Home today from W032

[Suncoaster]

Got home this morning from W032, had a great time, weather was okay, not perfect but could have been a lot worse.

I went to Noumea with an open mind, but have to agree "Why the heck do they call there?" don't want to go back, people were unfriendly, shops close at 5pm, and though it was nice to walk on land, it is sure not an appealing place. Lifou is so pretty, and Port Vila is a delight.

Daughter had a great 21st on board, and I will write a review later in the week, but for tonight we are heading to Caloundra headland to watch the PD sail past at 6pm, and then I think it will be an early night.

[thied]

Welcome back good to see you all had a good time, well yes with Noumea you like it or you hate it not alot in between, Im with you never realyy want to go and why do they call in there, it has some thing with porting at there islands and they keep in good with the goverment there because its the closest port to dock at with water and repaires.

[sidneycruiser]

We have been to Noumea before and we liked it. I understand people who go there many times begin to dislike it. This can be the case with several places though.

 

Suncoaster I am happy you had a lovely cruise.

[Aussiemin]

Suncoaster welcome home, glad you enjoyed your cruise i am looking forward to reading your review

Aussiemin

[Bettyboo10]

We too just got back yesterday on W032 cruise, was our first cruise, had to agree with you on Noumea. All in all for us, was a nice introduction to cruising, as we hope to do more in the future. I am finding I am still swaying to and fro, feels as though our house is encountering 2 metre swell at the moment :rolleyes:

[Suncoaster]

Yes we all had a bit of the sways yesterday, just about all gone today, funny I didn't notice it on our first cruise and that was longer.

Did think that the Pacific Sun rocked & swayed a lot less than the PD, even our cabin steward agreed with us.

Back to toast and weeties for breakfast this morning.. oh well, glad to say I didn't put any weight on, probably because of all the walking I did, just got to try and keep it up now.

[Gold Coast Cruisers]

Yes it's such a shame Noumea never improves. We've been there on cruises for years and it's still the same as it was the first time we visited there.

Port Vila, that's a different story, we were very impressed with the improvements in the township, new tiles and paving and some new shops since we were there last year.

The only hassle is the pushy taxi drivers and the taxi's....we felt like the Flintstones in our taxi coming back to the ship...our feet could have fallen in the holes in the floor of the cab. :D

Jillybean:)

[Jodez]

Ah yes, the old Noumea debate........ I think the trick is to get out of the town if you can, or just don't bother getting off the ship ;)

After our first cruise, that visited Noumea, we decided never to go there again. So we made sure the 2nd one we booked did not have Noumea included as a port. Guess what???? the ship broke down and had to make an unscheduled stop in Noumea and we missed out on Isle of Pines :mad: Wasn't very happy travellers for a while, but we got over it :) these things happen!

[robinsoncruisers]

The tip when visiting Noumea is take a trip out of town, even if it is on the yellow chou chou train. Out of the main port area is beautiful. The coastal trip around was glorious and the trip up to the lookout fabulous. I loved Noumea but also find if you go into a shop with a good happy attitude then the shop keepers are more than happy to help you out. Also try to learn a few basic french words before you go.

 

We also booked a tour from the port building where the ship docked and loved it.

 

Would go back in a heartbeat!

 

Glad you enjoyed your trip :)

[Sandielle]

We've only done the tchou tchou train, because we arrived there at 3pm. It was fun - our guide was a delight and we laughed all the way. The weather was very overcast and windy so we didn't see the beaches at their best, but we still enjoyed the tour. I find if you are pleasant and smile at people wherever you go, MOST people are friendly. If they aren't it's their loss - well, that's what I tell myself, anyway. :D :)

[Suncoaster]

We didn't get off the ship till 3.20, and being as there were 7 of us all up, we decided to just walk around town. We did smile and say Hello,or Bonjour, just a pity we didn't get smile back. The man in the tourist centre was lovely and helpful, but on entering one shop, we were immediatly told we could not buy anything as the man that takes goods back to the ship had already left. Well I am sure we would have been capable of carrying our own perfume, but with that attitude we didn't even bother looking.

The people in the markets dockside were happy and helpful as well.

[chrisb74]

I tend to agree. We did the Chou Chou and then hopped off to walk around for a while. We didn't feel like it would have been a safe area at night so we went back to the ship. Later on we did a self-tour of the supermarket over the road. That was interesting with the mix of french and australian products and the collection of french wine at the back.

[Sandielle]

I also agree about the evening thing. We got off the train at

Coconut Square and walked back to the ship. It was dusk and seemed a bit iffy. However we had read this on here and don't know if we were influenced by that or not. I wish we had time to visit the Casino supermarket, but we didn't think it would be open at night, so didn't try.

[stanc61]

Welcome back good to see you all had a good time, well yes with Noumea you like it or you hate it not alot in between, Im with you never realyy want to go and why do they call in there, it has some thing with porting at there islands and they keep in good with the goverment there because its the closest port to dock at with water and repaires.

:confused: :confused: :confused:Hey thied, weren't you supposededly on this cruise? yet your comments seem to relect that you were not! :confused: :confused: :confused:

[Sandielle]

Stan, this is an old post that has been brought back. The Dawn is late arriving in Brisbane this morning due to the weather. It's not leaving until 7.30 tonight, last time I heard. (Still pouring in Brisbane!)

[stanc61]

:confused: Hey thied, weren't you supposededly on this cruise? yet your comments seem to relect that you were not! :confused:

Thanks Sandielle.

 

:o :o My apologies thied, I didn't recognise that your previous post was 11 Sep and not 11 Oct (today), we all hope to read your review when you are home and reenergised from your Dawn cruise. :o :o

[Sandielle]

At the moment the Dawn is circling around in the bay, not due to arrive until 1.45 pm. Looks as though they might have closed the port....... Although there is a tanker still coming in with a pilot boat in attendance.

No doubt we will hear the full story eventually. :rolleyes: