welcome home dan and luvvin etc

[kaseyoz]

Hi Dan, I can agree also with a few of your points. We too were in noumea on a sunday and everything shut. We did venture further afield by ourselves to a couple of beaches. Here we found a few restaurants, a supermarket(where we bought ice creams) and maybe two shops.No taxis anywhere unless you go and search for them. Do they want our money or what.

With regards the showlounge, we were early and had to go staright from dinner to save our seats, we usually just got a drink there also.

 

TENDERS......I guess your plan will be our plan too, what a mess lol

[karmac]

So what's the plan regarding tenders? (if you don't mind sharing it)

 

Karen

[luvvin_u_2]

I do find this attitude immature and that's what happened on our trip with some of the passengers, but then they got put off at Port Vila so our corridor was very quiet after that. And, it wasn't me who complained, it was a heap of other people. Think of other passengers, please. Why would you want to s*** off the security people anyway? Okay, now I wait to be flamed.:eek:

 

champ, its a forum.. y would u argue with somebody you dont know? my cruise was great and i think u really have the wrong impression of me.. i never once disturbed people on the cruise i was there to have a great time.. the security guards ended up chatting to us about general stuff each time they caught us n they were nice people..one of them told me to do what ever i want just try 2 hide from the guards..the thing was they followed us some of the time and it was funny.. 'sh*t the security part', wasnt a mean typa thing.. just to make them think we were doing something wrong when we werent n they laughed about it.. they were all doin the same thing when they were my age..

hope u had a good cruise:)

[luvvin_u_2]

Hi Luvvin,

 

Maybe, maybe not.

 

I guess now you'll never know!!

 

 

Dan

:-P

 

and ate dinner in bordeaux? im sure i kno who u r.. either u or ya bro were playin roulette on da same table as my bf on da last day:p hope u had a great time on there:)

[lias]

TENDERS......I guess your plan will be our plan too, what a mess lol

Now you have me wondering what this is about :confused:

 

Actually, we found the ticket system a very good idea compared to the disorganisation on some of our earlier cruises. Then again, if you are in a rush and there is a crowd then you may need a "system". :cool:

 

 

..

[rockie]

Hi Dan, I can agree also with a few of your points. We too were in noumea on a sunday and everything shut. We did venture further afield by ourselves to a couple of beaches. Here we found a few restaurants, a supermarket(where we bought ice creams) and maybe two shops.No taxis anywhere unless you go and search for them. Do they want our money or what.

With regards the showlounge, we were early and had to go staright from dinner to save our seats, we usually just got a drink there also.

 

TENDERS......I guess your plan will be our plan too, what a mess lol

 

You have to walk up to the park, about 5 mins from the wharf and the buses and taxis run from there, not a lot of them, but you can get one. I thought it was strange the cabs weren't allowed down to the wharf. One thing you don't feel like doing is walking far in that heat. If you take the little train, take the booked tour one, the yellow one as the red one doesn't give a commentary. We spoke to a family who took the red train and after talking to us and others who had booked the tour were dissapointed they hadn't done the same. We got a cab to Palm Beach and I just took a map I picked up in the terminal marketplace and pointed to where I wanted to go and asked how much. The driver pulled a 1000 franc note out of his pocket, so he must be asked the same question a lot. The bus is much cheaper and now we have been there and sussed it all out will use the bus next time.

 

Tenders. Yes, I finally worked out 'the system', three cruises and the last tender trip later. I will definatly use it for next time. I guess I am a bit slow on the uptake there.

 

Luvvin u 2, I think that is a total waste of the guards time, surely. They might be kept away from a real situation and on a ship security is of upmost importance. I do feel like I can comment,after seeing some of the behaviour over 3 trips, whether or not you were joking with them.

[maxx]

Now you have me wondering what this is about :confused:

 

Actually, we found the ticket system a very good idea compared to the disorganisation on some of our earlier cruises. Then again, if you are in a rush and there is a crowd then you may need a "system". :cool:

 

 

..

I think we are all curious about the tenders. Because I'm still a virgin :o I don't even know what the ticket system is. I hate having to line up like cattle.

[DanFromSyd]

Dan

How did your nephew like cruising? Make lots of friends?

Did he go to the kids dinner sitting? and the kids clubs alot?

 

Kazza:)

 

Kazza,

 

He loved it. By the end of the first kids dinner, he had made friends and was off.

He spent a lot of time with them. Generally after kids dinner they went to kids club to meet up and watch the movie etc.

 

He found that during the day he kept himself amused with the pool, waterslide, games arcade, hanging out with us at trivia, and stuff that he was never bored. In fact the only time he was bored was when we were waiting for the tenders the first couple of times.

 

Apart from that he had a ball and was really well behaved.

 

Dan.

