Paul and Sandy on holiday: Monday 12 December

Decided to get up early today, have a shower and then go down to the wifi deck and see if the internet access is any better when most people are still asleep. We're still sailing towards Noumea, we don't arrive until some time after lunch.

However, before we could do this, disaster struck - the toilet started leaking all over - or more correctly, up from under - the bathroom floor. Called reception who said they'd get someone up here asap - and they did. But, he had to go away and get another guy and a machine to suck it all away, and then the plumber had to come to actually fix it, so even though they all came really quickly, our plan of an early attack on the internet came a little unstuck. Paul was quite rightly concerned about this given his precarious health - we still don't know what caused him to be so violently ill on Friday, and having the toilet leak everywhere doesn't result in good thoughts about one's health. However, although the water was dirty and smelly at least it wasn't full of chunks - so to speak - and they've sanitised everything so we should be ok. We might spend some time in here today with the balcony door open though, just letting it air out properly.

Update: it wasn't ok, the dirty water had gotten in under the loose tiles in the bathroom and leaked out onto the carpet. They've come back and shampooed it, and now there's a blower trying to dry it out, but the water is still coming out from under the tiles, so the drama mightn't be over yet.

Anyway, we arrived in Noumea on time and there was a nice welcoming ceremony at the docks.

We weren't the only cruise ship in port the Holland America Line's Zaandam was in port as well

Sailing into Noumea

Welcoming ceremony

Later again: Paul and I went on a coach tour around Noumea, just a short one. First we went to the aquarium, which they had opened specially for P&O tours since this was a Monday and most of the shops are normally shut on Monday. Then we went to a couple of different places to see the view over the city, and of course the tour guide gave us a bit of a talk about the culture and society, and various places that we were seeing, as we went along. To be honest, not one of the best shore tours I've been on - the guide was friendly and helpful but the coach was built for school-children (if the legroom is anything to go by) and we didn't really see all that much for the two hours we spent on it.

Gun installed by the Australian Army during WWII

Glow in the dark coral at the Aquarium

Adam didn't go for organised shore tours - he walked around for a while and then caught a hop-on-hop-off bus to have a look around. He probably overall got a better look at Noumea than we did, for less money and in more comfort. Although, he did discover one small issue about being in a cabin on deck 4 - the security arrangements around getting on and off the ship surround his cabin, so he spends a lot of time asking for permission to go to his own room :-)

After dinner we watched a show called Transformation by a group called Pacific Cirque - the show is based on a circus act, but it's done in the main atrium of the ship. I was seriously impressed - an astonishing combination of strength, grace, balance, showmanship and bravery!

Sailaway was delayed for 10 minutes as three passengers hadn't come back on board. They were only about 10 minutes late in the end but even watching from our balcony high above we could see that the P&O man who met them at the dock was not in the least impressed.