Travel tips and cartoons

If your cruise vacation takes you to the South Pacific, and one of the ports of call is Suva, Fiji, then keep an eye out for the spectacular Royal Fiji military band. Resplendent in their red and white uniforms - the men wearing the native sulus - they make an impressive sight on the wharves as your ship docks at Fiji's capital. The great thing about coming into port is that you get a birds eye view of life on the docks below. This makes for excellent opportunities for photography. I took this picture on the fullest extent of my zoom lens - a tropical mix of reds and whites and gleaming instruments. Truly a sight to behold in the South seas.

Labels: cruise vacation, dockside entertainment, fiji islands, Royal Fiji military band, Suva

When you take your ocean cruise, of supreme importance to your comfort is the fact that the ship's plumbing should be working correctly. Some handy advice here - take heed of the above notice which I found in my cabin loo on a South Pacific cruise. It outlines the correct way to use the cabin toilet, to avoid inconvenience to yourself, and also your fellow passengers down the line !

Labels: cabin toilet, funny, humour, ocean cruising, ships plumbing

When I took this photograph, leaning over the side of a cruise ship in the South Pacific, a fellow passenger said to me "I can't understand why you're taking that picture - there's nothing out there except sea." I disagreed, of course. For anyone with an artistic eye, the patterns of sunlight on waves at sea can make a striking composition. Some dramatic pictures can be obtained, especially early in the morning, or towards evening, when the lighting is at its best. There is beauty to be found in the way that a bow wave rushes majestically out with sunlight and spray providing depth and texture. Indeed, it's almost hypnotic looking at the waves with their steady, unceasing and timeless rhythm. That's why to me anyway, an ocean voyage is a relaxing experience, unhurried, and far from the hassles of ordinary life. It also provides great opportunities for photography !

Labels: cruise vacation, holiday photographs, photography at sea, South Pacific cruise, sunlight on water, taking better pictures at sea

Today, we show a short cartoon on the subject of how to enjoy your cruise vacation. A holiday at sea is the ideal way to relax - no worries about where the next meal is to come from. You can just sit back, and enjoy the calming rhythm of the waves, proceeding at a leisurely pace across the ocean blue. Or you can live it up in the disco. The choice is yours.

Labels: cartoon, Enjoying your cruise holiday, funny, humor, humour, relax on a cruise, video footage

An essential part of enjoying a cruise holiday for many passengers is taking photographs while at sea. But too often, these are conventionally posed pictures with no regard as to time of day, or an original choice of subject.
With a little effort you could get some different pictures that will make your holiday snaps stand out as being original. For instance, why not get up early and take some shots on the deck in the soft morning light. Your results will be more dramatic with the sun just rising over the ocean.
At this hour, you could obtain some unusual photos such as crew members going about their daily tasks as depicted above . You can portray another side of shipboard life with such behind-the-scenes shots which others won't have thought of taking.

Labels: camera at sea, crew members, cruise vacation, early morning on deck, holiday photographs, shipboard life

If you've ever gone on an ocean cruise, you've probably seen birds way out at sea, miles from land. These brave nautical navigators fly immense distances across the oceans of our world. Occasionally, they hitch a ride on a cruise liner. Here's an example of one such seabird stowaway in the following video.

This particular bird was quite exhausted. It landed at night, dazzled by the bright lights of the ocean liner. I took the video of it, just off Vanuatu at around 11pm one evening. A travellers tip here - if you are on board a large liner, and you find one of these stowaways, all you can do is make sure it is in a safe place away from curious passengers. When the bird has rested and recovered, it will take off again, grateful for the temporary R&R it has received on board.

Labels: exhausted seabird, ocean cruising, South Pacific cruise, vacation cruise

Part of the excitement of travelling by sea is seeing a foreign port. Somehow, approaching an exotic location at a leisurely pace, and seeing a new coastline unfold from sea level is in my opinion, much more satisfying than landing in an aeroplane. Airports have a certain sameness about them I've found. On your cruise therefore, shore excursions are eagerly looked forward to by most passengers.

At a more remote location, for example the Yasawa Islands in the Fiji group, passengers from a cruise ship have to gain the shore by travelling in a lifeboat tender. This is an adventure in itself, and if you are a camera enthusiast, you can obtain some unusual pictures of your boat from sea level (see video).

Labels: Fairstar, fiji holiday, fiji islands, South Pacific cruise, video, video footage