kej1

Your photos are great. Along with the terrific commentary.

BTW, the expedition team has given some excellent lectures on fish, photography, the local cultures and history of the local cultures, plants, etc. so are some worthwhile interesting lectures. Just nothing on WW2 which we also relate to the Pacific Theatre.

We have had no lectures on WW2. We were at one point less than 20k from where PT 109 ( JFK’s) boat was sliced in half by Amagiri in 1943 and it was not even mentioned. My husband is a WW2 buff and said we could see the opening of Blackett Straight and again it wasn’t mentioned at all. I don’t think anyone on the expedition staff has the knowledge or expertise on the WW2 history. We had expected lectures on this to be featured prominently as did many other passengers we’ve met.

Apologize for the horrible spelling mistakes. Between my fingers and the rogue spell check on my iPad I’m embarrassed, but hope you get something out of this!

Don’t know who is the corporate executive chef. Agree and disagree on the food. Colunnade is pretty poor so agree on that point. Lunch outside hot and humid, limited menu, good service but poor food. ( of course we don’t care for buffets and these don’t look good). Service good but we only sit outside as I just don’t like eating in the cafeteria. And given the weather and crowds on some days would make sense to open the MDR but only on sea days and I think maybe staffing the issue. MDR IMHO - fair to very good. Dinners at Colunnade fair but sometimes nice to sit outside at night since weather nice and tends to be cooler if the ship moving. Breakfast we have only had in our room and we don’t eat a big meal so it’s been fine. Croissants actually really good. But we dint expect much for breakfast. i will say the service at meals has been great for us. Just getting tired of the food and after the first two week segment its repetitive. So I’m not surprised they don’t focus on the food as it is apparent although we have had some good things. Just not consistent. I think at these price points food should be very good. Regarding the cruise. Today we were in Rabaul. There were three excursion offerings: 1. WW2 excursion - third party complimentary 2. Hike - paid not complimentary 3. Mask event in the afternoon - complimentary As we did not know in advance about the tours ( except thanks to this website did have a heads up), several months ago we had booked a private tour of the WW2 sites and we were glad we did. I also dint like to commit to something and nit do so didn’t cancel. We left early, set at our own pace, had a really good guide and saw a few extra things. The roads are in terrible shape after the end of the rainy season so everything takes longer to get around. But the people are extremely friendly ( may help that our guide Rose seemed to know everyone on the island) and very welcoming, The town of Rabaul itself was damaged completely with the eruption 30 years ago. So many of the people and businesses are now in Kopoko which is a good hour from Rabaul partly due to the road situation. So if you are planning to visit many if the sites are a good hour away so keep this in mind, One fun thing still in Rabaul is the “ New Guinea Club” where expats in the olden days gathered to have drinks. It’s still there in the town of Rabaul with lots of old photos of days passed, but just a museum now. The actual town of Rabaul is pretty deserted. Yes there is a market ( closed today as Sunday) and a few things but our guide said here is where the cinema used to be, etc, I could only imagine that this was the bustling town that is now pretty run down. There is an hotel, the club, and the Yamamoto bunker and of course near the port but it’s in sad shape. Everyone moved away including Rose with the big eruption and not many moved back. Rose did despite the fact she was 9 months pregnant with her youngest son when the eruption happened and had to live in a shelter for two years. Most of the ship did the free tour so there were numerous buses lined up to take 200+ people around the island. The hike only had about 8 people the remaining 200+ did the bus excursion. I must admit we did not attend the mask dance ceremony. We saw lots of masks with our guide and she gave us all the information about what the real ceremony means. I’m sure it was a great event but we were tired a decided to just relax on the ship once we got home from our tour. Tomorrow’s planned stop at Kavieng has been substituted and we have found the expedition team not really focused on the WW2 pieces of this part of the world. Instead we will visit Garove Island which is a volcanic caldera. There will be a cultural visit show and a walk around the village. Many of the guests we’ve met ( primarily USA, Britain, and Australian) are interested in WW2 in this region so there is a bit of a disconnect as this is not really the focus of the lectures or excursions. But nonetheless it has been interesting and just good to know if WW2 and history in general is of interest this is not the focal point. Nonetheless we are still enjoying the cruise!

