Seeking recommendations for must see places/shore excursions for Lifou, Vila & Noumea

[aussiecruisers]

We are going on Pacific Star on 6 May to Lifou, Vila & Noumea. Does anybody have any recommedations as to what to see or do whilst in these ports. So far we are thinking of doing the Petite Train and maybe Cascade Falls shore excursions.

[Bob&Janet]

Hi ausiecruisers

 

The petite train is a good and relatively cheap tour option to get a feel of the lie of the land aound Noumea. We did it our second time in Noumea (did our own thing on our first visit) and saw views and parts of town we would have otherwise missed. We didn't go all the way back to the wharf - got off the train at Anse Vatte beach, had a swim and a drink, and then made our back on a local bus.

 

The only tour I would recommend in Noumea is the Cultural Centre ... well worthwhile visiting, and as its out of time, it' is far easier to take the ship tour.

 

Vila is your duty free shopping stop but if you have time, a trip to the Cascades Waterfall is certainly worth the effort and something that you will remember always. Don't take a tour though, get a taxi or bus from town ... only costs a couple of bucks and the taxi driver will certainly agree to come back and get you later. From memory took us about 90 min to go up and down and to have a couple of dips along the way.

 

Not much on Lifou. We didn't take a tour, but I walked up the hill and walked along the ridge road both ways and saw pretty much all to see without going too far afiled. The villagers have the ubiquitous village market etc at the dock where people are tendered to shore.

 

Enjoy your cruise whatever you do!

[*Shell*]

We did the Ekasup cultural village tour and it was fantastic. Even the kids loved it. Watch out for the spider!

[Skyrules]

Hi ausiecruisers

 

The only tour I would recommend in Noumea is the Cultural Centre ... well worthwhile visiting, and as its out of time, it' is far easier to take the ship tour.

 

The Cultural Centre is amazing, and I certainly recommend a visit there. Unfortunately the 7 night cruises out of Brisbane, which aussiecruisers are doing, are always in Noumea on Monday's and the Cultural Centre doens't open on a Monday so they can't offer that shore tour on those cruises, and you can't go there yourself either.

 

I'd recommend Le Petite Train - particularly if it's your first visit to Noumea - as you see a lot in a short time, and it's relatively cheap.

 

In Port Vila we did the Vila & Environs tour (see R611 review part 2), which we found interesting, especially as we had a really informative guide...... She kept telling us to ask questions, and we kept saying 'but you're doing so well and telling us so much that we don't have any questions!'

 

Kym

[Tikibird]

The Cultural Centre is amazing, and I certainly recommend a visit there. Unfortunately the 7 night cruises out of Brisbane, which aussiecruisers are doing, are always in Noumea on Monday's and the Cultural Centre doens't open on a Monday so they can't offer that shore tour on those cruises, and you can't go there yourself either.

 

Yeah, I was really annoyed about that. My cruise is the same-there on a Monday. I wish P&O would work out some deal with the Cultural Centre to open special on cruise visits or something. Surely with 1200 potential visitors it would be worth it?

[Skyrules]

Yeah, I was really annoyed about that. My cruise is the same-there on a Monday. I wish P&O would work out some deal with the Cultural Centre to open special on cruise visits or something. Surely with 1200 potential visitors it would be worth it?

 

In any of the other ports of call, where a ship coming to town is a big thing, that would probably happen. But in Noumea they don't seem to care about the ship coming in, it's just another day to them.

 

Kym

[aussiedisneyfan]

Keepcrusing said they had a similar problem in KL. The Petronas Towers skybridge is closed on a Monday and guess which day the Sky visited each time! Although from memory the tickets for the skybridge are snapped up within minutes of opening so it is hard to get on. Keepcrusing said that they weren't told that it was closed so lots of people went into KL and came back disappointed.

[hookedup]

We are just back from Pacific Star to the above 3 destinations. We did independant options instead of P&O shore tours. In Noumea it was Easter Monday, town was totally shut down so we cabbed it to Ansa Vata beach and did the sovenir shops over - remember you are only in port from 3pm till 11pm and we had children so we were back before 6pm. There is a good reason they aren't there for long - unfortunately Noumea does not have a lot to offer. I heard the Le Petite Train was fairly good. I think this was about $49 each.

