Fiji has had its fair share of troubles but its history of coups and political turmoil has done little to hamper the tourist industry, which long ago overtook the sugar and rum trades as the national breadwinner. Sugarcane remains, however, swaying in the breeze and, in the evenings during harvest time, the sky glows with cane fires. The small-gauge tracks of the sugarcane train are a constant companion beside the 'highway' to Lautoka, which passes lazy Brahman cattle lounging in the mid-morning heat and old sugar works in the shadows of jungle-encrusted mountains.

At Blue Lagoon's headquarters, cocktails are served in the departure lounge, a comfortable space where cruisers are given safety and snorkelling briefings and where bright tropical shirts and coconut sunscreen are encouraged.

Blue Lagoon is not your average cruise line; while it boasts many of the attributes of its mega-liner rivals, it specialises in island hopping, which is possible only in smaller ships, such as its MV Mystique Princess. Forget cookie-cutter ports and ear-ringing calypso, this is about discovering the true South Pacific, its people, landscape and heritage. It's about being a stone's throw from the shore and spending as much time on land as you do cruising through Fiji's lagoons.

Passengers spend the first day aboard getting their bearings, both within the ship and with their fellow cruisers, who number in the low 70s. Over snacks on the saloon deck, drenched in the late afternoon sun as the Mamanuca Islands drift by, or at the captain's table during a multicourse gourmet dinner, opportunities to get to know your cabin neighbours, future beach buddies and fellow explorers abound. The complimentary bottle of bubbly in each stateroom proves a great social lubricant. With name tags and glasses in hand, it's not long before the ice is broken.

Mornings begin at 6am with a transfer to a nearby beach for a sunrise swim. Blue Lagoon vessels anchor in the turquoise waters of lagoons overnight, so the beach is never far away.

After a buffet breakfast, tenders ferry passengers over to the isle du jour to explore a village - this is the real deal, right down to the picturesque chapel, the single-room primary school and the kava ceremony. Electricity is provided, for a couple of hours each evening, by a generator and there is a sense of isolated tranquillity .

The ship's visits provide villagers with news from the main towns and an opportunity to make some extra money. After being welcomed into the community, which consists of ramshackle huts centred around a weathered church, the women of the village attempt to sell impossibly large seashells while sitting on hand-woven mats and cooling themselves with banana leaf fans.

Evenings on board are spent at the Sky Bar, where the bartender whips up tropical concoctions to be enjoyed on the ship's top level. And for those looking to set the night aflame with amour, private candlelit dinners can be served alfresco on the deck.

With the second sunrise comes a new sight - Mystique's sister ship, the Fiji Princess, is anchored only 40 metres away. Captain Siti's joke at dinner about tying up to a coconut tree at night proves to be no joke at all; we are tethered to a sturdy stump on a beach, leased by the cruise company, on the island of Nanuya Lailai. Guests are given an array of activities to choose from - will it be a swim, with a cocktail delivered to the water's edge then some sun worshipping? Or perhaps a glass-bottom boat ride, followed by a snorkelling session, lunch under the palm trees and time with a good book? The island boasts reefs that are only metres from the beach, meaning a glass-bottom boat adventure, taking in the amazing colours of fish and coral, needn't take long.

That night onshore, under starlight and the odd burning torch, guests enjoy a feast cooked in a lovo, a traditional Fijian underground oven. Passengers can dance the evening away on the sand or head back for more mixology on the Sky Deck.

The final sunrise offers the last chance for a swim for those prepared to forgo a lie-in. As breakfast is served, we pass little atolls, including the one used in the filming of Cast Away. As we approach Lautoka, group photos are taken and hastily scribbled e-mail addresses swapped. Another boatload can proudly boast that they not only know where the Yasawa Islands are, they have cruised them in style.