Vanuatu Tours - going it alone - advice please taxis / drivers??

[teeeej]

Avalon 007 thanks so much ... I have spent a lot of time googling the different places we are going to and your advice is fabulous ... Actually all the advice I have received since starting this thread has been great. We are going to Lifou, Vanuatu, Denarau, Suva and Isle of Pines on Rhapsody departing 23 October.

 

 

Thanks again for the extensive reply

 

 

Hey Chookie, I am going on this cruise too! I didn't notice anyone planning any excursions in the roll call thread. I am doing it solo, so I may be interested in tagging along with others. :)

 

TJ

[chookie65]

Hey Chookie, I am going on this cruise too! I didn't notice anyone planning any excursions in the roll call thread. I am doing it solo, so I may be interested in tagging along with others. :)

 

TJ

TJ

I havent put anything on the roll call yet because I have just started to do the research.

 

Current thinking is to book direct with some of the locals, tours in possibly Denarau and Suva. I want to see the outer islands of Fiji from Denarau and a village and water rafting etc from Suva. But I dont want to use upnthe whole day.

 

In Vanuatu, I am thinking of getting a mini bus and driver, as suggested by CCers at the end of the jetty and doing a 4-5 hour tour of various places as mentioned in my initial post. From what I have learnt on here this can be negotiated on the day.

 

In terms of Fiji, I am going to wait until RCI puts up the shore excursions for our cruise and then compare with the research from here and google searching I have done and then decide.

 

If you want to provide an email address I can send you some of the thoughts/ideas I have and we can talk offline on specifics.

 

Cheers Aleisha

[teeeej]

TJ

I havent put anything on the roll call yet because I have just started to do the research.

 

Current thinking is to book direct with some of the locals, tours in possibly Denarau and Suva. I want to see the outer islands of Fiji from Denarau and a village and water rafting etc from Suva. But I dont want to use upnthe whole day.

 

In Vanuatu, I am thinking of getting a mini bus and driver, as suggested by CCers at the end of the jetty and doing a 4-5 hour tour of various places as mentioned in my initial post. From what I have learnt on here this can be negotiated on the day.

 

In terms of Fiji, I am going to wait until RCI puts up the shore excursions for our cruise and then compare with the research from here and google searching I have done and then decide.

 

If you want to provide an email address I can send you some of the thoughts/ideas I have and we can talk offline on specifics.

 

Cheers Aleisha

 

Hi Aleisha - that would be great! My email is tjguitar85 at gmail dot com. :)

[rkmw]

chookie when you get to Port Denarau just behind the shops you can catch the Bula Bula bus and it goes to the resorts, the cost is $5 p/p and you are allowed to get off at any resort and enjoy yourself and catch the bus back....they run all day and you can use the ticket all day long

 

edit: they take AUD or Fiji $$$

[DT1304]

chookie when you get to Port Denarau just behind the shops you can catch the Bula Bula bus and it goes to the resorts, the cost is $5 p/p and you are allowed to get off at any resort and enjoy yourself and catch the bus back....they run all day and you can use the ticket all day long

 

edit: they take AUD or Fiji $$$

 

This is correct, HOWEVER, the Bula Bus only travels between the resorts on Denarau. While most of the resorts are beautiful (I stayed at Sheraton last year which was awesome) there are no good beaches as such. Denarau is a man made island built specifically for tourism, and is built on mudflats.

 

A day trip out to the Mamanuca Islands is great. 1,5 hours away is Castaway resort, which is, IMO, the best resort in the region. I plan to go back there ASAP. They only have a small qty of day visitors so you would have to book in advance, and also check the transit times to ensure you will make it back to your cruise ship, but if timing works out I highly recommend this. Food there is amazing, snorkelling right off the beach, and an amazing Scuba dive team if you want to take a dive. (22 sites around the island)

[teeeej]

In terms of Fiji, I am going to wait until RCI puts up the shore excursions for our cruise and then compare with the research from here and google searching I have done and then decide.

 

 

RCI has excursions up for Suva, Denarau and Vila. Nothing yet for Isle of Pines or Lifou.

[rkmw]

RCI has excursions up for Suva, Denarau and Vila. Nothing yet for Isle of Pines or Lifou.