Love it! Really enjoying your adventure! Sounds like you chose your excursion wisely. Spent a day in Banjul on another ship not long before the Covid mess and we did not choose that wisely. Did a taxi tour and although we weren’t out long worried we would miss the ship as there were demonstrations and tire burning in the streets - the President that had taken the outgoing President's place promised when he was elected he would not stay in forever like his predecessor. Well funny how that changes - after he was elected he changed his mind and that’s why everyone was burning tires. Anyway the good news was we were back in plenty of time as all the tours had the same problem and we actually beat most of them back due to the crazy driving of our local driver.

@BioInfoLibso far things of improved a lot on the second half of this trip. Once we got to the Soloman Islands, after Honaria we have had snorkeling every day. We just arrived in Bougainville and the ship is clearing immigration. The plan has changed or I should say evolved and I think most people in the ship are quite happy. We are not actually disembarking in Buka but on one island this morning for a village cultural visit and shopping for local crafts and later this afternoon we will visit another island for snorkeling and swimming. my husband and I are a bit disappointed only in that we had planned to visit an American some friends from home introduced us to today in Buka. He spends half time here and half in the US. He’s an author and is doing economic development on the island. We had been communicating for several months and I had confirmed just two days ago that we were in fact stopping in Buka but the plans changed so I found out last night we would not be able to meet after all. So sad for us but I’m sure it will be a nice day and better for most guests. And of course we are happy to be able to snorkel again! I think your trip will be fine!

Today was a fabulous day. We went to Njari Island near Ghizo which is privately owned and part of the Solomons. Great snorkeling, and to top it off we were able to do the submarine. Now I must say as a former diver and current snorkeler when you go that deep even on a reef, it’s dark and you don’t see the fish activity and colorful coral you see in shallower depths. But it was a fascinating experience. There were six of us and the pilot. You take a zodiac to the submersible, board it, then climb down a three step ladder to get to your seat. Three on one side and three on the other, pilot in the middle. We descended down a reef we were told 180 meters, cruised around for a while and then came up slowly. As you’d expect as we rose there were more fish, lovely fans, and coral. All six of us agreed we really enjoyed the experience. However I wouldn’t say it replaces diving or snorkeling. What I didn’t know til we were down was that the fish appear smaller than they are through the sub’s glass. I saw a grouper and asked Tom, our pilot why it was so small and he told me it is the glass they use in the sub. Glad we did it and since there hasn’t been an opportunity in the first 18 days I’d say we were lucky! For those of you interested I’d recommend you give it a try, but again don’t think it will replace fabulous diving or snorkeling. It’s just different. BTW I heard the divers had a great dive as well!

Oops my spell check is a bit overactive. I need to be a bit more careful! Thank you @Fletcher. I give the expedition team a lot of credit for making the move this morning from Honaria to Roderick Bay. It was a great decision and a very nice stop. Snorkeling around the World Discoverer and seeing the villagers that seemed happy for a visit. It was a great call even though I know there were a few that missed seeing the WW2 sites - everything was going to be pretty locked down so staying would not have mattered! Fun day. Had seafood Paella on the patio tonight. It’s one of the patio’s better dishes. Tomorrow it seems we may get a chance to do the submarine. Fingers crossed!🤞

Latest update from Honaria: Boy are we happy we did a private tour yesterday morning of the WW2 sites. The late afternoon ship tour according to some I talked to was poor. They only made a few stops, the last being the American war memorial which we’d found quite impressive but it was in the dark. Evidently the guides were not great and they were hurried from site to site missing key pieces of information as they had to return to the ship before curfew due to the election today. Now for the good news, since some craziness is expected in town today the ship is going to move to Roderick bay this afternoon, an island nit far from here. We don’t know exact plans yet but it seems we will have a village visit, some snorkeling, kayaking and diving opportunities. We shall hear final details this morning. The only disappointment is likely for those who arrived later last night and won’t have the chance to experience the WW 2 sites in Guadalcanal which will be a big miss for those interested. I’m also sorry to hear the comments about the flight. Not something one would expect for a luxury cruise. Based on the feedback on the group third party Guadalcanal tour we will go ahead with another private in Rabaul as it’s an important ww2 site as well.

