Shore Tours

[Cooee_Kid]

Hi all, can shore tours be booked prior to the cruise or can they only be booked on the ship?:confused:

[Cooee_Kid]

Ok I have read all about shore tours in the threads, and they seem to depend on how long you have. We are on the Star from Brisbane. For anyone who has been on the Cruise Fantastique and knows the time constraints, can you name your top tour for Noumea, Lifou and Port Vila? We are both in our 50's if that helps:rolleyes:

[LouLou28]

:) Hi! We did Week Fantastique in Jan/Feb this year. We were travelling with our two children (then aged 9 & 6) - so we had to consider their limitations in our choices!

In Noumea we did City Highlights - which was a bus tour (which seemed to pretty much follow the same or similar route as the Petit Train) of Noumea. The bus left from in front of the cruise terminal and drove through the city and around the 'sights', including Lemon Bay. It was commentated and we enjoyed this quick overview of Noumea. (It was quite reasonably priced too!). We didn't get refreshments, or cheese and champagne at the top of the mountain like some of the other tours - but all in all we thought it a good overview of Noumea - and given the limited time/daylight available in port, not a bad choice!

On Lifou we did the Cliffs of Jonkin - this was a very 'unique' Renault bus (circa 1950 perhaps!!!) --- none of the windows closed (which made up for no airconidtioning in the February heat!!!). Again, it was narrated by a lovely local woman who's kowledge of the island seemed to be very thorough. We stopped at a Vanilla Farm on the way across the island which was lovely --- I still think of it everytime I smell vanilla! They served up vanilla infused tea or coffee for everyone. The bus then continued to the other side of the island to Jonkin. There we were welcomed with woven hats for everyone and a chat about village life - the view was magnificent! We then had a choice of walking down the steps to the bay below (which meant walking back up!!!) or the rest could go into the Chief's hut for some more local culture about how the chief and tribal system works in Lifou. (I decided I could see just as much from the top of the cliff as I could from down all those steps and did the Chief's Hut option!).

We did two tours in Vila - I think the first was the Vila & Environs Sightseeing - an airconditioned bus with comentary. We toured through the CBD and surrounds stopping for photos along the way. We then drove through many of the resorts and finally to a little market run by the people from the village that the lady who was the commentator came from. They had a band playing, and fresh fruit for everyone (beautiful pineapple and bananas!!!). We then went to a Chief's hut and one of the Chief's from another island told us about his tribe and life on his island. (You needed a couple of gold coins to give the other man who magically got water from a post inside the hut and ate a live sea snake!!!!!)

The second tour we did in Vila was the glass bottom boat and snorkelling ... we loved this one - it was a highlight for our children! Again - good comentary on the way out and enjoyable snorkelling. Probably not the best if you're a seasoned diver or snorkeller - but for a novice like we all were - it was fine! I think we got coffee and biscuits on the way.

We still had time to go into the CBD to shop in Vila after the glass bottom boating!

I'm sure others will have different experiences to share as well!

[LouLou28]

PS: Week Fantastique was our first cruise (well mine, husband went on the Oriana back in the 80s!!) ... we had an absolute hoot (and have booked our next cruise for early 2008!) ... you'll have a wonderful time!:)

[Cooee_Kid]

:) Hi! We did Week Fantastique in Jan/Feb this year. We were travelling with our two children (then aged 9 & 6) - so we had to consider their limitations in our choices!

That was excellent. Thank you:D

[LouLou28]

You are very welcome!:)

I forgot to mention that we booked all our tours one we were on board ---- We got the booking form before we left with our tickets, but didn't have a clue what to do (if only I had found this board before we went!). A few were sold out, (which is why we didn't to the Petit Train!) but the staff at the tour desk were fantastic at helping us work out what was best to do and what we could fit in.

After our tour in Lifou, the kids and I stayed on shore for a while (my daughter had her hair braided) --- my husband got the next tender back as he had discovered afternoon tea a day or two earlier - and it had become a ritual for him!!!!

As I said, we loved this week for our first cruise - at first I wondered if it would be long enough - but I was ready to go home when we did (although our next cruise is 12 nights!!!) --- I think the two sea days on the way home help - very relaxing!

Mind you - there were some sea days when I felt we didn't have enought time .... I didn't sit on deck as much as I thought I would (the call of bingo was ever present on sea days!!!!)

We go back to Nourmea on our next cruise - and we think we'll give the tours a miss and walk through the shops (one thing we didn't get to do last time because of the limited time and how early the shops open).

Apparently there's a chocolate shop in the town centre somewhere that's worth visiting - and my ten year old son really want to try foreign McDonalds!!!!!!!:)