 

Isle of Pines & Lifou you can do it yourself....much cheaper

[teeeej]

Isle of Pines & Lifou you can do it yourself....much cheaper

 

 

rkmw - do you have any suggestions off the top of your head? I know there is good snorkeling and swimming beaches, but anything else to do other than take a ton of photos? :)

[rkmw]

rkmw - do you have any suggestions off the top of your head? I know there is good snorkeling and swimming beaches, but anything else to do other than take a ton of photos? :)

 

teeeeji at the IOP they have a small bus going around the island (which we have not done) and i believe the cost is about AUD $20 for an hour or so....at Lifou you can get another small bus for a tour for AUD $15 for 45 mins.....you could always get someone who has a private car on the island to give you a private tour if you can get someone to share the cost

[Sandielle]

Teeeejay, at the Isle of Pines we did the Natural Aquarium tour from the ship - it was not very expensive. It's quite a long bus ride to the stepping off point (a nice park-like area) where you wade across a tidal inlet and along a tree-lined path to the area. The snorkelling is fantastic there, or you can swim.

[chookie65]

chookie when you get to Port Denarau just behind the shops you can catch the Bula Bula bus and it goes to the resorts, the cost is $5 p/p and you are allowed to get off at any resort and enjoy yourself and catch the bus back....they run all day and you can use the ticket all day long

 

edit: they take AUD or Fiji $$$

Thanks rkmw ...

[spiritreturn]

How much do you think i will need for 12 nights? 1 adult, 1 x 18 year old, a 15 and 14 year old .... Not a big drinker or gambler ... Me and 18 year old D might have 1 cocktail every now and then maybe daily! Plan to take some water bottles onboard with me ... I am thinking $1000 because its really a 10 day cruise so that equates to $100 a day which seems reasonable given that all food is supplied. Would like to do the new specialty restaurants too.

__________________

I may be wrong but I am sure I have seen somewhere that 18yrs old is not old enough to drink on these ships, US alcohol laws are no liquor till 21 yrs old and I am pretty sure the cruise boats have to abide by this rule, it probably would be a good thing to check out.

[rugbypopsie]

There has been some modification of the legal drinking age onboard to accommodate Aussie and Kiwis when the ship is sailing from Aus. I would contact your agent or the cruise line to make sure you know exactly what the current situation is.

 

As for your budget $100 is more than enough if you are only a modest drinker or gambler. You don't need to buy the ships photos take your own camera. I haven't found the soda card necessary either but some people think they are good value. Shore excursions would be additional but again you dont have to do them. I have always found the water onboard quite drinkable so I dont know that I would bother taking water onboard either. Tea, coffee etc. is free as well as juice in the morning.

 

Have a great cruise I am sure your kids will love it.

 

Sue

[chookie65]

There has been some modification of the legal drinking age onboard to accommodate Aussie and Kiwis when the ship is sailing from Aus. I would contact your agent or the cruise line to make sure you know exactly what the current situation is.

 

As for your budget $100 is more than enough if you are only a modest drinker or gambler. You don't need to buy the ships photos take your own camera. I haven't found the soda card necessary either but some people think they are good value. Shore excursions would be additional but again you dont have to do them. I have always found the water onboard quite drinkable so I dont know that I would bother taking water onboard either. Tea, coffee etc. is free as well as juice in the morning.

 

Have a great cruise I am sure your kids will love it.

 

Sue

Thanks Sue .... I really like the taste of bottled water lol ... Thats the main reason!!

 

I have discussed the drinking age with my TA and was told that RCI now accepts 18 year olds on cruises departing from sydney as legal drinkers. If all else fails he said I should sign the consent. Thanks for the advice for daily $$$$ spending money. Cheers

[whimsy7]

we did not buy the photos from the ship.

we took our own photos and, in this case, were not shy about asking our fellow passengers to take our photos.

the digital image shops (like big w, harvey normans, officeworks etc) enable you to do so much to your photos ie zoom, crop, rotate etc that we ended up with some great photos.

as a matter of fact, a photo we took of our fellow diners was so good, this photo has become their pic from the cruise and has pride of place in their living room.

[avalon007]

we did not buy the photos from the ship.

we took our own photos and, in this case, were not shy about asking our fellow passengers to take our photos.

the digital image shops (like big w, harvey normans, officeworks etc) enable you to do so much to your photos ie zoom, crop, rotate etc that we ended up with some great photos.

as a matter of fact, a photo we took of our fellow diners was so good, this photo has become their pic from the cruise and has pride of place in their living room.