[DanFromSyd]

So what's the plan regarding tenders? (if you don't mind sharing it)

 

Karen

 

Ok I'll tell you the tender secrets...

 

Firstly they tell you to go and get a tender ticket at say 8am. Then they give out tender tickets until all the tender tickets are gone then they have open tenders. Tenders run all day back and forth to the islands.

 

There are really two methods depending on your situation.

The islands we visited were small and we only had lunch served on one island (Divine Island). So if you get up early to hit the island first your probably going to be hungry by lunch time.

 

Depending on how much time you want to spend snorkling, swimming, etc will depend which method you want to use.

 

FIRST METHOD:

If you want to get to the island early then you have no choice but to be up early have breakfast and be ready to pounce on the poor crew staff member who happens to be handing out tender tickets. On the Sun this was in the corridor in front of the Atlantis lounge on deck 8. But you will be told by the announcements and the Sun daily.

 

IF you get the first 4 or 5 tender lots we had Blue 1 through 8 and Red 1 through 8. Then your wait will be short up to 30 mins depending on how many tenders are running and how far the island is from the ship.

Its not really a secret but if you dont know how it works then its one way to go.

 

SECOND METHOD:

 

This was my prefered method.

 

We were up late almost everynight. and the idea of getting up at 7 to get organised for the tenders was not really my idea of a fun holiday. So we slept in. (Even Zac) in an inside cabin it is very easy to do.

 

We did not set an alarm and simply decided we would wake up whenever we did.

We got up at about 10am. had showers got dressed and sent down to an almost empty breakfast buffet (of people) and had breakfast.

Then went and had a drink and chilled for about 30 mins. (there was a movie on in Terraces) and then when they called open tenders at about 11.30 we went down to the tender stations and got straight on and went over to the island. No fuss, no pain, no waiting. Much easier.. It really suited our way of doing things.

 

as most of the islands do not have lunch, and lunch closes at 3pm on board. The rush of people to get the 2.30 tenders are huge. but apart from that its much easier to get back to the ship.

 

In all honesty we did not feel that we would spend a whole day at the island anyway. It was quite hot and apart from the swimming and snorkling there isnt much else to do. So we generally only spent about 3-4 hours there anyway.

Doing the afternoon thing was much easier for us then the rush of the morning and personally i dont think it took anything away from our island experiences at all.

 

 

so if it works for you do it.

In my experience i would rather use the morning to sleep in, read my book on the empty ship and enjoy being realaxed, rather then rushing to get a tender and fighting with 1800 other people trying to get a tender ticket.

 

The first 2 island we got tender tickets and by the time we were called it was 1pm the first day and 11.30am the second.

 

So by using our method we avoided the hassle of waiting and got to the island about the same time anyway...

 

So its up to you...

 

Cheers,

 

dan

[karmac]

Hi Dan

 

I take it Zac had the freedom of signing himself in & out of the kids club? And if so, obviously it worked out ok. My youngest will be 10 when we go and I want him to have that freedom also, but part of me worries. What did he do at night after 10pm (isn't that when kids club closes?). Did he ever have any trouble finding you & Brad (I suppose he just went to all the bars first:) )

 

Karen

[karmac]

Hi Dan

 

I take it Zac had the freedom to sign himself in & out of kids club? And if so, obviously it worked out ok. My youngest will be 10 when we go and I want him to have that freedom but part of me is worrying about it. What did he do at night after 10pm (isn't that when the kids club closes?). Did he ever have any trouble finding you & Brad (thoug I suppose he just checked out the bars first:) )

 

Karen

[DanFromSyd]

yeah he had the priviledge of signing himself out.

 

It worked fine.

The first couple of days he went to bed at 10 or 10.30 and watch a movie in the cabin and we just went down to check on him through the night. He was usually asleep by about 11.30 anyway after a big day swimming and stuff.

 

After the first couple of days he would be either in kids club (it runs from 10pm till 1am at $5 per hour) or sitting in gazebo with his mates or at terraces with us, or in the cabin asleep.

 

He said he had trouble finding us a couple of times. But in all honesty i dont think he looked very hard. most of the lounges are on deck 9, so its a matter of walking through them trying to find soemone. or deck 10 near the pool and buffet.

 

We did take UHF radios. but decided they weret really necessary after about the third day.

 

The ship really isnt that big, you can find people and its amazing how many times you bump into people during the day.

 

Dan

[karmac]

Hi Dan

 

I take it Zac had the freedom to sign himself in & out of kids club? And if so, obviously it worked out ok. My youngest will be 10 when we go and I want him to have that freedom but part of me is worrying about it. What did he do at night after 10pm (isn't that when the kids club closes?). Did he ever have any trouble finding you & Brad (though I suppose he just checked out the bars first:) )

 

Karen

[smurfette]

Thanks Dan for all the info.

