Excursion reccomendations

[b2dave2003]

I will be on the Splendor in Feb for 2 cruises.  Any recommendations for the following ports would be greatly appreciated:  Noumea, Lifou, Port Villa, Mystery Island, Wellington, Christchurch (Lyttelton) and Dunedin (Port Chanmbers). Also, any suggestions for Sydney?

 

Thanks David

[SinbadThePorter]

I can tell you what I like in those ports, which may or may not be your cup of tea.

 

Noumea - Amedee Island. Historic lighthouse on coral cay. Great snorkeling, turtles, sea snakes, etc.

Port Vila - Fung Kuei Duty Free. Blue Hole.

Mystery Island - The island is uninhabited and undeveloped. Great snorkeling, beautiful beaches.

Wellington - Cable car to Botanic Garden. Te Papa Museum.

Lyttelton - Gondola up, Bridle Path down.

Dunedin - Taieri Gorge train.

Sydney - Ferry from Circular Quay to Manly or Watson's Bay. Taronga Zoo.

[Aus Traveller]

4 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

I can tell you what I like in those ports, which may or may not be your cup of tea.

 

Noumea - Amedee Island. Historic lighthouse on coral cay. Great snorkeling, turtles, sea snakes, etc.

Port Vila - Fung Kuei Duty Free. Blue Hole.

Mystery Island - The island is uninhabited and undeveloped. Great snorkeling, beautiful beaches.

Wellington - Cable car to Botanic Garden. Te Papa Museum.

Lyttelton - Gondola up, Bridle Path down.

Dunedin - Taieri Gorge train.

Sydney - Ferry from Circular Quay to Manly or Watson's Bay. Taronga Zoo.

In Port Vila, I suggest going to the Mele Cascades by taxi. Fantastic. Wear swimming costume and take towels. Negotiate a return price with the taxi driver and he will wait. If you don't do this, it will cost double or more for the return trip;.

 

Dunedin - I believe that the Taieri Gorge train doesn't operate any more.

[SinbadThePorter]

17 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Dunedin - I believe that the Taieri Gorge train doesn't operate any more.

 

I thought so too, but it seems to say otherwise on their website, so I'm not sure.

[cruiser3775]

16 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Dunedin - I believe that the Taieri Gorge train doesn't operate any more.

No, that is not correct.  It closed for a while, but is back in business and deserves support.  You can read about it book tickets here:

https://www.dunedinrailways.co.nz/

[SinbadThePorter]

10 minutes ago, cruiser3775 said:

It closed for a while, but is back in business and deserves support.

 

I'd love to book it, but as far as I can see the only schedule they show is for ship excursions. According to that schedule I should be able to book via Princess for the 10th Dec, but Princess is not showing Taieri as an option in their Dunedin excursions.

Edited October 24, 2022 by SinbadThePorter

[possum52]

Port Vila - on our very first cruise we went to a cultural village in Port Vila. We found it very interesting and learnt a fair bit about the customs of the people of Vanuatu, even though it rained nearly the whole time. 

 

Noumea - Tjibaou Cultural Centre, Anse Vata Tchou Tchou Train, Ansata beach and restaurants, WW2 museum

 

Mystery Island - beautiful undeveloped beaches, good snorkling 

 

Wellington - agree with what Sinbad wrote above

 

Dunedin - Taieri Gorge Train (running again according to Dunedin Railways website).Taieri Gorge Train 

It appear the excursion is only available through your cruise ship.

 

 

 

 

[Over from NZ]

Lifou - if you go over the hill (sorry forget the name of the bay, but the locals will know it), there's excellent snorkeling. Think they charge you about $10 or $15 to enter. Port Vila - if you've had enough of beaches by then - book a day at Irikiki Island. It's only about $15 to be able to use their facilities, large resort pool etc for the day. Catch the water taxi there from where the ship docks. From memory, used to be $5 each. There's a restaurant, bar etc over there. Or otherwise, Hideaway Island has nice beach and the underwater Post office. Mystery Island there's no excursions to book ahead. There's great snorkeling over the other side of the island. 

[Over from NZ]

Noumea - if you're going to do the Tchou Tchou train.. just book it when you get there rather than pay extra to book it through the ship. Sydney - we really enjoyed the Australian Maritime Museum, where you can go aboard the replica of Captain Cook's Endeavour (as well as a destroyer and submarine). The Wax Museum and aquarium are adjacent and the Opera House nearby too. If you're a military buff at all - go to Te Papa in Wellington and see Peter Jackson's Gallipoli exhibition. It's excellent. 

[mr walker]

For Wellington, if you have interest in LOTR, suggest you do tour to WETA workshops which includes some location sites. For Dunedin suggest Otago Peninsula tour thru Russ at Tourworks

[Jean C]

It's a long, long time since I cruised to the Islands. The snorkelling bay at Lifou is Jinek Bay. There's also a small public platform lookout over the water there and when we were there the water was oh so calm and you could see plenty of fish without getting wet. There's also a cute little white church on the hill that's worth walking up to.

 

A lot of people like Port Vila for duty free shopping. That doesn't interest us so we went to the resort at Iririki Island. I think it was AUD20 then, which gave you use of the resort's facilities, a pool towel and a voucher for, I think, AUD15 to use on food or drink in the resort. It was enough to buy a spirits-based drink or burger and fries - we had a nice rum drink as food aplenty on the ship, and for most of our time there we had the bigger of the pools to ourselves 🍹🙂

[Jean C]

1 hour ago, Over from NZ said:

Noumea - if you're going to do the Tchou Tchou train..

 

If you're a military buff at all - go to Te Papa in Wellington and see Peter Jackson's Gallipoli exhibition. It's excellent. 

I enjoyed the Tchou Tchou train at Noumea - fun and excellent views along the way. A little bonus is a stop for refreshments along the way along with a selection of little French fancy cakes 😋 Have also done Amadee Island, a great day out, and on one occasion we used a shuttle to go around the waterfront to, I think, Lemon Bay and visited the aquarium - again very worthwhile.

 

I'm no military buff but for Wellington can highly recommend the museum Te Papa (which means Our Place) - the Gallipoli exhibition is first class and very moving.

[B'Elanna]

I'm interested in the Vanilla Plantation in Lifou. Has anyone visited that either on the ship excursion or on their own?

[possum52]

19 minutes ago, B'Elanna said:

I'm interested in the Vanilla Plantation in Lifou. Has anyone visited that either on the ship excursion or on their own?

We have been to the Vanilla Plantation on Lifou about 10 years ago as part of a ship excursion. It was interesting but I doubt I would go back again.