Noumea-is this realistic?

[Tikibird]

OK, ship is supposed to dock at 3pm. Since it is a Monday, Tjibaou is closed but I noticed in the Lonely Planet guide that the Museum of New Caledonia which also has cultural exhibits is open until 4:30pm. (They close on Tuesdays) There is a P&O City Highlights tour for $23 pp from 5:15-6:15pm. Can we get from the ship to the museum and back to the ship in time to do all this? We would have to disembark vey quickly, walk to the museum which is on the Coconut Square, then back to the wharf in time to catch the P&O bus. Since the museum closes at 4:30pm, we have a 45 minute window there. I am mostly concerned with having to get off the ship as quickly as possible and walk VERY fast to the musem to see as much as possible before it closes.

 

The other issue is that we are on the first dinner seating. The bus gets back at 6:15, assuming this is a casual dinner, would we make it in time or would they refuse to serve us if we are a bit late?

[aussiedisneyfan]

You probably could do it. It would only take 10 minutes to get to the museum I think - 15 max. You would have time to stop at the chocolate shop between the museum and the bus tour.

 

The biggest risk you will have is the ship being late. But since you are not prebooking a museum tour then you would only miss out on the experience and not lose money.

 

In regards to dinner, let your waiter know the night before that you are on a tour and will be late. You could ask if you could be moved to 2nd sitting for that night or perhaps pre-order your meals and only have mains or somthing.

[Skyrules]

OK, ship is supposed to dock at 3pm. Since it is a Monday, Tjibaou is closed but I noticed in the Lonely Planet guide that the Museum of New Caledonia which also has cultural exhibits is open until 4:30pm. (They close on Tuesdays) There is a P&O City Highlights tour for $23 pp from 5:15-6:15pm. Can we get from the ship to the museum and back to the ship in time to do all this? We would have to disembark vey quickly, walk to the museum which is on the Coconut Square, then back to the wharf in time to catch the P&O bus. Since the museum closes at 4:30pm, we have a 45 minute window there. I am mostly concerned with having to get off the ship as quickly as possible and walk VERY fast to the musem to see as much as possible before it closes.

 

The other issue is that we are on the first dinner seating. The bus gets back at 6:15, assuming this is a casual dinner, would we make it in time or would they refuse to serve us if we are a bit late?

 

 

As ADF says, provided the ship docks on time you would have time to get to the Museum and back before doing the 5.15 shore tour. When we were in Noumea on our last cruise (afternoon only) the dinner sittings were pushed back to 6.30 and 8.30 for that night, but we chose not to eat in the restuarant that night - we got pizza when we came back on board after a walk around town.

[Tikibird]

Well that would work if the dinner sittings are pushed back. I am sure other people would be in the same boat. I looked at the daily newletters Tgrd posted but his ship didn't go to Noumea so couldn't get a clue there. I don't think this ship (Christmas sailing) is going to be very full, they still have cabins for sale and its 3 weeks away, so possible leeway for shifting dinner times.

[acdc]

Hi Tikibird, we have just returned from our cruise! Unfortunately at Noumea, the ship didn't push back the dining times - still 5:45 for first sitting, but we could have spoken to the maitre d' about changing to the second sitting - our waiter assured us there would be no problems.

The museum in Coconut Sq seemed interesting although we didn't go in. There's another museum in the Latin Quarter which was absolutely beautiful architecturally - French colonial.

We did a walking tour, and in 2 hrs walked all around Coconut Sq, then to the church, then through the Latin Quarter.

[aussiedisneyfan]

Our dining seating times weren't changed.

[Tikibird]

Hmmm, I'm wondering if we really need the bus tour or could get to the same places on our own? I know it goes to a lookout point, not sure where else. Could we get a pseudo tour on local buses or even a taxi if it isn't more expensive than $46 for two people?

 

I guess we could try switching to the 2nd seating, but I don't really want to, we would starve to death by 8pm! We are budget conscious so don't want to pay more to eat elsewhere.

[aussiedisneyfan]

This option will save some money and help with dinner but no museum. In the cruise terminal there was a tours desk. Once you walked through the "door" from the ship it was to the right. At the right hand side exit. 3 people from our dinner table did the 1 hours city highlights tour and I think it was only $15. When we were the the only time one left was 4.30pm. So you would miss out on the museum but still make dinner pretty much on time. Judging from the photos that I saw from my friend it went to the same places as the P&O tour which we had done in January.

[acdc]

On our Noumea day, the "blue booth" tour desk was in the market area, next to the exit on the right. Some people we talked to said that it was exactly the same city highlights tour, for $15.

There are local buses, but I think you really have to speak French to get to where you want to go.

There's a good map posted by Kym on the Yahoo chat group, we used it to help us get around on foot. Lots of uphill walking, esp if you want to get to the lookout!

[aussiedisneyfan]

I am pretty sure we are talking about the same one. They also gave us free maps even though we weren't doing the tour, the same as the one on the yahoo group.

[Tikibird]

Where all does the city tour go? If I had to choose, I think I would rather see the museum unless there is something really exciting to see in the city.

[acdc]

Here's the link to the shore tours in Noumea:

http://www.pocruises.com.au/html/view-shore-tours.cfm?destination=1753&port=NOUMEA&activities=&formSubmitted=true&cruiseID=&brand=

[begginer_cruiser]

We returned from the Star on 25th November. We did not book any tours in Noumea before we left but decided on Sunday on the ship to book the Le Petit Train. We arrived at Noumea on time - even with our rough weather. We were not going to make it back in time for our first dinner sitting we did not plan on going to the restaurant that night. We had pizza on the deck once we got back on the ship.

 

The train was excellent as we had not been their before. But as other cruise critics have said when you walk into the terminal at Noumea there are many cheaper tours available.

[aussiedisneyfan]

But remember you have to book the Petit Train through P&O because they book all the trains for that afternoon.