEFORE you start adding booze packages, pay dining, spa treatments, expensive shore excursions ...yada). Pick a higher level cabin and it goes up again.
But here are a few tips:
- try to not book the opening fare (unfortunately some people can't avoid this).
- PACK AND GO (last minute) FARES are usually a good deal - but note you have less choice re cabin types, location etc. Maybe no choice.
- After the Opening Fares and before Pack and Go some good deals become available.
- CRUISE WHOLESALERS should not be avoided. Get on their email list and they will send you special offers. Sure, they get their middleman cut but we have found places like CRUISE SALE FINDER to offer some excellent deals. A few times we have been upgraded to a balcony at no extra charge.
- Often some inclusive charges like TIPS (at least on cruises leaving Australlia) can be opted out.
Thing is a lot of this is variable - THE LADY has just told me (Dec 2017) ROYAL CARRIBEAN has removed the option to opt-out of inclusive tips for cruises out of Australia. So the thing is to do your research on all this before booking.
Anyway, with THE LADY doing all this research/booking, we always end up with a good deal, Our sea-view room always costs more than the bottom budget internal cabins (think around $100 a day each for TWO people in 2017, more like $80 when we started in 2014) vs down to 60-70% of that for an interior cabin with FOUR people.
We have found LOCATION of cabin can be important - end cabins tend to move around a bit more in rough seas and cruising forums can tell you the noisy cabins (often the ones near entertainment venues) and other problems.
UPDATE - JAN 2000. The cost of a typical cruise out of Sydney has increased way over the rate of inflation in recent years. I put this down to INCREASED DEMAND -it seems all those baby boomer retirees have woken up to the delights on board. That's okay, I reckon we were no earlier than them. It's kinda hard to estimate average cost but these days we figure if we can get a sea-view cabin for $aud130 a day (abt $US90) once all the freebies they throw at repeat cruisers are subtracted, we are getting an OK deal.
THE SHIPS
As late as our 6th cruise in July 2016 we had only used 2 outfits, CARNIVAL and P+0. And even more restrictive, they are owned by the one company, Carnival Corporation plc - this outfit is the largest cruise liner operator in the world with more than 100 ships over 10 brands.
So no surprises that our cruise experiences are not radically different.
But there are several other cruise lines operating out of Sydney, some not owned by Carnival. I hope to be able to report on a few some time in the future.
OUR CARNIVAL CHOICES
We have done 2 cruises on Carnival Legend, and 2 on Carnival Spirit. They are sister ships and tend to be very similar. But not identical.
There are small variations internally - Spirit has had the most recent refit (2015) and has a new Mexican style buffet section. It also has less ostentatious internal decorations, although both are pretty flash - what Carnival calls its Las Vegas style.
If all this seems a bit overwhelming, note it seemed much less chintzy on our second Legend trip. And those legend-based paintings and murals are good value to interpret (see down page).
Differences between Carnival's Legend and Spirit are small.
Apart from a more relaxed decor (but still more blingy than P+O) a more recent refit on the Spirit results in some extra food options - notably a Mexican food bar which on the Legend serves hamburger,chips etc (no worries big time gourmets - these high range options are available in another spot on the Spirit).
Fitness freaks should note Legend has a chin up bar out on the deck in front of the gym, Spirit has no chin up bar.
Chin-ups rule
THE P+O SHIPS
Setting is once again Mare, New Caledonia.
More relaxed decor in P+O Jewel's buffet's ocean view section vs....
Differences between the P+O ships
CAVEAT - a lot of the following mentions PACIFIC PEARL - but in March 2017 P+O sold her - she is now currently sailing for Cruise and Maritme Voyages out of the UK as COLUMBUS. Lady Tezza says I should delete the following sections mentioning PEARL, but a lot is about the New Zealand Cruise which should be relevant on whatever P+O ship is doing it. Plus some UK readers may be interested in PEARL'S features.
Our two P+O boats differed more internally than the Carnivals.
I thought dining, entertainment, other activities and cabin standards were very similar.
I personally don't care if I have a sea view when working out, but I did spend a hell of a lot of time relaxing at the Pearl Dome sea-view front windows.
So obviously another big difference is GYM LOCATION. On the Pearl it is way down on deck A which is below the first of the passenger cabin decks (1) and mainly has crew quarters and auxiliary ship functions. Side areas from the gym have spa, fitness suites and the beauty salon.
At first I thought hiding the gym down there was not so hot, but it is right at the foot of the central stairway (and lifts) and because I like to do several bottom to top stair climbs after a workout (10 floors mid-ship) I grew to really prefer it - helped largely by the fact it always seemed less crowded than on the Jewel. I think Pearl's gym is slightly larger, but the main reason was that Jewel had a circus high- wire act for the main top deck at the time of my cruise and the performers spent a fair time in the gym keeping fit. On all ships performers from the shows' dance troupes etc also used the gyms, but these people did not overcrowd the other 3 gyms. Some nice eye candy too.
Another mark against Jewel's gym was that at the time of my trip all the stationary bicycles were in a separate room, obviously for the paid spin classes. Pearl had at least 6 bikes - I never had to wait for one.
A mark against both is that there are no chin-up, pull-up bars - my personal favourite.
A note here - I don't use gyms at home: no time/can't afford them. But this is the thing about cruises - you can try new activities at no cost. And a workout at the gym sure burns some of that excess of yummy food from the buffet.
This area on the Pearl is very similar apart from no spas and a swim up bar at one of the pools.
UPDATE JAN 20 - all the above is largely** academic now because P+O has sold both PEARL and JEWEL. They were partly replaced by PACIFIC EDEN and PACIFIC ARIA (both bought from fellow Carnival PLC line HOLLAND AMERCICA) which because they were smaller had to be supplemented by PACIFIC EXPLORER (see down page) bought from sister cruise company PRINCESS also owned by Carnival Plc.
Because EDEN and ARIA are getting a bit old, the former was sold in MARCH 19 and the latter transferred to NZ based cruises. For Australian operations, the plan is to replace them in late 2020 and late 2021 with the very big PACIFIC ADVENTURE (formerly GOLDEN PRINCESS) and PACIFIC ENCOUNTER (now STAR PRINCESS)
Sounds good to me - a lot of people knock P+O, but I have found their 3 ships I've used to date fine - if the line can replicate the success of EXPLORER, I look forward to a trip on ADVENTURE and ENCOUNTER.
**largely - because P+O still operates PACIFIC DAWN which is a sister ship to JEWEL (and is running out of Melbourne and Brisbane) - so much of what I have said about JEWEL applies to DAWN.
Differences between Carnival and P+0
MORE FEATURES
Size is obviously a major difference - but I never thought the Carnivals too big or the P+Os too small.
But the extra space allows Carnival to more fit things on-board like....
I think FOOD VARIETY may have been slightly more on the Carnivals but at no time did I consider P+0's buffet was lacking. FOOD QUALITY was good on both lines as far as I was concerned, both in the buffets and the a la carte restaurants. Then again, I'm no gourmet.
ALL THAT FOOD!
The amount and variety of food on the cruise is a blowout. Particularly to The Lady and me who were raised in lower working class families which back in the late 40s/early-mid 50s tended to do it tough - there was often a shortage of food and variety was restricted to the same old cheap staples. So even though our later years were hardly lower working class (bless Australia's free education system) we have remained pretty frugal and no frills. Get into a situation where we can go berserk at no extra cost and I particularly lose some restraint - despite my rigorous daily excercise regime (see down page) I put on 5 kilos (11 lbs) in the 10 days/12 nights on board FEB 2016 trip).
But our early life-experience still showed - our parents would kill us if we wasted food so we never left stuff on our cruise plates uneaten, unlike 50%+ of other passengers.
Nor did we eat between meals - the amount of grazing when the buffet was closed (for only about an hour between meals after opening 0615 - closes very late) was incredible, and most of this stuff was pay extra. Similarly there would be at least a half-dozen partly finished pizzas on trays outside cabins on my coffee fetching trek each morning. I assumed room service had delivered - some room service items are free, others not. But maybe passengers had fetched these themselves from the pizzeria which like the deli sandwich counter, remains open 24 hours).
BTW - no lack of quantity in the Waterfront a la carte restaurant, and if you want more, ask. Want 2 entrees or ice cream with that fancy dessert? No problem.
SOFT SERVES RULE!
I reckon a big issue for families with kids is that the Carnivals had a SELF SERVE SOFT SERVE ICE CREAM MACHINE out on the main pool deck, which was immensely popular (and not just with the kids - I love that stuff, particularly when free). The P+0s have a pay per serve ice cream cone place - also immensely popular.
PAY?
When there is so much yummy free food? Yep, plenty did, including at a joint near the lower deck lounges on each ship selling fabulous looking cakes and pastries - but no more fabulous looking to me than the free pastries and cake up at the buffet. A pay coffee shop also did a roaring trade (sure, those coffee machines in the buffet might not hit the spot for a true coffee freak - I wouldn't know the difference between good and very average coffee but Lady Tezza does) and you would not believe the crowds in the lolly shops. Gourmets who want to step up from the free a la carte restaurants have several pay options for a fancy meal. Dunno how good they are - I thought the free restaurants served pretty good food with great service.
MORE FUN AT CARNIVAL'S A LA CARTE
You can expect Carnival's restaurants to be bigger, but in fitting with the FUN SHIPS theme of the line, the wait-staff put on some short entertainment each night which proved immensely popular.
BIGGER, BETTER GYMS
Carnival's gyms were much larger - makes sense on a bigger ship but I'm thinking disproportionately so. Gyms spread over 3 levels at top front of vessels. Those windows below face forward, give ocean views.
Top level has more machines and a free weights area at the far end. The latter is a bit small and was the only place I had to divert more than a few times to other machines to wait.
COOL WATER SLIDES
The Carnival Legend and Spirit each have the Green Thunder free water slide.
BETTER FOR KIDS?
Well the free water slides are certainly a plus for Carnival. Both Carnival and P+0 have supervised kids' clubs which pre teens seemed to find very enjoyable. For teens they also have special areas and activities but it seemed to me Carnival's were more conspicuous. But I didn't get the idea P+O was lacking here - lotsa teens on our P+O trips and they never seemed bored.
THEATERS
All the ships we have been on have had main theaters which for twice nightly performances of shows plus other occasions where mass seating is required.
However Carnival Legend and Spirit have a bonus - a smaller sub-theater (Firebird Theater on Legend) one deck down for more performances and activities requiring less seating - maybe 250 people. Doubles as movie theater during daylight hours+ small focus groups (art lectures etc). We found the comedians after dinner very good value.
GUESTS
Yeah, I know. You are thinking cruise liners are the domain of old dudes. I'm a geezer myself (except most times I don't feel I'm a geezer on account I'm so fit and cut I could go a posse of pole dancers and not break sweat....um....a bit of wishful thinking there and a LOT of hyperbole)) and there has never been a shortage of geezers on the ones I've done - but the thing is, these short trips out of Sydney seem to be very popular with families - and my latest Feb '16 cruise had plenty of young people in the age range 18-22 on account it was about the last one to these destinations they could do before university kicked off for the year. More later.
These are the cohorts you can expect to see more on these short cruises than in society as a whole:
OLD DUDES - yep, you got the silver nomads spending the grand-kids' inheritance big time. Now you may be a grand-kid. Get over it - you will be old one day. Thing is, OLD DUDES are pretty relaxed travelers - they are always good for conversation (maybe a fading art in these days when everyone under 35 had his/her head stuck in a device), tend to hit the sack early and don't crowd up those late venues, and have learned that a sense of give and take in life is a winner (so are less judgmental: aint no big deal some young dude got smashed last night - met a sweetheart and went to her cabin, had a huge workout of the recreational kind, hit the sack and cut the ZZZZZZs so hard he did not hear the constant PA announcements looking fer him on account his brother thought he were so affected by alky he went over the rail - thing is old dudes say: done that or seen similar - WTF).
