Pacific Pearl cruise P131 Sydney October 9 - 20. 'Pacific Sunsets' - 5 Ports: Vanuatu - Luganville, Wala, Champagne Bay, Port Vila; New Caledonia - Lifou.

Travel to Sydney was easy via private vehicle and the parking arrangements at Darling Harbour for the cruises are easy to deal with, with no cost.

Embarkation process was fairly easy and painless, and seemed to go smoothly. Given that our cabin was on deck 5 midships near the Atrium we also easily located it, and subsequently had a smooth trip (mostly). The first three 'sea days' were quite smooth, as were the subsequent sailings to the ports. There was then about a day and a half of rough swell, I estimated at times up to about 8 metres, with what I would describe as about a constant 5 metre swell, thankfully not too many actual waves. The sick bags were put out and at times many people appeared to be in their cabins (based on the lack of people seen). This being my families second cruise we prepared for it this time, by taking medication as a preventative measure, and no doubt the fact our cabin was in a fairly central location helped as well. Our precautions and cabin selection certainly seemed to save us the hassle and pain experienced two years ago (granted, first cruise) of our son getting a needle. No such problems this time. I definitely recommend going for a mid level and midship type window cabin as a minimum. Read more