south sea cruises mana island

Mana Island Resort & Spa

Island resort day trip.

Take in the sights en route to this award-winning resort. Swim, laze around the pools, or snorkel. Lunch and non-motorised water sports equipment are included.

• Description

Cruise onboard our high-speed catamaran as we drop off/pick up passengers from other resorts en route to Mana Island Resort & Spa. This extensive resort has three separate beach areas, crystal clear waters, lots of shady palm trees, poolside bars, and loungers so it’s not hard to find your own idyllic spot.

On the lagoon side, enjoy snorkelling and a range of great water sports activities (at an additional cost). Laze on the quieter North Beach with its beautiful views out over uninhabited islands or soak up the sun on Sunset Beach.

Activities The resort facilities include two fresh-water swimming pools, multiple bars, resort boutique, island massage, and a range of water sports equipment (motorised and non-motorised and are all at an additional cost). On the cruise there and back from Port Denarau, take in the sights of the other islands in the Mamanuca group.

Food and Drinks A buffet lunch is included for both Full and Half Day Cruise guests. Drinks are additional and can be purchased from the bar. Note that Mana Island Resort & Spa does not accept cash as payment for additional items (credit/debit card only).

Passengers travel from/to Port Denarau with the following schedule:

• Return pre-booked coach transfers to/from Port Denarau to/from most Nadi, Denarau, and Wailoaloa hotels/resorts. Check the coach timetable here  for times
• Return vessel transfers from/to Port Denarau on our high-speed catamaran
• Buffet lunch for both the Full and Half Day trips (drinks are additional)
• Full use of Mana Island Resort & Spa facilities and approximately 6 hours on the island for the Full Day and 3 hour for the Half Day
• Meet and greet by Day Trip host

What to bring:

• A credit/debit card for optional purchases (note that Mana Island Resort & Spa does not accept cash)
• Swimwear and towel
• Sunscreen and hat

*Children are aged 5 – 15 years inclusive. Infants 4 years and under are free of charge however their meals are additional and can be purchased directly from the resort. All pricing is in FJD, includes taxes, and is valid for travel until 31 March 2025. Bookings paid by credit card or international debit card will incur a 2.5-3% non-refundable administration fee.

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Mana Island Day Cruise provided by South Sea Cruises

Mana Island Day Cruise provided by South Sea Cruises

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We here at Heli-Tours Fiji are the specialist in providing that personalized transfers. The advantage of travelling with Heli-Tours Fiji is the personal service, from the greeting at International Arrivals to the immediate departure from the airport. Contact us to experience the Heli-Tours difference! www.helitoursfiji.com

Port Denarau Marina, Fiji

South Sea Cruises

South Sea Cruises is Fiji’s most experienced cruise operator with an extensive range of award winning Day Cruises and Island Resort Transfers.

All our cruises offer great value and great fun. Our friendly crew look forward to welcoming you aboard.

Islands we visit for day cruises include:

• South Sea Island
• Mana Island Resort
• Castaway Island Resort
• Treasure Island
• Malolo Island
• Modriki Island (on board Seaspray)
• Yasawa Islands

Combo cruises and island explorers are also available, as is a cruise on board a classic schooner, Seaspray.

Island resorts we offer  transfer services  to include:

• Bounty Island Resort
• Treasure Island Resort
• Beachcomber
• Malolo Island Fiji
• Likuliku Lagoon
• Tropica Island Resort
• Matamanoa Island
• Tokoriki Island
• Vomo Island

South Sea Cruises has two fast, modern vessels operating Resort Connections. Each ferry offers a ‘Captains Lounge’ upgrade offering reserved seating and greater comfort (available until 31 March 2014).