Disadvantages of OLD DUDES include they tend to overuse the lifts, can be a bit slow getting on and off ship's tenders, may have emergency medical episodes which change the cruise schedule (but see my stuff on young Jarod above and down page). And not all are as relaxed as yer humble correspondent and most of his ilk about the ZZZZZing Jarods of this world.
YOUNG FAMILIES - this is normally the next biggest cohort, tending to represent abt 25% of guests (maybe more). Kids range from toddlers thru to teens.
YOUNG ADULTS - maybe 15%. Got a fair age range here - university students in their late teens thru to early/mid 30s. No shortage of young couples and honeymooners.
THE CHINESE - although less than 10%, this is still disproportionately higher than the Chinese share of Australia's population. No mystery - tourists from mainland China and Hong Kong to Australia total over 1 million per year - if only a small proportion of these realise an excellent way to enhance their visit is to jump on one of these trips, that still represents a fair number of people. And by the proportion claiming not to understand English, it seems most are not Chinese-Australians. Thing is, $70 to $100 per day is pretty small cheese to the average Chinese daily expenditure when visiting Australia - and the Chinese have always had a nose for good value.
Similarly, I reckon this would be a good deal for backpackers and other budget travelers - 4 sharing a cabin with all the inclusions would work out cheaper than staying in a dorm plus food transport, entertainment etc in Oz. So I tend to keep an eye out for these people - there have been some, but sadly, few seem to be have onto this good deal during the past couple of years.
THE SERIOUSLY OBESE - another group over-represented (but I'd say less than 5%** of all passenger). Gotta consider that for value-seeking huge dudes the cost of food must always be a big deal - and on a cruise they can eat like champs and it costs no more than that thin girl pecking at her plate next table. Plus a really big dude puts on an extra 5 kilos and no-one notices, unlike yers truly, who pre-cruise looks like an overtrained, underfed greyhound (Lady Tezza prefers ferret to greyhound. ....um.... ain't a ferret a member of the rat family?)
**yeah, I know obese people take up more than 5% of Australia's population. But we are talking the SERIOUSLY obese here.
PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES - another over-represented group. The all in one nature of cruise ships plus the ease of moving around (the lifts are plentiful and fast, the corridors non-crowded) probably appeals. And I have an idea the staff, who gives deadbeats like me excellent service, step up even more for people with problems. Note that trips with visits to a lot of places having "debarkation" directly onto wharves rather than via ship's tender will see more people with movement disabilities.
Sample of passengers on latest Feb16 cruise - here checking Carnival Legend's departure from Circular Quay. Note there were fewer families on this cruise on account of very early in the school year. The SERIOUSLY obese and people with disabilities probably find it a bit hard to make it up to these crowed areas.
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CARNIVAL LEGEND CRUISE - FEBRUARY 2016
Typical SW PACIFIC ISLAND Cruise (well with twin Tropical Cyclones and suspected Man Overboard, maybe ATYPICAL)
1405 - inside Overseas Passenger Terminal adjacent ship. Not supposed to take pix here (security) so this is the only one I have - shows check-in line. Moves quite quickly, mainly due to Carnival (and P+O at White Bay) employing lotsa check-in staff, unlike those airlines at airports. Also helping is our self-nominated check in time-envelope (1400 to 1430) - cruise companies not too keen on people arriving earlier than nominated but no problems about later providing you beat the cut off time - 1630 from memory. Bags dropped off to baggage handlers prior to line.
At desk passengers are allocated cabins (many booking services allow you to pre-choose), issued with CRUISE CARD which acts as key and charge-it card on board and arrange link between their bank credit card and the cruise card (we do this online when booking). Cash payers need to arrange this with CUSTOMERS SERVICES once on board.
1430 - thru security and emigration (also much quicker than at airports) and about to cross to ship.
1431 - shute drops us onto deck 3 - just thru that door is an electronic machine which records your arrival using the CRUISE CARD. You do this each time you embark and debark (their term) the ship. There is another security check - but the Cruise lines seem more interested in checking for people bringing on-board booze, prohibited jugs and cooking implements etc. But I'm sure if the customs scan missed your AK 47, they would confiscate that too.
1435 - arrive at deck 1 sea view cabin. Pretty typical of all 5 of our cruises' cabins - I don't think any was preferable. Well featured, sufficient room, comfy beds (most can be reconfigured into twins) - we always ask cabin steward (who typical knocks and introduces him/herself in the first hour) to replace bed doona with thin blanket), aircon always on but can be adjusted over small range. Okay bathroom with lotsa towels etc behind left partition mid pic immediately above.
Deck 1 port side has immediacy of water and million dollar views of Opera House etc. Note those lighting slots on Carnivals are excellent for drying damp washing in aircon flow - pack some old-style wire hangers with hooks, Carnival's clothes hangers are the slotted types). Of course you can do your washing/drying/ironing at a pay laundry on the stateroom deck plus there is a pay valet laundry service.
IMPORTANT POINT - pack into your shoulder bag whatever supplies and clothing you think you will need in the first few hours on board - delivery of your bigger luggage items often takes several hours. Don't freak if you have an early booking in the a la carte restaurant - dress code first night is always dress as you arrived.
A BALCONY CABIN
On a previous Carnival Legend cruise we were upgraded from sea view to a balcony cabin, deck 7 starboard. This was very similar in size and layout to the deck 1 cabin shown up page - the small balcony was okay, nice place to spend time entering/leaving/in port - but we personally thought it not worth the extra money normally asked by Carnival.
TUCKER TIME!
These are the cohorts you can expect to see more on these short cruises than in society as a whole:
OLD DUDES - yep, you got the silver nomads spending the grand-kids' inheritance big time. Now you may be a grand-kid. Get over it - you will be old one day. Thing is, OLD DUDES are pretty relaxed travelers - they are always good for conversation (maybe a fading art in these days when everyone under 35 had his/her head stuck in a device), tend to hit the sack early and don't crowd up those late venues, and have learned that a sense of give and take in life is a winner (so are less judgmental: aint no big deal some young dude got smashed last night - met a sweetheart and went to her cabin, had a huge workout of the recreational kind, hit the sack and cut the ZZZZZZs so hard he did not hear the constant PA announcements looking fer him on account his brother thought he were so affected by alky he went over the rail - thing is old dudes say: done that or seen similar - WTF).
Disadvantages of OLD DUDES include they tend to overuse the lifts, can be a bit slow getting on and off ship's tenders, may have emergency medical episodes which change the cruise schedule (but see my stuff on young Jarod above and down page). And not all are as relaxed as yer humble correspondent and most of his ilk about the ZZZZZing Jarods of this world.
YOUNG FAMILIES - this is normally the next biggest cohort, tending to represent abt 25% of guests (maybe more). Kids range from toddlers thru to teens.
YOUNG ADULTS - maybe 15%. Got a fair age range here - university students in their late teens thru to early/mid 30s. No shortage of young couples and honeymooners.
THE CHINESE - although less than 10%, this is still disproportionately higher than the Chinese share of Australia's population. No mystery - tourists from mainland China and Hong Kong to Australia total over 1 million per year - if only a small proportion of these realise an excellent way to enhance their visit is to jump on one of these trips, that still represents a fair number of people. And by the proportion claiming not to understand English, it seems most are not Chinese-Australians. Thing is, $70 to $100 per day is pretty small cheese to the average Chinese daily expenditure when visiting Australia - and the Chinese have always had a nose for good value.
Similarly, I reckon this would be a good deal for backpackers and other budget travelers - 4 sharing a cabin with all the inclusions would work out cheaper than staying in a dorm plus food transport, entertainment etc in Oz. So I tend to keep an eye out for these people - there have been some, but sadly, few seem to be have onto this good deal during the past couple of years.
THE SERIOUSLY OBESE - another group over-represented (but I'd say less than 5%** of all passenger). Gotta consider that for value-seeking huge dudes the cost of food must always be a big deal - and on a cruise they can eat like champs and it costs no more than that thin girl pecking at her plate next table. Plus a really big dude puts on an extra 5 kilos and no-one notices, unlike yers truly, who pre-cruise looks like an overtrained, underfed greyhound (Lady Tezza prefers ferret to greyhound. ....um.... ain't a ferret a member of the rat family?)
**yeah, I know obese people take up more than 5% of Australia's population. But we are talking the SERIOUSLY obese here.
PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES - another over-represented group. The all in one nature of cruise ships plus the ease of moving around (the lifts are plentiful and fast, the corridors non-crowded) probably appeals. And I have an idea the staff, who gives deadbeats like me excellent service, step up even more for people with problems. Note that trips with visits to a lot of places having "debarkation" directly onto wharves rather than via ship's tender will see more people with movement disabilities.
..............................................................
CARNIVAL LEGEND CRUISE - FEBRUARY 2016
Typical SW PACIFIC ISLAND Cruise (well with twin Tropical Cyclones and suspected Man Overboard, maybe ATYPICAL)
1400 - emerge from Circular Quay rail station - destination dead ahead
At desk passengers are allocated cabins (many booking services allow you to pre-choose), issued with CRUISE CARD which acts as key and charge-it card on board and arrange link between their bank credit card and the cruise card (we do this online when booking). Cash payers need to arrange this with CUSTOMERS SERVICES once on board.
This is a floor plan of our Ocean View stateroom. Bathroom looks pokey but not particularly so in practice.
Of course there are many other cabin choices - variety can be see at this site.
IMPORTANT POINT - pack into your shoulder bag whatever supplies and clothing you think you will need in the first few hours on board - delivery of your bigger luggage items often takes several hours. Don't freak if you have an early booking in the a la carte restaurant - dress code first night is always dress as you arrived.
A BALCONY CABIN
TUCKER TIME!
What gets me is that the nearby area has hotel rooms where you will pay $300+ a day for similar views, and plenty of ultra expensive restaurants, none of which have the elevated deck 9 outlook of the pics 2 and 3 up.
CHECKING THE SCENE.
After luncheon it is the over an hour before the SAFETY DRILL, which gives plenty of time to wander the ship and check the scene.
SAFETY DRILL TIME
Note, unlike the P+O cruises, passengers don't have to take bulky life jackets from cabins to the drills.
DEPARTURE TIME
1830 - there is no hooting of the claxon (city noise controls), jolt or increase in noise level - until I noticed the surrounding scenery sliding by I was unaware we were underway.
Now Legend is nowhere near as long as some other ships which use the Overseas Terminal - backing out must be a pretty tight manoeuvre for them.
Back on the latest cruise - time approx 1715. HEADS AHOY! - that's the entrance to the open ocean - South Head on right, North Head left.
The convoluted nature of Sydney Harbour comes out much better on large ships than say from harbour ferries where it is harder to see where you are going : it isn't a straight shot from the Quay to the Heads - we are actually looking at our goal over the SIDE RAIL of the LEGEND which is heading directly for Manly Cove at the time of shot. Did a zig to miss a shoal marked by that buoy mid pic. Other shoals, small islands and headlands have forced several course changes.
1930 - OPEN SEA!
The zig-zag course can be seen from just outside he heads - Circular Quay is actually behind that headland far right of pic - approx in line with that small vessel whose wake is furthest right - which you may see better if you click-expand.
1935 - goodbye pilot, seen here transferring to pilot boat which has followed us since cast off. Here he had no trouble getting off - on the previous Legend trip, big seas made the process a 10 minute+ ordeal
1945 - by now it's time for dinner at the second setting in the Waterfront (a la carte) restaurant. We find the first setting at 1730 is a bit early, particularly after a late lumch first day.
Note if you have nominated a permanent table when booking cruise you don't have to show up every night - nightly attendance varied markedly: highest on formal dress nights (not too formal - few dinner suits, not a lot of dress suits, ladies seem to relish the chance to dress up, rest of diners go for cruise casual but not too casual) and theme nights like South Seas, Mexican and Wild West (again - cruise not too casual is okay if yu didn't pack the sombrero etc).
Second level of restaurant from which this is shot is for walk-ins and one-off bookings.
2145 - all the bustle of the first day has left us feeling a bit tired so after a tour of the lounge/casino deck we hit our cabin for an early night - to find our cabin steward has left this cute critter on our bed.
Wally leaves a new creation each night - here's a sample.
