Coral Priness Cruises (Australian)

[mdheaded]

I am interested in a cruise around Papua New Guinea on the Australian Coral Princess Cruise OCEANIC DISCOVERER, an expedition ship. I have little information about this ship otherr than what is presented in the brochure and online. I would appreciate it if ANYONE with any experience on Oceanic Discoverer would share impressions and opinions with me !

[Charles Mason]

Hello, we have done a couple of cruises with Coral Princess Cruises, on the reef here in Aus, another in the Kimberley and we have actually done the PNG cruise you mention. We are big fans of their style of cruise, always have a nice time. The PNG trip on the Oceanic Discoverer was great, particularly enjoyed the couple of days we spent up the Sepik River. The ship is very nice and modern, not too big (approx 75 pax) and the crew were excellent. The crew were Australian.

 

We receive their newsletters and see they are doing a PNG trip focussing on the history of WWII in November, is that the one you are looking at, or one of their "normal" PNG tirps?

 

I hope you have the chance to go on the cruise. If you have any specific questions about the ship etc let me know, otherwise I wouldnt hesitate to recommend them.

 

Charles

[mdheaded]

Thanks Charles,

We're interested in the cruise around PNG, maybe with a short land extention afterwards. I'm also looking at Linblad's expedition, which, although they have sailed on Oceanic Discoverer in the past, have recently bought Orion; I'm not sure whcih vessel they'll sail in 2014. I know that Silver Explorer and Caledonian Sky also offer a similar cruise. I don't scuba, and my wife isn't even particularly fond of "the water!" We both are interested in the wildlife and culture. We're used to relatively "upscale" ships, enjoy smaller vessels, cordial dining experiences, and, although not many cruise lines offer it, prefer all-inclusive, not to be nickle-and-dimed with regard to drinks, etc.

Thyanks for your comments!

Stuart

[mdheaded]

Incidentally, Our next cruise is on Seabourn Quest from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso, a concession to my wife who dreads a crossing of the Drake Passage on a smaller ship, i.e. Silver Explorer. I'm also considering a Sping river cruise in Holland, but can't decide on AmaWaterways vs. Uniworld or, even more basically, whether river cruises rather than independent land travel is the best way to experience Europe.

[Charles Mason]

Hi Stuart- yes I think that is the trip we did, we went from Cairns to Rabaul - it was 11 nights I think. Whilst we havent done Seabourn, as much as we would like too, I imagine it is probably a bit differerent - perhaps more casual in an Australian way. We tend to go for more of an informal experiences ourselves so it suited us, and we are looking at the Delfin 2 in the Amazon next!

 

On the Oceanic Discoverer it is very much about the exploring, and that is what the trip is geared around. There is one restaurant, the food was very good (although limited choice), and there was an outdoor dinng area as well. The wine list was mainly Australian - but a good variety. Alcohol was not included (all else was) but very reasonable, from $20 for a bottle of wine or thereabouts.The passengers would have been averaging somewhere in the mid 50s I think as far as age goes, probaby half of us were Australian and NZ, and some British/European - there were 3 or four Americans as well, although I know on the cruise after us there was a charter for an American company who had taken over the ship.

 

But back to the PNG trip - we dont dive either, but there was time for snorkelling, which was done from both the playform on the ship and also the beach. There was also lots of time for walking in the forest, talking to villagers etc. When I was talking about the Sepik River I meant that we went up the river on the ship to a couple of remote villages, we stayed overnight up the river, it was quite spectacular. We bought a ncie woodarving up there from the locals. We also enjoyed Kimbe Bay, and a real highlight was the islands, the Trobes. It was a great trip really. All the excursions are included and their excursion boat is excellent - unlike anything we have ever seen anywhere else. Only a couple of excursions used RIBs.

 

We enjoyed it and I am sure if you go you will too.

 

All the best