When will New Caledonia calls be rescheduled?

[Rayhorn]

My wife and I are booked on a 9-night RCCL cruise in February. Noumea is one of the scheduled calls. When should we expect this port to be rescheduled so we can plan excursions and update our travel insurance? (At the moment we have left NC off our travel insurance because they won’t cover anywhere that is listed as “Avoid nonessential travel” by the government.) It’ll be much harder to plan if they run it down to the wire before rescheduling. We’d much prefer they make and publish alternative arrangements now so we can prepare. 😊

[buchhalm]

Our cruise on Celebrity in early January still seems to have Noumea in the schedule. We haven't heard anything about port substitution or cancellation.

Our travel insurance was taken out well before "the troubles"...

[arxcards]

None of the cruise lines are going to call at a “Avoid nonessential travel” destination. If Carnival & P&O are anything to go by, you will be informed of itinerary changes a couple of months prior to your cruise. Maybe Royal will be better than that.

 

An inside birdy tells me one of the cruise companies has put a line through Noumea & Lifou through till October 2025, but they have decided not to communicate to their passengers yet.

[Chiliburn]

13 hours ago, Rayhorn said:

My wife and I are booked on a 9-night RCCL cruise in February. Noumea is one of the scheduled calls. When should we expect this port to be rescheduled so we can plan excursions and update our travel insurance? (At the moment we have left NC off our travel insurance because they won’t cover anywhere that is listed as “Avoid nonessential travel” by the government.) It’ll be much harder to plan if they run it down to the wire before rescheduling. We’d much prefer they make and publish alternative arrangements now so we can prepare. 😊

They won’t go there if there’s a problem especially if insurance doesn’t cover it.

As for being notified,it could be anytime. Boarding the ship sometimes they just hand you a flier,the night before,who knows.

 Just put pacific islands on your insurance.

[ceeceeDee]

12 hours ago, arxcards said:

None of the cruise lines are going to call at a “Avoid nonessential travel” destination. If Carnival & P&O are anything to go by, you will be informed of itinerary changes a couple of months prior to your cruise. Maybe Royal will be better than that.

 

An inside birdy tells me one of the cruise companies has put a line through Noumea & Lifou through till October 2025, but they have decided not to communicate to their passengers yet.

We're with P&O in December and NC is still on the itinerary at this stage. Frankly, I don't think we'll be going to NC as it seems nothing much has changed in the area. As we are due to make the final payment on the cruise shortly, I will have to consult the insurance company to see what they recommend regarding cover if there is a last minute decision to keep NC on the itinerary or if the cruise line substitutes another port. Wish I had a crystal ball. 🙄 Being an organised sort of person, I like to have all my ducks in a row.

[Amaroo Andrew]

On Cruise Ship Tracker I did recently see a P&O ship at Norfolk Island. I can't ever remember that being on the cruise routes. Is this a replacement stop for NC? 

[icat2000]

Never hopefully. Isle of Pines was nice stop but they haven't had that stop for years. However, Noumea. Ugh.

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, Amaroo Andrew said:

On Cruise Ship Tracker I did recently see a P&O ship at Norfolk Island. I can't ever remember that being on the cruise routes. Is this a replacement stop for NC? 

I don't believe Norfolk Is is a replacement for New Caledonia. BTW, cruise ships have been calling into Norfolk for many years, but there are only a limited number of cruises with Norfolk on the itinerary. It is a tender port and if missed if the seas are too rough for tenders to operate.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, Amaroo Andrew said:

On Cruise Ship Tracker I did recently see a P&O ship at Norfolk Island. I can't ever remember that being on the cruise routes. Is this a replacement stop for NC? 

There are two versions that call at Borfolk Island. Each year they do a Bounty cruise, and that is one of the ports. They also had a small number of Auckland departures on Pacific Explorer. Come next February, none of those options remain - no more Explorer and no more Bounty cruises available for booking.

 

I don't think it is a realistic plan B port. To date, most itineraries have had to drop 1 or 2 ports to cruise further, and they are calling in Luganville, Santo Vanuatu.

[arxcards]

55 minutes ago, icat2000 said:

Never hopefully. Isle of Pines was nice stop but they haven't had that stop for years. However, Noumea. Ugh.

True for Noumea, but that is also taking away Isle of Pines, Mare, Lifou (and the long lost isle of Ouvea). A 10 night Island cruise from Sydney can only reach 2 ports out of Mystery Island, Vila and Luganville. Personally, Noumea is heaven compared to Luganville, and there are plenty of things to do if you get 1/2hr away from the port.

 

If is all meh for now and glad we don't have any affected bookings.

