Cruise to New Caledonia

WOW where has the time gone. I see it is 2 months since I have made an entry. Keep telling myself to sit down and write each day, but seems something always gets in the way. Well let me tell you about the fantastic cruise we took to New Caledonia.

This was our first cruise, and we decided to take it to celebrate my birthday and Christmas. As we do not know very many people here in Sydney we thought a cruise for Christmas would definitely get us out with people to celebrate the Season.

The cruise we booked was with Princess Cruise Lines, and we sailed on the Sun Princess, which was booked to capacity (2050), and had 441 children on board. We never dreamt it would have as many youngsters, but being summer holidays in Australia everyone was in the travelling mode. The children were great, only problem being that they monopolized the pool, so we never did get to use it.

Santa arrived down one of the funnels and brought presents for each and every child. Christmas morning they were lined up to have their pictures taken with Santa and receive their present directly from him.

The weather was lovely the whole time we were away, and only had one slightly rougher day on the sea on the way back, although neither Lincoln or I were upset by the rocking of the ship. They had measured 3 laps around the Promenade Deck was equal to one mile, so a large number of us walked 3 miles each day, a little hard going into the wind, and trying to steady yourself with the rocking of the ship. It took us 3 or 4 days to get our land legs back once we reached home. Everytime we closed our eyes and bent our heads everything seemed to move.

We sailed 2 days out before we reached our first port of call which was Numea. The ship was able to dock right at the wharf so no problem getting off. Lincoln took a kayaking tour in the morning and then we both went on a bus tour of the city and then to a bistro for wine tasting. The wine was from France and was lovely, and was certainly poured very liberally. We also were treated to home made baguette and 5 different types of cheese. Needless to say everyone was quite lively on the ride back to the ship, and many joined in some boisterous singing.

We sailed again at 4.30 pm and arrived at second port of call which was Lifou. I did not go ashore that day. People were taken ashore in the tenders as we had to anchor offshore due to the shallow water. I enjoyed a peaceful day sitting out on the deck and reading. Lincoln hired a kayak and went for a paddle around the area.

Again we sailed at 4.30 pm and arrived at last port of call which was Ile de Pins. Again the tenders had to be used to take us ashore. Lincoln and I walked along the white sand beaches and then Lincoln went for a swim to view the coral and the many different coloured fish. He found it hard to stay under water to take pictures as the water was so salty and he kept bobbing back up to the surface. We stopped at a cafe on the beach and enjoyed the view and a drink, and then were entertained by some Native People dancing.

We sailed at 5.00 pm (due to the fact that they had a problem lifting one of the tenders back on board). It was now Christmas Eve and as we sailed we were treated to fireworks along some of the distant shores. My biggest thrill that evening was being able to watch the pilot of our ship depart once he had us safely past the reefs. As we sat at our table for dinner, I noticed that the outside lights had come on, when I looked out, much to my surprise I found a little boat with pilote written on the side, bouncing up and down just about under our bow. The captain had

announced that the pilot would leave us around 8.30-9.00pm. While I watched the pilot was lowered from 14 stories up, on the bridge, by the bosun's chair, he was dressed in white shirt, black dress trousers, white gloves, night bag over his shoulder and no life jacket, he landed on the bow of the little boat, looked up, smiled and waved and proceeded to walk to back of boat and then sail off into the pitch black night.
We chose to go to the dining room for our dinner and were assigned a table with three other couples, table 172, by the window. We sat with the same group each evening, and had chosen the late sitting which was 8.00pm. Someone had told us not to go to the early sitting 5.45pm as it made it too rushed if you had gone to a shore excursion that day, how right they were. Two of the evenings were formal attire and we would never have been ready in time. On the formal nights Lincoln and I had our pictures taken, we finally have lovely pictures of the two of us dressed to the nines.

We could not have asked for a better group of people to sit with, as everyone got along famously right from the start. I think we had the table that laughed the most during dinner. The three couples were all from different parts of Australia and had been on many a cruise before so were able to give us lots of tips and suggestions for future cruises. We all exchanged email addresses and intend to stay in touch. The three couples all invited us to stay with them when we come back and visit their respective parts of the country, and we certainly will be looking them up on our return.

One of the men has offered to have Lincoln sail back from Tasmania with him after the Sydney to Hobart Race, which leave Sydney on Boxing Day, this would be a thrill of a life time so he plans on being here for this adventure.

Christmas Dinner was Turkey, Ham, and Mince tart for dessert. They do not believe in making pies in Australia, they are all tarts, which are more than sufficient after a meal. Many bottles of wine, lots of lively conversation and laughter was enjoyed by all at our table.

We took three leisurely days to sail home, one of which had gale force winds, but was not near as rough as we thought it might be. Could still just make it around the promenade deck for our daily walk.

The entertainment was superb, musicals, comedians, illusioniar, a gentleman who gave a talk about interesting periods of time in Sydney (he did this on days at sea) bingo where the jackpot was 2500.00 and very well attended. We had a tour of the galley, and also a cooking demonstration by the head chef and the pastry chef. I, of course, bought a cook book.

Lincoln went down to the gym and did his daily exercises while I did mine in our cabin. We both went for a massage together on one occasion, but I did not find it a great experience. The people are just hired out of school and the lady I had evidently had not had much practise working out in her chosen profession. Lincoln did go back a second time as his shoulder was giving him some trouble and he thought the lady he had was not bad. Can't wait to get back to our person who is absolutely marvelous, I guess we are just spoiled.

There were a number of lounge areas on board where you could sit and talk and enjoy a drink, or in the morning join in a game of trivia. Late afternoon piano and violin music was played quietly in the background.

On our last evening out Lincoln and I chose to make reservations at the Steak House, which was located on the top deck. This was an intimate dining area, with tables by the window, and a slow romantic dinner was enjoyed watching the sun set. The service was grand and the ceasar salad was prepared right by our table. The steaks were brought to your table and you chose the cut that you wanted and gave instructions on its preparation. There was an extra charge for eating in this dining room but it was well worth it.

There was a 24 hour buffet bar on the top deck also, and we did enjoy breakfast and lunch at this venue a number of times, as it was much faster than eating in the dining room, and the food selection was amazing.

We arrived by in Sydney at 7.00am on the morning of Dec 28th having had a wonderful time.