 

I am a new cruiser in less than a month now (ooooohhhh - so excited), and with regards to the tnerders - if you have prebooked your shore tours - how do you ensure that you are going to get on them in time. We are doing Noumea, Vila, Lifou (with shore tours) and then Mystery Island and Isle of Pines. I literally have no idea what to expect from the moment we land on foreign land...................

[Kazza1]

Kazza,

 

He loved it. By the end of the first kids dinner, he had made friends and was off.

Dan.

 

See, all that worry about him not knowing anyone:D

 

He sounds like my sons. Two minutes on a cruise and everyone is their best friend:p. My 10yr old had 3 girls fighting for his attention and came home with many email addresses.

They are really looking forward to going again in April.

 

So, is Zac addicted like his dad and uncle?

 

Kazza:)

[rockie]

Port Vila and Noumea are docked alongside the wharf. Don't know about Lifou. At Noumea and Vila there will be people telling you where to meet and it will also be on your tickets. You can go on and off the ship as many times as you like. Mystery Island and Isle Of Pines there are no organised shore tours, but take money with you as at Mystery there are stalls. Isle Of Pines run scooter trips that you follow the lead guy. I didn't take money on that one and couldn't be bothered going back on the tender to get any. It really isn't scary smurfette. As for the tenders, we got high numbers a couple of times but kept going down early and if there were few people there they let us on anyway. We had the same colour tender tickets for all trips so I know what I should have done on getting the first tickets. Don't like to say here though. When you get to Noumea, check out the supermarket over the road from the wharf. I went several times and got some kiddies books in French. They don't speak the english there though so it is interesting trying to get them to understand sign language. The market people on the wharf speak English and most will take $AU. If you venture further into Noumea you will need francs. What trip are you doing in Noumea and Vila. We did the little train in Noumea and Cascade Falls in Vila. Both were well worth it.

[Kazza1]

Hi Dan

 

I take it Zac had the freedom to sign himself in & out of kids club? And if so, obviously it worked out ok. My youngest will be 10 when we go and I want him to have that freedom but part of me is worrying about it. What did he do at night after 10pm (isn't that when the kids club closes?). Did he ever have any trouble finding you & Brad (thoug I suppose he just checked out the bars first:) )

 

Karen

 

Karen

My eldest son is 10 and we gave him the freedom to sign himself out (AFTER day 2). Like you we were a bit worried. We gave him rules and he only signed himself out to get a drink at night and at meals.

When the kids clubs do passenger hunt and other activities around the ship, all the kids that can sign out get to go together in a group and the ones that dont have the freedom do it with the crew.

 

My son asked what your kids names are? (if you dont mind)

He knew the name of "suez" (someone from this site) son and when they went to the kids club for the first time, he went and introduced himself.

 

Kazza:)

[chaz cruiser]

Thanks Dan for all the info.

 

I am a new cruiser in less than a month now (ooooohhhh - so excited), and with regards to the tnerders - if you have prebooked your shore tours - how do you ensure that you are going to get on them in time. We are doing Noumea, Vila, Lifou (with shore tours) and then Mystery Island and Isle of Pines. I literally have no idea what to expect from the moment we land on foreign land...................

 

Hi Smurfette,

 

When we were on the Star they had tours meet in one of the lounges on board for morning tours and took them over in separate tenders. When we had our tour of Lifou (we did the Cliffs of Jokin and it was great, although it was a little tough climbing down & up 200 steps) we didn't have to get tender tickets just be in the lounge 30 minutes before our scheduled tour departure.

 

Cheers,

Chaz:)

[frog cruiser]

Hi

Glad you had such a good time I had a great time on the star even with my cabin mates(only joking girls). I was wondering if the children still have thier own meal on the Sun?

it is hard to get back sat for ages waiting a menu this morning in the end I had to get my own(bugger)

But had a nice coffee this morning as the coffee on the Star is not that good.

I have only two complaints that is the no kid's meal at night and it appears this is still the case even though to head-waiter gave some line as to the fact that they did not know that kids have a different meal time and that they are looking at it.

I always go to first sitting and because I travel with my mum known to you as (nan) and she likes to eat at a respectable hour.

But I think in future I will ask for a four table so I stand a better chance of a child free table as the two on our table left a lot to desire, to the point I would have prefered the two on the table behind us that were babies and did baby things not whine and sulk.

The other although I took lots of cloths was the lack of self service laundry did you know that the crew staff and dancers have to pay for any none uniforn cloth's one was thinking of getting a camping washing machine to save money

But I am now planning my next cruise and can not wait.

I think I will became a cruising granny pity I can not find a cruising toy boy( grandad will do)

[Skyrules]

Thanks Dan for all the info.

