In the past Samoa's relatively undeveloped tourism industry and poor shipping facilities made it difficult to include in a luxury South Pacific cruise itinerary. However, with recent government funded redevelopments of the wharf and marina in the capitol of Apia that is now changing in a big way.

Thanks to these redevelopments it is now possible for large cruise liners to actually dock along side the wharf, not only making it much easier, but also much safer for passengers to disembark without the need for a ferry to transport them from ship to shore.

Luxury cruise liners now visit Samoa on a regular basis, with 15 large liners docking in Samoa already in 2008. Each visit brings up to 2000 passengers to Samoa's capitol town of Apia which is an exciting opportunity for local business operators who have a small 10 hour window to share their culture and crafts with mostly Australian, American, German, British and New Zealand holiday makers.

A cruise of the South Pacific is an ideal way to see the many different islands and their cultures. After all, the Polynesian triangle consists of over 1000 islands making it difficult to choose which one to visit as they all have so much holiday appeal.

Samoa is such a refreshing inclusion in cruise itineraries as it differs from more well known south pacific destinations due to its relative obscurity and resulting maintenance of its original culture.

One of the most well known operators, P%26O Cruises, offers a 17 day Samoan Surprise Cruise aboard the Pacific Dawn, departing from Sydney Australia in March 2009. As well as Samoa the cruise includes a visit to Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and Loyalty Islands.

If you are looking for a longer sojourn, you can also see Samoa as part of the 28 day Tahitian Treasures Cruise, which departs on the Pacific Dawn out of Sydney or the Pacific Sun out of Auckland in June 2009.