Canberra Chapter's South Pacific Cruise

28 April 2025 / Author: Bob Judd - Photos: Ian Botcher, Peter Le, Tony McDonald, Bob Judd

Back in the mists of time (2012, actually) we organised a group cruise for our club mates around the shaky isles of New Zealand. It was very successful - to the point that we've been heckled for the past ten years to organise another. Well, 29 other Club members recently joined us for a 13 day cruise to New Caledonia and Fiji aboard the Royal Princess.

To promote the cruise, a logo was designed by a friend of Roz B., showing an MX5 (an NA, for those interested) peering through a ship's life buoy, with the wording "Zoom Zooming Around the Pacific". This logo was given to a local T-shirt printer who allowed everyone to buy a shirt of their own choice to wear on the forthcoming adventure. Everyone played along and the 31 of us proudly wore our shirts during the voyage, much to the interest of other passengers.

We originally booked our cruises 15 months before departure. That gave us a good fare price, with bonus shipboard spending incentives, and a full choice of levels of accommodation aboard our chosen ship, the 3,300 passenger Royal Princess. This floating hotel was an absolute beauty! We've done 10 or more cruises, and I believe the food on board was the best we've experienced. The crew of 1,300 were very good and eager to please, without being "in your face" all the time.

We left Sydney on a very hot Sunday in March and 3 days later reached Noumea in New Caledonia. After a day of browsing, snorkelling (not me!), boat riding, hiking (definitely not me!) and shopping, we sailed off to Mystery Island, which is part of the Vanuatu group of islands. Some of us (not me) took the shuttle boat ashore for more swimming, snorkelling and hiking and generally having some time on a beautiful beach.

Another full day at sea was followed by a day in Lautoka, on the northern side of Fiji, which turned into a great day at the shops mixing with the Saturday crowd of locals who have come into town to the markets for their weekly fruit and veg.

The next day, a Sunday, was spent in the capital of Suva, on the south side of the island. Sundays are treated as a religious day in Fiji, with very little open and we were left with a closed shopping day to wander around the city. Some of us joined the privately run bus tours from the wharf, where we were asked where we wanted to go. A series of answers from our fellow passengers were met with a "closed on Sundays" response which limited the places to go. Apparently, there was no active volcano to visit! We ended up at a waterfall, which was sold to us as a favourite tourist spot, but were somewhat underwhelmed with its ferocity. Never mind, a stop at the shop for an ice cream on the way back to the ship helped to relieve the disappointment and see how the real locals live.

Dravuni Island, our last stop, is an uninhabited tropical island off the coast of Fiji. I'm not sure why we stopped there, unless you were interested in swimming, snorkelling etc etc. which, clearly, most passengers were.

After four days of leisurely cruising, we arrived safely back at Circular Quay on a comparatively cold and wet Saturday.

The great thing about being on a ship is that there is so much to do, and you don't have to do any of it unless you want.

Before the cruise, we asked everyone to provide us with "a long-past personal factoid that few others would know about". The list of these details was issued to everyone on the first day with the objective of getting participants to talk to each other and match the names to the revelations. On the last day, we organised a private cocktail party, where everyone revealed their interesting factoid to the great amusement of others. Ian B. with 15 correct answers/calculations/guesses won the prize of some suitable Mazda paraphernalia in a tin box embellished with the group photo that had been taken earlier in the cruise.

Several of our group opted for the Upgraded Liquor Package. They spent most of the cruise walking around with Rusty Nails, and other "exotic" cocktails, permanently glued to their left hands. Some found the food choices impossible to resist and ended up eating 6 or more desserts each day. Many spent their times furiously walking around the on-board measured track, or (worse still) heavily exercising in the gym. Some others played the various (energetic) games available on board. I hear that pickleball was a favourite. One of our group entered the singing contest (called "The Voice" for some reason) and doing very well in the Final on the last day. "Mustang Sally" will be well remembered as the show-stopper. (Rod - you should have won!). For some, a "craft group" spontaneously erupted and kept them all busy knitting, crocheting and sewing. Some attended every show, lecture and presentation that was presented on the hour, every hour. I spent my time trying to read a book and watching the world go by.

I'm quite sure that everyone enjoyed their experience aboard the Royal Princess. There were no serious illnesses (including sea sickness) and any hesitancy was quickly overcome by a big ship that seemed to glide across the top of the sea. My thanks to everyone that came along as they made our task seem completely worthwhile.

There's already talk of wanting another cruise. Maybe, in a few years, with a trip around Australia by ship being a good option. Stay tuned.

Bob J....... (with the hard work being done by Bricet K.)