Looking back at what we did it was a little like but a bit shorter than the original itinerary it was meant to be:
Day 1: Sydney (Depart)
5: Vila, Vanuatu
6: Wala, Vanuatu
7: Luganville, Vanuatu
8: Mystery Island, Vanuatu
9: Lifou, New Celadonia
10: Noumea, New Caledonia
11: Isle of Pines, New Caledonia
14: Sydney (Return)
In reality it was:
1: Sydney (Depart)
5: Champagne Bay, Vanuatu
6: Champagne Bay, Vanuatu
7: Vila, Vanuatu
8: Mystery Island, Vanuatu
9: Lifou, New Celadonia
10: Noumea, New Caledonia
14: Sydney (Return)
Wala & Luganville were cancelled due to issues with docking facilites still not ready after cyclone damage. No explanation was given to the disappearance of the Isle of Pines. Oh well, what you haven't seen you can miss.
Short version was the cruise was better than expected.
Despite mostly 97% Australian passengers, Kiwi jibes expected, most everyone on board was friendly.
Being a Christmas/New Year cruise, the age range was around 2 to 92.
Kids seemed to get board on the leg back to Sydney so getting a lift that hadn't had all the buttons pressed was a minor miracle. Exercise walking up & down stairs was probably better anyways.
Which leads on to the food (why exercise in needed). Ranged from disappointing to 5 star.
Nightly meals were a set time/seating in a dining rooms. You could eat as much as you like from the high class menu.
Similarly, if you got sick of quality you could visit the buffet. Range was from meh to eat-all-the-food.
Finally, a trip to the steakhouse (extra costs involved) was no complete without a full stomach.
Onboard facilities were OK for a mid-sized ship. Easy to get familiar and again much exercise from walking from one end of the boat to the other getting to shows between theaters.
Don't want to rabbit on; you can't really describe cruise life until you've done it for yourself & you can't describe your experience as everyone else's was different.
It was the perfect cruise for the first timer. It covered two annual celebrations, a variety of ports of call & 6 days of variable open water.
Had doubts, enjoyed, would do again, but probably not in the immediate future.
Oh, and here's a couple of pics...