2200 - 0100 - WHERE'S JAROD?
But hitting the sack doesn't mean sleep. At 2200 an extremely loud pa announcement is piped into the cabin looking for Jarod, some young bloke who has gone missing. Apparently his brother is frantic. This is repeated at ten minute intervals. At around 2345 the ship's authorities become so desperate (they think he has gone overboard)...
Where's Jarod? (image https://chandralynn.wordpress.com/ )
....they announce all people should return to cabins (so lounges/bars, casino, main deck movie etc are shut down) where a crew member will do a cabin check. This seems a lengthy process - it is a good 45 minutes before someone knocks on our door and does a quick check.
At around 0045 they announce Jarod has been found! 15+ minutes later the captain comes on and thanks us for our forbearance (this seems overkill - all people want to do is sleep - but later in the cruise we get the understanding that the captain is a very caring individual).
We are not told where Jarod has been found but the gospel according to passengers is that he was located asleep in some secluded spot up on the main Lido pool/buffet/adult's only deck. BULLDUST! I am not a good searcher but I could have found him anywhere up there within an hour - multiple skilled crew a lot faster. I reckon he had crashed in someone's cabin as outlined up page, woken to find an imminent cabin search and decided to go hide somewhere he thought less reprehensible. Walking with a group of friends it would be easy to move from cabin to main deck.
Passenger gospel on punishment - confined to cabin for 24 hours. I would have thrown his ass in the brig and unloaded him in Noumea to fly home. Retrospectively, maybe that's a bit harsh. Naturally the ship is awash with Jarod jokes for the next few days - the ship's paid comedians particularly have a ball.
Go Jarod! That fin looks scary. (image http://www.grindtv.com/)
Next morning we notice channel 13 on the cabin screen which shows ship location and course indicates we actually turned back for an hour or so, looking for Jarod in the sea. I should have taken a screen shot.
Just kidding....I modified this Google Earth image
DAYS 2, 3 AND 4 - AT SEA
On previous trips it has taken 2 sea days to reach New Caledonia, but our first destination is Mystery Island which being one of the southern most islands of the Vanuatu chain, is a bit further north.
0545 - COFFEE TIME.
As soon as I wake up I grab our carry-on insulated drink holders with lids and climb the stairs from deck 1 to deck 9's buffet where several 24 hour coffee machines are located. The stair climbing is part of my fitness/weight control routine, but I always catch the lift down (speed plus dodgy knees - except when I'm with Lady Tezza who does not catch a lift the whole cruise: what a champion!)
0615 - WALK THE DECK
To burn a bit more energy I next climb to deck 10 which has a good walking route right around the ship - this takes about 5 minutes per lap and I do 5. First day there are only about half a dozen walkers but as the cruise goes on there are a few extra each morning - excessive food guilt is kicking in.
Part of deck 10 walkway above the main pool deck - is less crowded early in the day unless entering port. In inclement weather there is an sheltered outer deck on level 3 (the emergency muster station deck pictured upstage). If blustery I find walking the corridors good value - particularly deck 4 which goes right around the ship without the need to backtrack.
After the walk I go up one level to the small running track and do another 4-5 laps, unless my knees cry quits before this. If that's the case, I hit the stairs for a few 10 storey climbs.
0700 - BREKKA!
When I get back to the cabin, Lady Tezza is busting for some eats, so we climb up to that wonderful Lido buffet, where I put back all the weight I have just burned off. And then some.
Pastries for brekka - yes please! This is something I never do at home, but I don't have anything cooked at home breakfasts either. I give both a big time nudge - why? Because I can, and because it involves minimal effort and zero extra cost.
0915 - HIT THE GYM
I wait an hour or so for brekka to settle and then go to the gym to burn it off. I find the gym tends to be less crowded in the few hours after/during key eating times. "During" because when I finish my 45 minute gym session plus another 20 minutes climbing the stairs from deck A (below deck 1) to deck 10, I cruise along the Lido deck (9) to the coffee machines and find the Lido Buffet full of breakfasters - stone the crows trendsetters, what have these dudes been up to to make fer a late 1045 brekka? Don't mention Jarod on account this is the scene every day of the cruise.
1215 - LUNCHEON
Another coffee and then back to the cabin. Doesn't take too long before Lady Tezza (who has probably hit the gym herself) starts agitating fer lunch. Not that I need to be agitated with all that gorgeous food up there. So we climb from deck 1 to 9....
....grab a sea-view table....
....and hit the serveries.
WORK THE GYM/CLIMB THE STAIRS PART 2
I wait long enough for lunch to digest and then it's back to the gym - I try to visit the machines I missed first session. I figure even if they are ones which develop body areas I'm not interested in, they probably burn more energy on untrained muscles.
After the gym I hit the stairs for 4 or more deck A to 9 climbs (down in the lifts to preserve my poor old knees) and then do maybe 2 laps of deck 4 corridors.
This is finished around 1530 - time for another coffee from those great machines in the Lido buffet and then back to the cabin for another shower plus maybe a short session of clothes washing.
1645 - BOOZE + BOOKS
Sometimes the rear deck is a bit too hot or windy - in that case I go searching for The Lady who can usually be found head in book in one of the quieter aircon lounges down on deck 2. Lotsa places down there I can get a beer - so no complaints.
ALL THOSE LEGENDS
On the second sea day I get distracted by the artwork in the deck 2 lounge. Carnival Legend is full of murals, paintings and sculptures depicting past legends:
BTW it seems to me those old time painters had a dodgy fixation on 12 year old girls.
Um, I just worked out that's Adam (okay, so I'm a bit slow) - looks like he's thinking of committing a big time sin in about 2 seconds TIM. Before the apple. How does that work?
This was a huge mural covering the back wall of one of the lifts. Once again, what legend?
1830 - PRE DINNER ENTERTAINMENT
Most bar/lounges on the ship have some sort of entertainment going on from about 1700 thru to very late - so while waiting for the Waterfront restaurant to open for the late setting we go down to deck 2 and see what's going on.
1945 - 2100 DINNER
2100 ON
On account we are geezers, I have to admit most nights we simply did another quick tour of the lounges and casinos and then went back to our cabin. However night 2 we checked out the show in the Folies theatre - see comments up page (later in the trip same time/place sees a rather mediocre illusionist) and get back to the cabin real late for us at 2345 to find.....
DAY 4 - MYSTERY ISLAND
I reckon this is the main reason MI has no permanent settlement (the story goes it's haunted) - it would not be too great during the huge waves and tidal surges of a tropical cyclone. Lack of running water is another problem. So "locals" live on the bigger island and move across to sell beers, food, touristy souvenirs, hire snorkels etc when the cruise liners arrival. Hell, there is even a rough grass airstrip to enable access from further afield.
Note weather conditions are important - I have been here in late October and November - despite being in the sub-tropics, the SE trades and sea temps during Spring are not quite warm enough to make it pleasant on this exposed side of the island - the western lee side is a better idea. Latest trip was in mid-summer February - the trades still blowing but were welcome as a cooling agent in this hotter period. Water temp very nice.
Close to shore there were enough fish and small coral patches to make it interesting for novices.
I have more info, maps and pix on MYSTERY ISLAND on this page.
CHANGE OF PLANS - ENTER THE TWIN CYCLONES!
As we pull away from Mystery Island circa 1600 the captain come on the pa - 2 Tropical Cyclones (TC Tatania and TC Winston) are heading our way from the north, so we are no longer going in that direction to Vila, nor will we stick around too long in the present general area. After visiting Mare a bit to the south tomorrow we will give the next day at Lifou a miss - instead we will head further south to Noumea in New Caledonia.
I'm not a big fan of Noumea, really liked my one previous visit to Vila and was looking forward to my first visit to Lifou. However Tropical Cyclones can be very nasty - Winston later kills 40+ people in Fiji - so no doubt we are doing the right thing.
TC Tatiana can be seen at left and TC Winston at right - their predicted courses well below New Caledonia and heading south (although Winston will soon veer to the east towards Samoa, the Cook Islands and Fiji). Fortunately for us both cyclones were well off the chart to the north when we left Mystery Island and the captain Gazzano made sure we stayed to their south by not dallying in Noumea for more than a day and a night.
Note our original schedule had us in Noumea on the 14th - so the Cyclones would have already passed. Thing is, tropical cyclone paths are unpredictable - there is nothing to stop one of these babies changing its supposed course and going right over Noumea. And even when at a medium distance, winds and seas can get pretty fierce.
DAY 5 - MARE
Its population is mainly indigenous kanaks - abt 7000.
Cruise ships tend to anchor in a very protected (from the prevailing south-east trades) bay just off one of the main villages, TADINE. We are running 3 out of 3 here as far as success in getting off the ship is concerned.
YEJELE BEACH is one of the more popular and less expensive shore excursions - it is a relatively short bus trip from the landing area.
Speaking of shore excursions, there is as usual a selection. But Lady Tezza and I are cheapskates and have gone for Yejele Beach on 2 of our 3 visits including this one, On our middle visit we elected to just hang around the Tadine landing area.
It only takes about 15 minutes to reach from the Tadine landing area and the locals seem to have a good supply of buses and other transport to minimise any delays to and from. I think the ship charges $aud20 return for tickets.
In back of the beach locals run the usual businesses - beers and food, trinkets, snorkel/fins and beach chair hire - hair plaiting for pre-tweens thru early 20s chickens seems particularly popular.
There is a village school in this area but the main village is about 800m inland and up a bit on the limestone plateau which covers most of the island (Mare is a raised coral atoll).
I have more info, pix and maps on YEJELE BEACH on this page.
DAY 6 - NOUMEA
Noumea is the capital of the French overseas territory New Caledonia, and is situated on the biggest island of Grand Terre.
It is surrounded by a huge barrier reef which is can get 30+km from the shore, creating the world's largest tropical lagoon.
I'm not whelmed with Noumea. We have visited many times - twice for fly-in holiday back in the 70s, and 4 times in recent years (UPDATE JAN 19 - now 10 ship visits). The cruise lines love NOUMEA - very good facilities for repairs and dockside moorings which allows movement impaired passengers a much easier "debarkation"/embarkation than via mid-bay tender and New Caledonian authorities insist that if cruises want to visit outer islands like MARE, LIFOU and ISLE OF PINES, the ship must also call in at Noumea.
But thhe place is very expensive and French colonial types tend to be even more arrogant and pretentious than those at home - was it KATHY LETTE who said the French are borne with a condescension chromosome: No doubt they think we Aussies are loud mouth yobbos. Not wrong mes amis. And the indigenous kanaks, although not snobbish, are nowhere near as friendly and outgoing as say the Vanuatu locals.
The town itself, although having plenty of chic shops, restaurants, bars etc reminds me a bit of Wollongong NSW circa 1980. There are plenty of hotels and a few swish resorts but tourism in New Caledonia is not a big deal these days - the place earns most of its income from nickel mining. No doubt the locals feel they are on a winner here and high wage levels (and thus ridiculously high prices for goods and services) seem to bear this out. But the competitiveness of the nickel industry is propped up by the usual European Union primary industry subsidies (and thus unknowing French and other EU taxpayers).
The terminal has places selling shore trips, some at a discount to Carnival prices, an upstairs market area selling touristy clothing and trinkets, a ridiculously expensive cafe (I saw a fellow passenger pay $aud14 for a toasted ham sandwich - at least they accept Aussie dollars like a lot but not all places in town) which has all the ambiance of downtown Pitt St Sydney 1968, plus slow unreliable BUT FREE! wifi.
Just past the terminal is a waterfront cafe/bar which is a nice but exxy place to spend time and across the road a medium size supermarket which is an interesting place to check out (can't take food or booze back onto the ship).
Carnival has a host of shore excursions you can do in and around Noumea. Diving, snorkeling and visits to small offshore islands seem attractive but Lady Tezza and I know that longish fast boat trips in this area tend to be a uncomfortable (the distance of the barrier reef offshore means the SE trades can kick up a fairly big chop within the giant lagoon) - plus the cost of nearly every excursion whether offshore or on is beyond our cheapskate budget.
