Just Back

Hi all, we arrived back yesterday from N711 sunset seduction.

Had a fantastic time and met some great new friends, GETTING THERE was so much easier this time as i let P&O take care of all the arrangements, the plane from Melbourne was full of excited cruisers and once we collected our luggage at Sydney we were greeted by friendly P&O staff who directed us to our bus for transfere to the ship. Arriving at the terminal a que snakeing back & forth presented itself for us to join. It took about 1/2 an hour to get to the desk where we recieved our cabin keys and to give a credit card imprint( much better idea than lining up @ the persers desk) Once aboard we settled into the first of many delicious cocktails :D lunch was also being served. The sailaway party was sooo good, I will never tire of those magical harbour views.

Second day at sea we had arranged to meet up with some other CC's . Bim1, oxtang, and Flatron ( who coincidently was on my dinner table) came to the gazebo bar. After a good chat we all teamed up for the trivia challange but alas we faired poorly.

NOUMEA was our first port and we spent the morning wandering around the town and in the afternoon we caught a local bus out to a beach where Club Med used to be. It was a shame to see what was once such a beautiful spot in ruins now, however the beach is still nice;)

OUVEA was our next stop, after catching the tender to shore we walked about 15min to the worlds most beautiful beach where we spent the day lazing in the most idealic waters i have visited. A word of note if you are looking to shop here there are only 3-4 small stall on the beach, some people searched for a long time to find a market that never existed.

PORT VILA was next and it was time to shop! The markets where the ship docks seemed to have the best prices for souvineers. we went into town to get our limit of smokes & grog, on the way back to the ship we meet a taxi driver who agreed to be a guide for us in the afternoon. We wanted to go to Hideaway island in the afternoon and experience the sensational snorkeling there. This was agreed on and after that he would show us around. HOWEVER upon arriving at hideaway our driver informed us that the price we agreed on was for only 2 hours so recultantly we agreed to pay the new price for "his tour" . The tour??? consisted of a dirve to the carpark at Cascade waterfalls(didn't even stop), we drove thru a village and then to a lookout where we stopped for 2 minutes. back at the ship he then tried to jack up the price even more.... Just beware

PENTICOST ISLAND was next and i fell in love with this place. So tropical, lush and green. The locals were so friendly. It was the land diving that i was really wanting to see and was not disapointed. These men/boys are a marvelous sight leaping from this tower and I'm so glad that I have witnessed it.

GUEST ARTISTS on our cruise included a hyptonist who put on a fantasic show, the other was a Tom Jones tribute person whom I didn't enjoy.

SHIPS ENTERTAINERS were at their high standard performing Giday Giday, Tribute and another show which escapes my memory.

FOOD- Plenty of it and alaways a high standard

ONBOARD ACTIVITIES I missed having beer quoites (spelling) but with the bingo ($9,300), horse racing, dance classes, ect there was always something to do

Overall we had a great holiday and will now start saving for the next cruise

Stewart

Glad to hear everything went smoothly and you had a great time!, thanks for your review, just makes me more excited for our next cruise which is sooo close now!!:D

Thanks for bringing back the memories Stewart! I havent been to Pentacost, it's sounds great! How beautiful is Ouvea??? I loved the water there.

Chez

Hi Stewart. Glad you had a good cruise. What cabin no and deck were you on? Was the weather kind to you? Is in it the best way to holiday. DH and I went in feb and had a ball. We hope to do another one in 2009. Suexxx

Hi Stewart, thx for your great review. It is of special interest to me as we are going to exactly the same ports but in the opposite order out of Auckland in June!!!

I am now getting very excited and will be copying all the info you wrote about to look back at again and pass on to the others in our group.

In Ouvea...is the beach easy to find and an easy walk??? I will be looking forward to a lovely beach but hope it won't be too far for our wee girls to walk to.

Thx again...love all the comments esp to a newbie!!!

Cheers Kelli

Hi Stewart, thx for your great review. It is of special interest to me as we are going to exactly the same ports but in the opposite order out of Auckland in June!!!

I am now getting very excited and will be copying all the info you wrote about to look back at again and pass on to the others in our group.

In Ouvea...is the beach easy to find and an easy walk??? I will be looking forward to a lovely beach but hope it won't be too far for our wee girls to walk to.

Thx again...love all the comments esp to a newbie!!!

Cheers Kelli

In Ouvea the locals will be waiting for you when you get off the tender boat in their run down cars. They will take you to the beach for $3 per person (i think thats the right price) if you dont want to walk. it only takes a few minutes or its about a 15min walk.