South Sea Cruises is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fijian Holdings Ltd and is managed in conjunction with Marine Tourism Management, the management company of successful tourism companies:  Awesome Adventures Fiji ,  Blue Lagoon Cruises  and  Coconuts and Coral , as well as  Cruise Whitsundays  and Awesome Adventures Oz www.awesomeoz.com  in Australia. South Sea Cruises has been awarded the Excellence in Tourism Award for Transportation in 2006 and the Best Tourism Operator Award in 2007. South Sea Cruises is the winner of three categories at the Bula Fiji Tourism Exchange Awards in 2007 and the winner of one category in 2008 as well as winning the Fiji Tourism Award over several years.

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Mamanuca islands ferry

South Sea Cruises operates multiple ferries through the Mamanuca Islands every day. Over 10 destinations are served, connecting popular resorts like Mana island with Castaway island transfers. Island hopping within the Mamanuca's has never been easier, simply book your inter island ferry ticket using our easy search box.

Resort transfers in the Mamanuca islands

Vessel details.

Using fast, modern ferries, South Sea Cruises fleet all feature air-conditioned lounges, outer viewing decks, fully licensed bar serving snacks. Seat capacity up to 240 passengers and full safety features per international standard.

Inter Mamanuca Island schedule Schedule:

Cancellation & Amendment Policy

Online bookings can be made up to 48 hours in advance and if you have any questions feel free to check out our FAQ page or send us a message.

• For ferry tickets , the full ticket price will be charged for any cancellation less than 24 hours prior to boat departure (though we strongly advise at least 48hrs advance notice due to time zone differences). 
• If cancelled before this, you will receive a full refund. If you wish to amend your trip to a different date, this can be done free of charge* up to 48hrs in advance.
• "No show": if you miss the ferry departure without giving prior notice, no refund can be given. If you are able to give notice, you may still be able to board the next available trip.
• No residual refunds for unused components after travel has commenced.

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South Sea Island

South sea island is one of the treasures of the mamanuca islands., book and other enquiries, how to get here, what we offer, find us on social media, where happiness comes naturally, experience location, terms and conditions.

Mana Island Day Cruise provided by South Sea Cruises

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A New Cruise Is Making the Islands of Japan’s Seto Inland Sea More Accessible

By Kate Crockett

The morning sun was already high and hot, penetrating a blue sea haze that softened the forested islands on the horizon. The silhouette of a cargo ship inched north along the diffuse line between sky and sea, toward the frenetic cities on the mainland of Honshu. But where I was, all was peaceful.

In the milky blue below my Prestige stateroom balcony, two large Chrysaora jellyfish pulsed nonchalantly along the hull of Ponant 's 466-foot Le Soléal . Just the night before, this luxury expedition ship had transported me from the bustle of Osaka's crowds and heavy industry to the mysterious and beautiful Seto Inland Sea, the body of water that separates Japan' s main islands: Honshu , Shikoku , and Kyushu .

The reconstructed 16th-century Osaka Castle, on Japan’s Seto Inland Sea.

Bon Odori festival dancers wearing traditional tube-sleeve happi coats.

The Seto Inland Sea was Japan's most important trade route for centuries, before road and rail. Its port towns prospered, hosting seafarers as they waited for tides to propel them east toward the imperial capitals or west toward the Sea of Japan, which was the way I was headed on this eight-day cruise from Osaka to Fukuoka . Traveling by sea remains the best—though least utilized—way to explore this sleepy region, which most travelers bypass at 185 miles an hour aboard the Tokaido-Sanyo shinkansen.

Le Soléal , which turned 10 last year, is a sleek, small ship with cutting-edge tech to reduce its impact on the environment. On my first morning, I descended to the marina deck to board one of her 12 Zodiacs (Ponant is the first international company permitted to operate Zodiacs in these waters), bound for Inujima (“dog island”), our first port of call. Inujima is the smallest of the four islands that comprise Benesse Art Site Naoshima, a revolutionary art project that started on Naoshima in 1992 and expanded onto its neighbors. Its innovative proposition to use art to drive rural regeneration has put the Seto Inland Sea firmly on the global art map.

