Tuesday. 6th November 2018

Port Vila, Vanuato and Melbourne Cup Day

The Aria arrived at the myriad of market stalls already set up on the wharf. We had  fine and sunny conditions again to walk around the main township and enjoy the Lagoon Cruise in the afternoon. 

First challenge once disembarking the ship was to get through the maze of stalls to the gates outside the wharf without buying anything until our return. Once outside we negotiated with a driver who drove us the 2-3 kilometres into the main street and outside one of several Duty Free shops. This is where our shopping became serious!. 

I have found Port Vila to have the best selection and prices for alcohol and perfume in all my travels. The ship offers to match the prices if a photo is taken of the item on shore in Vila but the selection is not always there on the ship.  Also I presume, because of the low duty free prices, a lot of the alcohol sold on board is priced competitively.

The 'gals' wandered from shop to shop, stocking up on tipples to take home. The bottles are sent to the ship and held in the hold until the morning of disembarkation in Brisbane. On the Princess lines passengers are delivered the bottles on the last night of the cruise and I wander if procedures had altered to prevent passengers drinking maybe an extra bottle of their duty free allowance before landing. 

We walked into a jewelry shop for the cool air conditioning and a look at their wares whilst enjoying the cool when I spotted a hand blown glass vase. It wasn't Italian Marano but just as good. Well, a sale proceeded and then I had the challenge of getting it home. First of the challenges had to be through the ship's security...bummer it couldn't get through the security scanner so an officer had to open the box to see if everything was safe, legal and secure. This then caused the challenge of repacking and making the parcel transportable. Thanks to the help of Kaye, my cabin mate, extra tape from the reception,  we were able to pack and I could carry it though from the ship to the airport, then it could travel on the lane back to Adelaide. Though Virgin Airlines charged me $70 for the excess 'bag', I think I came home with a 'bargain'.

I couldn't resist having these little creatures with me for a photo 'shoot'.

Some of the gals enjoying a soft drink in one of the cafes in the main street before going back to the ship.

Lagoon Beauties

A local young local beauty, isn't she gorgorous!

When we arived at the Waterfront Restaurant a giant Melbourne Cup cake had been placed in the foyer to celebrate the famous horse race. Some of the gals had taken out a sweep ticket which the ship's casino happily sold to any punter. A couple of the girls were sucessful with their purchase.

Our Melbourne Cup style

Mare', New Caladonia

Monday, 5th November 2018

Tender port today to the small jetty ccess to Mare'. Unfortunately the tide was out, so when the tender boats arrived at the jetty, they were well down from any easy climb off the boats. The crew had organised some steps which elevated us about a metre higher but the climb out and onto the landing was still another metre. I found it very awkward to alight from the boat and marvel at those smaller than me who managed. Fay and Kay amazed me by climbing off the boat, even though they were aided by some crew to haul us up and off.  

                                                Quite a low tide at the landing.

Kay and Fay made it!!!!

We had booked a local shuttle service to a beach on the other side of the island.

Again the tide was out but it didn't seem to effect our ability to swim, snorkle and soak in the warm, clear blue waters. 

 People addiing to their tans or sitting under the trees for shade. It wasn't extremely hot and humid, but still the sun had some 'bite'.

                         Typical pines to the area, growing almost to the high water line.

                              The 'gals' setting up to enjoy the views in the shade.

        Small collection of market stalls where the locals were selling souvenirs.

The P & O Aria.

Once back on board we were busy getting ourselves dressed in 'Back to School' theme attire. We had such fun and plenty of laughs.

Noumea, New Caladonia CANCELLED

Sunday, 3rd November 2018

The ship had been scheduled to dock in Noumea for the day but apparently the island's people were having elections which must have been of concern to P & O's management who considered it safer for the passengers to avoid the day there. This in mind, the Aria had reduced speed to allow the ship to arrive in Mare' the following morning at the appointed time. 

The ship's cruise director organized some extra activities for us passengers to have the extra entertainment. There was the usual yoga, body stretch classes, massages, exercise classes, pokie machine, poker, black gammon, roulette and other casino distractions. Not to miss out on the Bingo either. 

Duty Free shops, even a new shop opened up. There was a White Night theme with many passengers dressed in white. Men in white pants and shirts, even some wearing fedoras or panama hats. Ladies wearing summer white dresses or pat outfits. It was loely to see a lot a people had involved themselves in the theme. Not to miss out on the dress-up theme decided to wear tiaras.

