Where will you sail first - the Indian Ocean or the Pacific?

By Amy Cooper

Madagascar, Mauritius, Mumbai, Myanmar, Maputo in Mozambique, Male in the Maldives, Mayotte in the French Comoros and Mahe in the Seychelles. Mysteriously, multiple marvels of the Indian Ocean's maritime majesty begin with "m". So do mythical, magnificent, mesmerising and magical - the perfect dictionary definition of cruising in the world's third-largest ocean.

Sure, there's sun and fun over on the east of Australia in the Pacific, but for the deepest dive into exotic, evocative places laden with legend, set sail from Fremantle for epic voyages in the footsteps of sultans, spice traders and swashbucklers. With Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east, fringing countries as diverse as India, Tanzania, Sri Lanka and Singapore, the Indian Ocean is a cultural cauldron of traditions, tastes, religions and languages intermingled over 50,000 years by various seafaring civilisations and their spice routes.

Cruises combine the best of land and sea: you could be diving and snorkelling in the tropical big blue one day and sighting the Big Five on an African safari the next. You could sail from Cape Town to Colombo, Singapore to the Seychelles, Mumbai to Maputo, Durban to Dar es Salaam - or embark on an island bask-a-thon berthing in blissful bucket-list toppers: the Seychelles, the Maldives, Mauritius and Reunion, the Comoros and big, beautiful Madagascar, "the eighth continent".

Small-ship operators such as Silversea, Ponant, Azamara, Oceania, Seabourn, Crystal Cruises and Coral Expeditions can explore less-sailed waters and untouched sanctuaries such as the stunning Baa Atoll Biosphere Reserve in the Maldives and World Heritage-listed Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles, both playgrounds for sea turtles.

Whatever the vessel, it's hard to steer off course in an ocean where precious spices permeate every port, from the cinnamon trees of Sri Lanka to the freshly gathered nutmeg and cardamom sold in the markets in the Comoros' Moroni market. And the fragrant curries, everywhere.

And then there's Zanzibar, a real island that sounds like a myth, where the region's African-Arabian cultural brew is most potent. It's hard to choose Zanzibar's best story: One Thousand and One Nights, starring Sinbad, Scheherazade and Aladdin, or the true saga of the world's shortest recorded war, fought for 38 minutes between the Brits and Zanzibar's sultan in 1896 at the House of Wonders palace. You can tour the extravagant but crumbling edifice today, amid the minarets and mansions of World Heritage site Stone Town.

And that's just a taste of the four-continent feast within the Indian Ocean's horizons. By comparison, even the Pacific's prettiest paradises seem Bora-boring.

By Mal Chenu

Australians love cruising, and the Pacific is our go-to ocean. Ever since Fairstar, "the Fun Ship" taught us the thrill of tropical island hopping while stonkered, we have crowded onto cruise ships to explore the myriad wonders of the biggest blue.

The Pacific is the ocean that gets most of our cruise love and this has made lesser seas - like the Indian - very salty.

"It's not fair! Pacific cruises get Bora Bora, the Isle of Pines AND Maui?!? When all I have between Rotto and the Seychelles is eight sea days? Even Gilligan's Island was in the Pacific. This planet sucks! I wish I'd never been formed."

And the Indian is correct, if a little whiny. The Pacific has always had the romantic allure. From the early Polynesians to Magellan to Cook to Heyerdahl to P&O, every encounter with the "peaceful sea" has been greeted with awe and excitement.

Pacific sojourns always made fascinating discoveries, such as new shores and civilisations, more efficient trade routes, exotic flora and fauna, and rocket fuel sail-away cocktails in fluorescent plastic dolphin cups with curly straws.

These days all the cruise lines do the Pacific. You can sail across the ditch to New Zealand and take a "Captain Cook" at the ethereal Fiordland National Park, along with drop-ins at Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington, Dunedin and more. Also close to home, a voyage to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands offers captivating culture and coral.

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Further out into the deep blue, countless palm-filled, sandy idylls can be yours at any time of year in any number of ways. These bejewelled South Pacific islands, islets and motus all elicit Pavlovian reactions: Hawaii, Fiji, Tonga, Kiribati, Niue, Palau, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and The Cooks, to name but a few. And cruise ships visit them all.

Numerous smaller and expeditionary ships operate in and around the islands, too, and an alternative approach is to fly to, say, Fiji or French Polynesia, and board a boutique boat for a more intimate encounter. Aranui 5, for example, is an enthralling mixed passenger/cargo vessel that makes 14-day trips from Tahiti to the Marquesas Islands.

Small ships also visit the Galapagos islands, where shore excursions off the HMS Beagle inspired Charles Darwin to come up with up the theory of natural selection. And you can still see the giant tortoises, marine iguanas and bizarre birdlife that helped him develop what philosopher Daniel Dennett called "the single best idea that anyone has ever had". Except for cruising, that is.

Pacific cruises have evolved significantly since the days of Darwin. And while these days it is in the DNA of all cruise lines to provide opulent ships, interesting itineraries and excellent dining, it is still the mesmerising Pacific and her island paradises that stir the soul.