There are some attractive rain-forest and waterfall locations in the hinterland around Noumea but they are pretty exxy shore excursions. Ditto most of the guided site-seeing trips around Noumea itself.
So we settle for the cheapest shore excursion possible - a ticket on the hop-on, hop off bus which goes every 10 minutes or so from the small cruise terminal mentioned above to the far end of Anse Vata/return. Other popular stops are at the Marina markets, the Aquarium and Lemon Bay. People wanting to visit one of Noumea's casino will find one in the Chateau Royal resort just north of Anse Vata and at Hotel Le Surf on the headland near the aquarium.
We know much less expensive and frequent town buses go where we want to journey, but they start/finish in "the city" a short walk from the shore terminal. (Since I originally wrote this I have used them a couple of times to go to outlying beaches - but you need the local currency which you can get in the Cruise Terminal. Routes etc are available online - Google "Noumean buses")
Lemon Bay has a beach - it tends to be much more sheltered than Anse Vata but there is less sand.
I grab my face mask and swim about 400m offshore. The water is pretty clear, doesn't get much more than 2m deep. The bottom has mostly sea grass with a few very small clumps of coral. I see few fish.
{I have a fair bit of info/maps/pix on 9 NOMEA BEACHES on THIS PAGE)
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DAYS 7, 8, 9, 10 - AT SEA SYDNEY BOUND
After clearing Grand Terre's barrier reef abt an hour after leaving Noumea at 0600 day 6, we make a bee line fer good ol' Sydney town. We are not exactly in a hurry, having 4 days to do what normally takes 2 - the captain goes just fast enough to keep us a safe distance in front of TC Tatiana.
DODGING CYCLONES (aka HURRICANES/TYPHOONS)
TATIANA (white path left of center) soon veers left and then heads back north almost to its starting point, where it blows itself out.
WINSTON (yellow path) on the other hand, keeps on keeping on. As said up page, it soon turns east away from us - but it keeps going to near Samoa (it is 2600 km in a straight line from the GRAND TERRE place marker to that of SAMOA), where it turns back west, cleans up Fiji on 19/20 Feb with 325kmh winds and heavy rain (over 40 people lose their lives), and gets back to the south of GRAND TERRE around 25/26 Feb. Ironically CARNIVAL LEGEND is doing its next cruise at this time and a ship tracking website shows it has once again scurried for home early when it should be in Noumea.
WINSTON keeps going, veering north towards the Queensland coast. In late Feb it eventually loses some power and is downgraded from a TC to a Tropical Depression - finally it hits the far north Queensland coast on the 3rd of March - lotsa rain but no wind damage. Next day the L has disappeared - it has finally blown itself completely out.
I enjoy the slow cruise back over the next 4 days - quickly settling into much of the same routine as the early sea days outlined above. To me, cruising is about being on the ship more than the destinations.
GOOD NEWS
On the first of these sea days the captain tells us Carnival has decided to compensate us for the cut in destinations by giving each passenger a $aud250 credit on any Carnival cruise taken in the next 18 months. Not a bad deal for people who can schedule it - we certainly can, and it represents at least 25% discount of what we normally outlay.
Some people start to spend their $250 early - passengers comment about the pick up of business in the casino and bars.
DAY 11 - HOME
In a couple of hours we will be "debarking" thru there - and 3 hours later back at Chez Tezza by the Sea.
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MISSED DESTINATIONS
I made it to LIFOU in 2018 and 2019 - some information down page.
However before this particular TWIN CYCLONE CRUISE I had visited PORT VILA - called in there on our November 2014 CARNIVAL LEGEND cruise
PORT VILA
There is a nice waterfront park a bit closer to the boat than the above - has some markets and a nice bar/cafe type place.
The place gets most of its money from tourism, export of primary products and as a tax haven.
That beach near the ship is okay although there are some resorts near town with nicer beaches you can visit on some of the paid SHORE EXCURSIONS. A range of other excursions similar to those at/out of Noumea are offered.
ANOTHER TROPICAL CYCLONE!
I feel sorry for the lovely people of Port Vila and Vanuatu - the place was cleaned up badly by TC PAM in March 2015. This caused a lot of damage to the tourist infrastructure which saw a big drop in visitors, exacerbated by the refusal of most airlines to keep using the damaged local runway in recent months.
Quite a few cruise liners cancelled call-ins for some time which would have hurt the businesses pictured above. I reckon our cancellation latest trip must have been an added blow - at least TC WINSTON and TC TATIANA missed Port Vila.
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ISLE OF PINES
This wasn't on our itinerary this trip, but was part of our 3 previous cruises into this area.
The Isle of Pines is abt 2/3 the size of Mare, and if you check the map up-page you can see it abt 50km off the eastern-most tip of New Caledonia's big island, Grande Terre.
We first visited in the 70s, flying in from Noumea for a 4 day stay. It is a real nice island, but unfortunately the cruise ship anchorage is nowhere near as protected as at Mare, Noumea, Port Vila or Mystery island, which lessens the chance of successfully landing - we have only managed 1 in 3 on our cruise visits at the time of writing. (UPDATE JAN 2019 - I'm now 4 in 6. Lady Tezza is doing better: 5 in 7 and my son is running 1 in 1!)
Missed "debarkments" are not for want of trying - on our November 2015 call-in, the captain of CARNIVAL SPIRIT manoeuvered for at least 40 minutes to different parts of the bay trying to find calm-enough water to make tender loading safe for the old and infirm. November 2014 on CARNIVAL LEGEND was much the same. Both times no luck - we had to sail away. This must be heartbreaking to the locals who would have already set up their tents and stalls in the landing area - plus of course all those engaged in sightseeing, snorkeling and diving trips - there is the usual diverse range of paid SHORE EXCURSIONS.
When ships are due, locals set up their tents and stalls along that clearing where the spit is narrowest. Both the beach and that small island vicinity (right of lower-center) are popular with people off the ship.
Water surprisingly un-tropical at around 21 c - but this was November: sea temperatures always lag the atmosphere's by 2 to 3 months. Air temp at this time very pleasant.
Interestingly (at least fer us); Lady Tezza and I found some ruins of our 70s resort near here.
I have more info, maps and pix on the ISLE OF PINES on this page.
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THE BIG DADDY (so far) - THE NEW ZEALAND CRUISE DEC 2015
I can't leave this page without some stuff on the most enjoyable of my 5 cruises to date.
I have already said that to me, cruising is abt being on the ship - not where you visit. But that is maybe not quite right if where I visit is new to me. Thing is, I have never been to NZ and I found the various places we checked out very good value. Plus the ship itself, P+O Pacific Pearl was pretty sweet.
HIGHLIGHT - MILFORD SOUND
0600 arrival plus fairly high latitude means people are well rugged up despite it being Spring.
Spectacular scenery is a given....
....well this IS New Zillund.
Milford Sound is a "cruise by" location - passengers stay on board. We head up the Sound for abt an hour, chuck a U-turn (pretty tight squeeze - bigger liners have more difficulty and are more likely to cancel if strong winds make the turn iffy) near the inland end and cruise back out. The above shot is on the way out - by this time the sun had broken thru and it was a bit warmer.
NOTHING FANCY AS USUAL
Our other stops involve getting off the ship. At all, there is a good array of paid SHORE EXCURSIONS available, some to iconic NZ tourist places like Rotorua and Canterbury, but I was content to simply get off the ship and wander around, checking the local scene. Thing is, I intend to do a fly in visit to NZ soon which will give more time to check the well known spots at my leisure.
A really nice thing about most stops was that not only were there shops, museums, pubs, houses etc to speck out, but also a VIEWPOINT within 40 minutes walk of the ship.....
(these panorama shots usual click-expand nicely).
Not only did this area give a nice outlook - it was a high income area. Checking out the houses was interesting - rich Kiwis tend to keep the fabulous old timber homes of the early C20th in good condition rather than replace them with modern stuff or remodel the hell out of them as in Oz.
Note the bigger ship (GOLDEN PRINCESS) parked in front of PEARL; - it had intended to cruise MILFORD SOUND soon after us, but cancelled according to passengers. GOLDEN PRINCESS at 109,000 tons is a good 50% up on P+0 PEARL - it's 290m length (same as CARNIVAL LEGEND/SPIRIT) is an extra 45m on PEARL which probably accounts for its difficulty in the Sound. Interestingly it is only 4m wider but 2 decks higher.
Free shuttle from ship to nice downtown area - abt 10mins. Several high areas for good surrounding views.
If you like trekking you'll love Mt Maunganui and its 360 degree panorama. Took a little more than afore-mentioned 40 minutes to get up here from the ship. Maybe 60.
The Sky Tower is worth the modest cost/wait. Make sure you go to the second (higher) viewing area.
THE ONLY PAID SHORE EXCURSION
The Bay of Islands is NZ's version of Australia's Whitsundays. I know from many visits to the latter that the only way to appreciate such places is to do a small boat cruise.
Back to the ship...,
....and back (after 2 days) to Oz.
Note - Lady Tezza has no like of small boats excursionsand so elected to tender ashore to Paihia - where she did the usual wander around/check the scene. She said Paihia was a typical charming small NZ landing town, not unlike Port Chalmers and Akoroa. She reckoned I would have particularly liked the display of old cars (NZ is the home of original condition/restored classics) - warning: this was a Sunday visit. If your cruise comes in on a weekday quiet a few of the old car guys may be at work.
WHERE NEXT?
Well we have to fit in another Carnival cruise sometime in the next 18 months to redeem our $250 each compensation for missed places.
And we'ed like to try another cruise line, preferably to another location. PRINCESS has some attractive Fiji trips which look promising.
I have a hankering to try one of the giant super-liners. There are a few visiting Australia in 2016, but Lady Tezza shows little interest in cities afloat.
Whatever we chose, I'll do a bit on it below.
UPDATE - SUBSEQUENT CRUISES
Have done several cruises since but still waiting on the super-liner thing. The Speaker of the House (She Who Must Be Obeyed he he he he) is as ever not keen.
JULY 2016 - CARNIVAL SPIRIT - VANUATU, FIJI, NEW CALEDONIA.
Lady Tezza was in a hurry to redeem our $250 each compensation from Carnival and booked their next cruise where costing seemed a bargain. I didn't mind - I really like the no effort and comfort of cruising. Not to mention the food.
The itinerary was an 11 day Noumea New Caledonia, Mystery Island Vanuatu, Suva Fiji, Port Denarau Fiji, Isle Pines New Caledonia.
Carnival Spirit must be jinxed. It had further propulsion problems on this trip - caused us to substitute Noumea for the Isle of Pines on our outward leg to Fiji (Noumea has repair facilities). The revised plan was to call in at the Isle of Pines on our return leg instead of Noumea, but a passenger medical emergency saw us turning back to Suva shortly after leaving Fiji thereby losing a lot of time and forcing an abandonment of any Isle of Pines visit. Such is cruising. Fortunately the ill baby recovered well and was back in Australia before us.
Not much to say about the stops: SUVA was worth a walk around from the pier but the shore tours were expensive and seemed to be a long way out of town, PORT DENARU ditto (plus I backpacked Fiji long before this blog: did as many offshore islands, kava ceremonies, village visits etc I ever want to - but way cheaper than from the ship. Non-Fiji stops we'd done before.
MARCH 2017 - ROYAL CARIBBEAN'S "VOYAGER OF THE SEAS"
My wish came half true here because for a few years at the turn of this century this was the world's biggest cruise ship. Dwarfed now, however.
The cruise was an 11 day thing taking in Lautoka Fiji – Port Vila Vanuatu – Mystery Island Vanuatu – Noumea New Caledonia.
I really liked Voyager ....
Passenger makeup was interesting - although more expensive than family favourite CARNIVAL, VOYAGER with the wave rider, ice show-free skaing, climbing wall plus frequent DREAMWORLD THEMED parades on the GRAND PROMENADE, has a lot of kids on board. Naturally the usual kids' clubs were available.
