How To Make The Most Of Your Cruise

It’s no secret that cruising is booming – but is it for you? Sally Macmillan has been on more than 40 cruises and shares her tips for first-timers.

- Sally Macmillan

We’ve come a long way in 15 years. Back then, just over 116,000 of us went cruising. This year, more than a million Australians will be on a ship somewhere in the world. We’re expecting 48 ships to visit our ports this summer and Sydney’s cruise terminals are busy every single day in peak season.

I’ve been going on cruises for nine years as a travel writer and I’m fresh back from a cruise to New Caledonia on Pacific Explorer, P&O Cruises’ newly renovated flagship. It was exactly six years ago that I cruised the Pacific Islands on Pacific Jewel, and while the charms of New Caledonia’s Noumea, Maré and Isle of Pines remain constant, much has changed in the world of cruising – even since 2011.

So what’s different? For a start, the choice of things to do. The youngest in our group was two, the oldest 60-plus, so we sampled everything on board from the kids’ clubs to waterslides, Segways, spa treatments and a degustation dinner at Luke Mangan’s Salt Grill. The lukewarm buffets and set dining times of cruising in the past have been consigned to history. And even though I’d sworn off zip lines since getting stuck on one in Alaska, I couldn’t resist giving it another go – this cruise is all about having fun.

Bar-hopping before and after dinner takes you to trivia in the Explorer Hotel, live music hot-spot The Blue Room or to the sophisticated Bonded Store for expertly mixed cocktails. Another strictly adults-only activity is the new Love Riot show – a raunchy mix of dance, acrobatics, aerobatics and visual jokes.