Noumea. Flying Qantas and Aircalin in J.

[SYD]

So for those playing at home planning or on route and commandeering @Austman ’s thread here’s some further updates…

Tropical version of a cappuccino….

But things did improve . Things seemed to be a lot livelier than our last visit. Not sure if that was because a cyclone had just barrelled through or things have improved (even despite Covid!)???

 

[SYD]

Lunch at Le Roof. We skipped it last time thinking it was a tourist trap but not bad. Quite pricey but the label said lunch with view and that’s what you get.

The entree was fantastic, the snapper a bit over done but redeemed by the tart. A nice young zesty Chablis washed it all down.

 

[Austman]

Quite pricey but the label said lunch with view

I took the "Express Lunch", I think it was called. There's not much choice, it's fixed for the day, but if suits, it can be better value.

And if on the deck it's a pretty nice view!

 

[SYD]

I took the "Express Lunch", I think it was called. There's not much choice, it's fixed for the day, but if suits, it can be better value.

And if on the deck it's a pretty nice view!

Yeah, alas SYD+1 doesn’t like seared tuna (main course today). So we went for the 3x course!

 

[SYD]

Thanks to @Austman confirming, Le Meritti Gascon is still alive and well and somehow we managed to squeeze in another huge meal.

I hope QF J seats are wider than SB…

 

[SYD]

Night cap back next to lunch!

 

[Steady]

So for those playing at home planning or on route and commandeering @Austman ’s thread here’s some further updates…

Tropical version of a cappuccino….
View attachment 298176
But things did improve . Things seemed to be a lot livelier than our last visit. Not sure if that was because a cyclone had just barrelled through or things have improved (even despite Covid!)???

Grand Cafe Crème?

 

[SYD]

Grand Cafe Crème?

Advertised as “cappuccino”. Aka a Vienna Coffee? I’ve seen these in a past life travelling in SE Asia last century…

 

[SYD]

The coffee improved. The Malongo cafe and store in the Hilton complex was reasonable.


But then we found the snakes (or kraits to be precise!)

 

[SYD]

We weren’t able to score one of these…

 

[DC3]

Tropical version of a cappuccino….

 

[Stewey]

Night cap back next to lunch!
View attachment 298190

Night cap at Bodega del Mar?
My favourite bar in Noumea

 

[SYD]

Night cap at Bodega del Mar?
My favourite bar in Noumea

Even the wildlife seem to like it!

 

[Austman]

The Malongo cafe and store in the Hilton complex was reasonable.

The Hilton has a coffee pod machine in the rooms and gives 2 x Malongo coffee pods/day. I thought them pretty good.

For other times, I often BYO coffee and plunger and sometimes steam croissants on a cup of boiling water.

 

[SYD]

Does anyone have any idea on the pricing of food and beverage at this resort? Being captive on its own island this can often be a trap to competitive room rates etc.

First, you don’t go to the DT for haute cuisine but the “hard product” and cache is good. As for F&B, this is score at the moment.

Breakfast buffet - although there’s a “Price list” I understand it’s included in the rate. Maybe the signage is there for yachties and early day trippers? The buffet includes the usual suspects of cereals, fruits, cold meats, cheeses, yogurts, hot foods and some cooked to order (omelette and fried eggs). Juices and coffee machines.

Lunch - there’s a buffet. Sorry, haven’t grabbed the price but there’s also some snaky things. Weekends they open La Boussole with burgers, sandwiches and paninis etc. Reasonably priced but so so quality.

Dinner - Buffet or there’s the buffets. As per @Austman ’s post. There’s a cold buffet (salad, cold cuts etc), a hot buffet (includes one item cooked to order from the grill) or the Complete - which is something from everything.

I didn’t see anything about kids pricing.

Note: HH members (any status) get 10% discount on the Complete.

Drinks are comparable to prices ashore.

Boat transfer to/from Port Moselle are complementary and that can provide options for lunch/dinner but there’s not a lot around the port. Getting a taxi (easier said than done) to Bay of Citrons might be a better option (and get the restaurant to call a cab to get you back to the port).

If departing on QF, you won’t get much breakfast. It starts at 07:30 and the boat leaves at 8am.

