Bellamariya

I'll be there for lunch in a couple of weeks and using the free wifi!

 

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Maybe we'll get to meet this time :)

Has anyone here had any luck with finding / accessing any Wifi hotspots in Vila and / or Noumea??

 

When we where in Noumea in January, I did have a look around the cruise terminal to see if there was any Wifi hotspots around, but could not find any, mind you at the time we where docked at the container terminal.

In Vila, La Tentation has free WiFi for customers. On the waterfront behind the Bred Bank, a few doors down from Fung Kuei :)

Do you know where?

 

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There are a number of fruit and veg markets around Port Vila now. The largest is the one in town that is closed on Sundays.

Jenny the one you are asking about is at Manples, right near Au Bon Marche, Manples, heading out of town towards Hideaway Island. They are open 7 days a week as are the markets at Freshwater.

As to people being deeply religious and not working on Sundays in Vanuatu I have not seen evidence of this, the exception are the SDA who must not work before sundown on Saturdays. We respect our staffs religious requests and not one has ever requested to not work a Sunday for religious reasons.

We were there last April and are returning in May.

 

The taxi drivers are so agressive, i was with my 8 year old so it was a little scary, in the end we went back behind the fences and negotiated and ended up getting $50NZ return to Hideway Island in car for 4 of us, we thought that was bargain. We did overhear people saying they had paid $100AUD.

 

We loved Hideway Island, spend about 3 hours in the water and will head back next month.

 

Any others suggestions for Villa which are not the P&O trips?

 

Anyone been to Iririki Island - how does the snorkelling compare?

I'd also like to hear answers to your Iririki Island question.

 

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I have only snorkelled Iririki (Snorkellers Cove) once and it was a cruise ship day. We were snorkelling at the same time as the glass bottomed boat was doing fish feeding a few hundred metres away. We just assumed all the fish were over at the boat since we didn't see a single one where we were ;)

Having said that, we hear good feedback about the snorkelling there and others have said they enjoy it. I recently spoke to a lady that was staying there and she said she would take leftover sausage out and feed the fish while she snorkelled.

Hideaway is a personal favourite of mine and we always take bread when we snorkel there to attract even more fish.

Any suggestions on what sort of things to do that don't involve organised tours or large distances at Port Vila?

 

Favourite things to walk to look at?

Favourite shops to browse?

Beaches in walking distance?

 

Thanks all!

 

-less than 5 weeks now! :)

There are really no long distances when you come to Port Vila, you can drive around this whole island in about 2 1/2 hours.

There is so much to do here but you will only have about 8 hours.

If you don't want to do an organised tour you can hire a bus driver to take you to a few spots (Hideaway Island for snorkelling, Cascades Waterfalls, Blue Lagoon, Eton Beach all come to mind) or even to their village to see how the locals live.

Or hire a quad bike and drive yourself to a few places.

Right in town you can find parasailing, jetboating, jetskis, zego, glass bottom boat, kayaking tours, scuba diving shops, sail and snorkel tours, snuba, cafes and restaurants.

A short distance away you have zorbing, zipline, buggies....really the list is too long to post.

Most shops will be selling knockoffs if you are interested in that sort of thing, The best duty free can be found here with really great prices, Fung Kuei is the most popular place but Paris Shopping and Sound Centre also have their own specials that are worth checking out.

We are :)

B2B on Radiance starting in Vancouver on May 15th.

Just wondering if anyone has sailed to santo, wala, Vila, mystery island and isle of pines in early April, and can tell me what weather they experienced at this time of year.. We have sailed around November and early march before and the weather was really good.. But just wondering if it's a bit cool, rainy etc in April...

 

Thanks

 

Katie/QUOTE]

 

The weather in most of Vanuatu will still be very warm and ocean temperatures shouldn't drop below 25 degrees :)

It doesn't get noticeably cool in Vila until about July and that will only be in the evening/night but the water temps are still warm then.

Espresso souffle?

No idea how I missed that :(

Anything coffee goes to the top of my favourites list, will have to keep an eye out for it on my next cruise.

For me the best thing was the Tutti Salad Bar for lunch in the MDR on sea days. Beautiful fresh salad loaded with prawns, smoked chicken and camembert.

My next cruise has 4 sea days and I couldn't be happier!

Thanks Raina, good to get first hand experience of when it did and didn't happen :)

I have been trying to get an answer to another question over on the Alaska board but no one seems to have a clear answer so hoping someone here will have first hand experience to pass on.

