Cruising - Part 5 The Activities and My Final Thought

Activities

Now before you hit all the bars, if you want to go on any of The Edge activity you need to pass a breathalyzer test. So best to be sober. I feel like if you had a pass and went to an activity every day you could get your money’s worth. You can also pay for each activity individually if you are only interested in one or two. I only did one activity and to be honest if felt kind of ‘meh’ and a bit rushed so I wasn’t interested in doing more. However, plenty of other people I talked to loved it - ziplining, walking the plank etc. The different activities only run at particular times so you’ll find many people signing up for a particular time. Sometime you could get lucky and just turn up to see if they could accomodate you. So again, it is what you make it.

There are plenty of other free day activities around the ship as well. Everything from trivia to pub olympics to lawn bowls. Really whatever takes your fancy. You could spend an entire day going from one activity to the next if you really wanted to. I found a lot of the activities I wanted to do happened to be on at the same time as one another so I had to choose. There are still activities on Shore days as well. Most of the activities are run by the Entertainment Crew who are very nice but it does take a bit of time to get to know them.

Another activity is getting off the boat. I know -right? I can hear all the gasps now. There are two things that will happen when docking at shore. Either the boat will dock right on the port and you will be able to walk in and out of the boat at your leisure (regarding it’s in the time frame and you don’t mind going through security) or it will dock a little off shore and you will have to get a little orange boat called a tender to and from the port.

Even if you have been to the little islands before I would implore you to still get off the boat as each time will be a new and different experience. You can either book shore excursions on the boat which are a little bit expensive but worth it if your tour is only for a limited number of people. For instance Jinek Bay in Lifou is only allowed 100 people to visit each day as it is a protected marine reserve.

Or is you just want to get off at the smaller islands and swim, then do that! Nothing is stopping you although I would recommend taking reef shoes.

For bigger islands like when you stop in Noumea you can easily wait until you’re off the ship to book activities like the Tcho Tcho train as you are dropped off at the visitors centre. The price last time I went were a bit cheaper than the boat. Even for smaller islands often there are independently locally owned operators that will do tours. Best to do you research though!

There are plenty of facebook groups and reviews about certain tours. You can even book these tours before you go. But again, I can’t stress this enough that’s why I am repeating it, do your research.

Now after you’ve exhausted yourself you probably want to sit back, relax and enjoy a show. The two main areas where they showed these shows were The Marquee and The Black Circus. Let’s start with The Marquee…

This is where you would see more stage production shows. The ones the involved singing and dancing. I found the cast absolutely amazing on each show I watched of theirs. As was the behind the scenes crew. If you want a drink while the show is on you will need to get one form the small cart outside or from The Explorer Hotel.

The Marquee is set out like a theatre with tiered seating. The only problem was this only left two narrow passages from the back to the front and you would often climb over people to get to a seat in the middle. Also meant that when the show finished there was a long queue to get out. The last few rows at the back were reserved for people with low mobility.

The Black Circus was at the other end of the ship. This is where you could see more participation shows (either by the crew or by travellers) or comedy shows. There is a lot more space to walk around with long lounges and occasional tables and chairs. I personally preferred this theatre however it could still get crowded as you would often find that one show you wanted to watch was at one end of the boat and then the next would be in the Black Circus.  

Overall my initial feeling was that I did feel as though it was missing something for the first few days and couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I still can’t.  Like I said at the beginning - a cruise is what you make it. So I made sure I could enjoy what I could.

Until next time,

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