PNG Tours

[linanles]

Can someone who has been on a cruise to PNG tell me what private tours are available in Alotau and Rabaul? Is the Alotau "festival" for Princess shore excursions only or can you get to the "festival" by local transport and pay to get in? If so, what is the entry fee?

[ozziepost]

You need to buy the festival ticket onboard which includes the shuttle bus. For the return trip the bus dropped us off in the town centre and we walked back to the ship.

 

Honestly felt the amount charged was great value and we enjoyed both the festival and the town centre was a real eye opener. If you look at the Alotau forum on Trip Adviser there is more info about tours from that port.

[linanles]

You need to buy the festival ticket onboard which includes the shuttle bus. For the return trip the bus dropped us off in the town centre and we walked back to the ship.

 

Can you remember how much the ticket was? The Cruise Personaliser shows a 2hr shore excursion to the "festival" for $65 pp. Is that the one?

[Aus Traveller]

Can you remember how much the ticket was? The Cruise Personaliser shows a 2hr shore excursion to the "festival" for $65 pp. Is that the one?

Some people walked to the festival. It is a few kilometres and the weather was hot and humid. We were told that the entry fee was $65 whether you went with the ship or walked to the venue. We were on a Princess cruise and the shore tour was actually a shuttle bus so people could leave the festival whenever they liked and catch the next bus (or maybe the one after that if you have to queue :D).

[spirit28]

The "real" festival is in early November. When we were there in September last year a miniature festival was put on for the ship. Can't remember the actual cost, but $65 sounds right. We caught the mini bus to the venue, but walked back to the ship through the town (took about 40mins) which was a bit of an eye opener. Would not want be out and about after dark in that place!!.

 

PNG has a long way to go in terms of catering for a couple of thousand tourists disgorged from a cruise ship in terms of variety and quality of tours and is very much a work in progress.

 

Hopefully cruise ships will keep going back so they can take advantage of the tourist dollars on offer to help their struggling economy. We enjoyed it, but would not be in a hurry to go back.

[ozziepost]

$65.00 per person is about right to attend the festival you can stay as long as you want and catch the shuttle back to the ship when you are ready. We stayed about 3 hours and enjoyed every minute of it.