May 1st: Honaria, Guadalcanal, Soloman Islands. The ship arrived early this morning. Over half the passengers were disembarking. And I’m told about the same number or more embarked. We set out early in the morning for a private WW2 Eastern Battlefields tour I had set up several months ago. We had a great guide, Bernard, and our driver did an excellent job of navigating the crazy traffic we encountered going from point A to point B and so on. Husband is a big WW2 buff so this was an important stop for him and I’m glad we did our own excursion. As mentioned there was a ship tour put together at the very last minute but we decided to stick with our plan and I’m glad we did. We visited the US War Memorial which was quite impressive. We visited the various battlefields, alligator creek, rivers, Red Beach, Bloody Ridge, the cemetery ( near the airport where a big battle took place), and the Japanese Memorial which was also quite impressive. Other than the two memorials, and the cemetery things are pretty run down, overgrown, but still it’s a very interesting experience to see where all these famous battles took place. Our guide was excellent but I have to say my husband is so knowledgeable and well read on the subject he kind of dominated the talk. We learned as is the case in so many of these countries, the Chinese are here big time. They have been “partnering” with the prime minister on lots of infrastructure projects. They just built a whole new sporting complex where the Soloman Islands hosted the Pacific games. They are also building roads and fixing those that need fixing ( most of them!). The Chinese like the strategic location and evidently the wood. This particular prime minister just stepped down and the new election is tomorrow. We learned from our guide there was quite a bit of violence after the previous election so likely why the ship changed the last minute scheduled tour from tomorrow to this afternoon. The country has had a ban on selling alcohol for the last few weeks and there are police officers everywhere. Hopefully since the ship still doesn’t plan to leave until tomorrow afternoon we won’t experience any of the drama of past! It was a good day and we are looking forward to tonight’s briefing in hopes given the feedback they have received the expedition team will give a bit more information than in the past on the upcoming activities as it’s all still a mystery.😎

@frantic36 I will look forward to your comments on your cruise. Despite the growing pains we’ve experienced on the expedition part of our trip we are looking at booking Kimberly and Indonesia in August of 2025. We’ve made a lot of friends from Australia on this trip and they have raved about Kimberly! And all the Indonesia travel we’ve done has been by airplane and land in the typical spots so this would be really interesting. The more we know about what to book in advance the better!

@Fletcher I’m really enjoying your live commentary on this very interesting cruise! Thank you for sharing and I’m so glad I found it.

Update! Thank goodness we booked a few months ago a private tour to the ww2 sites in Honaria ( Guadalcanal) on May 1. I almost canceled as Seabourn sent us a flyer the other night they would do a ( third party) tour May 2 ( we have an overnight as some guests disembarking and some arriving). Well, tonight we received a flyer stating the May 2 ww2 third party tour on May 2=is canceled as the prime minister election is that day and most things are shutting down. So, we are very happy we have our 8:30 am private tmw even though it will be messy with lots of guests disembarking. Seabourn to be fair has rescheduled the third party tour for tmw ( May 1) at 3:00 pm. But glad we are going in the morning and can go where we want as my husband doesn’t like shopping which is a part of what they have scheduled. @fletcher they have told us many of these ports will not allow ship expedition tours so therefore have to be third party - some charged and some complimentary. I think they have left all the planning to the expedition staff ( many who are Antarctica people) and they are learning…. I do note that Silversea has their expedition things published in advance. - I actually used their past cruises to this region and High plains drifter’s cruise critic blog from last year to try to plan what we could do and what to expect. We have been very happy with the service and staff on board but everyone we’ve talked to is frustrated with the lack of communications and organization of the excursions piece. Hopefully things will change since this is new to them.

@cruising kirby thank try for the info on Rabaul! Although it has t been communicated yet to anyone on the ship I asked thanks to your info about it and was told “ we should” have the same options and we’d know “ the evening before”! We are going ahead with our private in Guadalcanal tomorrow but I think we will hold off a day or so on Rabaul private as it seems we should have a Seabourn option there…. Thank you and if you are told any other port excursions let us know as those of us on the pursuit are still in the dark so to speak!