CRUISERS

Explore deserted beaches, visit local villages, share in a lovo feast (a meal cooked in an earth oven) beneath the stars and island hop your way through Fiji’s magical islands.

Cruising is back in Fiji with vessels embarking from Australian and international ports or setting sail from Fiji’s palm-fringed shores. Your shoulders cannot help but drop as you slip into the rhythm of life on board.

Many parts of Fiji are not easily accessible unless by boat. A cruise enables you to explore this string of island gems where peaks, waterfalls and jewel-coloured reefs await. You may find yourself dropping anchor for a sandbar picnic lunch, snorkelling in a marine sanctuary or kicking back on the deck (or hammock) with a good book.

+ Must-do

Enjoy an aromatic back massage aboard Blue Lagoon Cruises’ MV Fiji Princess Guests can experience a range of spa treatments using traditional Fijian methods and products.

Alternatively, book an onshore massage at Blue Lagoon Cruises’ private beach on Nanuya Lailai where spa therapists give massages in a rustic hut beneath coconut palms as waves lap the shore.

Snorkel Fiji’s crystal clear waters every day of your cruise – jumping overboard from your ship’s tender or straight from the shore. Snorkellers can expect to see manta rays, stingrays, turtles, whitetip and blacktip reef sharks, and even the Fijian Nemo (a clownfish with only one white stripe). World-class diving is also on offer from cruise ships exploring what Jacques Cousteau dubbed the “soft coral capital of the world”.

+ Cruise options

Cruise through the Mamanucas and Yasawas – a cluster of stunning islands to Fiji’s far west – on a multi-day cruise with Blue Lagoon Cruises or with Captain Cook Cruises. Their onboard menu and the spectacular vistas change daily.

Blue Lagoon’s Fiji Princess shows travellers an authentic side to Fiji – far from the resort-rich areas of Denarau and the Coral Coast. It takes passengers to small villages, local schools and even to the South Pacific’s most remote tea shop. And being a smaller boutique cruise ship means the Fiji Princess can get right up close to islands and lovely stretches of white sand beach where yours may be the only footprints. It even famously ties up to a coconut tree at its anchorage just off its private beach on Nanuya Lailai (Blue Lagoon).

Captain Cook Cruises Fiji meanwhile offers voyages of between three and 11 nights, including the week-long Remote North Discovery expedition aboard MV Reef Endeavour where you can discover islands and reefs rarely visited by tourists. Highlights include a song and dance performance by children from a local village and a visit to the World Heritage site of Levuka on the island of Ovalau.

The 11-day Fiji Islands cruise also takes passengers beyond the main tourist areas to explore small villages, hidden coves, brightly coloured coral reefs and islands not normally accessible unless by boat.

Visit the uninhabited Modriki Island where the Tom Hanks blockbuster Castaway was filmed before snorkelling the languid water of the Sacred Islands. Experience a traditional lovo feast, get up close with nesting turtles, listen to the harmonious strains of a village choir and explore the caves, reefs and lagoons of Qilaqila, renowned for its mushroomshaped islands.

P&O’s Pacific Explorer was the first vessel to return to Fiji this year, after more than a 2.5-year hiatus during border closures, with its 12-night Fiji Adventure. With the resumption of cruise ships, Carnival Australia and its sister liners have confirmed 34 port calls to Fiji between now and June 30, 2023.

Other options include sailing aboard Regent Seven Seas which stops on Fiji’s shores as part of two cruises: a 25-night Secret Isles and The Great Reef Papeete to Bali cruise and an 18-night Sydney to Papeete Secret Isles of the South Pacific.

Some of Ponant’s superlative itineraries include Fiji where highlights include diving (or learning to dive) Fiji’s incredible underwater world.

South Pacific specialist Paul Gauguin Cruises meanwhile offers sailings between Bali and Fiji or more in-depth cultural experience on 12- to 15-night cruises taking in Fiji, Tonga, the Cook Islands and the Society Islands.

+ Don’t miss

Swim in the clear green water of the majestic Sawa-i-Lau caves as sunlight streams into the open-air chamber. Famously these caves are featured in the 1980 movie Blue Lagoon, where a young Brooke Shields is filmed swimming and bathing. Passengers aboard both Blue Lagoon and Captain Cook Yasawa Islands cruises can explore these magnificent limestone caves. You can even take a short swim through an underwater passage into the second of these caves, marvelling at a side of Fiji most rarely see. CT

To research your next trip to Fiji, visit Tourism Fiji at fiji.travel