Guadelcanal, Rabaul, and Luganville..WW2

[CruzinNoony]

We booked this today. We also booked the one before this one leaving on Jan. 12.:)

[Wehwalt]

Regarding the ports -

The original poster mentioned Luganville. Although it was an important American base during WWII and it was the setting for the book (then musical) South Pacific, there isn't much to be seen that relates to WWII.

 

I actually co-wrote the Wikipedia article on South Pacific (musical) and I don't recall any mention in the sources I used of Luganville. Michener traveled fairly widely in the South Pacific during the war (he was assigned to write a history of the USN there) so it is possible that he spent time there and the sources overlooked it. I'll do a little research, I have a shelf of books on R&H because I still haven't brought Oklahoma! and The Sound of Music up to snuff (and won't have the time to until this summer) but the other seven original R&H are in good shape.

 

Did Luganville have another name? That being said, I will look into the cruises you mention. I can't do it in 2016 as will be on the final voyage of the Ocean Princess.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pacific_(musical)

Edited December 7, 2014 by Wehwalt

[Wehwalt]

A similar itinerary is available in September 2016. I'm looking at that one with interest.

[azbirdmom]

I was looking at the cruise atlas and this cruise is shown as being a round trip to New Zealand from Brisbane. Wonder when it changed to the current itinerary? Since it's only on their website, wonder if that will affect bookings, at least in the short term.

[Wehwalt]

I've emailed my TA, asking her to book me on that cruise in September 2016. The RT Sydney rather than the RT Brisbane.

Edited December 7, 2014 by Wehwalt

[Hawaiidan]

Ok, In flying from the US its 60% cheaper in Miles to fly on United via Guam and Hawaii because UA only has a Friday arrival/departure and Monday Arrival departure This route also has wide open seating where as to Sydney its almost never in addition to the cost

 

The Jan 22 2016 goes from Friday to Friday... gives 72 hours to travel by train to Carins and a day at the reef before returning at midnight to Guam-Inchon or Guam -Hawaii- Lax

 

Not a wasted min or having spend hundreds laying over to catch a flight home or in and not a wasted min from arriving to boarding the ship...... saving more hotel/ travel..... I assume I can get Brisbane Airport to the ship in under 2 hours

I have been to Sydney more than enough...even the black flies know me by sight !!!

[icat2000]

Thanks for bringing this cruise to my attention. I was looking at other cruises and doing PNG later in 2016 but I might just look at doing this one. I'm on the Sun Princess in a week so I see the cruise consultant.

[Aus Traveller]

I actually co-wrote the Wikipedia article on South Pacific (musical) and I don't recall any mention in the sources I used of Luganville. Michener traveled fairly widely in the South Pacific during the war (he was assigned to write a history of the USN there) so it is possible that he spent time there and the sources overlooked it. I'll do a little research, I have a shelf of books on R&H because I still haven't brought Oklahoma! and The Sound of Music up to snuff (and won't have the time to until this summer) but the other seven original R&H are in good shape.

 

Did Luganville have another name? That being said, I will look into the cruises you mention. I can't do it in 2016 as will be on the final voyage of the Ocean Princess.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pacific_(musical)

Luganville was referred to as Santo - short for Espiritu Santo, the name of the island in Vanuatu. One page on Wikipedia had the setting of 'South Pacific' as Norfolk Island - totally wrong. Australian-administered Norfolk Island had a base with 1,500 NZ troops and also an airstrip, but it wasn't a base for US troops. On the other hand, Santo (Luganville) had two bomber and two fighter airbases and massive aircraft and ship repair facilities. There were around 47,000 US troops there permanently and also an R&R base for Navy personnel.

 

As you probably know, the New Hebrides were governed jointly by Britain and France so there was (and still is) a sizeable French-speaking population. In Michener's book (then in the musical) one of the main characters was a French planter. There wouldn't have been any French people on Norfolk. A fair proportion are descendants of the Bounty mutineers and other are Australian or New Zealanders - no French.

 

Except for the article that mentioned Norfolk, I haven't ever seen any locale other than Luganville suggested as the setting for Michener's book. Of course, the movie was filmed elsewhere. Some of it was on the island of Moorea in French Polynesia.

 

P.S. Here is a 'cut and paste' from Wikipedia.

Tales of the South Pacific is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book, which is a collection of sequentially related short stories about World War II, written by James A. Michener in 1946 and published in 1947. The stories were based on observations and anecdotes he collected while stationed as a lieutenant commander in the US Navy on the island of Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides Islands (now known as Vanuatu).

 

Edited December 8, 2014 by Aus Traveller

[Aus Traveller]

Not a wasted min or having spend hundreds laying over to catch a flight home or in and not a wasted min from arriving to boarding the ship...... saving more hotel/ travel..... I assume I can get Brisbane Airport to the ship in under 2 hours

You could get from Brisbane Airport to the ship in under 20 minutes. There usually isn't a queue for taxis at Brisbane Airport. Princess operates a shuttle bus, and for one person that could be a bit cheaper - but we aren't talking about much money.

[Silver Sweethearts]

This is one of the best cost effective ways to visit the Canal.; even with paying double as a single.

 

Hope you aren't paying double as a single. In checking your cruise, the single fare for an inside cabin is 175% -- not 200%.

