With passengers numbering more than 400, Samoa is yet again to be graced by a large and modern luxury cruiseship. "The MS Delphin Voyager" - a very new ship whose maiden voyage was just last year – will arrive to Apia’s port tomorrow at midday.

Apia is the second to last stop before Lautoka on the 23 day cruise of Mexico and the South Pacific Paradises. This cruise is part four of a 161 day world cruise. Spain, Brazil, Jamaica and Mexico were some of the more notable stops made before the ship headed into the heart of Polynesia toward Samoa. New Zealand, Portugal and South Africa are all to be explored after the Pacific leg of the journey. Polynesian Xplorer will be providing tours for many of the ships passengers, with an exciting beach excursion to Tafatafa Beach, and another to Piula Cave Pools.

Once again, Polynesian Xplorer will be providing bi-lingual tours, as many of the ship’s passengers are German speaking. Certainly our shared history and some of the historical monuments will be the focus of two, half day shore excursions. In design, the ship is a successful symbiosis of classic style and modern features. With a beauty salon, spa, sauna, on-board travel agent, library, lounge, bars and much more, the ship is designed to cater to your every need onboard. The ship’s heart and centre is the atrium, which ascends three decks. So if you’re in town tomorrow, look out for the passengers proceeding into Apia township in the afternoon!

The luxury German cruiseship, MS Europa, departed on a 22 day,"Pacific Islands of Happiness" tour that will see 400 plus passengers discover our happy islands! Departing from Honalulu and ending at Cairns on the 24th of Feb, the MS Europa sailed into Apia Harbour early on the morning of Sunday 10th of Feb, where it was met by the staff of Polynesian Xplorer and embarked upon some exciting tours of Apia and surrounding areas.

The Europa is the first cruise ship worldwide to receive the six star diamond award from the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences, an acadamy renowned worldwide for recognizing excellence in the global travel and luxury services sector. Polynesian Xplorer were excited at the prospect of providing bilingual tours to the passengers; most of whom were German. 10 decks high and 199m long, the Europa one of the most spacious cruise ships on the market. On the Penthouse Deck there are two grand suites of 60sqm, with 80% of the suites on board feature private decks and all suites ocean facing. For the golf lovers out there, of the ships many luxury features, the golf stimulator and putting green may be the most impressive.

For those not interested in having a hit, the ships cinema, casino, sauna or swimming pool may better keep passengers occupied. Some passengers even ventured out to play a round of golf at one of our local golfing greens, so we're stoked that Samoa turned on the sun! The ship then departed for the south side of the island, where they enjoyed the Samoan sunset at Sinalei Reef Resort. A barbeque dinner, drinks and relaxtion were on the menu for Sunday evening, before they headed south toward Fiji. Ahhh, sure sounds like the Pacific Islands of Happiness to me! source: Polynesian Xplorer / Photo: Polynesian Xplorer