Welcome to Part 2 of my Ovation of the Seas cruise blog series! I hope you enjoyed Part 1 and if you haven’t read it yet, go check it out first!
As someone who freaks out if I don’t know exactly what the plan is and a step by step of everything that’s going to happen, it may come as a surprise to learn that I really struggle planning holidays and travel. I put off packing right until I realise it’s got to be now or never. Maybe this is because travelling is the one time in my life that I want to be really spontaneous and YOLO or something. Anyway, I learnt in Japan that the best days are the unplanned ones, and that mentality has stuck with me.
Once you book your cruise, its always a good idea to have a look on Facebook to see if anyone has created a group page (these are not run by Royal Caribbean, but by fellow avid cruisers). These can be very helpful especially for first time cruisers as they provide information such as when sales are coming up (this is how we got such a good rate on our Deluxe Drink Package).
If you’ve never been on a cruise before, this is very helpful as it definitely reduces the stress levels as you are able to ask any questions on your mind. You can ask questions straight away to get an honest answer instead of having to wait for response from a cruise company.
As I said, I really believe the best adventures are unplanned and we did have some awesome experiences. HOWEVER, we were in Noumea with crappy weather and no idea what to do. At dinner that night, we all said we were going to come up with plans for the other port days, so we didn’t have a repeat of this. (Did this happen? Of course not.)
With all this in mind, here are my thoughts about Noumea, New Caledonia and Mystery Island, Vanuatu.
Noumea, New Caledonia
Our first port of call was Noumea, New Caledonia. I’d never heard much about New Caledonia or seen any pictures beforehand, so I didn’t really know what to expect.
We were able to dock and walk off the ship, but had to stop in the working port part of Noumea. This meant that as soon as we got off, we had to get straight on a shuttle bus to transport us into town.
The night before we decided we’d try to do a turtle tour, but it was fully booked when we arrived. We waited in line for a solid 10-15 minutes and then were told we couldn’t do the tour. Instead, we bought tickets for the hop on hop off tour including return water taxi tickets to Duck Island. This was $38 AUD each and they accepted both AUD and Franc.
Once we got on the bus we were taken past a few stops with the option to get off and check out the town and the markets, but we stayed on to the stop for Duck Island. There weren’t a lot of signs and the water taxi dock was hidden under an abandoned looking hut right on the beach. It was about a ten-minute taxi over to the island.
Duck Island is pretty small and just has a little bar and restaurant, but the main attraction is the snorkelling. With coral reef surrounding the island, you don’t need to swim far to see some amazing sea life. Despite the cloudy weather, even I enjoyed the snorkelling (and I am definitely not a snorkeler). Halfway through the day we were treated for a bit with bright sun shining overhead where we saw some gorgeous coral, and lots of Nemo’s!
Duck Island really was gorgeous, with heaps of palms and bright red umbrellas that contrasted beautifully with the natural landscape. It only took about 10 minutes to do a full walk around the island.
They really do take advantage of cruise ships though and were charging $46 for two sun chairs and an umbrella for the day (and they wouldn’t take coins, so you had to pay $50 and then get 4 francs back). Sneaky! Surrounding the island was the type of sand that looks beautiful and white but is really just shells and coral that are impossible to walk on. Because of this, you couldn’t really sit on the sand, so you had to get the chairs.
It started pouring with rain when we were waiting for the water taxi return, and we got back into town completely soaked. As I said before, we had no idea what else there was to do in Noumea and we were all wet and uncomfortable. After having a quick look around the markets, we headed back on the shuttle bus and were back on the ship just after 2pm.
Since getting back from the cruise, I’ve done a little research on Noumea and Trip Advisor’s top thing to do is go to Amedee Island. One of the couples we were travelling with went here and said it was gorgeous. If we ever went back, I’d be keen to go here.
I also heard that many people don’t get off the ship at Noumea. I don’t really get this, and if I went again, I’d do my research and find something cool to spend my day doing. As amazing as the Ovation ship was, I was really keen to get off an explore for a bit. I really like the idea of cruises as a way to see different places that you wouldn’t normally go to for a long vacation.
Mystery Island, Vanuatu
Similarly to Noumea, I didn’t really know anything about Mystery Island, except that it was a part of Vanuatu. Vanuatu was the one place I’d been to already, but only to Port Vila.
The Ovation of the Seas is such a large ship which meant it was unable to dock in usual mariners at many of the ports. This meant we had to use tenders where the ship would stop away from the dock and we would be put on the lifeboats attached to the ship to be transported to shore. When booking a cruise, this is an important factor to consider as the tender process can be long (especially during peak times from 9am).
We docked around 8am, and were in the first tender over, getting us on the island around 8.30am. It was a much quicker process than I thought it would be and because we got off first, we got to enjoy the island while it was still relatively empty.
Mystery Island was GORGEOUS! Think clean white sands, crystal-clear water and bright green palm trees. It’s the kind of place that springs to mind when you think ‘South Pacific Tropical Island’.
Mystery Island is an uninhabited island (which is how it preserves its natural beauty so well) of Vanuatu and only used by cruise ship groups. The locals of nearby island, Aneityum come over for the day to set up little stalls and man the island while the cruisers relax and explore.
Like Duck Island, the only thing you can really do on the island is snorkel, but the snorkelling was great (just watch out for the triggerfish during their mating season)! The weather was still quite overcast, but even still the sea life looked amazing. There was quite a strong current, so the best thing to do was walk to the end of the beach, get in and float along and then walk back up.
I was really glad we got there early because by about 11am, it was absolutely packed (four thousand cruise passengers would do it)! It was a pretty relaxed day, we swam for a bit then napped on the sand (what a life!). My favourite thing to do is lay on a beach in the sun, and after the coral rock sand at Duck Island the day before, it was so nice to lay on warm soft sand!
On a warm, sunny day, I’d be happy to stay there all day, just swimming and lying on the beach. Because it kept raining, we headed back to the ship after a few hours. I love my beaches and islands, and Mystery Island did not disappoint! I would love to go back on a really nice day and relax on those white sands all day long.
If you like exploring and seeing new things on your travels, then Mystery Island is probably a place you only need to see once.
I hope you enjoyed reading about Noumea and Mystery Island. Next week is all about New Zealand! Ports three and five were Tauranga and Bay of Islands, where we did tours of Hobbiton and Hole in the Rock. If you’re interested in a little sneak peak, the videos of these ports (as well as Waiheke Island, my favourite port) are up on Youtube here!
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