 

I am a new cruiser in less than a month now (ooooohhhh - so excited), and with regards to the tnerders - if you have prebooked your shore tours - how do you ensure that you are going to get on them in time. We are doing Noumea, Vila, Lifou (with shore tours) and then Mystery Island and Isle of Pines. I literally have no idea what to expect from the moment we land on foreign land...................

 

Most of the shore tours are done at places where the ship actually docks (Noumea, Vila, Suva) and you just walk off the ship down the gangway. The buses will meet you close to the ship.

 

If you are going to Poum (aka Emerald Bay, aka Divine Island) and you're doing any of the shore tours there, you will be called to the tender seperatly - they run a seperate service to Poum, as only passengers doing shore tours can go there - all other passengers will have to que to go to Divine Island.

 

I haven't been to Lifou, but I imagine the same would apply there, if they do shore tours there.

 

Kym

[smurfette]

Port Vila and Noumea are docked alongside the wharf. Don't know about Lifou. At Noumea and Vila there will be people telling you where to meet and it will also be on your tickets. You can go on and off the ship as many times as you like. Mystery Island and Isle Of Pines there are no organised shore tours, but take money with you as at Mystery there are stalls. Isle Of Pines run scooter trips that you follow the lead guy. I didn't take money on that one and couldn't be bothered going back on the tender to get any. It really isn't scary smurfette. As for the tenders, we got high numbers a couple of times but kept going down early and if there were few people there they let us on anyway. We had the same colour tender tickets for all trips so I know what I should have done on getting the first tickets. Don't like to say here though. When you get to Noumea, check out the supermarket over the road from the wharf. I went several times and got some kiddies books in French. They don't speak the english there though so it is interesting trying to get them to understand sign language. The market people on the wharf speak English and most will take $AU. If you venture further into Noumea you will need francs. What trip are you doing in Noumea and Vila. We did the little train in Noumea and Cascade Falls in Vila. Both were well worth it.

 

 

In Lifou we have pre-booked the Melanesian tour for 1030- 1130 and then the Forest and Secret grotto from 1230-02.30pm. In Vila we have booked the Village adventure and Circle Island tour from 0845-4.15pm. And in Noumea we have booked the Petite Train at 0830 - 0930 and then the 4 wheel drive from 1100 till 01.00pm.

[karmac]

Karen

My eldest son is 10 and we gave him the freedom to sign himself out (AFTER day 2). Like you we were a bit worried. We gave him rules and he only signed himself out to get a drink at night and at meals.

When the kids clubs do passenger hunt and other activities around the ship, all the kids that can sign out get to go together in a group and the ones that dont have the freedom do it with the crew.

 

My son asked what your kids names are? (if you dont mind)

He knew the name of "suez" (someone from this site) son and when they went to the kids club for the first time, he went and introduced himself.

 

Kazza:)

 

Sorry everyone about the triple post earlier. Don't know what happened there.

 

Kazza, my kids names are Alex (15), Sally (11) and Christopher (10). They all make friends very easily so I'm certainly not worried about that. I'm sure your son and Christopher will become good mates.

 

Karen

[DanFromSyd]

See, all that worry about him not knowing anyone:D

 

He sounds like my sons. Two minutes on a cruise and everyone is their best friend:p. My 10yr old had 3 girls fighting for his attention and came home with many email addresses.

They are really looking forward to going again in April.

 

So, is Zac addicted like his dad and uncle?

 

Kazza:)

 

I think he is addicted. He hasn't stopped talking about it. I have certainly decided that cruising is the way i like to spend my holidays. And I was only 1 number away from winning the $5896 prize in jackpot bingo, I think had I won that prize I would have booked to stay on the night 10 nighter after ours or at least been making very serious plans to go real soon. But alas I did not win and so I have to work and save for my next cruising adventure.

 

But it will be sooner rather then later.

 

I dont think there is a better way to travel and see the world.

 

Cheers,

 

Dan

[chaz cruiser]

I was only 1 number away from winning the $5896 prize in jackpot bingo

 

Suey was only one number away from winning $720 in the game before the jackpot game. I needed heaps of numbers. You must have had heaps more bingo players or more sessions because our jackpot was just less than $3,000 (we had 4 sessions!).

 

Must admit maybe less people played because it wasn't as fun as it has been previously with all the jokes and entertainment rather than just playing 5 bingo games. Adrian was great with his bingo calls and interactions with the winners but he just didn't have that entertainment joke factor that Demo has.

 

Cheers,

Chaz:)

[DanFromSyd]

Demo didnt do the bingo, Ellen the deputy cruise director did.

 

We hated bingo the first 4 sessions, it dragged on and we were sick of it. On the last day we just went with the flow and got into yelling out all the stupid things they do for some numbers... and even making up some of our own.

 

I cant belive it can take them an hour to call 5 games... but as they say. ce la vi. (i think thats how its said??)

 

Dan

 

PS: Chaz, Hope you had a great cruise.