OTHER FACTORS - Buffet, and gym areas were pretty good as was general service and food presentation. Booze prices not bad and they allowed us to bring a free bottles of wine each on board . The only inferior area to us was the adults' only relaxation area (that means no kids) which was undercover, next to a pool - thus rather dim and chlorine-smelling. The other cruise lines have these areas out the back with sunshine, sea views plus shade if you want it.
COST WISE I think we paid abt $130aud a day which was up on our just under $100 sea-view rooms on CARNIVAL but which I thought fair value.
SUBSEQUENT TRIP ON THE SISTER SHIP - EXPLORER OF THE SEAS
I won't detail this because it took in no new destinations and the ship itself is a near clone of VOYAGER. Near clone but I thought slightly better - they had no ATM phone booth or MORGAN car near the Promanade deck cafe which created more room, and I'm not sure what had been done, but there seemed more outdoor tables at the nearby PIG AND WHISTLE PUB. Overall I thought it the better ship.
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AUGUST 2017 - GOLDEN PRINCESS PNG
PRINCESS CRUISE LINE is further step upmarket within the CARNIVAL family. Some people refuse to cruise with P+O, CARNIVAL or ROYAL CARRIBEAN - only PRINCESS will do.
After dinner the place turned into a night club and at port exit time was a HIGH ROLLER (multiple repeat customer) area.
Both shot at LUGANVILLE - VANUATU
The open area below the lounge....
PORTS OF CALL
I was unimpressed with BRISBANE (been there many a time) and not whelmed by Papua New Guinea's ALOTOU and Vanuatu's LUGANVILLE (typical south-Pacific small port towns - not much going on but not doubt some good tours out of town for the cashed up), deja-vued by PORT VILA (lovely bay, wicked duty free but been there many times) but was impressed with Papua New Guinea's RABAUL (volcanoes, hot springs, fabulous bay, war ruins).
Note that we took a 3 hour town and surrounds tour with KOKOPU TOURS to see these sites and more - at 40-70% of the price of ship bought tours. Recommended.
The other CALL IN I really enjoyed was at KIRIWINA ISLAND (one of PNG'S TROBRIAND ISLANDS) - the reason being the cruise line decided to forego its usual stop in the small-port town of LOSULA to call in at KAIBOLA BEACH in the island's north.
KAIBOLA BEACH
A small village just inland from the small pier was an interesting place to take a stroll. Villagers had a lot of handicrafts, clothing and touristy trinkets on sale. Were the most polite and patient hawkers I've met.
There were a few small channels made for local outriggers in the reef - experienced snorkellers could sneak out between boats to the drop-off where fish and coral were impressive.
I have a lot more info, maps and pix on KAIBOLA BEACH on this page.
Overall I was impressed with Golden Princess - I thought it well worth the extra $20 per day over Royal Caribbean. The entertainment on board was a step-up. Initially I wasn't impressed with the layout of the buffet but I came to realize that someone had worked out an excellent system - there seemed to be way fewer problems with crowding and self-service. Plus buffet food itself also seemed a step up (what's a step up from excellent?) I also was impressed with the pools - mains ones were bigger than our other ships and others were in spots that avoided the crowds. There seemed more neat little niches for sunning out of the wind. The gym was smaller, but given the older age demographic of PRINCESS, never crowded - and it didn't seem lacking in any equipment. On our cruise the booze set up was good with a happy hour in a nominated bar each day with 2 for the price of one deals, pretty good when the price of one drink was generally a bit less than all out other cruise lines. The purchasable coffee card was a good deal fpr those wanting better than the 24 hour coffee machines in the buffet.
CAVEAT - a lot of the above varies; cruise lines are constantly changing their offerings so do your research - don't rely on my stuff on HAPPY HOURS etc.
This older demographic is sometimes criticized but I have to say that whatever the oldies have lost in physical ability they more than make up in conversation skills and affability.
DOWNSIDES?
- Well the dining room was poor: food quality on our second sitting was way inferior to the other liners, so much so that after the first night vacant spots on tables grew - we bailed out after the 3rd night, Fortunately dinner in the buffet was excellent - the already good standard of other meals stepped up.
- The auditorium was too small. One had to turn up at least 30 mins early to ensure a seat at the nightly show and to listen to the excellent older lady giving her spiel on upcoming shore excursions.
- organized ship tours seemed more expensive than other lines.
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NOVEMBER 2017 - CARNIVAL LEGEND: NOUMEA, MARE and ISLE OF PINES
Back on the Legend after 19 months. This was a typical 8 night cruise to NOUMEA, MARE and ISLE OF PINES. Not much new to add except after a gap of almost 2 years I thought Legend was getting a bit weary. Face it, she is hard at work 24 hours a day, every day. Even when she turns around in Sydney everything except the propulsion system is flat-chat - it is no small job to transfer 2000 people (who have hit the dining room around 0600 instead of 0800 or later) off and a similar number on, (and those in the know head straight for the buffet) along with all their luggage and the huge amount of ship's supplies.
The good news is that she is going into dry dock soon for refurbishment.
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FEB 2018
MARE - MYSTERY ISLAND - PORT VILA - NOUMEA on VOYAGER OF THE SEAS
This cruise was the same old same old destination wise, so I decided to check some new places out when revisiting certain ports.
PORT VILA
I usually do the scenic cross-harbour water taxi into town and then check the excellent duty free stores and have a local beer in one of the waterfront bars or just wander thru the extensive ship-side markets and along the harbourside beaches in rear of the ship - but this 5th visit decided to take a tour to see some of the places close to town, such as:
RARRU CASCADES
BLUE LAGOON
CRYSTAL BLUE TURTLE FARM
Overall I was disappointed with YUMI TOUR'S effort and would not recommend this one. Poor organisation at the meeting point seemed to put us behind schedule from the start and added a rush-factor to the fairly ordinary destinations.
NOUMEA
Not having been impressed by NOUMEA mainland beaches in recent years I decided to take the short trip offshore to DUCK ISLAND (ILE aux CANARDS) and because of proximity to the water taxi departure point, to revisit ANSE VATA and LIMON beaches to see if they had stepped up.
DUCK ISLAND
ANSE VATA
LEMON BAY - LIMON BEACH (BAIE DES CITRONS)
YOU CAN SEE A BUNCH MORE PIX AND FACTS OF ALL 3 PLACES ABOVE ON THE NOUMEA'S BEACHES PAGE.
MARE
In half a dozen visits I'd never wandered the 10 minutes up the hill from the landing point and visited the upper section of TADINE village.
UPPER TADINE
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AUGUST 2018 - SOUTH-EAST and CENTRAL QUEENLAND COAST on P+0 PACIFIC EXPLORER
This was a 7 night cruise that took in MOOLOOLABA, GLADSTONE and MORETON ISLAND. Okay, they might not be Pacific Islands but they are definitely SW PACIFIC locations.
Carnival Corp transferred her in 2017 from the Princess line where she was known as "DAWN PRINCESS". P+O immediately sent her to Singapore for a refit.
MOOLOOLABA - SUNSHINE COAST.
I'm not sure how reliable this mooring location is - I reckon in any south-east, easterly or north-east swell it may be a bit bumpy. In the south-westerly conditions of our arrival it was pretty benign - POINT CARTWIGHT left of the white arrow gives good protection. Which makes the whole beach a great location in such conditions. Many passengers, particularly families were content to spend all day at the beach. THE LADY and I walked a bit further north to this viewpoint at the HMAS "BRISBANE" memorial - then a little further where we could see the nearby lovely beach at ALEXANDRA HEADLAND and the coast all the way up to NOOSA HEADS.
Queensland SURF CLUBS btw are pretty good places to spend time - all are licenced to sell booze, can do a feed and most have patios with a great outlook over the beach as above. Outsiders are welcome.
GLADSTONE
This is an industrial, coal and grain loading port further north in SE QLD (although many claim this is southern CENTRAL QLD). At first glance its estuarine location doesn't offer too much for cruise ship visitors without spending big time on shore excursions to fairly distant places like the lovely beach at 1770 - but in fact I found plenty of interest near the ship.
People doing paid ship excursions are mainly picked up from an area the other side of the park and so get to do a walk thru. Ditto people wanting to catch a shuttle up to town.
For anglers there are fishing stations with cleaning tables along the riverside near HMAS "GLADSTONE" - looked a bit tide-dependent to me and I'm not sure about bait availablility.
MORETON ISLAND
This is one of the big sand islands off BRISBANE - it and the more southern NORTH STRADBROKE ISLAND isolate MORETON BAY from the open ocean.
Much of these islands are bush covered sand dunes with little settlement. Our destination was the area around TANGALOOMA
One consolation - just north of the island we saw quite a few WHALES which were doing their usual migration south from wintering further north in the WHITSUNDAY ISLANDS area.
I pinched this pic from P+O's in-cabin ATTRACTIONS folder. Note how clear the water is.
The dunes of these islands are among the highest in the world - that highest point is the top of a dune.
Water doesn't appear very rough in this shot - maybe the captain has had a bad experience and is super-cautious.
There is also a council-run camping area a bit out of frame to the left.
HOW RELIABLE IS SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND WEATHER IN COLDER MONTHS?
I've holidayed the SUNSHINE COAST a lot when surfing and backpacking. From many visits I have always regarded the coldest 3 months of the year as a bit marginal temperature-wise. In this period I like to be north of ROCKHAMPTON which is nearly 360km closer the Equator from MOOLOOLABA, over 400km from MORETON ISLAND. But I do know that if you can get a section of sheltered beach on a sunny day, even mid-July can be great. And here's the thing, August is one of the 3 coolest months, but I didn't think conditions during our visit were unpleasant.
But GLADSTONE is a bit different - only 55km further from the Equator than ROCKY so mid-winter temps are getting pretty safe here even in more exposed areas.
RAINFALL WISE, the wet season is in summer, particularly JANUARY. Cooler months tend to be driest. I don't think I've experienced August rain in maybe a dozen visits.
THE SHIP - "PACIFIC EXPLORER is not bad at all. I personally thought it a step up from smaller P+O liners and equal to the CARNIVAL TWINS.
P+0 has a lot of knockers on cruise forums with many people claiming it is downmarket and the bogans' cruise line. I disagree, I've never thought food, service and facilities lacking and at heart I'm a bogan too - but then, there is a lot of snobbery on cruise forums. One thing LADY TEZZA (who does all our pre-cruise research and bookings) told me - P+O offers fewer really good specials than most other lines, but when they come up they are worth looking at.
I thought a standout was the amount of lounges on board - always somewhere quiet to go sit with a book and to grab a drink from an always close bar.
P+O does not offer a happy hour deal or allow free wine to be bought on board. However booze prices seem a bit lower than other lines and always in $aud unlike CARIBBEAN and PRINCESS. Ten bucks aussie is a hell of a lot less than 10 bucks US.Our cabin was the usual design although a bit smaller than on most liners. Not too small - hell those JAPANESE moderate-priced hotel rooms are much small and they are not too small.
Buffet layout was different - designated "THE PANTRY and divided into MEX, INDIAN, AUSSIE, TRADITIONAL, CHINESE etc stations. Most food served by counter staff rather than self-serve which lessens the chance of norovirus etc - yet didn't seem to slow things down. Buffet food was fine. Plenty of seating. And the buffet was at the front of the ship - all our other ships have had a rear buffet.
Food in the dining room was okay and another difference - apart from the paid dining options there was also the chance to dine at no extra cost in a CHINESE restaurant and an ITALIAN. We tried both - nothing special however apart from a longer wait for food. I swear it came from the same galley as dining room stuff.
Entertainment standard and venues okay without being standouts.
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NOV 2018 NOUMEA MARE MYSTERY ISLAND, LIFOU
"EXPLORER OF THE SEAS"
EXPLORER IS A SISTER SHIP TO "VOYAGER OF THE SEAS" - main difference was that public areas seemed a bit better organised providing more space.
LIFOU was a new destination for us - rather than repeat stuff I have a full description on THIS PAGE
MYSTERY ISLAND and MARE were much the same, but at NOUMEA I managed to get to a new location - the beaches of NOUVILLE PENINSULA. I have a fair bit of info and pix towards the bottom of THIS PAGE.