 

Lifou the Melanesian Encounter I heard was good. We walked up to the church which has a great lookout and we walked to the snorkeling area which was very nice. In the hut the locals sing and dance and there are a few stall holders selling items and doing hair cornrows and braiding etc.

 

Vila is the most popular. At the wharf there is a large market with all souvenirs - grass skirts, leis, wooden items, bags etc. $10 taxi into town with duty free shops etc. The alcohol was slightly cheaper in Vila for your standard type spirits, but we found that on board Cointreau & Grand Marnier etc were slightly cheaper. They sell out quick on board, so you need to get in on day 1 or 2. We paid a taxi $50 for 4 of us and he took us thru town, some local villages, to the cascade waterfall (we paid the entry of $15 per adult) - this is a good spot (the cruise tour for this alone is $44 per adult?), taxi driver waited for us for over 1 hour, then drove us to Hideaway Island beach, brewery, back into markets in town. Several hours and to us good value.

[aussiecruisers]

Thanks to all who have posted recommendations.:)

I have booked us on the 3.30pm Le Petite Train and our husbands are also doing the Reef Fishing tour in Vila.

I read on another post, Cascade Falls is a bit dry. Hookedup did you think same?

Also Hookedup/others can you offer any advice to make the Pacific Star holiday more enjoyable. Anything to watch out for?

So far we have booked late sitting dinner and our cabins (oceanview) are situated midship.

Can you wear jeans into the dining room at dinner?

 

vicki

[Skyrules]

Also Hookedup/others can you offer any advice to make the Pacific Star holiday more enjoyable. Anything to watch out for?

So far we have booked late sitting dinner and our cabins (oceanview) are situated midship.

Can you wear jeans into the dining room at dinner?

 

vicki

 

If you are non-smokers, look out for the smoke free nights in the Casino - on our cruise it was almost every other night, which was pretty good.

 

Yes, you can wear jeans into the dining room - every night except the formal nights, but even on those nights they didn't seem to care - there were quite a few people with an "interesting" idea of formal attire.

 

If it's warm take plenty of water with you on the tenders - they can get pretty warm and pretty stuffy in the tropical heat. When we had the troubles at Yasawa, they actually brought carton loads of bottled water over to the Island and were giving them to people getting on the tenders to go back if they wanted it.

 

Kym

[hookedup]

Hi Vicki

Jeans are fine in the dining room and as previously mentioned even formal nights there is only a little bit of glitz and glamour, so don't worry too much about suit jacket or the sequined dress!!! Smart casual every other night.

 

One tip that is an essential is a cardigan or light jacket for the theatres/lounges for the stage shows. The air con is quite cool in those rooms!!!

 

I'll get to a review shortly and will list the shore tours and drinks menus in another post. Feel free to ask any other questions.

[Tikibird]

Darn! I love getting dressed up in sequinned gowns and seeing other people's clothes. I wish they would enforce the dress codes more.

[Past it]

Jeans in Dining room :eek: If everyone says it doesn't matter what you wear ,its casual and not to make a fuss. No wonder the standard of dress is declining! Ever if its only for 'Formal Night' if everyone made an effort it will add more to your cruise enjoyment I'm sure :p

[karmac]

Most people dressed for formal night on our cruise. If you want to dress up, do it, you won't feel like the odd one out.

 

Karen

[Skyrules]

Most people dressed for formal night on our cruise. If you want to dress up, do it, you won't feel like the odd one out.

 

Karen

 

Cruises out of Brisbane seem to be even less formal than cruises out of Sydney, there were certainly a lot more causually dressed people out on Formal night on Star than there were on Sun - but I think that's a reflection on the fact the Star cruises are usually about 90% Queenslanders, and Queenslanders are by nature very casual - even at "formal" occasions - you have to be - for most of the year it's too hot to wear a suit.

[karmac]

Cruises out of Brisbane seem to be even less formal than cruises out of Sydney, there were certainly a lot more causually dressed people out on Formal night on Star than there were on Sun - but I think that's a reflection on the fact the Star cruises are usually about 90% Queenslanders, and Queenslanders are by nature very casual - even at "formal" occasions - you have to be - for most of the year it's too hot to wear a suit.

 

I think you'd be right there Kym. As I said on another thread a few months ago where one of the English posters were commenting on how casual Aussies appear to be, it is the wrong climate here for dressing up too much. They don't have that problem over in the UK (and I know as I have lived there).

 

Karen