I do enjoy a good photographic challenge, but what opportunities does a cruise ship offer? This wasn’t my first time doing the usual South Pacific run on a cruiseliner, but it was the first time I brought both a film and digital camera.

A South Pacific cruise distilled down to its most base form: sky and ship

My first thought was to get some minimalistic shots of the waterslides against a blue sky with cotton-ball clouds. Alas, no waterslides. Apparently, this ship was built for cold-weather climates. But we did have great weather and no significant swells (thank jebus), so what did I actually shoot? Well, not much, but let’s have a look anyhow.

I generally like to start off by walking around the top deck of the ship, which is where all the action tends to happen. I often think a cruise would been a boon for a proper street photographer given the colourful collection of characters they tend to attract and the gaudy excess that goes along with it. Given my aversion to people in general, though, it’s not really for me. Instead, I focus on shapes and colours, interesting visual patterns.

This particular ship was in no shortage of attractions, with a Flowrider out the back, even indoor skydiving. There was a large gym complex with dodgem cars, pickleball, skating… You name it. It’s quite remarkable what they manage to shoehorn onto these ships these days.

Where possible, I think it’s good (budget allowing) to book a room with a balcony, especially if you have a camera with you. A few times we passed storms in the distance, but given the speed the ship was travelling at it would be easy to miss them if you had to leg it outside and up to the deck for a view. Speaking of which, that is my personal secret to staying fit on a cruise ship: never use the elevators. Trust me, you’ll have legs of steel after a week. And steer clear of the buffet. Nothing good comes of that.

A broody storm brewing through the haze of ship exhaust.

I haven’t put the film in to be developed, but the digital shots came up okay. I think I’m still on the fence about the XT5. It’s such a capable camera, but I’m not sure if it inspires in the same way the GFX did. I think maybe I just need to spend more time with it. As I’ve said before, and especially when we were in port, the lighter weight came in very handy. There is no way I would have been lugging around the GFX and a film camera.

I quite liked the window reflections in the main atrium section of the ship.

The aforementioned indoor skydiving on board, AKA iFly. This instructor clearly had a few hours under his belt.

Do I recommend cruising? Sure, it’s a great way to travel. You unpack once and don’t have to worry about public transport or which train to catch, about where to dine or what to do. There’s always something going on. Is it a little tacky, sure? But you kind of have to go along with it. It is what you make it, as they say, and certainly some locations, like Mystery Island, are as beautiful as ever. Scroll down for more images.