Nomadcruise
Crossing the Pacific Ocean
Throughout several nomad conferences, festivals and other gatherings around the world, Charlie had heard about this cruise for digital nomads a few times. The dates and routes however had never worked out for her before; until Nomadcruise 15. They had announced this cruise for their 10th anniversary a year in advance and Charlie still had full flexibility for those four weeks of cruising. Plus, it would go from Seattle to Sydney, and she always had wanted to travel to Australia. At the same time, she was planning to attend a work conference in California a month before the cruise and there was another conference in Melbourne for about 3 weeks after the cruise ship arrival in Sydney. It was perfect and obviously meant to be.
The route: Seattle to Sydney
Another good reason to do this cruise was the route itself. Not only would Charlie arrive in Australia with the least possible jetlag, but there were some other stops in places that were on her bucket list: three Hawaiian Islands and two islands in Fiji. The stops in Samoa and Vanuatu were an added plus. For all those destinations, the organisers behind Nomadcruise had arranged trips that could be booked online a few weeks before departure. Of course, there was no obligation to join those trips and participants had the option to do their own thing at any time. For Charlie, it made sense to book those trips for the land days because she didn’t want to rely on finding somebody who would rent a car and have a spot for her. She later noticed that a lot of her fellow nomadcruisers had known each other before and had been making plans for car hire together. As a newbie that was difficult for Charlie. The alternative would have been to book other guided tours, so why not do it with the Nomadcruise community?
Exploring the Hawaiian Islands
For the first stop in Oahu, the community had planned a bus tour around the island and unfortunately, busses weren’t allowed to go to the places Charlie really had wanted to go, e.g. the iconic surf spot Pipeline. She would have had the same issue though on other guided tours and there were no waves that day anyway.
For the second day in Oahu, the planned tour was a sunset sailing trip, and Charlie had the entire day for other things. The cruise ship harbour was in the capital Honolulu and not far from the surf spot Waikiki Beach. Once again, there were no waves, and Charlie got a paddleboard instead to at least see the skyline of the city from the ocean.
The second stop in Hawaii was on the island of Maui. They had planned a tour called “The road to Hana” and this time, it wouldn’t be a bus, but multiple mini vans for up to 7 people. Any bigger vehicle probably couldn’t have navigated through the winding roads. Charlie was stunned by the nature of Maui, from lush greenery to red sandy beaches. Because she had booked the tour through the Nomadcruise community, she didn’t know where exactly they would go and stop. She was beyond happy that the very first stop was at a surfspot, Ho’okipa. There were good waves that day and good surfers in the water. She had the camera with her and used the 20 minutes to take photos while the others walked down to the beach to see turtles.
The third stop in Hawaii was on the next day in Kauai. There had been two tour options that day with the community: another bus trip around the island and a scenic flight to see the Napali coast. Charlie had booked the latter, and she was not disappointed. There were multiple times available throughout the day, and she had booked an afternoon slot. She hadn’t done that with any logic behind it when she booked, but it had been the best decision. During the earlier flights, her fellow travellers hadn’t seen much because of the clouds. By lunchtime, the sky had cleared, and they had the best views. It also meant that Charlie could catch up on some work from a coffee shop near the harbour with a stable internet connection. After more than a week off grid, that was much needed!
The stops and tours in Hawaii had been great to get an overview and a feel for the place, however, Charlie felt that it hadn’t been enough to write dedicated posts about these places. That’s why this summary post about the cruise is all you get for now.
Samoa
After a few more days at sea, the ship arrived in Samoa, and the tour was again a bus tour around the island. This time, they didn’t stay overnight and had only 7 hours on the island. The bus tour was the best way to see most of the island in that limited time. Charlie enjoyed the stops at the waterfalls and swimming holes; however, she noticed that cruise travelling wasn’t really her kind of travelling. She liked to stay a bit longer in places and really get to know them. In Samoa, she had only seen the tourist spots. She didn’t exchange any money, didn’t really interact with any locals apart from tour guides and didn’t buy a postcard for her collection. It felt as if she hadn’t really been there at all. That is the nature of cruise travelling and maybe that just wasn’t her kind of travelling.
Fiji: Savusavu
After a few more days at sea, the cruise ship arrived in Fiji, and they had more tours planned. At first, they stopped for one day in Savusavu and went snorkelling off the coast. This land day was already exciting because they were tendering to shore. The cruise ship couldn’t get all the way to the marina and Charlie was for the first time on a tender boat.
Fiji: Lautoka
The first day in the port of Lautoka had been a trip to a smaller island that could be walked around in only 20 minutes. There were a beach club and several beach and water activities available. Charlie had bought a used guitar in the US to have one for the cruise and they had already had some evening jam sessions on the ship. Together with another nomadic musician, Charlie had agreed to take the guitar to that island trip, and they were jamming on the beach. That was one of her favourite moments during the cruise.