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JAN 2019 HAL "NOORDAM"
14 NIGHTS ISLE OF PINES, LUGANVILLE, CHAMPAGNE BEACH, PORT VILA, MYSTERY ISLAND, LIFOU, MARE, NOUMEA.
HOLLAND AMERICA LINE is regarded by cruisers as a step up from ROYAL CARIBBEAN, maybe even PRINCESS. So when THE LADY managed to get a price per day around the same level as RC, naturally we went for it. One other plus was a new destination - we have never been to CHAMPAGNE BEACH in northern VANUATU.
Note though the draft is enough to bar it from NOUMEA'S cruise terminal unlike the slightly smaller P+0 "PACIFIC EXPLORER" - we docked at the container terminal nearby.
Another difference to normal HAL cruises which attract an older demographic is that being the Australian school holidays, there were (ok, "was" is technically more correct) a fair few kids on board.
Other call-ins were much the same although I did manage to get back to CHATEAU ROYAL BEACH, and at last to PLAGE DU MERIDIAN both at NOUMEA and that locals had introduced BEACH CABANAS at MYSTERY ISLANDS. I have details of the former HERE and the latter HERE
THE "NOORDAM" ITSELF is a pretty nice ship. I thought the cabins and general service equal to other lines, the buffet/dining room food better in quality and particularly variety; most entertainment was good. There was no shortage of sit-down space at the buffet. Booze was a good deal - each passenger could bring a bottle of wine aboard no charge and there were several HAPPY HOURS per day where the second drink was only $US2 extra. Plus the pool bars had a 2 for the price of one offer going on a range of beers all day. Inferior was dining room service - at least the amount of time it took to deliver meals. The buffet - a little tricky to see all offerings and get them. And the rear ADULTS ONLY area was not policed properly - I couldn't swim or spa without jumping splashing kids. BTW there is another great pool area for families midships most of these times.
The gym was smaller than on most of our other ships with fewer workout machines. None of my favourite chin up bars (roof a bit low but they could put a bar outside in a quiet deck area). However the gym seemed to have more professional staff than most other outfits and plenty of stretching, yoga, spinning etc classes.
In summary LADY TEZZA was so taken she has already paid a refundable deposit for any HAL cruise in the next 4 years. I've no objections.
OFT-READ CRITICISMS OF HAL SEEN ON SOCIAL MEDIA.
- not many activities: not much to do. Gotta disagree - I thought HAL had heaps of interesting activities, talks, movies, ship tours etc going throughout the day. Maybe younger people are the complainers - the scene slows after 2200. But young people are not part of the HAL demographic and THE LADY and I tend to be tucked up in the sack by then.
- not much for kids. Okay, no ice skating, dodgems, water slides, zip-lines, Disney parades etc. But I did see a couple of younger crew ladies leading a group of sub-teens around the place which suggests some kind of kids' club, plus a definite hit (and not just with the kids) was the usually-open ice cream section in the buffet with a wide selection of flavours. This beats the sometimes-only-available and restricted choices on ROYAL CARIBBEAN and PRINCESS, the always available soft-serve only on CARNIVAL and the pay-only deal on P+O. But yes, on reflection, this is not the best line for people with kids - which is maybe why HAL had a relaxed policy on policing the adults only area for this particular school holiday cruise.
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MARCH 2019 - CARNIVAL SPIRIT TO HOBART/PORT ARTHUR
This was a short (5 nights) trip, but to a place we had not been. The LADY was keen - and I'm a tart travel-wise (would be happy in a GOULBURN BACKPACKER).
PORT ARTHUR is the perfect cheapskate's cruise stop in that just about everything can be done on a self-guided walk thru the area - no shortage of plaques explaining WHAT'S HERE plus locals handing out tour maps and advice.
HOBART
THIS IS A GREAT CRUISE DESTINATION BECAUSE THERE IS PLENTY TO SEE WITHING EASY WALKING DISTANCE OF THE PIER FOR CHEAPSKATES LIKE ME - PLUS QUITE A FEW ATTRACTIVE VENUES OUT OF TOWN FOR THOSE NOT TOO TIGHT TO SPEND A DOLLAR
Yellow Arrow shows panoramic Mount Wellington - at 21 km one of the more popular paid excursions.
Guided walking tours of the CBD can be organised from here.
From the FERRY PIER it is only a few hundred yards walk up into the CBD - worth a wander even on our Sunday, when many businesses were closed.
You could probably walk every street in the CBD inside an hour - we didn't, cruising the central BUS MALL and then returning via adjacent streets to the waterfront area.
OTHER ATTRACTIONS - our little gallop didn't take much more than 2 hours, but there is enough in the small area covered to fill a day - things we missed besides the Art Gallery and Museum include the MARITIME MUSEUM, a replica of explorer Mawson's ANTARCTIC HUT, several historic pubs, the original IXL jam factory and sundry civil buildings.
THE SHIP
Our 4th trip on CARNIVAL SPIRIT saw few changes. One was a much slicker check-in: CARNIVAL now does not issue CRUISE PASSES at the check in counter - they are waiting in your cabin door card holder. Regulars can probably see a downside - but it sure sped up book in: virtually no lines - the quickest of any cruise yet by far.
Another plus was a new multi-exercise machine in the gym which included my favourite CHIN UP BARS. Some new stationary bikes too. SPRIT and LEGEND continue to have the biggest gyms of our 8 different ships to date.
Negatives included the dining room - ANYTIME DINING was overbooked and our LATE DINING finished too late for us to take in following shows which finished well past this happy camper's usual hit the sack time. One meal was excellent, others overcooked and not very hot (gave the impression they had been sitting in the galley since first sitting). The only other couple on our table were VERY COLOURFUL nouvea-riche types who regaled us with stories of their nouveau-riche friends and bling at home and gave the impression they found us (retired working class dudes and admitted tight-wads) boring (no doubt correct). Consequently we bailed out of the dining room for dinner at the buffet mid cruise - at least we could time it to make an early show.
Another possible downside is that SPIRIT now has quite a lot of LEGEND'S over the top corridor wallpaper art - didn't worry me but could upset sensitive types already offended by CARNIVAL'S typical LAS VEGAS style interiors.
Apart from those few things SPIRIT was the usual good value for money, had the normal excellent hard working crew and those other pluses of the high water slides, 24 hour soft serves (!!!!), spacious deck relaxation areas (although maybe a bit short on seating areas lower decks), and a well policed adults' only area.
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Oct '19 – CARNIVAL SPIRIT – 7 NIGHTS – Noumea + Isle of Pines
This was a quick one - I was feeling a bit guilty LADY T had been sitting around at home while I jazzed around the US NORTH-EAST (she doesn't do long air trips or stay in hostels), so readily agreed when she saw this quick cruise.
I won't detail it on account it was a ship and locations we had used/been to many times - suffice to say it was as good as ever (fer both of us, it is the fun and relaxation of being on the ship which is the main thing).
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Nov '19 - VOYAGER OF THE SEAS -
Singapore - Darwin - Yorkeys Knob (Cairns) - Airlie Beach (Whitsundays) - Brisbane - Sydney.
This was a new one - sure we have used the ship twice before but not since the very recent refit: all the places I've visited before, BUT only BRISBANE on a cruise liner. And it was our first RELOCATION cruise - Voyager was moving south for its season in Australia.
So something different.
OK - all you pedants will point out this is not in keeping with the heading: "CRUISING THE SW PACIFIC IN LINERS: - in that it has a lot of the INDIAN OCEAN too. Sue me.
ROUTE
THE SHIP (seen here in Darwin)
SUCCESS? Not all that much at the time we cruised (it was the worst of our 3 on this ship) although many problems were probably down to insufficient shake-down time (despite a month of short shake-down cruises out of Singapore before our relocation) Some things probably NOT down to insufficient shake-down included overcrowding in many areas (added cabins put a strain on the buffet and dining room at peak times, tender operations (insufficient shake-down probably contributed too), and room around the pool deck at peak times.
But there were successes - new furniture, carpets yada seemingly everywhere and somehow more space had been created up the back of the buffet seating area thru good planning (fewer dirty plate storage areas) and perhaps smaller tables (although not too small).
And as usual the cabin and wait staff were their usual excellent selves and the captain was brilliant.
SINGAPORE
Getting there was not much fun - our package included a flight across via SCOOT, our fist on that budget airline. I have to say I was not whelmed. This was the most UNCOMFORTABLE medium distance flight I've ever done - all down to SCOOT'S tight seats and maybe lack of seat-back entertainment for distraction (they do offer streaming for bring yer own devices which is fine except for geezers like me without devices). Otherwise I thought SCOOT did it well -ULTRA CLEAN RESTROOMS with staff constantly entering with cleaning product (not even full service airlines like QANTAS do this), a better staff-passenger ratio than JETSTAR (the only other medium distance budget carrier I've used - which ALSO flies DREAMLINERS which are just about state of the art regarding noise, pressure, window size etc. I thought SCOOT'S staff gave brilliant service vs very good for JETSTAR.
CHANGI AIRPORT - again I was underwhelmed. I must have "debarked" (cruise term - sorry) at least a dozen times here in the past - transited as often. Have for a long time regarded it the best airport in the world. NO LONGER - our 2am arrival involved a 10 person 40+ minutes in the immigration line - the holdup seemed to be the introduction of the "cousins'" dreaded finger-print routine. But maybe more to the point: perhaps CHANGI figures the BUDGET TERMINAL does not deserve an adequate level of immigration staffing. NOT GOOD ENOUGH CHANGI. Lift yer game.
SINGAPORE HOTEL
Our package put us up at the HOTEL MI, Bencoolen St, central city. This was the typical Singaporean lower-midrange hotel in a good position - quiet, comfy, good staff with quick check-in/out yada.
This is a good area - not too far from shopping or the main tourist attractions of the near city area and with plenty of eating options nearby.
CRITICISMS
SINGAPORE ATTRACTIONS
I like the way the lion city keeps reinventing itself - adding stuff to entice people visitors both first-time and returnees, not to mention keeping the locals happy.
In this respect we decided on a place new since out previous visit - THE GARDENS BY THE BAY.
MARINA BAY CRUISE SHIP TERMINAL
I was impressed with this facility having read bad things from LADY TEZZA's cruise-forum buddies - it worked surprisingly well seeing how ROYAL CARIBBEAN was also loading the even bigger QUANTUM OF THE SEAS at the same facility (over 7000 passengers and their gear between the two). But organisation was well done, traffic flow in some rather tight areas nicely organized, there was plenty of seating and certainly the cruise line had not stinted on employing lotsa helpers. A potentially stressful time made easy.
DAYS 12345 SINGAPORE-DARWIN.
After leaving SINGAPORE late afternoon on DAY 1it was 5 nights and 4 days at sea until DARWIN. I don't have any pix but I can remember first afternoon going at least 25km past all those ships waiting/unloading off SINGAPORE. Then sliding down the east side of INDONESIA'a BINTAN ISLAND (round abt then was twilight, not conducive to any pix) BINTAN- somewhere I have been before.
Route out of SINGAPORE. I forgot to put on a LINEAR SCALE - it's abt 85km in a straight line from the SINAPORE marker to that of BINTAN. North of course is straight up.
Subsequent days featured CALM SEAS (with that lovely TURQUOISE colour you get in equatorial areas) and more shipping than I was used to (face it, given SINGAPORE's position and entrepot-trade function, the relatively narrow sea between SUMATRA and KALIMANTAN is pretty busy) and not much sight of land except a few islands, until the 3rd night out of SINGAPORE where we passed thru the narrow gap between BALI and LOMBOK - I personally regarded this as the point where we went from NORTH to SOUTH, despite the fact that we had traversed the EQUATOR a few hours into the first night. I was kinda disappointed we didn't go thru when visibility was good - having holidayed both sides frequently and crossed this strait even more frequently. Consequently I know this area well, but all I could see in the dark was a few lights for towns on the NE tip of BALI, spreading up the steep slopes.
