South Pacific excursions

[Sakura1017]

For those that did the 13 night South Pacific cruise, can you share your experiences with DCL excursions and any private excursions on your own?

 

[ladyofthetramp]

Very interested in this as well!

 

[TikiThunderPirates]

The DCL Port Adventures sell out very quickly. They had very limited spots for things like snorkeling. It was challenging to book private adventures on your own, there are not a ton of options. In New Calidonia the Wonder docked inside a secure area so you have to take a short complementary bus into the center of town where the main cruise terminal is. The other two ports were walkable straight off the ship. All three had shopping within walking distance.

Weather is a factor since it's tropical, and heavy rain, even days before your arrival, can change availability of on your own choices such as visiting parks that close due to mud issues etc.

As with any cruise, what Port Adventure you choose can directly impact your enjoyment. I heard some people loved the DCL Port Adventures, and some were less satisfied.

One thing I experienced on two Port Adventures was the guides hurrying us back to the ship so we didn't miss the time DCL told the guides to be back. As in we were 30-60 minutes early, which meant we got less time on our Port Adventure. Our return time was still hours away from All Aboard, so this was not to make sure we didn't miss sail away. I got the impression the guides were terrified of being late for DCL, so they added huge buffers of time and returned us early.

 

[KDG]

In Pago Pago AS, we went to Tisa’s Barefoot Bar, which we found on Trip Advisor. We booked it independently. Tisa has a privately owned small beach resort and only accepts 20 day guests. We enjoyed swimming, visiting and had a great lunch cooked underground with local island specialties. We booked it months in advance.

In Suva Fiji, we did a DCL excursion to Uprising Resort. It was about a 45 minute bus ride each way but we got to see non-resort Fiji along the way. At the resort, you could swim in the pool or the ocean, enjoy a traditional kava ceremony and listen to live music. The buffet lunch was included but the alcoholic drinks were not. You can grab beach towels when you leave the ship to bring along. After we returned to Suva, the busses took us to a shopping mall for some (very quick) shopping before returning to the ship.

I wrote about our time in Noumea, New Caledonia in a previous post (Australia/NZ Cruises post) so you can read more about it there. The DCL excursions did not allow time to browse around after the excursion. I was glad we took the Little Green Train (non Disney), which took us on a 90 minute trip around the area. We enjoyed it very much. Then we still had time to shop in a grocery store across the street and visit shops and craft booths nearby. The Little Green Train can be booked online or just as you get off the shuttle bus that brings you out of the dock area.

We loved this cruise and would do it again in a heartbeat! We loved the sea days and ship activities while at sea. We had great weather up until the day before we got to Sydney. I can truly say it was our most relaxing vacation ever!

 

[ironz]

For those that did the 13 night South Pacific cruise, can you share your experiences with DCL excursions and any private excursions on your own?

I probably should write a trip report of sorts, but getting back to reality/work after being away for 3 weeks has been an adjustment! LOL

We booked on our own for American Samoa with Best Tours--they had some tours on their website, but then the company came up with a 6 hour tour for the Wonder passengers for that day, which included going to the National Park of American Samoa visitor center, driving to the other side of the island to see parts of the National Park with a short hike, a lunch of sorts (it was advertised as a snack, but we had poke, chips, sandwiches--nothing crazy fancy), a very short visit to a beach area (we were not interested in snorkeling--I know at least one guest would have liked more time there), and then a demonstration of basket weaving, how to shuck and use coconuts, etc. I think our group enjoyed it, but our main focus was on seeing parts of the National Park. https://www.touramericansamoa.com/tours

In Fiji, we booked the Col-o-suva Rainforest hike (without the lunch) through DCL. It was good, and your basic bus ride, then semi-guided tour of the Col-o-suva park-- hiking a moderate difficulty trail (I say moderate because there were lots of steps on partly stone trails, and really wasn't all that difficult for us, but I don't want to say it's 'easy' as it was not like an ADA-accessible trail) for a total of about 2 miles or a bit more. We saw lots of waterfalls and swam in a pool by a waterfall. The forest was nice and peaceful (albeit with 2 or 3 bus-loads of people). There was an different excursion option to have lunch at the park, but we booked the non-lunch option-- thinking that we would explore in Suva a little bit. At the end of the tour, we had a shopping stop, which was sadly at a mall, possibly because many of the markets were closed on a Sunday. So I think we ended up eating back at the ship. (I don't have my trip notes in front of me)

In New Caledonia, we booked a boat ride to Signal Island through an independent operator, which we reached by taking the port-provided shuttle to the tourist area (cruise passenger terminal--we were docked at a more industrial part of the port).
http://www.daloceancharter.nc/en/
It was a smallish boat (11 people), and the 30 minute ride to the island was fairly bumpy (the website warns you of this, and also, this was the day the weather started to pick up as a tropical storm was developing north of New Caledonia). At Signal Island, which is really cute and IG worthy, we snorkeled for a while and saw a couple of sea turtles and some fish. We also hiked the trail around the island and saw some gorgeous views, and some banded sea kraits (striped--poisonous--but not aggressive--if you stay out their way, they don't come after you). That island has only a pit toilet and a bit of shade--no vendors-- we brought water as we were just there for a few hours, and the excursion was after we had lunch on the ship. Then a 30 minute bumpy boat ride back to the passenger terminal area. We shopped for a bit with some local vendors (could have had food--several restaurants nearby), then took the bus shuttle back to the Wonder.

I was actually pretty happy with what we selected. Of course, there are risks with booking independently, but the tour operation in American Samoa was sure to get us back in time to line up to re-board the Wonder (not a ton of extra time--we were only in port about 8:30 am to 3 pm), and the one we booked in New Caledonia was something like 1 pm to 4:45 pm, while we were in port something like 12:30 pm to 7 pm.

I'll try to pop on and add a few photos later.