CupcakeSusie

I’m so glad I posted here, thanks again for all of the great info.

Again, thank you for the replies! I don’t know that cruises weren’t going to Isle of Pines yet and it changes everything. Really appreciate that info. I think we will have to wait to book because I don’t want to be bumped to another island when it’s one of our non negotiable. The other places are nice but not the favourite. Combined with Noumea being such a short stop I think this might not be the right one for us 😞

I’m really welcome to suggestions - there are a few non negotiable s for us: Must stop at Noumea Must stop at Isle of Pines Must be during school holiday 😞 (I’m a teacher) We are looking at December-January 2024-2025. Does anyone know of any cruises which tick the boxes for us? I was so excited, thinking I’d found it. But we really do need longer than 7 hours in Noumea. Thanks for any help you can throw our way.

Ooohhhhh I just looked more closely and the cruise j was looking at doesn’t get in to Noumea until 2pm, then leaves at 9pm. That’s not long enough (imo) for Amadee Island which is our favourite Noumea shore excursion 😞 Thoughts and experiences welcome.

Thank you so much for these amazing, helpful responses. Really appreciated and very good in steering us to being ready to book!

Thank you so much! It would be the Luminosa, sailing from Brisbane. excellent tips, really appreciate it. I didn’t know it was Aud, that’s good to know!

I haven’t been able to find a Celebrity or Royal cruise that suits the time we have available, but I’ve found a great deal on Carnival in a Cloud9 suite which ticks nearly all of our boxes. We are empty nesters, it will be school holiday time (so the Cloud9 being 18+ only will suit us) … is there anything we should take into account in making a decision? Thanks for any advice!

I did! It cemented in my mind that we have made the right decision for now. There will be plenty of cruises in the future.

We may change our minds but at this stage we would be more comfortable waiting a bit longer to see how things play out. We are looking at a Celebrity cruise 12 months later which sounds good and hopefully they will have similar protections in place as Royal Caribbean.

Thanks for all of your posts, I have lots of great points to consider. Very much appreciated. I’ll keep you posted re a decision.

Hubby and I are looking out for a deal for the Quantum sailing to the South Pacific on December 28 because it suits our work schedules. Does anyone think it’s a bit risky? I’m one of those ‘fully vaccinated and boosted, but has pre-existing health conditions so *really* doesn’t want to catch Covid again’ people (it really knocked me very badly last time) and now that Royal Caribbean is talking about scrapping the pre-cruise test in the USA I’m a bit worried that it will happen here. But Australia is opening up to unvaccinated travellers soon, so I’m not sure if my concern is misplaced. Add to that, Vanuatu and New Caledonia are not open to cruise ships yet. I want to make up my mind so that I can jump on a deal as soon as I see it. I’m pretty torn. Thoughts and opinions please?