Port Vila, Vanuatu, 12th and 13th December 2015

On arrival at Port Vila we could see a storm moving over the other side of the harbour so we delayed leaving the ship by about an hour as we didn't have a tour booked.
We had decided to go to Hideaway Island resort and use their facilities and snorkel. To get to the island I had intended to negotiate a water taxi, however the land based taxi and bus drivers were lined up about 6 deep at the gate all trying to get our business. I randomly picked one who had a taxi uniform shirt and negotiated a fee for the return fare to Mele where the boat leaves from. The trip took about 30 minutes and we paid him the single fare and arranged to have him pick us up about 3 hours later.

The boat trip to Hideaway is free and takes about 5 minutes. The fee to use the island is $15 AUD each. 

The snorkeling was even better here. The water is deeper, but the coral is growing only about 20 meters from the edge. You can swim over the coral or follow the edges. The amount of different species was amazing and we all really enjoyed our time here. We would definitely return if coming back to Port Vila.

We stayed and had lunch at the Hideaway beach bar. Burgers and fish and chips, cold soft drinks and sample of the local brew for my husband. 

Local brew - Tusker

Fortunately the weather held for us and returning to the main land we had a brief browse at the markets before meeting our taxi driver and returning to the ship.

The second day we caught a water taxi ($5 person flat fee) to the center of town for some duty free and a visit to the chemist as I had developed a sore throat.

We had a good look around before returning to the ship for a late lunch.

We noticed that there are still a lot of damaged boats left from Cyclone Pam.

Mystery Island, Vanuatu, 11th December 2015

Mystery Island is a tiny uninhabited island where the local bring goods to the market and conduct tours on cruise ship visits.
We had visited Mystery Island in 2011 and were interested seeing if it had changed any. Essentially it was the same with a lot more tours being offered and heaps of market stalls. I picked up a dress suitable to wear over swimmers so was pretty pleased with my purchase.
Once again we swam and snorkeled. There were a lot more coral and fish at Mystery Island. 

Mare Island, New Caledonia, 10th December 2015

Mare Island is accessed by tender at the port of Tadine on the west side of the island.
This was our first visit to Mare and we had booked the shuttle bus to beach and were in no hurry to get there as we had plenty of time.

On arrival there are a handful of markets, mainly selling sarongs and dresses. There is also a local bar where my husband sampled the local brew.

Local bar

Local brew

The beach is on the eastern side of the island and the bus ride took about 20 minutes (from memory). The beach is named Yejele Turqoise Beach. We swam for about two hours, snorkeling around crops of coral. There were quite a few different species of fish.

We decided to have a look at the market stalls at the beach. There are a few, mainly selling cold drinks and a limited variety of food. We had decided to have a late lunch back aboard so I didn't take too much attention of the food. We did find that walking to the end of the stall away from the bus set down that there are some covered cabanas which would of been handy if we had of known when we arrived.

We had a great time at this port and it was a most enjoyable day.

Noumea, New Caledonia 9th December 2015

We were right on time, 3pm, for our arrival in Noumea. Coming into the harbour, the Carnival Legend was docked at the industrial wharf, where we docked at the cruise terminal. We were greeted by an indigenous dancing and singing group. 

Welcome party

Cruise terminal

Carnival Legend

Quay side cafes

Departing the terminal we walked down to the World War II museum, about 5-10 minutes. It wasn't easy to find and we nearly walked straight past it. It only cost us 200 francs each, with no charge for my son. We spent about an hour there which was perfect as they closed at 5pm.

From there we walked down past the Institute Pasteur and the hospital.

And finally to the central park area where the tourist information centre had a free wifi.

Photos near the terminal

Around the ship, Pacific Aria

Deck 11 Aft

 The Blue Room

Pacific Aria Cabin 9066 photos

7th December 2015:

Embarkation

We were notified a few days earlier that our check-in time was pushed back to 11am. I dropped the boys and the luggage at the terminal and delivered the car to Portside parking, arriving back at 11 am. There was a short wait for check-in and we set foot aboard about 11:45 am making it the fastest check-in at Brisbane that we have experienced. The ship was on time so the departing passengers had cleared the terminal well before 11 so I feel that makes it more organised.

Cabin 

We booked a balcony cabin for 3 people. Cabin number 9066 on the port side of the ship. The bags hadn't arrived but weren't too long before they arrived. Interestingly there doesn't seem to be a service lift so 2 lifts were placed into service mode so that they could be used to deliver the luggage. This happened occasionally throughout the cruise when items had to be moved between floors. A lot of passengers thought they were faulty and needed maintenance, however they were just being used for other purposes.

The cabin was huge compared to the quad share outside cabins had we have previously had on the Pacific Dawn and the Sun Princess. The balcony was an adequate size with a sun lounge, chair and side table.

The bed configuration was a queen (first time for us) with a sofa bed that converted to single bed. The sofa was a 3 seater that converted by squeezing a couple of leavers which tumbled the mechanism from sofa to bed. The bed was a thin mattress on posture slats, so was pretty comfortable according to my son.

The bathroom featured a deep, but small spa bath with shower over the top.