A South Pacific cruise is the best way of going beyond the region’s tourist trail and really getting under the skin of its fascinating culture and customs, from dance and music to javelin-throwing. Silversea Expeditions’ small-ship cruises are ideal for travelling around these hard-to-access islands, travelling in all-inclusive luxury aboard Silver Cloud or Silver Explorer, with an onboard team of experts giving you the kind of insider knowledge that will bring your trip truly to life.

Everything is included with a Silversea cruise: butler service, private executive transfers, Economy Class flights (or Business Class at special rates), food and drink, shore excursions and hotels.

Seahorse-shaped Hiva Oa in the Marquesan archipelago is most famous as the resting place – in the peaceful little port of Atuona – of both painter Paul Gauguin and singer Jacques Brel. The Gauguin Museum has copies of some of the first’s best-known works. You’ll be given a traditional Mave Mai welcome here, with dance, polyphonic group singing and pahu drumming, and see local artisans in action.

Despite being the second-largest island in the archipelago after Tahiti, Nuku Hiva is yet to be discovered by tourism, so you’ll have its treasures – lush forests, mountains, harbours, tikis (sacred statues) and pae pae (stone platforms that formed the foundations of houses) – almost to yourselves. An inclusive drive through the Taipivai Valley is the highlight here.

Next up are the ‘Sacred Island’ of Raiatea with its many remnants of older Polynesian structures that allow you to trace the roots of Polynesian culture and its opportunity to go kayaking on the Faaroa River with its birds and wild hibiscus purau trees.

Before heading back to Papeete, you’ll visit the high mountainous island of Moorea with its Ramsar wetland lagoon complete with sharks and rays. Excursions here include a Dolphin Watch with Dr Poole and a Moorea Eco-Cultural Experience embracing an eco-museum visit and the chance to sample and buy local medicinal creams and oils, noni juices, honey and vanilla.