The view from Taichoro Reception Hall, part of Fukuzen-ji Temple in Tomonoura Bay.

We crossed the water toward the crumbling brick chimneys of Inujima's Meiji-era copper refinery, which, for 20 boom years in the early 1900s, provided materials for the construction of Osaka's harbor but was subsequently abandoned. Reimagined in 2008 as Seirensho Art Museum, the site—part preserved ruin, part art gallery—has become a place to ponder the benefits and losses of Japan's rapid industrialization.

Sitting in the shade of artist Kazuyo Sejima's Nakanotani Gazebo, a small pavilion with a curving silver roof that creates echoes of nearby sounds, was a gentleman—the first person I'd seen—and his Shiba Inu. With fewer than 20 residents, most of them elderly, Inujima is one of Japan's countless genkai shūraku—villages doomed by depopulation. The art site is an attempt to revitalize life by attracting visitors. That day, it was unusually busy, as Seirensho had opened exclusively for Le Soléal 's 264 passengers.

The Art House Project, one of Inujima's exhibits designed to help revitalize the local community.

The following morning, expedition leader Ryo Ijichi navigated our Zodiac into a port of Tomonoura that felt like a time warp into the Edo era. We stepped ashore to find residents had planned a private concert from a local stringed instrument called a koto as well as tastings of homeishu, an herbal liqueur distilled on the island. We received a walking map created for Ponant guests to explore sites of interest, including the Taichoro Reception Hall at Fukuzen-ji Temple, with its commanding views of the Seto Inland Sea. Tomonoura's schoolchildren handed out origami cranes and ninja stars. “We have been careful to work with local communities to ensure the cruise is bringing benefits to them,” said Ijichi, the driving force behind this deep-access itinerary. It took three years of “meeting every mayor, every official, and drinking lots of sake with local fishermen” to bring the experience to fruition. Even the Zodiac landings would not have been feasible had Ijichi not lobbied Japan's Ministry of Transportation to pass the necessary legislation.

By Olivia Morelli

By Alex Van Buren

By Melissa Liebling-Goldberg

By Paris Wilson

Forty nautical miles west, on the eastern tip of Osaki Shimojima island, lies little-known Mitarai. We explored its Edo-era geisha house, sento bathhouse, and shop houses unhindered by other visitors. Locals pulled out all the stops, with hands-on ikebana, gagaku (imperial court music) by the sea at Sumiyoshi Grand Shrine, and a shamisen and classical dance recital in a former cartographer's residence. Ponant handed out vouchers for passengers to spend in local cafés and later brought onboard a haul of local red snapper.

Passengers visit Tomonoura, a historic port town that is part of the Setonaikai National Park.

Each day brimmed with memorable moments. In Shimokamagari, I took part in an odori folk dance with ladies in traditional tube-sleeve happi coats. The next evening, Le Soléal 's packed dance floor swayed to the in-house band above six-foot swells in the Sea of Japan. In Hagi Castle Town, I scoured the historic grid for pink-hued Hagi-yaki pottery. Later, I relaxed with a full-body scrub in Le Soléal's Sothys spa. Tsushima Island , midway between Japan and Korea , marked our final full day in Japan. Le Soléal departed though the magnificent Aso Bay, becoming the first cruise ship ever to do so. As the sun set, sake flowed and musicians played beside the pool.

This Ponant sailing was not Bucket List Japan. You could easily bookend this too-short cruise with the popular Golden Route, as many of my fellow travelers did. This was a version of Japan reserved only for those traveling by sea, in the manner and pace of a bygone era . A matchless guest speaker, the Japan authority Alex Kerr, summed up the pioneering journey by saying: “We did not go to Naoshima, the world-famous art island. They don't need us. But Inujima and Mitarai—those places need us. I am thrilled Ponant chose the beautiful Inland Sea, which everyone has been ignoring up until now.”

This article appeared in the January/February 2024 issue of Condé Nast Traveler. Subscribe to the magazine here .

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