With so many stunning islands littered all over the South Pacific, it\u2019s hard to know which ones you should visit on an ocean cruise. We look at the best locations you can get to, with the most striking landscapes and lagoons, that are guaranteed to please every kind of cruiser.<\/p>\n
These are simply some of the most picturesque islands on Earth. There are two main cruise companies (contact your travel agent for more info!) \u00a0that operate an itinerary which takes in most of Tahiti\u2019s Society Islands. Fly to Tahiti and your first stop will be the island of Moorea, just 28-miles west, where much of the\u00a0Mutiny On The Bounty\u00a0movies were filmed. Here, you can swim with dolphins and rays in a sheltered lagoon.<\/p>\n
While Moorea is world-famous, the other islands of the Society Group are virtually a secret (except Bora Bora). Huahine and the twin islands of Ra\u2019atea and Ta\u2019haa receive few visitors \u2013 yet their lagoons are as stunning as Bora Bora\u2019s. Ta\u2019haa, in particular, is right off the grid, with mile-high peaks dropping into the lagoon, and locals living in tiny, basic villages. Every cruise here culminates with a visit to Bora Bora \u2013 where you\u2019ll spend time in the world\u2019s most famous lagoon, using uninhabited islets for barbeques and sun-downer drinks.<\/p>\n
How New Caledonia doesn\u2019t receive much more fanfare is anyone\u2019s guess. It\u2019s barely 2,000-miles east of Australia (the closest of all the South Pacific island groups) so getting there is easy aboard a cruise ship from Sydney (it\u2019s one of the most popular destinations in the South Pacific from Australia).<\/p>\n
The reason why New Caledonia is so perfect for cruising is that it\u2019s protected inside the world\u2019s largest lagoon, surrounded by one of the world\u2019s largest barrier reefs. You can spend time in the French-style capital of Noumea with its European cafes, restaurants and clubs, then venture south-east to the Loyalty Islands. The Isle Of Pines is the most popular of these islands \u2013 it\u2019s encircled in a lagoon with white sand bays, and a natural swimming pool separated from the ocean (called Oro). There are caves to explore all over the island.<\/p>\n
Though equally beautiful, but less visited, is its neighbor, Mare. Here locals live in tiny villages with little tourism infrastructure. Visiting cruisers get to see right inside the simple communities of the island \u2013 as well as spending time exploring caves and snorkeling over World-Heritage-Listed coral.<\/p>\n
If these islands aren\u2019t on your bucket list, revise your list! Take a two-week journey aboard one of the last passenger\/cargo combined vessels left on the planet to the world\u2019s most isolated island archipelago, The Marquesas. You\u2019ll need to fly to Tahiti, where a boat will ply its way north-east for 870-miles. It visits six of the 12 islands of the Marquesas (the rest are uninhabited), stopping at tiny villages where locals still live subsistence lifestyles.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll get to hike across remote mountain passes, swim in front of villages with local children and attend boisterous church sessions with locals dressed up to the nines. Aside from infrequent and expensive domestic flights, this is the only way to visit these islands \u2013 so don\u2019t expect to see other tourists.<\/p>\n
Many travelers won\u2019t get past the main island of Efate \u2013 with its bustling capital, Port Vila \u2013 but it\u2019s worth remembering that there\u2019s 83 islands that make up Vanuatu. These are some of the wildest islands left in the Pacific \u2013 on some islands you\u2019ll spend time with cargo cult tribes who still live in the rainforests in simple grass huts. While on one island \u2013 Pentecost \u2013 should you time it right, you\u2019ll see locals jump from platforms with vines around their ankles to bless their yam harvest (this is where the concept for bungy jumping came from).<\/p>\n
Keen divers should consider Espiritu Santo \u2013 it\u2019s home to the sunken WWII troop carrier,\u00a0SS Coolridge, considered the world\u2019s best wreck dive site. While on Tanna you can visit an active volcano, Mt Yasur \u2013 standing right on the crater\u2019s edge as dry lava is ejected. You\u2019ll also find one of the world\u2019s top-rated beaches \u2013 Champagne Beach on Espiritu Santo; while\u00a0Tales Of The\u00a0South Pacific\u00a0author James A Michener got his inspiration for his novel (and the musical)\u00a0South Pacific\u00a0from time spent on Espiritu Santo during WWII.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With so many stunning islands littered all over the South Pacific, it\u2019s hard to know which ones you should visit on an ocean cruise. We look at the best locations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":10304,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[275],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-islands"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n