Tag: Dravuni

A Relaxing two weeks

The view as we sailed from Sydney aboard Royal Princess in March of this year.

It was a four-day sail from Sydney to Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia, so St Patrick’s Day was celebrated at sea.

As we approached Noumea it was strange to see broken water so far off the coast. It was as if we were passing a reef or large sandbank.

A distant shot.

Maureen & I had been to Noumea a few times, so we decided to walk to the local market – partly for exercise and for Maureen to check the items for sale. We reached the market area, and it was all closed – we had arrived on a Monday. So we started back to the ship because it looked like it was about to rain. On the way back I took the photos of a Tchou Tchou train – Noumea is famous for these trains, there are several and each one is a different colour. I don’t know if the colour denotes the route or if they all do the same route.

I took the above from our balcony, as you see we were in a working port because the cruise terminal was occupied by another cruise ship. The other vessel can be seen just under the second crane. Not long after we reboarded it started to rain.

Our next stop was Mystery Island, which is a small island in the Vanuatu Group. To get ashore was a tender job.

The island had a grass strip airport, which is seven feet (2 mtrs) above sea-level. The airline services the island twice a week, because the island is uninhabited and is only populated when a cruise ship arrives. The correct name of the island is Inyeug. We walked around the island in just over thirty minutes.

Our cruise ship through the trees.

The weather looked like it was turning from a beautiful tropical paradise to a soaking rain day so we caught the next shuttle back to the ship.

Just as we arrived at the ship it started to rain.

Within a few minutes after we boarded it became a tropical downpour. Long lines for the tender stretched along the shore and people were quickly soaked. The island did not have any shelter – only an occasional palm tree.
You can guess the conversation for the rest of the day.


Our next port was Port Vila the capital of Vanuatu – the above as we entered the harbour.

Small coasters & fishing boats as we moved slowly alongside the wharf. 

I have always liked Vanuatu and the capital having visited the area on business in the 1980’s. It hadn’t changed all that much -but as we went alongside the wharf, we realised just how heavy the rain had become. It was pouring down. We had planned a visit to a well-known duty-free shop in the town centre (about seven minutes from the ship by mini-bus.)
So, it was umbrella time and a ‘fast’ run to a minibus – ever tried running with an umbrella in heavy rain and avoid the puddles (small lakes in places). Cost to the duty-free shop $5, it has been $5 for years. Vanuatu is not a rich country but has some very good resorts and the people are very friendly, it is popular holiday place with the Australians & Kiwis.
As you see in the picture below the roads are not as well cared for as most of the roads in Sydney.

I took this outside the duty free shop as we waited for our mini-bus to take us back to the ship.
I had bought two bottles of spirits, Bombay Sapphire 1.25 ltr for AUD $26 and a 1.25 ltr Scotch whisky for AUD $46 and both were delivered to the ship free of charge and they were well packed for carrying off the ship in Sydney- great customer service and a lot cheaper than the duty free shop on the ship.
Before Covid this duty free shop had a large range of goods for sale, and I wanted to buy an new electric razor and considered I’d wait until Port Vila. The choice was one single electric razor and the choice of other items was very limited, once the cruise ships and holiday makers had stopped due to Covid the economy had crashed.

A day at sea as we sailed for Fiji, the weather was beautiful, the sea was calm, and the Seaview Bar was the place to be for a pre-lunch drink.

Sunrise as we approached Lautoka in Fiji – which is the main port for the export of sugar.

For me the only way to shop – the locals brought their shops to the ship, Maureen was happy, and I bought two shirts, both made in Fiji, I checked.
Next stop in Fiji was Suva the capita, designated as such in 1882.

The ship docked so close to the city centre which was about a five-minute walk into town.
We had visited the Suva area on previous trips so we just wandered around the town, until it got too hot and we were back on board quick sharp.
Once again stalls were set up along the wharf and Maureen bought a set of earrings – a lot easier than going from shop to shop and they were cheaper.
Next morning as we approached Dravuni Island.
Another tender port – the island has about 150 people, including children and they have their own school.


