Noumea… First port of call, we docked at 8am and we're all filing off by about 9ish. There’s a terminal building you walk into which has some markets up on top and downstairs the tourist info booth and money exchange as well as tour operators.



I would suggest changing money inside the terminal instead of onboard… we didn’t buy much in Noumea but I think it’s best to have some Francs. We found the people not very friendly or helpful, they might all understand English but you wouldn’t know it.

Once through the terminal there is more tour operators all trying to get you to buy from them… we ended up paying $10 pp for an hours guided trip with some stops at lookouts and then you can hop on hop off all day with the same ticket. We had a really nice young bloke as our guide and he was asked us questions about the cruise, he was flabbergasted when someone told him how much it costs and he said that’s his yearly wage!! Somehow we started talking about icecream onboard and someone from our ship said they paid $6 for some , there were also some people off the Royal Caribbean ship "Rhapsody of the Seas" on the boat and they said they got icecream free… so you do get different inclusions on different ships and lines.

We went to Baie des Citrons ( Lemon Bay ) for a swim, well originally we wanted to have something to eat but all the menus were in French and no-one would talk to us or serve us.. one place we actually went in and sat down, studied the menu and worked out what we wanted but nobody came over and I was getting cranky about being ignored so we just got up and left, maybe if I’d gone up to the counter and tried to make myself understood it would have been ok but they didn’t have anyone else in the place so surely it wouldn’t have hurt them to come over and make us feel welcome! Rodd went swimming but it was a bit cool for me and I was still stewing over not being able to order any food, I’m a bit unreasonable when I’m hungry!! When Rodd had enough of swimming we hopped back on the shuttle bus to Anse Vata, another bay around the corner, for lunch. .. Much the same problem here, and we didn’t have a lot of cash on us either so we ended up in a place that we could tell took visa. I ordered a Salade Verde ( green salad which turned out to literally be a bowl of lettuce, I mean really when they say green salad I would have expected at least some cucumber, shallots, beans, broc.. OMG there are heaps of green salad vegetables but they just gave me lettuce, not even fancy lettuce, just plain old iceberg lettuce ), Rodd had a steak and chips and we had a drink each and the total was $60, I wasn’t happy!

After lunch I’d really just had enough of Noumea so we got back on the bus and went back to the town, one stop before the port there was a market so we hopped off there but we were hot and tired and I was still a bit cranky so we didn’t buy anything. One block walk and we were back at the Port Terminal building which also has some shops upstairs so we had a look around and I bought a couple of things.

Back on board, showered and changed we had to go to the buffet cos a bowl of lettuce just wasn’t going to keep me going much longer!! Then a couple of drinks at the Mix bar talking to Jonathon the mixologist trying several different cocktails. We like to talk to the crew as much as possible, they have a life a bit like ours in that they have contracts that may be for 6,8,9 months where they work 7 days a week sometimes 11 hours a day, it's a bit hard for the married ones or the mothers with young babies or children but I guess they do it for the money. A lot of the dining and cabin crew are Philippino so I reckon they don't have a lot of options at home. I also ducked over to the duty free shop to have a look for a watch. I haven't worn a watch for years and years but being on the cruise both our mobile phones have had data roaming switched off, airplane mode turned on and the phones turned off... just in case.... so we have absolutely no idea what time it is in the morning or anytime really, now I know that shouldn't matter, I mean we are on holiday and should be relaxed and time free however there's so much happening all over the ship that it's good to know the time so we don't miss things. Well when I started looking I was a bit disappointed to see most of them were in the hundreds but then I saw a DKNY and the price tag said $56... that can't be right, surely?? so I asked the girl and she went off to check so I told Rodd and he said "are you crazy? you should have just bought it"!! well the girl came back with a puzzled look and said that was the price... so I bought it!

Then we went to the Atrium for a bit and sat listening to Valerie and the Pacific Showband and had some casino time while waiting for 7.30 and the Magic Carnivale in the Marquee… this was an awesome magic show. Tonight Syzygy, the Pacific Cirque, open air spectacular which is held up on the top deck on those big white arches was supposed to be performed however they can only do it when the wind is blowing at less than 8 knots and it unfortunately was way to windy for that. Pity, but we managed to entertain ourselves for a little longer and then went up to the pool deck to watch Dancing through the Decades, for once I didn’t get up and dance cos I was wearing a dress and as I mentioned it was quite windy…. Didn’t want to be too much of an exhibitionist!!

Wasn’t too late a night cos we’ve got another Port of Call tomorrow.

My tip for Noumea is to learn some French to read the menus... also I think if we went back I’d go to the nearby islands or maybe the Tjibaou Cultural Centre.