                                                     Our little visitor to the cabin

Saturday 3rd November 2018

At sea, our first day sailing out of Brisbane

The ship's clocks' adjusted forward an hour overnight as we sailed east to New Caledonia. This caused a bit of confusion between the six of us as we planned to meet for breakfast in the main dining room, only to realize two of the ladies in one of the cabins' had not read the ship's 'Good Times' guide to activies on board the Aria where the alteration had been listed.  Yesterday had been fairly tiring and it would have been easy to overlook the post to check-out the next day's activities. Not to worry, we got through breakie and met a lady who was travelling by herself who joined us several times during the cruise. 

Once again I am impressed with this ship. The decor of the main dining room and set-up is another pleasant surprise. 

Our cabin stewards are both from Vanuato and both worked on cleaning the cabins similtaniously. Usually we have mainly had stewards from the Phillipines, so I found it lovely to see local nationalities working on the ships which ply the waters to their country. 

                                      Our first little 'friend' made by our stewards.

One of the first assignments after breakfast just had to be to buy our Bingo tickets and dobbers for the first Bingo call of the cruise. Before joining the gals in the Marquee (the Aria's main theatre) for morning Bingo I wandered to the 12th floor where the deck has a tennis court and the walk overlooks the main pool to view the Edge Flying Fox on Deck 14 Aft.

                                                  Tennis Court on dek 12

                            The main swimming pool which has a retractable roof.
                                     The flying fox's zip line hangs over this area.

the Edge Flying fox

                               Up stairs in the Marquee area overlooking the stage.

                              Part of the main dining room. Looking to the starboard
                      side windows with the windows on the left overlooking the ship's                                                                                       wake.

 

The 'gals' having lunch.

Another area of the main dining room with the windows on the portside of the ship.

Aboard the P & O Aria on our first day

Wow, I am very impressed with the organized and smooth running of the departure/check-in.

After the last check-in at a cruise port (Shanghai and on the Majestic Princess) I am blown away by the efficiency of P & O's embarkation procedures. We weren't allowed to even line-up to check-in until our scheduled time. This avoided long queues (to register, customs and immigration and security) and a quicker embarkation.

Once on board we quickly found our cabin. Wow, very impressed with our 'cheapo' digs. Our cabin is on the lowest passenger deck with a large window and plenty of room. The bathroom has a shower inside the bath, so for any passengers who have difficulty getting into the bath to shower, it is not ideal. In the cabin we have a small flat screen television and a two seater sofa with a small coffee table. The only drawback is lack of a mini fridge, but we managed without one.

The ship sailed at 2pm, shortly after our emergency evacuation/muster station drill. I am quite surprised to find the entire ship's passengers were mustered on deck 8's promenade deck. Previously all muster stations have always been inside one of the ship's lounges or theatres.

Muster station

The Pantry....a selection of serving areas offering various types of food.
There are about 10 to choose from.

Looking for seating to allow 6 of us to sit together. We managed to find something. The eating areas are made up of stools alongside high tables, chairs and benches with tables in middle, smaller tables with chairs and lounge-type chairs with small coffee style tables.

                      Swimming pool at aft of ship which caters for over 18 year olds.

Outdoor dining area overlooking the pool.

Arrival into Brisbane

Finally we arrive in Brisbane after an epic extension to our 2.10 hour flight.

Arrived to be greeted by Toni who flew in to Brisbane at 9am and hung around waiting for us to arrive....5.45pm. Fortunately she found access to a free shuttle bus to the near-by DFO and managed to have a haircut and blow-wave and to pick up a few buys. Way to go Toni!

Our arrival at the motel (Hacienda) for our over night stay. Very ordinary accommodation but clean and obviously the right price.

P & O Aria Brisbane to New Caledonia and Vanuatu

Girls cruise holiday on the P & O Aria departing Friday 2nd November for 7 days.

Just to make sure we board the ship we have decided to fly out from Adelaide to Brisbane today and stay overnight.

As luck or lack of it has occurred our direct flight was cancelled due to storms in Brisbane. Now we are hanging out in Melbourne waiting for our next flight to Brisbane......arriving 7 and half hours later!

Not to worry, I have good friends to keep the morale up...and a couple of vino glasses.

                               Waiting in the Virgin departure lounge in Melbourne.

Special Celebrations on board

Dinner in the Crown Grill

Special celebration to celebrate Roger and Merrilyn's wedding anniversary. A lovely meal with especially special people.

Tasting plate dessert

Our cabin

Mini suite on deck 10.

Our suite had a 3 seat lounge which would, if needed, converts to a single bed. It had a bath in the bathroom.