 

We just purchased 3 pics taken by the professional photographers, as they were very nice & were different from those you take yourself because some were taken in front of the special back drops they set up for formal shots etc, they get you to pose in the best way & so on for these formal style shots.

 

Others they add the date to & a framed border with the ships details etc which was a nice momento, one was an embarking pic & another on island night.

 

Funny enough I'm a graphic designer so could do the decorative border etc myself, but sometimes it's just nice to have someone else do the work.

 

I can always reduce wrinkles, trim the figure, edit out unwanted people & enhance the scenery on my own pics if I want to get busy!!! :D LOL Just kidding, no time for that, have to work hard to save for the next cruise!!

 

I would suggest Chookie to take plenty of your own pics, but do check out any professional photos they take of you as there may be a little gem amongst them.

[happyaussies]

HINT-RE: photos...only buy them at the end of the cruise......you can then pick the best of the best that you really like from the choice.

 

a little trick I was told on our first cruise.

 

ENJOY!

[Australian family]

Is there any other good buys in Vila besides the duty free shop?

 

I take there is really only 1duty free shop?

[Sandielle]

Is there any other good buys in Vila besides the duty free shop?

 

I take there is really only 1duty free shop?

 

There are others but Fung Kuei seems to be the best - for liquour anyway. They deliver alcohol to the ship if you buy it before 11 or 11.30 am (just ask them the correct time) and it is given to you the day before you disembark.

 

Prouds has a lot of perfume but I have heard people say it can be 'stale'.

[Australian family]

There are others but Fung Kuei seems to be the best - for liquour anyway. They deliver alcohol to the ship if you buy it before 11 or 11.30 am (just ask them the correct time) and it is given to you the day before you disembark.

 

Prouds has a lot of perfume but I have heard people say it can be 'stale'.

 

Thanks for the info Sandy.

 

Does Fung Kuei have perfumes? What happens if you purchase in the afternoon?

[LouLou28]

Have an idea of what perfumes are selling for in Department Stores and Perfume stores back in Australia - some brands are cheaper at normal retail than duty free in Vila.

 

I have purchased Chanel No 19 there (much, much cheaper than home or on the ship) but I did purchase it from one of the air conditioned duty free shops - and worked our their ticketing system and could tell how old it was (well how long since it had last been ticketed perhaps :eek:).

 

There is a Prouds Duty Free in town as well - jewellery, perfume, accessories, etc (same signage and similar stock to Prouds stores in Australia). Haven't purchased anything from there though.

 

There are still stores selling copied DVDs (quite good copies - with covers/cases for about $6) ... although these are not around quite as much as previous times we've been there - probably because so many people are downloading movies and the like now.

 

There used to be a store (didn't go looking for it this year) that sold Billabong, Quick Silver copies (ok quality ... don't think they would be up to the Bali standards!).

 

There are also markets between the shops and town and the water - as well as the markets along the road where you get off the ship. Good for some souveniers (although some of the items were imported from China!)

 

Definitely Fung Kwei's for alcohol and my niece usually picks up a Guess Handbag from there as well.:p

[cjm66]

What happens if you purchase in the afternoon?

 

If you purchase your duty free alcohol after 2:30 - 3pm (depends on the ship and sailing time) you will need to cary it back to the ship yourself. It will be all taped up and clearly labelled duty free - you hand it in at the security screening and will get it back on the last evening of the cruise.

 

Colleen

[bazzaw]

I would be very wary of buying high end brand name perfume cheaply . There is a LOT of fake perfume getting around - all over the World. It is quite possible that the fake smells as good as the real thing - but just be aware that possibly it will not be the real thing.

 

Bit like fake Rolex watches :)

 

Barry

[bazzaw]

If you purchase your duty free alcohol after 2:30 - 3pm (depends on the ship and sailing time) you will need to cary it back to the ship yourself. It will be all taped up and clearly labelled duty free - you hand it in at the security screening and will get it back on the last evening of the cruise.

 

Colleen

 

If you do choose to do this - ie carry it onboard yourself -- it is quite a pain in the B** waiting in the long line of others doing the same thing. Better to get it early from Kung Fuei and have it delivered.

 

Barry

[thied]

do not buy the drums on a stick as you will not be allowed to bring them back with you as it is an untreated skin.

 

all arrows, bows and spears will be taken from you on the dock, but they will given back at the end on the cruise.