PNG on Sun Princess

I have booked an 11 night cruise to PNG on Sun Princess. At the moment I am only being shown 2 possible ports where shore excursions are available. There are several other ports where we are in all day. Do you think the shore excursions are still being negotiated or will this be all there is. Not sure I would have booked if I had known we can only get off in 2 places.

I have booked an 11 night cruise to PNG on Sun Princess. At the moment I am only being shown 2 possible ports where shore excursions are available. There are several other ports where we are in all day. Do you think the shore excursions are still being negotiated or will this be all there is. Not sure I would have booked if I had known we can only get off in 2 places.

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

When is the cruise? Excursions are often not fully released till about six months out.

You will be able to get off even if you haven't booked excursions with the line.

Thanks for that. The cruise is in Sept so definitely within 6 months.

Thanks for that. The cruise is in Sept so definitely within 6 months.

Keep an eye out then, probably more coming.

Have you looked at your Roll Call here on CC some may have private excursions booked.

We did a PNG cruise last year. The only ports where there were excursions was at Alotau and Rabaul. The other ports are just small islands. There were lots of locals selling various items, and school and church groups singing and dancing. There were some places of local interest and they were well signposted and usually cost a small fee. A couple of the islands had good snorkelling I believe. Unfortunately it was quite rainy when we were there plus I caught a virus on the cruise so we didn't spend much time ashore.

We did a Princess tour in Rabaul, a half day tour to the Volcanological Observatory, the hot springs, and a few other places and it was very good but expensive. You could probably do a similar tour privately. We chose the morning tour. It was a bit cooler then and the rain held off until we were back on the ship.

Kitava, Kiriwina and Doini are DIY ports.

They are quite undeveloped which is their charm.

The time is spent interacting with the locals who are lovely shy people.

There will be some groups putting on cultural displays especially in Kiriwina, the largest of the 3.

There will be many local handicrafts for sale.

Please try to use the local currency there; the Kina.

There is a small resort on Doini and the Islanders come over by boat from a nearby Island.

Walking around parts of Doini Island and to a nearby village at Kiriwina is good and easy exercise.

Locals will also take you out to the fringing reefs for snorkelling, although snorkelling from the beaches is OK as well.

It's a great part of the Sth Pacific and many people do more than 1 cruise there.

I have booked an 11 night cruise to PNG on Sun Princess. At the moment I am only being shown 2 possible ports where shore excursions are available. There are several other ports where we are in all day. Do you think the shore excursions are still being negotiated or will this be all there is. Not sure I would have booked if I had known we can only get off in 2 places.

The only real ports you are going to are Alotau and Rabaul.

The others, Kitava, Kiriwina and Doini are beautiful tropical islands a million miles from "civilisation". So no organised tours from those, you just tender to a jetty on a beach from where you wander around. At Kiriwina Island the locals put on a dance and all the school kids come out. While there is good snorkeling around these islands, remember to take good reef shoes so that you can walk out to where it is deep enough to snorkel. The local kids will take you out to deeper water in their little canoes for a few Kina. At Kitava there is a pretty island just off the beach. Don't try to swim there as the current is deadly, there are some big strong lads who will row you across in big canoes for some cash. When the tide is running they earn their money.

Just as a reminder, you don't have to use the Princess excursions. At the dock at Rabaul and Alotau there will be local tour operators waiting to sign you up. The advantage is that they will be much cheaper, the disadvantage is that the quality of the tour may be variable. If that is of interest, you might need to research the roll calls of some similar cruises to get a better idea of what's available.

Welcome to cruise critic, if there isn't a roll call for your particular cruise, search for other cruises that do a similar itinerary and you will get ideas. Trip advisor may also be a help.

I did a Christmas cruise from Brisbane on the Sea Princess last year. On Christmas Day on Doini Island Princess bought Santa aboard via the last tender from the island!

I did a Princess tour in Alotau (Cultural Festival) but in Rabaul I did a morning tour that I picked up dockside. After the tour I walked around the main street area and in Rabaul I walked to the war memorial. The mini van had no air con , the roads were bumpy but that was of no consequence to me - part of the journey. The tour took me to the Japanese tunnels, markets, views of the volcano and great views of the harbour and ship . I went in the morning and as we were coming down from the hill top view there were many mini vans parked by the roadside and people walking up the hill. Take water, sunscreen and hats.

The islands were a delight. As a swimmer I revelled in swimming up and down the beach and snorkelling. Bring your own snorkelling gear if you wish to snorkel as there are no hire options. I had reef shoes as well.

I also took some pencils and books for the schools - there were donation bins at each island.

We were greeted by local singers at each port.

Yes it is wise to take some Kina with you. Some of the islanders were asking me if I could change their Australian dollars into Kina as it is difficult for them to exchange the $A. I had no problems getting Kina in Brisbane.

I would do this cruise again!

Enjoy your PNG cruise.

Here http://pacificdawntopng.blogspot.com.au/ is a blog of our cruise to PNG a few years ago. We were there for the FULL Festival at Alotau