If you are visiting Port Villa, Vanuatu for an extended stay, or on a cruise port day visit, and are looking for something adventurous to try a fun activity is Zip Lining through the jungle! Popular with both locals and visitors, this is a great way to see the lesser visited areas of this destination. We have only ever visited Port Villa on cruise ship port days and have tried a few of the excursions on offer, for our Christmas 2018 cruise visit we opted for flying through the jungle on a zip line. From the cruise port we joined 10 seater vans for the 30 minute journey out to the location. Along the way there was plenty of opportunity to see a bit of the town and our driver provided commentary as we passed a local school, the prison and drove through the main street. As the activity is up in the mountains we were transferred at the base of a very steep driveway into 4WD vehicles with a bit of grunt for the descent up. A narrow and windy road took us to the top - a drive I would not like to attempt in my city SUV. Upon arrival we were strapped into harnesses, given gloves and hard hats and triple checked to make sure we were secure before heading into the jungle. As our guides pointed out - the equipment is faultless the only thing that can go wrong is human error. They were very thorough in checking the equipment, something I was very thankful for once I was in the air! Before we took our first leap of faith we needed to climb a few flights of stairs of a man made platform to our first launching point - from then on in it was all zipping through the jungle from one tree to another like Tarzan! There were a couple of short lines to get us warmed up and used to the experience before we crossed a rope bridge to our first serious experience - and what an experience it was. As we came out of the jungle we were zipping across a ravine with views of the beach to the right, beautiful cliff faces to the left - and a massive drop beneath our feet! (This is where I was thankful for the triple check of the equipment.) The great thing about the experience is all the landing platforms are built into the jungle trees. You really do get a Tarzan like experience as you fly from one tree to another. Generally people were propelled as single fliers, however on one of the longer lines our 12 and 9 year olds were clipped together to ensure there was enough weight to get them all the way across to the other side. An experience they enjoyed! There were six lines in total and a couple of rope bridges hanging amongst the trees to walk across. Definitely not an experience for anyone afraid of heights - a great experience for travellers that like to do more in a city than just sit in a bus and see the sights. At the end of the experience there was a bit of a walk through the jungle, including one steep climb of stairs, but there were some great views along the way to take away from the burn in the legs! We booked our tour through the P&O excursion desk onboard. Tickets were priced at $129 per adult and $99 per child. We got lucky when we booked - they had kids fly free so it only cost us $258 for the family of four. There are some great youtube clips showcasing the experience if you are after a visual of this fun activity take a look. Verdict from our family - mum, dad, 12yo boy and 9yo girl - would definitely do it again! Another great experience added to our travel memories. Penny - Itchy Feet Family.
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After having such a great time on the Pacific Dawn for Christmas in 2017, we decided to head back for more in 2018 this time celebrating Christmas onboard the Pacific Explorer with a 10 night South Pacific cruise which departed Sydney December 18, 2018 -stopping in Noumea, Port Vila, Lifou and Mystery Island. There are so many great reasons to cruise at Christmas time and the extra effort that the crew put into the festive season really make it a great way to celebrate. Here are some of the festive additions we experienced on the Pacific Explorer this Christmas. Decorations There must be someone out there with the sole job to interior design a ship for the Festivities - nearly everywhere you went there was some sort of Christmas decoration. From trees, gingerbread houses, Nutcrackers and more, the ship was decked to the halls with Christmas decorations. And for the passengers in the Christmas spirit, many of the cabin doors were also decorated - it was fun walking past the cabins to see what people had come up with. Letter to and from Santa Just because you are on holidays, does not mean you can’t send a letter to Santa. At reception there were special letter to Santa printed sheets that the kids could write a short note and post in the Santa postbox. On Christmas Eve, Santa wrote back with a personalised letter delivered to our cabin for the kids to read before going to bed. Our towel animal on Christmas Eve, placed on the bed was a reindeer complete with a red nose! Gingerbread House Making Whether you are crafty or not, making gingerbread houses at Christmas time is a fun family activity. On Christmas eve the youth team put together a Fun Family activities afternoon on the lido pool deck to get us all into the festive spirit - including all you needed to make a gingerbread house. There was plenty of icing, decorations and piping bags to create a masterpiece - unfortunately ours looked more like a tornado had gone through so we just had fun eating the decorations on gingerbread cookies! The pool deck was a hive of activities with pin the heart on the grinch, water balloon games, a kids raffle and a raft of fun activities for the whole family to enjoy together. It Snowed! Yes, who would have thought in the middle of the Pacific Ocean you would get snow - well we did. On Christmas Day the atrium became a magical place to be as snow rained down from deck 7 to deck 5 and the kids were covered in white whilst Maria Carey’s All I Want for Christmas played! The Entertainment team did the countdown, the atrium was packed with children, parents and grandparents dressed in the Christmas Day outfits to experience a glimpse of a white Christmas. Little as it was - everyone enjoyed the experience. Towel Decoration Display The housekeeping staff can be very creative when it comes to towel art. For Christmas they put an amazing display of creations in front of the waterfront restaurant that we could walk past and admire - much like a store window display we walked along and admired the amazing creations. From a towel Christmas tree, to a kangaroo with a joey in a pouch, there is a very creative crew working aboard this ship! Visit from Santa Christmas would not be complete without a visit from Santa and all 300 children on board from age 0-17 received a gift from Santa on Christmas Day. The Black Circus was transformed into a magical sea of green and red balloons and Santa made his way to the stage sitting for hours as every child filed through for a photo, a chat and to receive a gift. The youth and entertainment staff do an amazing job to make it feel festive all decked out in Christmas t-shirts and elf costumes. Carols If you like to sing carols at Christmas, there is plenty of opportunities to do so on a Christmas Cruise. There is a passenger choir that is formed with rehearsals leading up to the performance and the Officers take the opportunity to try out their pipes with a special carols performance in the atrium. Church Service Not forgetting the origin of Christmas, a midnight mass was held as well as a non-denominational service on Christmas morning. If you are wanting to join in a congregational activity - you can do it at sea. Christmas Dinner Food plays such an important role to our festivities and the Pacific Explorer delivered. A special menu was served across all restaurants for Christmas dinner. Regardless of whether we dined in Waterfront, Angelos or Dragon Lady, we were treated with a special menu that included ham, turkey, pudding and all the trimmings. The tables were decorated with Christmas crackers and beautifully presented with the special menu. We were able to pop a bon bon, wear a paper hat, tell bad Christmas jokes and enjoy it with our roast dinner and gravy. And no-one had to bring a plate, prepare the ham or even clean afterwards. It was just like any Christmas dinner you would have at home. Christmas Performances The entertainment team go all out at Christmas - we had a special Christmas presentation on Christmas Eve and then on boxing day a performance of a Christmas pantomime. There was a pretty funny rendition of the 12 days of Christmas, (5 Toilet Rolls! for anyone that was on board) some great vocals singing Silent Night and of course renditions of All I Want For Christmas. If you like to be entertained in the main theatre you will not be disappointed by the Christmas performances on offer. Christmas Movies Home Alone, Elf, 42nd Street - all the Christmas classics were shown across our 10 day cruise. Some shown on the big screen on the pool deck, some in the Black Circus, others in our stateroom - but there was no shortage of opportunity to squeeze in a classic Christmas movie on our festive cruise. There are many pros and cos to Christmas cruising, but we believe that the pros far outweigh the cons and after four Christmas cruises now on the Pacific Jewel, Pacific Eden, Pacific Dawn and now the Pacific Explorer - we look forward to continuing the tradition. Penny - Itchy Feet Family Other blogs you may be interested in:
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