Fijian Jewels Cruise - May 8

[Sailaway John]

Hi fellow CCs

Going on the above cruise soon and would like to know what tours that you have been on. Also whether you booked thru Princess or bought them on the internet or when arrived at Port. Have noticed that some prices vary quite a lot.

[wombat50]

hi john, we did the same cruise last year in may-june, and it is one cruise i woildnt mind doing again as it has a great itinerary and is a very nice ship.

we diddnt do any of the ship tours but did the same ones on our own and did them for about half the cost.

1st stop noumea well because of a swine flu scare we were 8hrs late leaving sydney so we diddnt stop there

next was suva, i booked a private tour for 8 of us from our roll call, we went to the arts village for the day, they had a mini bus meet us at the ship and take us to the arts village where we did the whole day tour including lunch and returned us the the ship, cost was $75 each for tour plus the bus which was appox $15 each, the ship tour was only for a half day tour , they only saw the fire walking(hot rocks) demo and i think it was nearly double the price,if you want the email address of the arts village let me know.

port denarau:- this is a full on tourist stop, 4 of us hired a taxi at the pot and went to ''the land of the sleeping giant'' which is the largest orchard rain forrest garden in the southern hemisphere, plus a stop in a typ. fijian village, taxi cost $20 each plus $12 each to get in to gardens again was about 1/3 the cost of ship tour.

dravuni island:- this is just a large sand island good for snorkling, get off the tender turn right and go a 200-300mts along the beach, we only went about 20-30 out and diddnt see much but were later told if we had of gone another 20mts or so it would of been very good.

vila:- again 4 of us hired a taxi and went to casscade falls taxi was $15 each plus $20 each to get in, is well worth going to, you do have to walk through some water to get to falls, again alot cheaper than ship tours

lifou:- well we missed that port too cause they wouldnt let us off the ship cause of swine flu scare.

8 of us from our roll call arranged that we would be at the same dinner table each night and most nights were the last to leave the dinning room lol we enjoyed it that much

we also did the steakhouse one night and it has to be one of the best steaks ive had.

gary & joanne (packetau) did a couple of ship tours, south sea island tour in port denarau and abseiling at casscade falls in vila and really enjoyed them too.

overall was the best cruise ive done yet the ship was great , the port stops great and best of all the friends we met through the roll call (gary & joanne, matt & mark)

and questions just ask

 

ross

[The Fox]

hi john, we did the same cruise last year in may-june, and it is one cruise i woildnt mind doing again as it has a great itinerary and is a very nice ship.

we diddnt do any of the ship tours but did the same ones on our own and did them for about half the cost.

1st stop noumea well because of a swine flu scare we were 8hrs late leaving sydney so we diddnt stop there

next was suva, i booked a private tour for 8 of us from our roll call, we went to the arts village for the day, they had a mini bus meet us at the ship and take us to the arts village where we did the whole day tour including lunch and returned us the the ship, cost was $75 each for tour plus the bus which was appox $15 each, the ship tour was only for a half day tour , they only saw the fire walking(hot rocks) demo and i think it was nearly double the price,if you want the email address of the arts village let me know.

port denarau:- this is a full on tourist stop, 4 of us hired a taxi at the pot and went to ''the land of the sleeping giant'' which is the largest orchard rain forrest garden in the southern hemisphere, plus a stop in a typ. fijian village, taxi cost $20 each plus $12 each to get in to gardens again was about 1/3 the cost of ship tour.

dravuni island:- this is just a large sand island good for snorkling, get off the tender turn right and go a 200-300mts along the beach, we only went about 20-30 out and diddnt see much but were later told if we had of gone another 20mts or so it would of been very good.

vila:- again 4 of us hired a taxi and went to casscade falls taxi was $15 each plus $20 each to get in, is well worth going to, you do have to walk through some water to get to falls, again alot cheaper than ship tours

lifou:- well we missed that port too cause they wouldnt let us off the ship cause of swine flu scare.

8 of us from our roll call arranged that we would be at the same dinner table each night and most nights were the last to leave the dinning room lol we enjoyed it that much

we also did the steakhouse one night and it has to be one of the best steaks ive had.

gary & joanne (packetau) did a couple of ship tours, south sea island tour in port denarau and abseiling at casscade falls in vila and really enjoyed them too.

overall was the best cruise ive done yet the ship was great , the port stops great and best of all the friends we met through the roll call (gary & joanne, matt & mark)

and questions just ask

 

ross

 

Hi John,

 

I agree with Ross .Make your own bookings and you will save heaps especially in Vila.I was on the same cruise Ross was on last year and agree it was a good itinerary.....a good blend of sea days and ports.

 

Have Fun

 

Col:)

[matmar]

Hey Sailaway John

 

I have to totally agree with Wombat50 and The Fox, as we were on that cruise too. We had a great time with great company and even though we had issues with swine flu etc we all enjoyed it immensely.

 

Hope you have a great cruise, I'm certain you will.

 

In Port Denarau, check out the pizza place, the biggest pizzas I have ever seen and excellent value.

 

Cheers

 

Mark

[Gaznjo]

me three or should I say 4 I was on this cruise with these guys.... we really enjoyed the abseiling in vila and when we cruised again at xmas my girls did it as well and really enjoyed it...

 

if you click on my cruises below you will see the slide show

 

joanne

[Sailaway John]

To all who have replied to my question re tours on our sailing in May - thank you very much - really appreciated.

[margrey]

Going on this one also, thanks for asking that question was thinking the same myself. Maybe we can share a taxi to the cascade waterfalls really want to do that in Vila. Marg

PS. Any meet and greet organised?

[Whoey]

Hi Margrey,

 

Click this link to go to our rollcall for this cruise:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1022654&page=4

 

enjoy

[Sailaway John]

Hi Marg, Yes if you want to get a taxi and share that's great. Yes there is a meet and great in Jammers Niteclub on the first sea day at 10am. You can contact both my wife, Eileen, and me in cabin B508.

[Sandielle]

Going on this one also, thanks for asking that question was thinking the same myself. Maybe we can share a taxi to the cascade waterfalls really want to do that in Vila. Marg

PS. Any meet and greet organised?

 

Marg, I would love to hear about this tour when you come back. We are doing it in June and at the moment have booked through P&O, because we don't want the hassles of arranging transport. (I know it costs more, but...it's easy!)