Re: The Last of the USDM Redemptions J All the Way: Noumea, Ilot Maitre & Ile des Pin
Now that we are back home I have a bit of time to update this thread.
We had a fantastic time at the Le Meridien Ile des Pins but you definitely need to budget for the expense otherwise you may not enjoy it as much. As a guide I would say it is equivalently priced to Perth. Certainly not cheap but I would happily go back in an instant.
One thing I would recommend looking into is the Star Privilege Pacific membership as it gives you 50% off food and 15% off drinks. The card cost $339 for the year and includes some room upgrade/4pm late check out vouchers and discounted SPG rates (though from what I can see so far you can usually get better with a BRG).
For instance the first night we went all out and my wife had the word's largest lobster (sold by weight at 1500 XPF per 100g) our bill came to 24,000 XPF including drinks (glass of champagne each and a bottle of wine) which came down to 14,000 XPF with the card (roughly a $120 AUD discount).
Overall our bill for food and drinks post discount came to about $1,100 over the 4 days. We had breakfast included in the room rate so this was basically the patten of our charges each day. After the first day when we ordered a meal each we shared a club sandwich with chips for lunch each day as the portion size was more than enough for the both of us we usually had a couple of drinks over lunch. We made use of the bars happy hour usually having a couple of coughtails each before dinner which ran daily from 6 to 7:30pm with coughtails discounted from the usual 1,700 XPF to 990 XPF, as an unexpected benefit the Star Privilege discount was also applied to happy hour meaning we were paying about $10 AUD a coughtail during happy hour. Dinner we usually had 2 courses each, shared dessert and a bottle of wine.
From memory the prices were
Local beer on tap 590 XPF
Glass of champagne 1,700 XPF
Glass of Wine between 1,200 -2,000 XPF
Average Bottle of Wine 5,000 XPF
Sandwich/Burger with chips 2,100 XPF
Entrée 2,000-3,000 XPF
Main 3,000-4,000 XPF
Dessert 1,500 XPF
By my rough calculations we saved about $800 by using the Star Privilege card and were able to confirm a late checkout when our flight back to Noumea was rescheduled from a lunch time to late afternoon departure (this was handy as I do not yet have status with SPG).
One note was that on the Saturday night (which was our wedding anniversary) there was only the option of a buffet or a 5 course with matching wine degustation in the terrace bar hosted by their wine supplier who had flown in from Noumea. We chose the degustation however on arrival were greeted with a welcoming glass of champagne and after being wished a happy anniversary we were placed on a group table as the only two smaller tables were already occupied. This is not what we really had in mind and upset my wife as she was (justifiably so in my opinion) expecting us to be seated on a table for two.
After I asked if we could be seated elsewhere the staff were fantastic, bringing out another table for us without any issue and apologising profusely. I believe this was the first of these types of dinners that they had run and I suspect it had dawned on them that they may not have planned their seating allocation appropriately as the dinner was for 10 couples and no larger groups. After this point Julien the restaurant manager took special notice and was on hand to ensure her glass was never empty, even noticing that she did not enjoy the escargot appetiser and without asking us had the kitchen bring out a small portion of the Tuna Tataki she had ordered and complimented the chef on the evening prior.
We did not have a bad meal while there everything was of a very high standard so the high prices are justified considering the location. The Service was definitely a step above the L'Escapade with Julien going well above what was expected to ensure my wife was happy on our anniversary evening, though commendations should also go to Marie and Laura in the Bar and Jeremy in the restaurant who made every evening a pleasure.