[ceeceeDee]

26 minutes ago, arxcards said:

True for Noumea, but that is also taking away Isle of Pines, Mare, Lifou (and the long lost isle of Ouvea). A 10 night Island cruise from Sydney can only reach 2 ports out of Mystery Island, Vila and Luganville. Personally, Noumea is heaven compared to Luganville, and there are plenty of things to do if you get 1/2hr away from the port.

 

If is all meh for now and glad we don't have any affected bookings.

Ours is a 10 night cruise out of Brisbane, so one would assume they could substitute something if they don't visit NC. Not that I'm particularly fussed. Extra sea days, another port, whatever. As long as I'm on a cruise I'm happy. I'd just really like to know what I'm doing. Current itinerary is Santo, Port Villa, Mystery Island, Noumea and Lifou (in that order).

[Rayhorn]

3 hours ago, arxcards said:

Personally, Noumea is heaven compared to Luganville, and there are plenty of things to do if you get 1/2hr away from the port.

So true. A lot of people don’t care for Noumea because it’s not a great “walk off and lay at the beach” port. But with planning there are a lot of beautiful things that can be seen with a minibus/taxi ride into the countryside. 

Edited August 26 by Rayhorn

[OzKiwiJJ]

On 8/26/2024 at 3:31 PM, Rayhorn said:

So true. A lot of people don’t care for Noumea because it’s not a great “walk off and lay at the beach” port. But with planning there are a lot of beautiful things that can be seen with a minibus/taxi ride into the countryside. 

We just enjoy going around to Anse Vata and Lemon Bay for good coffee and lunch. 

[Rayhorn]

This is where I want to go the next time in Noumea (hopefully on the cruise in February)…

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/aGk7fGPuYfqNiKyc7

 

Just have a look at some of those pictures!

[Regdab719]

We are on a 13N out of Sydney on 28 Oct to Sth Pacific & Fiji. We found out late last week that Noumea had been replaced with a sea day. Expected this to happened so hadn’t booked anything. Also we have been a few times before so not going to miss this port. But there are now a lot of sea days on this cruise!

[buggy_boy]

Carnival emailed us saying that they expect Noumea to be open on our Nov 14th cruise, arriving there on both the 17th and 19th. Though they did waran about booking any non-Carnival excursions outside the beaches and bays to the south of Anse Vata.

 

It also appears a Disney Wonder cruise made port there this past week.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, buggy_boy said:

Carnival emailed us saying that they expect Noumea to be open on our Nov 14th cruise, arriving there on both the 17th and 19th. Though they did waran about booking any non-Carnival excursions outside the beaches and bays to the south of Anse Vata.

 

It also appears a Disney Wonder cruise made port there this past week.

Welcome to Cruisecritic.

No, Disney Wonder was scheduled to call there last week - but didn't.

 

DFAT (Smartraveller) still has a Level 3 advisory, and they don't offer advanced advice as to when they will consider it safe enough to bring it back to Level 2. Sure, Noumea is throwing out a welcome mat, but they still have curfews in place. I doubt Carnival will call there while the travel advisory remains at level 3.

New Caledonia Travel Advice & Safety | Smartraveller 

 

4 to 6 weeks out, Carnival has been emailing passengers to advise their alternate itinerary. While ever they hold some hope that Noumea will be considered safe, they are not about to change the itinerary, hence the email. Personally, I think they are being a tad optimistic. 

Edited Monday at 09:47 PM by arxcards

[ceeceeDee]

We haven't received any notification from P&O regarding Noumea for our December cruise. The itinerary is still showing New Caledonia, but I noticed yesterday that the Tchou Tchou train has disappeared from the list of available excursions. Whether or not that means anything is debatable. I agree, Geoff, I think Carnival is being a tad optimistic. To be honest, I'll be a little disappointed if we do go to Noumea. We have no intention of disembarking and would probably prefer to just stay at sea. However, I suppose it would be disappointing to those pax who have never been to NC.

[Geeman1122]

First very small ship back today so there might be some chance of Nov and Dec ships making some kind of limited calls there. Perhaps only those with tours allowed off?

[arxcards]

41 minutes ago, Geeman1122 said:

First very small ship back today so there might be some chance of Nov and Dec ships making some kind of limited calls there. Perhaps only those with tours allowed off?

What ship?

Nat Geo Explorer was at Lifou a few days ago, but that is a very different proposition to Noumea. Even then, the ship isn't Aussie based and being guided by Australian DFAT advisories. Fingers crossed for everyone that the situation improves there, especially the locals, but Noumea currently has armed police patrols and night time curfews.

[ceeceeDee]

6 minutes ago, arxcards said:

What ship?

Nat Geo Explorer was at Lifou a few days ago, but that is a very different proposition to Noumea. Even then, the ship isn't Aussie based and being guided by Australian DFAT advisories. Fingers crossed for everyone that the situation improves there, especially the locals, but Noumea currently has armed police patrols and night time curfews.

Well that doesn't sound like a stress free day in Noumea!😟