High times on the high seas

SWINGING sounds, a rocking Rod Stewart impersonator and bad karaoke – John Masanauskas inflicts his devotion to David Bowie on Australia's biggest cruiseliner.

IT is a glorious afternoon in Sydney and the DJ of P&O liner Pacific Sun is cranking up the music for the departure.

Songs such as Walking on Sunshine and Summer Nights scream out on the rear deck as the liner moves out of Darling Harbour with a full load of passengers.

The punters are pumped as the ship passes under the Harbour Bridge and a group of bridge walkers wave excitedly from the top.

It's party time for close to 1900 passengers who have saved their pennies for a nine-day cruise.

Ahead is a leisurely jaunt around the South Pacific, including stops at Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

As the biggest cruise liner based in Australia, Pacific Sun offers resort-like facilities, including two dining rooms, buffet restaurant, casino, eight lounges and bars, a nightclub, two-storey show lounge, gym and shops, pools, health spa, a library with internet and kids' clubs.

In theory, the children spend hours in the kids' free club each day while mum and dad relax by the pool sipping cocktails, but it didn't quite work out that way.

Leisurely stop

For the first couple of days our boys did put in some serious time at Shark Shack, the club for seven to 12-year-olds, which is open from 9am to 10pm.

They enjoyed scavenger hunts, quizzes, ship tours, watching movies and PlayStation. Also popular were one-off activities such as a karaoke night, pizza party and talent show.

But our boys became bored and only popped into Shark Shack in the evenings to watch a movie.

They did spend a lot of time at the pool, especially the one with the giant waterslide, which became a major highlight of the cruise.

The boys were also attracted to the games arcade and internet terminals – activities with an extra charge.

The show lounge featured a big production each night. They were very professional and unashamedly mainstream.

The resident comedian and Rod Stewart impersonator was a big hit as was a special show saluting Australian songs and culture.

A personal highlight was karaoke night. It gave me an opportunity to inflict my devotion to David Bowie on a captive audience.

The cruise had three stops: Port Vila, Mystery Island, in Vanuatu, and Noumea, in New Caledonia.

We visited the Ekasup Cultural Centre in Vila, an entertaining romp through Melanesian culture, took a tour of Noumea, with a leisurely stop at trendy Anse Vata beach, and Mystery Island was an uninhabited paradise ideal for snorkelling.

The Sunday Mail (SA)