 

[Welsh-Kiwi]

Flight 3. NOU-BNE. QF90.

Most of the flights to Australia depart NOU in the mid morning. Eg today’s flight to SYD departed at 9.00am. With the 2 hours before departure recommendation (probably not really needed) and a ca 1 hour journey to the airport, it can make for a very early hotel check-out.

But QF90, currently just 1 flight per week, has a 4:10pm departure. Far more civilised.

I’ve booked the airport shuttle for a 1pm pick-up, so we’ll see how it goes.

The Hilton is fully booked (again) for tonight, so my request for a late check-out, even as a Diamond, was “difficult”. But noon was OK.

The Hilton has an interesting breakfast/brunch arrangement on the weekends. Breakfast/brunch up to 2pm.

View attachment 286129

And the breakfast vouchers work for either session.

So my plan is to have a light breakfast in my apartment, then check-out around noon, then have brunch, then get the shuttle at 1pm.

Not sure it will all work out, but the first part is complete. Baguette and pod coffee on the balcony. It’s not a great weather day today but still pleasant:

View attachment 286130

The baguette was from this shop, below the Hilton:

View attachment 286132

On-line check-in has been done already. It’s not so full in J-class at the moment:

View attachment 286133

Thanks for for the TR. We are in Noumea at the moment, staying at the Hilton. Our view looks similar to yours.

 

[SYD]

Thanks for for the TR. We are in Noumea at the moment, staying at the Hilton. Our view looks similar to yours.

Did you just arrive? We just flew out on QF92.

Boat, bus, plane and now Uber home…

 

[Welsh-Kiwi]

Did you just arrive? We just flew out on QF92.

Boat, bus, plane and now Uber home…

Arrived on Saturday. Off to Le Meridien on the Ile Des Pines tomorrow. We went to Pizza and Pasta last night and had the Caesar Salad - good choice .

 

[dairyfloss]

Hi All - our little family of 3 arrived Monday and we’re at the Le Meridien Noumea Resort & Spa.

Getting here was really easy from end to end. Took a chance on arriving just 2 hours prior to SYD for the QF91 departure, and even that still felt too early. No one at QF check in. No one at immigration. No one at security. From walking into the terminal to the F lounge was maybe 5-10 mins, including a QF seating change that needed a phone call to ground ops to sort out. Pleasant and short 2hr 10m flight up to NOU, and then the same speed at this end with no one waiting at immigration or customs. Our 2 checked bags were #1 & #3 on the belt Private transfer was waiting at the door with my name on a sign.

A few ups and downs so far at the hotel. It’s nice, but not the same standard as ‘5 star’ options in Fiji, for example. They attempted to upgrade for me (Bonvoy Plat) the suite type I booked, but the upgrade didn’t have the features we needed (seperate bedroom, in particular), so we had to keep what was booked. A mid level floor with no view was allocated. Service is a little more absent or passive than I’d like, even with my wife able to speak enough French to get by.

Food is pretty reasonable by island standards; on par, if not a little better than Fiji (Suva) higher end options. Thanks to recommendations we’ve had great pastries and fresh bread from Au pain d’antan and coffee from Malongo cafe. The restaurant by the pool here - Le Fare - has quite good food, and an amazing outlook for lunch (below).



Weather has been great so far, and the pool here very nice. Lounges by the sea are many and easily available (visible to the right in the below shot, which is taken from the end of the hotel wing I’m in… about where I’d like to have had my room!).



Got out about town to look for beer options and a few supplies; first by taxi to Auchan Supermarket on day 1, and then a walk to the local one yesterday, Oceania, which is around the way from the Hilton mall past the Rip Curl shop and pharmac_. For beer drinkers, there’s very little difference between the big and small places, so just go for whatever’s closest. They all seem to stock the same 10-15 or so beers, and I think all are brewed locally, even the Heineken & Kronenbourg. I don’t mind the local ‘Number One’ draft for a clean lager with a meal, and the Havannah Blanc, IPA & Red Ale are the others that I’ll stick to.

Might update with some other things later on, but so far enjoying it here, for the most part!

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[SYD]

Meant to post this earlier. The view departing from the right is pretty good also.