DARWIN - DAY 6
THE WATERFRONT PRECINCT
- here's the thing. There is a whole bunch of CRUISE-LINE DAY TRIPS around/out of DARWIN, but if you are a heavy duty tightwad like me who rails against the CRUISE LINES' exorbitant pricing, the WATERFRONT PRECINCT is the area you want. Immediately off the ship, with a whole load of FREE or LOW COST attractions - I reckon I could spend a whole day in this area alone. And half a day easy, which allows either to go up to the rather good CBD MALL or to go back on-board to that yummy BUFFET. Actually I managed ALL in my cruise day in DARWIN.
CAVEAT - the CRUISE LINE SHORE EXCURSIONS offered a whole bunch of attractive albeit expensive excursions. The most distant was a LITCHFIELD NATIONAL PARK trip. I would not pick this having done a similar one day trip back in 2016 - different in that I was staying at a DARWIN backpacker joint and had plenty of time. That trip was excellent but we left soon after sun-up, didn't get back to well after dark. The CRUISE LINE TRIP compresses this into way less time - the way I see it you would spend most time on the bus. Be aware also that this excursion requires a reasonable level of fitness - something that the average cruise line passenger lacks.
WATERFRONT PRECINCT FROM THE SHIP
The WATERFRONT PRECINCT is a fairly recently redevelopment/reclamation of this area which was previously small-time and badly knocked around by the WW2 bombings. It's a pretty good area today and cruise ship passengers could easily spend their whole day at the free or low cost attractions of this area. I have a whole bunch of stuff from my 3 weeks backpacking DARWIN and nearby here.
Colour keys - WHITE - CRUISE SHIP TERMINAL with bus parking to the left. YELLOW - WALKWAY TO THE MAIN WATERFRONT PRECINCT AREAS and CITY. CHARCOAL - CITY BEACH, PAVEMENT MARKETS, WAVE POOL, RETAILING (all behind). SILVER (far right) - CONVENTION CENTER. BLUE - WW2 OIL STORAGE TUNNELS. PURPLE - walkway to the city and (below) WW2 OIL STROAGE TUNNELS. GREY - PARLIAMENT HOUSE (free PCs in the NT LIBRARY) which is in a smallish 15-20m higher ADMINISTRATIVE AREA just short of DARWIN's compact CBD.
See the GOOGLE EARTH IMAGE BELOW for more precise location.
Note this shot from the cruise ship which has the wharf and terminal towards the eastern side of the precinct - all that construction space behind the terminal is an expansion of the main DARWIN UNIVERSITY which had its main campus abt. 5km north-west.
GOOGLE EARTH- THE DARWIN WATERFRONT PRECINCT
Might be a good idea to click-expand for clearer labels.
Note naval ship at cruise liner berth. I forgot to label the covered walkway west from the TERMINAL.
NT PARLIAMENT HOUSE with the free PCs in the NT LIBRARY area is not labelled - it is that biggish white building just top-left of the W in WW2 TUNNELS.
The newish CRUISE TERMINAL had great aircon, plenty of tour-info and some touristy retail. Outside were shuttle buses up to town for those not wanting the 15 minute walk plus a staging area for daytrip coaches.
CITY BEACH is only a few minutes across the sheltered walkway, then hang a left - from the ship. Entry is free. Croc and stinger proof net assures safety, no shortage of surrounding lawns, seats and shade trees.
Walkway behind CITY BEACH had this PAVEMENT MARKET operating - dunno if this is on ship days only or more regular. Stuff different to markets down south.
Surrounding buildings kinda like Sydney's finger wharves - with a stack of retailing and refreshment joints ground level. Building background above has shortcut to CITY - take lift in near front corner to level 5, walk along top floor outside and take overhead pedestrian bridge. City is another 5 minutes straight ahead. No shortage of "TO CITY" signs all the way from ship.
WAVE POOL is a short distance past background building.
WATERFRONT WAVE POOL
There may or may not be something going on at the DARWIN CONVENTION CENTRE when you ship comes in - admission may or may not be free. NO in both cases for my visit.
I stole this pic from TOURISM TOP END.
The WW2 OIL STORAGE TUNNELS cut into the escarpment in back of the WATERFRONT PRECINCT - you can fill an hour or so on the inexpensive self-guided tour of this facility.
It's only 400m from the MALL place maker to that of the SHORT CUT.
I forgot to put the TOURIST OFFICE place marker in - it's that building directly below the US of BUS INTERCHANGE. Shuttles were going up there from the CRUISE TERMINAL but being a tightwad I took the 10-15 minute walk as did lotsa others (probably people like me who had visited DARWIN before).
If you want access to a free PC, the NT LIBRARY within the PARLIAMENTARY BUILDING can do it.
It's worth checking online bus timetables because it is possible to catch a service bus to a lot of DARWIN's attractions like the (both free) BOTANIC GARDENS and MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY OF THE NT for a fraction of the price for the same things charged by the ship's shore excursion - and be back on board well before sailing. Note too there is a service bus goes down around the WATERFRONT precinct from the BUS INTERCHANGE, but I remember an hourly service which may not fit cruisers'schedules.
THE CITY
This is another low/no cost excursion from the ship. There were regular shuttles going up to the adjacent-to-CBD TOURIST OFFICE but this is about a 10-15 minute walk which also takes in some of the attractions of the WATERFRONT PRECINCT so it's a good way to save money and kill more than one bird.
The pedestrian bridge which goes from the 5th level of one of the WATERFRONT 'finger wharf" type buildings to the low plateau-like area on which the small administrative zone and the CBD are located. CITY MALL is 400m-5 minutes in a straight line from the far end. At first you will pass thru the compact heavily treed ADMINISTRATIVE ZONE - plenty to see here for people who like old buildings. The bus interchange, tourist office, high court and parliamentary building are in this zone.\
THE MALL is a pedestrianized 250m section of SMITH ST which is one of the city's main drags. It has all the retailing and refreshment joints expected of such places, plus plenty of shade and seating. Note in background just left of centre a kind of juke box thingo - this was actually one of several PORTABLE EVAPORATIVE COOLERS in the area - very effective on this hot humid day. FREE WIFI has long been a feature of THE MALL.
The rest of the CBD is easy to check out. Another main drag - CAVENAGH ST runs parallel to the MALL (SMITH ST) one block to the right. The city area runs out 400m further. Of interest to nature types is CROCAUSURUS COVE which has a giant croc in a tank (you can join it!!) plus a fair bit of other NT fauna - this is in MITCHELL ST only 400m on from the end of the mall - go one block left, turn right. Beats having to travel some distance on expensive shore tours to other wildlife parks.
WHOA!!
Note 2 blocks further left from MITCHELL ST is long narrow BICENTENNIAL PARK with nice paths, lotsa seats, shade trees, some memorabilia from the WW2 bombing raids plus good views down over BEAGLE INLET.
DAYS 789 AT SEA BETWEEN DARWIN AND YORKEY'S KNOB (CAIRNS)
Actually it took all night after leaving Cairns and 2 more days and the night between to travel east across the top of Australia to the tip of CAPE YORK, which we reached late in the afternoon of the second day.
The gap between CAPE YORK and PNG is quite hazardous - has a whole bunch of continental islands, many just large rocks - plus a multitude of coral reefs (THE GREAT BARRIER REEF extends up here). Any ship of decent size must by law take a BARRIER REEF PILOT - ours got on in DARWIN and didn't disembark until BRISBANE (we were zigging past reefs thru the inner passage for much of the way - but in at least 2 cases went out thru the reef into the open ocean when things got a bit tricky). The pilot was a personable DUTCHMAN who gave an interesting and well attended lecture about reef piloting before we reached CAPE YORK.
ST JOSEPH's island off CAPE YORK. It took us about 3 hours to negotiate the CAPE - once far enough east we turned south (see diagram 2 images up). Unfortunately by this stage darkness was setting in and so I didn't see a lot of the east coast of far north CAPE YORK.
On waking next day we had gone several hundred kilometers further south. I spent the next few hours watching with fascination as we zig-zagged down thru the various atolls of the INNER PASSAGE.
The island is LIZARD ISLAND, a swish tourist island NE of COOKTOWN, seen in the afternoon of that day. The QUEENSLAND mainland is somewhere behind.
Note the mostly submerged coral reef (arrow) - there are thousands (no hyperbole) along the 3000km long INSIDE PASSAGE.
DAY 10 - YORKEYS KNOB (CAIRNS)
Waking day 10 saw us anchored several km off the coast. "Knob" is Aussie for hill - that's the knob on the coast left of centre. Don't ask me who YORKEY was.
Tender at right is heading for YK MARINA immediately right of the knob. YK BEACH is a 2km long strip of silica starting immediately left of the knob and extending out of image.
THE KNOB
YORKEYS KNOB is one of several beach towns to the north of CAIRNS. CAIRNS has a CRUISE LINER TERMINAL but bigger ships can't use it and must park somewhere off the coast where it is easy to tender passengers in - YK has the advantage of being closer to several attractive spots in the hinterland north-west of CAIRNS and no further from BARRIER REEF atolls which are also popular day trips.
If I wanted to do a BARRIER REEF DAY TRIP I'm not sure if I'd go from this area or from the next stop, AIRLIE BEACH. Thing is the ships' trips are outrageously overpriced - about twice the price available in CAIRNS or AB. I'm lucky, having holidayed in both areas over a dozen times, but the ship had many people who would only get the chance this one time.
It's abt 18KM by rouad from YORKEYS KNOB to CAIRNS
TENDER SNAFU
I'm not sure if it was local politics or poor organisation by ROYAL CARIBBEAN, but the tenders used were not the ship's boats but local reef-cats, big fast wave piercers which can seat 300 or more . Despite about half a dozen of them, getting off the ship was a nightmare. It took me over 3 hours - LADY TEZZA gave up and went back to the cabin. Such was the delay that many people found their day trips had to be shortened - a 5 venue trip became one stop only. And on return to the MARINA they had to stand in the hot sun for over an hour waiting in line to get on a tender. NOT GOOD ENOUGH. At least all tender operations are free.
I was lucky - having seen most stuff around CAIRNS and being a heavy-duty tight-wad to boot, I was content to get off the ship and wander around in the immediate vicinity of the MARINA.
Immediately on stepping off the tenders (arrowed right) was the YORKEYS KNOB BOATING CLUB (left).
QUEENSLAND does these clubs real well, so I had no hesitation in strolling in, as did many other cruisers.
From the pier approach
The club veranda nearest the pier had free entry and a rather good small market set up inside. Products seemed better quality than a lot of the stuff at down-south markets.
On the marina side the veranda opened up with lotsa seating and a nearby bar with drinks at a significant discount to the ship. Nice views and a pleasant sea breeze here on this hot day.
The far end of the veranda was set up for alfresco dining. Inside was an enclosed dining room. Meals were the usual service-club good value, but this cheapskate was hanging out for the yummy free buffet back on board which didn't close until 1500.
All the usual club facilities were available. The cash-short will welcome the ATM inside.
On leaving the club, I had plans to check out the nearby north end of 2km long YORKEYS KNOB BEACH. The walk was only 800m but half way my busted knees were giving too much pain and so I retreated to the tender line. (how things change - a few years back I would have walked the whole length of the beach).
I was lucky (it was too early for most daytrip returnees) and within 10 minutes was sitting on one of those wave-piercers.
CAIRNS CITY DAYTRIP FROM YORKEY'S KNOB??
This was the most popular ship's shore excursion - there was a constant stream of (expensive) shuttle coaches leaving from adjacent the pier. But unless I really really wanted to see CAIRNS I wouldn't bother - I have been nearly a dozen times before and it's a pretty ordinary small city. True, the civic fathers have spent a lot of money making the very daggy bay-front precinct (picture mangroves and mudflats - no beaches), so what we have now is abt a km of narrow parkland with a boardwalk and at the city end a rather good ESPLANADE LAGOON pool - just south is an okay marina if you are into boats, But apart from a few big hotels and some shops, there's not a lot to see, CAIRNS is one of those places look much nicer under night-time lights than during the day.
People from the ship were complaining that the shuttles dropped at the pool and it was quite a walk to the shops - plus the TENDER SNAFU mentioned up-page gave many insufficient time to check the place out.