I’ve posted about this island in other blogs so will not repeat myself, but see below for the link.

It was very peaceful sitting facing aft with the Outrigger Bar behind us. The ship moved gently at anchor as the scenery slid by.

Dravuni Island

If you are interested in earlier post about Fiji when it was called the Cannibal Is. check November 2021.
Other posts about about Suva December 2019
Mystery Island May 2023.
Port Vila – when it was dry – December 2019 


A painted ship . . .

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Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean.

The quote is from The Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
and the ship is Ruby Princess.

When I took the photograph, Ruby Princess was at anchor off Dravuni Island, Fiji.

Launched in 2008, registered in the Bahamas, 3080 passengers, 1200 crew, 19 decks and her tonnage is 113,561.

We never felt crowded, there was plenty of space for everyone, but the only ‘problem’ was that if we wanted to see a show at 7.30 pm, we had to be seated about half an hour before the show started, because all the shows were popular, and the theatre only held 800 people. Each night they had two shows, 7.30 pm & 9.30 pm.

Ruby Princess arrived in Australian waters on the 23rd October 2019, and this season would be her first season of operating out of Australia.
Maureen & I, and our two friends, boarded on the 8th November for a 14-night cruise to Vanuatu, Fiji & New Caledonia.
As usual boarding went smoothly and we were on board by mid-day, perfect timing for lunch.
Drop hand luggage in the cabins and find our way to the Horizon Restaurant for lunch, our main suitcases would be delivered to our cabin during lunch.
The Horizon restaurant was a self-serve buffet, which could be expanded into a cafe area next door, which was called Cafe Caribe.

The combined area was large enough that we never had to wait for a seat. We used the Horizon Restaurant mainly for breakfast and lunch.

I’ll post photographs later of the various dining areas and the internal area of the ship, in the meantime I’ll post a sample of the passenger areas outside.

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The main swimming pool and outside cinema screen – called Movies Under the Stars, which began every day at 10.0 am and ran until late in the evening.
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The same pool from under the giant screen.
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Quite a lot of the public walk areas on the upper decks had false grass, which helped to be non-slip when wet.
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Part of certain public areas were above the bridge – this picture shows the starboard bridge wing.
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Passengers had access to the area above the bridge.
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Sports areas – this is the basketball area / come whatever you wanted to play. Fortunately I never had the urge to take part in any exercise except walking for about half an hour after breakfast.
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During one walk we managed to get close to the funnel area.
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A lot has changed since I was at sea in the 1960’s  . . .
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A shot of the funnel that we all see.
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At the highest point that a passenger could get there was a walking track – the above shows the put-put golf area.
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The walking track is on the right side of the picture and if you walked around 14 (or was it 16), times you would have walked a mile.
I was happy to believe the noticeboard and not to try and prove them wrong.
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Looking down to the stern and another hot tube and pool. There were a number of hot tubs, but the pools all seemed to be close to a bar . . . . I took my swimming costume, but it never got it wet – well I can’t swim and hold a beer at the same time.
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Play area for children – I don’t think we saw more than about eight or ten children during the cruise, because it was school time in both Australia & New Zealand. We did have passengers from the US, the UK, Canada and of course New Zealand, but the majority were Australian.
Some of the Americans that I spoke to had arrived in Sydney early to ‘do’ Sydney and the surrounding Sydney area, followed by the cruise to the islands.
They would then only transit Sydney at the end of the island cruise and remain on-board for the New Zealand cruise, which was the next cruise destination for Ruby Princess.
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I am assuming that the children’s toy cars are pedal power and not electric powered.

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Plenty of seating for those who wished to watch movies all day. Blankets were provided if you felt chilly.

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The sundeck if you wished to sunbath and watch the movies, or just lie and read.
I took most of the outdoor photographs either on sailing day or the next day and as you see there was haze that I can only put down to the smoke from the large number of fires down the east coast of Australia.
This haze didn’t clear for about three days by which time we were at Lifou, which is a New Caledonia island.

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A painted ship . . . off Dravuni Island, Fiji.