The one im looking at goes through Vanuatu and then to New Caledonia too, I've been told to keep it end of December or first half of January if I want a "younger crowd", definitely after some eye candy though ahaha.
"Eye Candy if your a pedo, thats school holidays so tend to be packed with kids.
My advice is do some homework
There are a number of cruise operators working out of Aus in summer
P&O
Carnival
Royal Carribean to name a few
We went with P&O to sth Pacific ie' noumea, suva mystry island (which is basically a sand bar with a few palms) etc
We did a Xmas cruise so there were a lot of families & kids.
When we went in 2011, they'd had a norovirus outbreak on the trip prior, but they mustve scrubbed that boat from top to bottom as we had no real issues at all.
When we went last month on RC there are hand sanitizers everywhere, & they get you going into all dining, i suspect that is standard procedure across all lines, they also pretty constantly broadcast about washing hands etc.
I havent been on carnival, though was told they tend to cater for families with kids & are very popular with that demographic.
Bit of info/opinion for a couple of categories for both cruises, (keeping in mind that the P&O was 7 years ago so would expect changes.
Food
Both offer ala carte dining & buffet (all you can eat) style, generally very good quality & huge range, will have theme nights in buffet. With RC you generally have to nominate your dining time in resturant but buffet is flexible. Both have "specality" resturants which the cost of is NOT included. On RC you can buy packages for the specialty restaurants, i didnt try them so cant really comment, tho someone else told me that they were good food
Entertainment
Both will have a variety of pub trivia, karioke, some staff bands playing a variety of genres They usually will have "headline" shows in a theatre & they can be hit & miss, both times they had comedy acts & magicians & the recent one with RC had a couple of good acts towards the end of the cruise. Some acts only perform once or twice & whilst it can get a bit boring, i tended to go to fill in time. They will have a movie theatre & games room & a variety of deck games. Some of the bigger ships will offer a lot more
RC have a very good gym if thats your thing
Drinks
If your like me & like a drink or 30, take plenty of money, RC do have a drinks package & if you like a drink its probably worth it, not sure about P&O, dont recall there being one when we went, but suspect they probably do now. We didnt pre purchase with RC & on departure day they had a special of buy 1 get the 2nd at half price, snapped it up & turned out to be a great purchase. I would recommend to look into a drinks package & ours with RC was an "ultimate" which included all alco drinks, wine by the glass, coffee, cocktails & shooters. They used to come around every night in the dining room with trays of shooters after your meal, so we'd hooked up with some other couples & used to smash them. Note with RC if your in a twin cabin, both must purchase the drinks pakage, so not sure if you travelling alone or with someone
Casino
Standard casino, though cant rember with P&O but RC is american based & therefore all gambling is in US$$$, so conversion rate kills you. I'll play a bit of blackjack, but found the casino staff to be sour bastards & i like to have fun when losing my money. They & generally all staff struggle with the Aussie sense of humour (well this aussies humour anyway). One couple we met on recent crusie like to play poker & they will run tournament during cruise, but he was pissed as the "house" takes 25%, i dont play poker so didnt really understand, but figured if he was pissed about then it must have been a significant
Overall
Its good for a holiday & some love it & others meh, i'm sort of in between, but swmbo loves it.
Pros
Unlimited meals (no cooking & cleaning)
Rooms made up every day
Get to meet a variety of people & if you can hook up with some like minded people it can be a real fun time.
Can be really relaxing without phones etc (though RC of a package for that as well, some people just cant live without farcebook)
Generally everything is included, so if you have a drinks package you really dont have to spend anything more, excepting day trips, souvenirs, casino
on RC there was no obligation/expectation to tip & the "gratuity" is included, when we went on P&O there was an expectation to tip & the staff get paid peanuts so rely on tips to make money. On P&O i did it early for my cabin servant & we had a regular table in the dining restaurant so tipped him early as well, my logic was if i gave him money early, they would go the extra bit in anticipation of getting more at the end (which i did give a modest extra $50). I did tip my cabin servant & dining staff on RC even though didnt have to, they work there arse off (upto 14hrs everyday)
CONS
Your trapped & whilst there is shit loads to do, there are very few places (other than cabin) that you can just be alone without others around
A lot of things are waiting in lines (I hate fuking waiting in lines)
Foreigners....This can be both a pro & a con, but generally a CON, particularly older Asians, they just think they fuking own everything (probably do) but .....anyway thats another story
$$$$$$ They will all want a CC for charges, cant remember what P&O was but RC is US$$$ & they skim the exchange rate, SO GET THE FUKIN DRINKS PACKAGE. A number of people were pretty pissed on disembarking when get stung with a $2000 AUD drinks bill....
The tours - most are a rip off
The weather - We have had great weather on both cruises, though in 2011 on P&O we were running from a cyclone & the last 2 days heading back to Aus was pretty hairy with a lot of people sick, i estimated the boat was rocking between 25 - 35 deg at times
Overall its not the loveboat it once was (back in the 80's was more sexboat) but can be a good way to see some reasonably close cutures with out to much drama.
Would i go again......probably not, but would consider one up around japan perhaps
Its not for everyone , but hey if you go its only going to be as much fun as you make it
Do some research to find one that best suits your age bracket.
RC being US based had a lot of international travellers & would generally be regarded as an older persons cruise line (i'm 50 but still like to get on the piss & carry on like a DH at times
)
Good luck & happy sailing