TIPS - if big artificial pools are your thing, there is an identical one (perhaps a bit smaller) next cruise stop at AIRLIE BEACH. And you can walk there easily from the tenders.
CAIRNS' northern beaches have a rather good local bus service with frequent and inexpensive services to CAIRNS. If tenders are running okay, an early one off the ship will get you down to CAIRNS and back with plenty of time to check the scene. Schedules are online.
DAY 11 AIRLIE BEACH
One night's cruising south of YORKEYS took us to AIRLIE BEACH, which is the mainland base for cruise yachts and other smaller craft which do day-trips and multi-night visits to the nearby WHITSUNDAY ISLANDS. Trips out to the numerous atolls and reefs of the BARRIER REEF are also popular, although having done both I reckon the best coral and fish can be seen on the fringing reefs of the WHITSUNDAYS which are closer continental islands, not part of the BARRIER REEF. There are also mainland shore excursions out of AIRLIE, but theses are not as numerous or good as from YORKEYS
GOOGLE EARTH IMAGE OF AIRLIE BEACH
Once again we (LADY T got off the ship this time - dunno what the problem was the day before but tender operations, although using local wave-piercers, was much better) were content to wander around AIRLIE BEACH. I had stayed here about half a dozen times over the years, and was keen to see how this nice little town had changed.
Besides, the island and reef trips ex-ship were as usual way overpriced and having seen much of these before, my tight-wad nature kicked in.
TEZZA'S TOUR OF AIRLIE BEACH
The tender pulled into the pier (1 - lower right) at the new MARINA. After passing thru the FERRY TERMINAL (2), we went outside and walked past the MARINA CONDOS (3) across the oval towards the MAIN ST (4), an easy. flat walk of only 500m. The main st is only 500m long, has the usual resort town mix of food and drinks joints (we stopped at a cafe for a nice coffee - LADY T does not like the ship's milk). trip-booking places, touristy retailing, bars yada. at the end of the main st we hung a hard right (5) and walked the very short distance to the WATERFRONT LAGOON POOL (6). After an hour or so at the pool we headed back towards the marina, past the main beach (7) and a neat local market on the oval (8). Finally onboard a wave-piercer back towards the ship.
Details may be clearer if you can click-expand image.
1
1 - Tender arrives at the new PORT OF AIRLIE MARINA. When I last stayed in town this was still under construction - used to be a mangrove-lined bay. FERRY TERMINAL in background.
2
2 - FERRY TERMINAL. The various ferry companies which go to the resorts etc of the WHITSUNDAY ISLANDS and do DAYTRIPS out there have relocated from marinas a few km out of town to here. THE LOCAL TOURIST ASSOCIATION had set up displays and were handing out maps, fans and information both inside and out the front. Frequent shuttles were leaving for the far end of the main street but the ladies advised that they are only good value for movement impaired people - the walk is short. I already knew this and took off, dodgy knees and all. Besides I knew LADY T wanted a cup of coffee - a nice little sit down in a shaded main st.cafe is the perfect break for sore knees.
3
3 - a short distance from the ferry terminal are these WATERFRONT CONDOS, put in by the PORT OF AIRLIE developers. These were also under construction my last stay in town - the marketers kept sending my info on prices etc. HUR HUR HUR.
4-5
4-5 - MAIN STREET. The main change from my last visit was new traffic management. of course, many businesses were new. I didn't take any pix and had to pinch this one from ABC NEWS. This shot is more from 5 on my modified GOOGLE EARTH image up page.
6
6 - AIRLE BEACH WATERFRONT LAGOON POOL - the whole waterfront used to be pretty daggy mangroves and mud flats with occasional small patches of sand. Part of it has been redeveloped into this very nice pool area (AIRLIE used to be a place where backpackers and other tourists, heading for a multi-day cruise or island resort, would spend minimal time - until the local authorities decided to make it a pretty good location to stay multiple days). Note the artificial beach at right - pool area near is v shallow - ideal for infants.....
....and for backpacker babes to tan their cute bums.
TO SAVE ALL YOU DESPERATE DAN'S FROM CLICK-EXPANDING THE ABOVE...
....I've done it for you.
Don't ask how I "accidently" got these images.. Being old is not much fun, but being an old sleaze is okay on account few people expect better. Can you tell I'm having fun writing this? It's Christmas day and into the distilled grain mash big time. Home alone having been banned by LADY T from her sister's big family luncheon on account of a case of falling down syndrome at same a few years back - how was I to know cousin JOE had supercharged that year's homemade wine? Well --- I eventually found out.
6 - There are two pools - 90m long and 45. No shortage of grassy areas to lay a towel, shade trees and seats. The area has lifeguards, change sheds and nearby free parking.
Looks like the pools are packed with people above, but that is simply the angle of sun on a wind-chopped surface - although popular, I have never seen these pools crowded.
6 - The larger pool has about 70m of lap-swimming lanes.
6 - the pool has no food/drink concession (plenty of variety in the nearby MAIN ST), but one of the adjacent accommodation places had set up this cafe/bar with alfresco views over the complex.
7
7 - TOWN BEACH was very close to the pool on the stroll back to the marina. Before redevelopment this used to be a mangrove swamp too - dunno where they got the sand. There is a CROCK/SITNGER NET far end - I'd use this because some mangrove remnants nearby looked a mugger paradise to me.
8
8 - Halfway across the oval on the way back the locals had set up this rather good market - once again the stuff was different and seemed better quality than down south.
9
9 - Spotted this nice beach when leaving the marina. Dunno what it's called - have an idea it was created by the PORT OF AIRLIE developers. A couple on the wave-piercer told us they had spent time there, very nice, not far from the pier, stinger net in one area.
AIRLIE BEACH FROM OFFSHORE
white - TOWN BEACH yellow - WATERFRONT LAGOON purple - coastal walk to CORAL MARINA (used to be called ABLE POINT MARINA), a flat 500m stroll around the headland with some ok views. Note the hills behind town - there are some good trekking tracks up there, details online.
Another big change - more units and houses on the slopes. Those marketers send me stuff, very tempting with prices a fraction of Sydney or home - but LADY T doesn't like the heat, humidity and the occasional TROPICAL CYCLONE (TYPHOON/HURRICANE for you furrinners). This may be part of why people consider her smarter than me..
DAY 13 - BRISBANE
2 nights and 1 full day at sea after leaving AIRLIE we woke just moving into the pier at BRISBANE GRAIN TERMINAL a short distance up the BRISBANE RIVER a fair distance east of the CBD.
The thing about the BRISBANE RIVER is that the bigger liners can't get far upriver even though there is a dedicated cruise terminal at PORTSIDE on the north bank only 6km by road from the CBD (the GRAIN TERMINAL is 24km).
There is a new terminal under construction at LUGGAGE POINT directly across the river from the GRAIN TERMINAL - this has the advantage of more direct roads into town (18km) and being immediately south of the AIRPORT (lotsa cruise passengers fly in from regional centres (and QUEENSLAND is a BIG state - way bigger than TEXAS) and interstate.
There's not a lot to see around the GRAIN TERMINAL. Once off the ship most of the area is a restricted working port. I have spent an hour or two looking at the giant car carrier berthed behind unloading Toyotas and Hyundais plus watching airplanes land at the airport across river, but that's about it, unless a ship comes in.
That's the NE corner of the AIRPORT top-left of the image. Unfortunately the terminals are the other side, 14km around the south end, still way shorter than from the GRAIN TERMINAL. I dunno if plans are in to put in a more direct route to the NEW CRUISE TERMINAL.
Seeing the GRAIN TERMINAL hasn't a lot of interest, LADY T and I decided to check out the BRISBANE CBD - a place we had not seen since the 70s.
BRISBANE used to be a hole, but over the past 20 years local authorities have spent a bundle tarting up the CBD and the nearby riverside. We were keen to see these changes which have received plenty of media publicity.
The CBD area is actually left of that bridge top centre,\; you can tell by the bigger buildings - the rudimentary cropping tool on my computer's photo thingy does not do a full job.
The frequent shuttles from the ship seemed reasonable value. It took us to a bus parking area opposite CENTRAL STATION, from where we headed south to THE MALL, then across the bridge to SOUTHBANK, from where we grabbed a CITY HOPPER free ferry down-river to its eastern end and then reversed our ride to the stop closest THE MALL/CENTRAL STATION.
The bus drop-off/pick up area in Anne St opposite CENTRAL STATION. Local tourists association people were handing out maps and information: directed us to a coffee shop in an underground food court the other side of ANZAC SQUARE, a nice park area with some war mementos immediately right of image
The far exit of the food court dumped us onto QUEEN ST which one block left became QUEEN ST MALL - the usual mall stuff with an emphasis on retailing. No shortage of seating and shade which is nice mid city. The MALL runs 2 blocks/400m to .....
....the STAR TREASURY CASINO AND HOTEL. Brisbane has a whole bunch of historic buildings which have been refurbished by both government and the private sector - this one is the old TREASURY BUILDING which was repurposed by private enterprise into a casino and hotel.
A short distance on, QUEEN ST crosses the BRISBANE RIVER on.....
....the VICTORIA BRIDGE. This is about the 5th bridge on this site - they haven't had much luck with fires and floods.
Arrow points at TREASURY CASINO building.
Immediately on the near side of the bridge, to right of camera is.....
....SOUTHBANK. This former exhibition site (originally it was an area of small factories and workers' housing) has been redeveloped into a riverside parkland, with adjacent high end hotels, and exhibition center, a maritime museum. cultural centre yada. The parkland stretches a km along the riverside with walkways and plenty of free attractions for visitors and locals alike. A family could spend most of the day here and not spend a dollar.
One of several rainforest zones.
The free riverside lagoon pool is well done. Like AIRLIE, there are twin pools - a little longer (170m), The beach areas are much bigger - as a matter of fact this facility is often referred to as "STREET'S BEACH".
All the usual facilities are present.
SOUTHBANK has 3 ferry piers - the eastern most is for the free BRISBANE HOPPER.
These small ferries run every half hour - stop at 8 piers along the city and near city river from NORTH QUAY (west end - in the lee of VICTORIA BRIDGE city side) to SYDNEY ST (east end) - each run takes abt. 45 mins - stay on-board for the return journey: get off (and on) where you like.
We got on at SOUTHBANK. If the ferry is packed on the top deck (no standing allowed there), try again after a few stops....
The ferry is a great way to check out developments along the river - much public and private money has been spent on walkways, parks,bars, restaurants, office buildings, condos yada....
....plus there are some nicely preserved old Queenslander style homes.
We rode down-river to the SYDNEY ST turnaround, from where....
....we retraced our steps to the EAGLE ST PIER (lots of great riverside bars, restaurants etc here) which was the closest stop to our bus pickup area.
Note the other CITY HOPPER in shot - the half hour thing had got out of sync.
DAY 15 -0515
After another 2 nights and one full day at sea ex-BRISBANE we arrived at SYDNEY's CIRCULAR QUAY.
ATTENTION: I THINK FEW PEOPLE WILL READ THIS PAGE. THE WAY GOOGLE WORKS WILL THROW IT UP WAY DOWN THE LIST FOR PEOPLE LOOKING FOR SHORT CRUISE INFO OUT OF SYDNEY.
GOOGLE SNAGS ME A LOT OF READERS LOOKING FOR STUFF ABT THAI/INDO/MALAYSIAN BEACHES AND ISLANDS - BUT I FIGURE MOST WILL NOT BE INTERESTED IN BIG SHIP TRIPS INTO THE SOUTH WEST PACIFIC.
NEVERTHELESS, IF YOU SEE MISTAKES OR HAVE ADDITIONAL INFO, PLEASE POST IT BELOW. BUT IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, PLEASE ASK THEM IN THE FORUM WHICH CAN BE ACCESSED VIA THE INDEX LINK TOP RIGHT OF THIS PAGE. I RARELY CHECK INDIVIDUAL PAGES LIKE THIS WHEREAS I VISIT THE FORUM MOST DAYS.
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