[Aus Traveller]

I actually co-wrote the Wikipedia article on South Pacific (musical) and I don't recall any mention in the sources I used of Luganville. Michener traveled fairly widely in the South Pacific during the war (he was assigned to write a history of the USN there) so it is possible that he spent time there and the sources overlooked it. I'll do a little research, I have a shelf of books on R&H because I still haven't brought Oklahoma! and The Sound of Music up to snuff (and won't have the time to until this summer) but the other seven original R&H are in good shape.

 

Did Luganville have another name? That being said, I will look into the cruises you mention. I can't do it in 2016 as will be on the final voyage of the Ocean Princess.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pacific_(musical)

Hi Wehwalt - Have you looked at your research material on South Pacific? Everything I have read says Luganville was the 'setting' or the 'inspiration'.

 

I note that you co-wrote the Wikipedia article on South Pacific. In that article, where did you say the book was set?

 

The only other place I have seen mentioned in a Wikipedia article was Norfolk Island but it didn't have American troops, French planters or American nurses. Obviously Norfolk Is was not the setting.

[Hawaiidan]

I guess its 175%.... still reasonable compared to what I am used to....that's only $200 a day... cant stay in a hotel and eat a few meals a day for that.

 

Just got back from New Orleans and hotels ran $185 a night and food around $80 a day for 1 person... that's $265 per day.! based on that the 14 night cruise would cost $3710 !! just meals and room

[ALDOCRUISES]

We have just returned from the Sea Princess cruise to New Guinea. It was an identical itinerary to the cruise on 21st February, 2015.

 

Some comments -

 

Alotau - Princess had two tours. One was to the 'festival' and one to Milne Bay WWII historical sites. The Milne Bay tour sold out well before the cruise and it appears that the Shore Ex manager wasn't able to get extra buses/guides. A good guide would be essential and passengers who went on this tour were very happy with it. If you want to do this tour, I suggest you book as soon as the tours are available on the internet. We went on the 'festival' one. It wasn't really a festival, rather a continuous show put on by the locals with singing/dancing and with their colourful boats. It was very interesting.

 

Kitava - Unspoiled island where people enjoyed swimming/snorkelling. The natives from several islands have their wares laid out for sale. They were mainly wood carvings (lovely pieces with mother-of-pearl inlaid), baskets and shell jewellery. Passengers can walk to the village/school etc. It is a couple of kilometres - people mentioned a two-hour return walk. The track goes uphill. We went to the island too late in the day to do the walk. It was midday before we started off and it was simply too hot. We will leave the walk until next time. :)

 

Rabaul - Tours are either to WWII sites (cemetery, museum & Japanese tunnels). I heard only good reports. We went on the volcanological observatory tour which was excellent. We visited the observatory, a local village where the children danced for us, an area of hot bubbling water close to the volcano and saw the wreck of a Japanese bomber. There were tours for sale outside the port gates. Prices were around AUD$70-AUD$90. Volcanic ash gets into everything. I suggest you wear dark-coloured trousers. When I showered and washed my hair that night, there was quite a bit of volcanic grit on the shower floor. Take care of your camera if you take photos out of the window of a moving vehicle. One of our cameras got grit into the closing mechanism of the shutter. This was easily blown out when we got back to the ship, but it is something to beware of.

 

Kiriwina Is - Once again, swimming etc, but there is coral close to shore so swimming can be a bit tricky. There are a lot of carvings etc for sale. They were probably more elaborate than at Kitava, with a lot of stunning bowls - both round and free-form, all inset with mother-of-pearl and sometimes cats' eyes as well.

 

Doini Is - Probably the loveliest island. This is a great place to swim with sand underfoot. Tenders bring passengers ashore at tiny resort. Many people seemed to spend a lot of the day enjoying drinks at the bar. There were several groups of bare-breasted locals dancing. Carvings etc. were a bit similar to the previous islands, but I felt they were a little bit more expensive.

 

PNG currency (kena) was available on the dock at Alotau, but they ran out of currency. Passengers were able to purchase souvenirs using Aust dollars, but the locals can have problems trying to bank them at the smaller islands. A comment was made that the ship would have kena available on board for the Feb cruise, but I wouldn't count on that as it might have just been a rumour.

 

Hi,

Me again. Mary and I are doing this cruise for the second time. January next year this time. I expect it will be hot and sticky and I'm really looking foreword to the beach on Doini. I could have stayed there last time. A magical spot.

Cheers

Frank E

[Cruiserkenn]

Thanks for the update.

 

My Dad was a US Marine at Tarawa and Tinian, so I always appreciate hearing about the South Pacific.

 

Best wishes for a great cruise.

[ssawjo]

Earlier this year, after the cruises opened up, we booked the same type cruise on the Sun from Syndey for 20 days in April 2017. Due to some things going on, we could not book sooner. Got a really good price for a mini suite, lower than currently advertised and free grats, so don't have to worry about tipping. It sails on April 5, 2017 to the same ports as mentioned with a stop in Brisbane on the return to Syndey.

 

We are considering stopping in NZ prior and flying to Syndey the day of the cruise. Afterwards, exploring Oz for a few days.

 

AZBIRDMOM, I just saw that you already booked. I will follow your cruise rollcall for excursion advice.

 

Please let everyone know how it goes. I am sort of a WWII buff and this will be an amazing experience.

 

Bill

[linanles]

Returned from PNG cruise on Sea Princess on 4th December. Cafe Corniche (Deck 8) is definitely the pizza restaurant. I think it might have been revamped and renamed during the recent refurbishments.