Fiji: Suva
The second day in Lautoka was dedicated to snorkelling, and they had lunch on the famous beach where the movie “Cast Away” had been filmed. The cruiseship then moved overnight to the other side of the same island and docked in the capital of Fiji, Suva. The trip for that day was different to the beach activities they all were used to by now. They took a bus to a traditional village and went in kayaks up the river to a waterfall. It was a real adventure, not only because of the stunning nature, but also because of the heavy tropical rain they were doing it in. Some people stayed back in the village after lunch and a traditional ceremony to stay dry; Charlie loved it to be out in the warm tropical rain.
Vanuatu
The final stop during the month-long transpacific cruise was on Mystery Island in Vanuatu. Once again, they were tendering to shore and explored a tiny island that only came to life on the days when cruise ships landed. Charlie thought that it was a smart way to keep the tourists off the main island by simply dropping them off on an uninhabited place. It was beautiful though. The locals had come over to Mystery Island to set up massage parlours, popup bars and restaurants and a market to get your souvenirs. Charlie went around the island twice, first on foot and then on a paddleboard. In the crystal-clear water, paddling along the coast was almost better than snorkelling as she had the perfect view of the corals and colourful fish.
From her balcony cabin, Charlie had admired the landscape of Vanuatu already before breakfast and for a short moment, she had considered staying on the ship that day to simply enjoy that view. It was probably the most beautiful place she had ever seen.
Three days later, they arrived in Sydney and Charlie would now go her own ways again. It was the start of a whole other trip for her, a surf trip along the coast of Australia.
The programme of Nomadcruise
The cruise and the stops on all those islands were part of a normal cruise offering, they weren’t special to Nomadcruise. What was special though was the programme at sea. You could describe it as a floating conference. From marketing presentations to deep business talks and workshops about finding love as a digital nomad, any topic was covered. It was a full programme – sometimes even too full. Between conference talks and fun community activities, there was barely any time for work. Some of the Nomadcruisers had even taken the time off because they wanted the full immersion into the programme. Charlie wanted the best of both worlds and often had to decide what to attend or not. Between yoga and dancing, jacuzzi chats and silent discos, breathwork and pickleball, Charlie managed to get work done with good discipline and early mornings.
Networking and meals
The conference talks weren’t really Charlie’s main motivation to join this community, for her it was more about networking and new connections. During the first 10 days, it had been her rule to sit during every meal with different people. There could only be one person on the table that she had talked to before. That worked very well for her, and she would say that by the end of the cruise she had talked to almost everybody in the community (around 220 people) at least once.
Another good opportunity for networking were the daily walks on deck 3. Charlie had noticed that she was already naturally walking around 8000 steps per day on the ship. That was a lot less though than her usual step count. Luckily, one of the other cruisers organised the daily walks to get everybody moving and talking.
Evenings at sea
The evenings were jam packed too and that does not mean that every night was a music jam. Of course, there were some of those, apart from themed parties, movie nights, game nights, storytelling evenings, talent shows and open mics. Gatherings in several bars during and after happy hour weren’t rare either and at times, Charlie was happy to have a balcony cabin to escape too. The programme was overwhelming and luckily, she had her FOMO under control.
Community travel
Charlie was used to travelling solo and meeting others along the road. Travelling with a group of 200 people in an enclosed space with a set programme was new for her. She noticed how important it is to have boundaries and know when to take a break for herself. She also enjoyed having opportunities to meet others and join activities whenever she wanted. There was never any obligation to join.
While there was an official programme, there were also a lot of community-driven events. Even the days without conference talks were usually filled with smaller meetups about various topics and it was impressive to see how much everybody was willing to give back to the community.
Favourite moments
Four weeks is a long time and there were many great moments created on board and during land days. Charlie will forever treasure them in her heart, especially the jam session on the beach and the surf pictures she took in Maui. One special moment was the night they spent in Honolulu. Everybody had been together at a rooftop bar in the city and without even discussing it, a lot of Nomadcruisers returned to the ship at about the same time and gathered again in the restaurant for a late-night snack. At that time, they were the only cruise passengers in the restaurant, and they all sat together in the same area, spread over multiple tables. It was the beauty of this unplanned moment that brought them all together.
And Charlie will never forget the failed attempt by a fellow traveller at stealing the neighbour’s cheese during dinner that turned into a cheese-spearing competition and endless laughter around the table.
To be continued?
Charlie said goodbye to the other Nomadcruisers in Sydney and continued travelling along the coast of Australia by herself. Some community members gathered again in Cairns to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Nomadcruise. It has been around for a decade and has become an institution in the world of digital nomads. There are more trips to come, and Charlie doesn’t know yet whether she’ll join again. It all depends on the dates, the routes and the length. She imagined a shorter cruise to be overwhelmingly busy. How would they fit the entire programme into a week or two? The four-week-long cruise was perfect to have enough time for everything, work, conference talks, exploring and networking. It was great to have that much time to get to chat to all the other nomads. It is therefore much more likely for Charlie to book another longer cruise than a shorter one.
