More than just a cruise...

There’s something satisfyingly simple about taking a cruise, but finding a destination at a price is not always straightforward. As passenger numbers grow and new destinations open up, the pool of unique destinations is shrinking.

Riding the waves for a week is not everyone’s idea of a dream holiday, but six warm, sunny days cruising the Great Barrier Reef on a small luxury liner cannot be contested!

Not a solid structure but rather a maze of 2,900 reefs with 950 islands spread languidly over 2,600 kilometres, the Great Barrier Reef stretches from Cape York in the north to Bundaberg in south Queensland. Created by Mother Nature, this treasure trove of dazzling corals has more than 6,500 species of fauna and 1,500 species of fish. It’s the world’s largest marine park, larger than the Great Wall of China and the only living thing on earth visible from space.

Glorious sunshine on the day we were to launch seemed like a nod from Neptune. Toting our suitcases across the road to the pier at Cairns we first set eyes on MV Orion, one of the world’s most luxurious cruise liners.

Clearing formalities and having a bon voyage photograph taken, the crew then accompanied us to our stateroom and, after some friendly banter, we were convinced that crew and guests were going to have an equally good time.

Our stateroom was cosy and very well appointed, with a separate bedroom complete with a queen size bed and lots of wardrobe space, large picture windows with a French balcony, wide screen plasma, DVD, mini bar, and a compact but highly functional en suite bathroom with toiletries, bathrobes and plenty of lighting for ladies’ make-up - an important part of the voyage.

Seven short and one long blast and we were assembled on deck five for the monitory life boat drill. Afterwards we all gathered on the upper deck for cocktails. Our diversity of origin and languages made for a league of nations with passengers from all corners of the world. A saxophone player and a keyboard pianist are belted out tunes to the beat of a calypso band - must be Saturday night in the Caribbean!