First time cruisers with 7 year old boy. Arrived at Port, Portside parking made for an easy start. Baggage, check in, customs ect was much easier than expected, lots of people around!
We had a junior suite so went straight to a suite counter, all very friendly.
We had read many reviews just before we left which weren't that positive, so we were totally surprised to see how amazing the boat was when we got onboard.
Reviews we read said no room for suitcases, there was heaps under the bed, and in the cupboard, we had empty drawers ect left over.
Fridge wasn't very cold but we didn't need to really use it.
Bed was comfy enough, our son had a lounge that pulled out which was nearly as big as ours.
As mentioned, the vibration was a bit at first, we heard others closer to the rear had it a bit worse but again, I think it was really only on the first and last day when going at full steam.
Rooms were cleaned (really) well.
Shower had new tap ware and was all in good order in the bathroom.
Tv had lots of promotional stuff, also funny onboard channel, two different movies daily, kids channels ect.
Note, we had the wifi package, it was pretty patchy so would probably just pay at the Internet cafe next time.
Balcony had heaps of room, you could have 4 or 5 people over for drinks easily if you wanted.
Aircon worked well.
There was a smell one day but we think they were polishing all the brass close to the stairs near our room, no big deal.
All in all, I think this would be a good room to get considering the chance of noise above in other areas, I.e pool ect, if you wanted quiet time in the day.
At port
Beautiful blue water, nice to just bob in the water with everyone else, basic market stalls, not happy about how people were treating the reef. More work to be done telling passengers to respect it.
Went zorbing down a hill, crazy, then on a pretty wild waterslide. Not for the faint hearted....
Noumea was a nice tidy town, we just went walking. Would take the train or hop on hop off bus next time.