A new Country opening up!!

[bazzaw]

Papua New Guinea -- this is really for the adventurous --well, "adventurous" in regard to mass market cruising.

 

Imagine a cruiseship with 2000 people arriving for the first time at an island of 12000 people who have NO cash economy at all -- and greeted by war canoes!!

 

A short report here http://pacificdawntopng.blogspot.com.au/

 

But you have to come to Australia to be able to join.:)

 

Barry

[Keith1010]

Thanks for sharing this.

 

Keith

[By The Bay]

A short report here http://pacificdawntopng.blogspot.com.au/

 

But you have to come to Australia to be able to join.:)

 

Barry

 

Thanks for your report on your visit to PNG. It got me thinking of visiting PNG. After a bit of a search of available cruises, I settled on the 20 night Dawn Princess sailing leaving Sydney 31 August 2014. Can't wait.:)

[Fletcher]

We went to PNG five years ago on the Orion and we're going back next month on the Caledonian Sky. People should appreciate that while towns like Alotau and Madang certainly have their attractions, the real PNG are the tiny island and river communities which sometimes put on the most incredible welcome ceremonies - I especially remember Santa Ana which is also one of the places I'm going back to. These can only be accessed by small ships as there are no harbours, no wharfs, only beaches to land on. Remember that if you are thinking of booking something like a Princess cruise because your access will be seriously limited. It will be much cheaper but not nearly as rewarding, I think.

Edited December 7, 2013 by Fletcher

[bazzaw]

We went to PNG five years ago on the Orion and we're going back next month on the Caledonian Sky. People should appreciate that while towns like Alotau and Madang certainly have their attractions, the real PNG are the tiny island and river communities which sometimes put on the most incredible welcome ceremonies - I especially remember Santa Ana which is also one of the places I'm going back to. These can only be accessed by small ships as there are no harbours, no wharfs, only beaches to land on. Remember that if you are thinking of booking something like a Princess cruise because your access will be seriously limited. It will be much cheaper but not nearly as rewarding, I think.

 

What you have said is true -- but that principle probably applies to all mainstream megaship style cruising elsewhere in the World, although possibly in different ways. eg the massing of large ships at places like Santorini ( 5-6 ships sometimes in a day) offloading 10,000 passengers. However -- that is mass tourism in these days.

 

Certainly the ports/islands that P&O AUS and Princess are opening up in PNG is being done in cohorts with the PNG Government who want to see tourism come to PNG in much larger fashion than it has up until now.

 

If you have a look at the Youtube vids on my original post, you will see the type of visitation that this new wave of cruiseship tourism will bring to PNG. It will be both good and bad for them - bringing money, but will also probably corrupt the ancient lifestyle that the people live. The only island that you describe that our cruise went to ( the inaugural megaship visit ) was to Kiriwina in the Trobriands -- there has been a further cruise since then which visited 3 more ports including Kitava Island. The rest of the ports were, as you say to larger towns.

 

Like PNG , the ONLY way to visit the Greek Islands is NOT by mega-cruiseship -- but still, we do it!

 

 

Barry

[Widebay]

We are thinking of visiting Papua New Guinea on a cruise next year.

 

Possibly the P&O cruises that operate from Brisbane, inexpensive, and Brisbane is close for us to drive to, put the car into security carpark, then cruise off into the blue yonder.

 

However, having said that, I did see a P&O cruise that departing from Singapore, visiting lots of ports in Indonesia, then across to Papua New Guinea, then back to Australia, now that would be interesting.

[Fletcher]

I'm in Wewak this very minute and we were told we could just walk around the town and along the sandy beaches while the main group went out on a bumpy bus tour. However, security guards at the gate turned us back - much too dangerous they said without a guide. Welcome to PNG!

[js4rq]

Wow, thanks for sharing..it has got us thinking about doing a PNG cruise. Will look into cruises and pricing. Cheers!!

[Fletcher]

We left Wewak after managing about half an hour on a nice beach. Then we sailed for Jayapura, capital of Indonesian Papua. That was a vast city, fascinating in its way, and we did a longish tour which included lakeside villages on stilts and the memorial to Douglas MacArthur. The return to the ship was extraordinary - a two-hour drive through traffic recued to a headlong 30-minute dash thanks to police motorcycle outriders. The next day (yesterday) we visited a tiny atoll in the Padaido Archipelago which is east of Biak. Now we are sailing around the corner of New Guinea towards Raja Ampat.

[alibabacruisers]

What kind of currency did you use for PNG/Rabaul?

[Fletcher]

Stones and glass beads, of course. AU$ sometimes.

[Floridiana]

Fascinating!

[Birder1]

Thank you for your posts; my first time in PNG will be Sept 2015 & I appreciate the feedback to help in my preps. :-)