This was a 40th anniversary cruise for me, as I did a similar cruise with my parents back in 1977. We loved the adventures of this cruise, and it took us to some very memorable tropical beaches, and many places of very significant history. This cruise has also refreshed my desire to return back to Vanuatu very soon, and get another fresh Mud Crab on the beach at Champagne bay.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Embarkation for this cruise was quick and effortless. Was into our cabin within 30mins of arriving at Embarkation centre.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Enjoyed many enjoyable meals on this cruise, with the highlight being Italian night where they cooked pasta in the dining room itself, and the woft of garlic throughout the room was fantastic. Had a main serving of this pasta and it was the tastiest pasta meal I have ever had in my life. Spent another night in the Steak house, and enjoyed a beautiful Prime rib steak that almost filled the plate with little room for the very tasty baked potato with all the trimmings.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
Loved attending the music trivia and events throughout this cruise.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Loved the stage productions, with the highlight being the production called Bravo. Many other impressive side events throughout this cruise.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Received excellent service from all staff on-board this cruise. Was very happy to reward all those staff that provided exceptional service including our waiters and cabin steward.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
This ship is very similar to our favorite Dawn Princess, however Princess have spoiled this ship by taking away the free ice cream bar and Pizza restaurant, which was two services that were very much loved by Princess cruises young and old. Ship was very clean, however we can understand why sickness spreads after observing very unhealthy food handling by a few self-centered passengers.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Cabin was very comfortable, and clean. Loved the air conditioning as the humidity each day was very severe, and provided us with very enjoyable living conditions.
Ship tip
Stage productions on the Sun Princess are always very popular, so it is import to arrive in the theater up to 45mins before showtime to get a pick of the seating. Anyone making there way into the theater 15 mins from the show had only single seats left on offer if they were lucky.
Didn't think much of this port, as it was very humid on the day of arrival there. Walked down the road from the port, and experienced very dirty and smelly conditions.
Arrived to this port in very inclement conditions and walked to the nearby village in the rain. Many villages line the roadway selling their wares, and some local boys act as guides on your journey to receive a tip for their services when you get back to the shoreline. Took a walk along the beach and found them selling freshly cooked crayfish for A$20 each. This was a very tasty snack before swimming in the warm tropical waters and returning back to the ship after enjoying this hospitality.
Rabaul is not a very clean port, and many tours were cancelled because of very poor weather conditions in the week before we arrived, and causing much damage to their roads. The locals love dressing up their kids here in all their tribal attire, and they cannot hide their poverty, which showed in the eagerness to be off service. We enjoyed getting photos of these locals, and tipping them for posing for the camera.
Walked off the ship here, and into the town 200m away. Found a clean taxi and ask him to take us to a tropical beach. He drove us 45mins to the north and took us to a beach which cost us around $2 to swim at. The beach had beautiful white sand and refreshing warm water to soak your tensions away. We shared this beach and our taxi with one other couple from the ship, who would have been stranded there without us arriving with a taxi for return to the ship. The taxi trip worked out at about$10 per hour and we were more than happy to pay our driver $50 in their currency for 4.5hrs of service.
Took a tour from this port to a blue lagoon, and had a fabulous day. Pity we hadn't investigated this port further, as it is only 60mins drive away from Champagne Bay, which we later discovered was soon to become our all time favorite beach.
This beach in my opinion is the best in the world from my experiences. You had a beach that provide safe, calm and inviting waters. A clean white sand beach, which is tree lined to provide excellent shade. The locals set up a local market back behind, and the best attraction at this beach is bartering for freshly caught and cooked in your presence Mud crabs and Rock lobster of differing sizes. I purchased the largest Mud crab he had for the equivalent of A$25, which they cooked and cleaned for me while I waited, then wrapped up my purchase into a Banana palm along with fresh Lime wedges to eat my treat on the beach.
Took a day tour with many others on this cruise with Santo Adventures, and had the best day. Bus picked us up at the port and drove us a duty free store for our liqueur purchases. They then took us to awaiting open boats which whizzed us across to an Island where we had a scrumptious BBQ lunch cooked for us, while we swam in calm tropical waters. We then were taken around the island by boats to an area of about 10m depth where we could feed the local fish and snorkel with them around a coral reef. Took us to a local island village before returning back to the ship around 4pm, big day and very tiring, but loved every minute of it. Great value @ only $100 pp for the whole day including lunch.
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