If we fly to Vancouver, our first contact with US Immigration/Customs will we as we are embarking. As Australians (or I suppose any non US citizen that has the Visa Waiver), will we be required to undergo fingerprint or iris scanning?

Yes we have been to Canada and know how easy it is :)

It's the US processes that have some concerned.

I originally asked about immigration in Seward but it sounds like I should have asked for details of what actually happens in Vancouver.

Thanks for all the replies :)

I will take the advice about carrying the wine on board ;)

Seems there may be a few scenarios when we reach Seward but none of them sound as bad as having to leave with my luggage and do the complete embarkation process again. If given the choice I don't think I would leave the ship at all if I didn't have to :D

Sounds quick and painless.

A special lunch would be nice too but just being able to relax on the day and not have to stand in long lines will be the biggest bonus :D

So US immigration will be there at Vancouver and that is to be expected as we are cruising to Alaska.

I was just wondering if anyone could explain what we can expect.

Will it be like our friends experience at LAX or is this confined to LAX?

I personally will be flying into LAX as we have a week or so at Mammoth Mountain prior to flying to Vancouver but other friends will be flying into Vancouver and just want to know what to expect.

Thanks again!

Thanks for the quick reply :)

Hoping I can be helped with another question. Is there a way we can bring our 2 bottles of wine for the 2nd cruise when we first embark or will we have to find somewhere to buy it during the turnaround?

We are looking at booking a B2B on the Radiance for Alaska, Vancouver to Seward and return.

What will happen on turnaround day?

Will we be allowed to stay on the ship or will we have to leave and go through embarkation again?

What about getting on at Seward and cruising southbound, disembarking in Vancouver?

I would like to know this too :)

Whatever happens will happen when you board the ship in Vancouver. Once you board you will.be in US waters/ ports the whole way. There is no customs or.immigration in Seward. You just walk.off get your luggage and head to wherever you are going. We went through immigration on arrival.in Vancouver-- which is Canada and then something US immigration when we boarded the ship. Hope that helps.

Thanks that does help :)

A few of us have traveled to Canada and are familiar with their procedures.

We are Australians that are going to book an Alaska cruise from Vancouver to Seward with the intention to fly out from Anchorage to go home.

One of our friends recently went on a holiday in Canada and had to change planes at LAX. The procedure there was for them to be fingerprinted and iris scanned despite the fact that they were not leaving the airport and were not staying anywhere in the US.

We have cruised many countries including China and Japan and haven't come across anything like this before.

Should we expect that the immigration procedure at Seward/Anchorage will be like this?

Like most of the South Pacific Islands the best things to see are out of the towns or under the water. :)

 

Seems odd to me the number of people who choose to go to a Pacific Island & say they didn't enjoy it because they don't like snorkelling, going to the beach or walking anywhere! :rolleyes:

I agree! Efate is an amazing island filled with beautiful things to see and fun things to do and is much more than just Port Vila. Port Vila itself is just another town with shops, markets, cafes and restaurants.

If you decide to dive when you come for your next visit I can recommend Konanda Wreck for a nice, shallow wreck dive if you haven't done it before. I have a soft spot for the Konanda as it was the first wreck I ever dived.

Has anyone done a tour from Vila to Lelepa Island before. If so is this tour available from the dock or am I best organising from a tour company before we leave home. Have got a price from tour company (Lelepa Tours) and it worked out in AUD$87pp not sure if it would be cheaper organsing it in Vila and is it worth doing? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks everyone.

I have done the Lelepa Island tour and could only book it direct with the company.

I live in Vila and we did it with a large group of family and friends that were visiting last year.

The price you have been given sounds right.

I remember it being a very long day and may have even been getting dark by the time we got back to town, I would assume they would tailor a shorter tour if they are taking bookings from a cruise stop over.

Are there many places in the South Pacific that have free wi fi, in particular Noumea and Vila?

 

Also, on the departure card from Australia, what do you put as the places to visit on the cruise? Is "At Sea" sufficient, since there are not enough spaces to list all the ports of call?

La Tentation in Port Vila has free internet for customers. It's on the waterfront behind the Bred Bank, just a few doors down from Fung Kwei, the main duty free store.

Booking a JS on Mariner, any expert cruisers wish to comment on which JS stateroom I should get on the Mariner, if all the JSes are available? Deck 9 or 10 is available for choosing as well.

 

Thanks in advance.

There really wouldn't be much difference between them?

We were in 1646 last June and what made it the best was our steward Joel :)