The little-visited Pacific islands right on our doorstep

Many of our nearest neighbours – which offer extravagantly scattered islands, limpid lagoons and superb underwater life – are ripe for expedition cruising, and yet have long been little visited by travellers, let alone Australians.

That has slowly changed in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. In the early months of this year some 50 cruise ships visited Vanuatu, mostly stopping at Port Vila, though some took in Luganville too.

Kirriwina Island, Papua New Guinea.

Now Micronesia, which has some 2000 islands, is inching its way onto cruise ship horizons to offer new discoveries for the adventurous.

Micronesia refers to a chunk of the Pacific Ocean north-east of PNG and east of the Philippines housing island names that seem plucked from a science-fiction novel: Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei.

It encompasses six nations including Nauru, Palau, Kiribati and the Federated States of Micronesia, as well as an assortment of territories such as Guam and the Marshall Islands.

Until now this has been the domain of obscure cruise companies, or else visited in passing by ships crossing the Pacific on world cruises, which usually stop either at Saipan or Guam.

But the Marianas Visitors Authority is reporting an increase not just in the number of visiting ships – which includes German and Japanese cruise lines – but the range of destinations they visit.

On January 4, MSC’s Bellisima brought a record 4000 passengers to Guam, and in February Holland America Line’s Zuiderdam visited Saipan for the first time. Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth and Ponant’s Le Soleal visited in March. A total of 12 ships are expected in Guam this year.

Cruising is a relaxed way to island hop through either Micronesia or Melanesia on ships that connect places that are otherwise difficult to access as an independent traveller, and which offer more comfort and better food than can generally be found ashore.

Coral Expeditions visits Wayag Island in Papua New Guinea.

Silversea sails from Darwin to Lautoka in September, 2024, on a superb 21-day expedition through PNG, the Solomons and Vanuatu, and Scenic has a new 13-day Passage though Melanesia expedition between Cairns and Nadi that departs in October, 2024.

Other companies that operate Micronesian or Melanesian cruises are Heritage Expeditions, Lindblad, Paul Gauguin, Ponant, Seabourn, Silversea and True North. P&O Australia and Holland America also visit.

Australian company Coral Expeditions is pushing the frontiers, having announced three itineraries in the region for January and February 2026. Two in Melanesia are new, and take in destinations such as the Louisiade archipelago, New Britain and Bougainville. The cruises promise cultural immersion and an almost daily opportunity to snorkel and dive.

Coral Expeditions’ third option is a return of its successful 2023 Micronesian cruise, which will run for 21 nights between Rabaul in PNG and Sorong in Indonesia, visiting un-tramped destinations such as Kapingamarangi Island, the spectacular fringing reefs of Ant Atoll, Truk Lagoon for shipwreck diving, Yap, and Palau, whose Helen Reef is a critical turtle-nesting site and a haven for many bird species.