The islands of the South Pacific make for beautiful travel destinations, and the ability to cruise to them makes it so much easier to see them, or parts of them at least. Islands like Vanuatu’s Mystery Island and New Caledonia’s Loyalty Islands can be very expensive and difficult to get to via any other mode … Read more
Ah cruising. I love cruising, my wife loves cruising, and most of my family loves to cruise. So, of course, the more we cruise, the more we are looking for the best cruise deals in Australia. Why Australia? Well, quite simply, we live in Australia, so we need to be able to book from Australia. … Read more
In September and October 2018, we did a 32-day road trip around the North Island of New Zealand followed by a 10-day cruise that brought us back to Australia via the South Island of New Zealand. I know, 32 days seems like an awful lot to spend on just the New Zealand North Island, right? Especially considering we visit some of those same places again on the subsequent 10-day cruise home. However, there are actually so many places to see and things to do here that are often overlooked. We could easily have spent longer here, and there are places I want to go back to and spend some more time in!
After our New Zealand North Island road trip, we cruised back to Sydney through Fiordland. We were fortunate to have excellent weather and got to see Dusky Sound, Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound. We’ve been to Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound on previous trips aboard small tourist vessels operated by Real Journeys (including this amazing … Read more
With apps like Netflix and facilitating access to thousands of movies and TV shows, if you are anything like us, you probably download a whole bunch onto a smartphone or tablet before your cruise. It’s so much better to watch on the bigger screen TV in your stateroom though than on the small tablet or … Read more
Noumea is a beautiful and unique city in its own right. Situated at the southern end of the largest island in New Caledonia, Grand Terre, is both the capital and the countries major port. As a result, Noumea is also home to much of the countries heavy industry. A significant portion of New Caledonia’s GDP … Read more
If you are looking for a snorkelling experience in Luganville, this is the one. It’s expensive for what it is, but you get to experience a wide variety of coral, fish and other marine life, including things I’ve never seen when snorkelling anywhere else. Luganville is located on the largest island in Vanuatu, Espiritu Santo, … Read more
Princess and often visit Luganville in Vanuatu, Royal Caribbean though doesn’t usually go there as part of their scheduled itineraries. We were cruising with Royal Caribbean on Explorer of the Seas when we were diverted to Luganville due to inclement weather at Mystery Island. After speaking to other people, it seems this is a regular … Read more
On board Dawn Princess in October 2015, cruising from Sydney to Hobart via Burnie and Port Arthur and back again we got to watch an ice carving demonstration by the ships resident ice carver.
Check it out as he carves a blue marlin out of a chunk of ice.
On board the Dawn Princess Cruise from Sydney to Burnie, Port Arthur, Hobart and back in October 2015 we were treated to a free food carving demonstration by the 3 resident carvers. Each one came up with unique and amazing works of art that included birds, flowers and even fish! Have a look at below … Read more