Sheraton New Caledonia Deva Spa & Golf Resort [Master Thread]
 

I haven’t written a trip report in a long time, but based on some threads in the Australia/Oceana forum, I figured I’d write about my most recent trip from Sydney to New Caledonia and staying at the Sheraton Deva, Le Meridien Ile des Pins, and the Le Meridien Noumea. Due to accessibility, it doesn’t seem like a lot of people are familiar with the hotels or the destination.

Mods, please merge as you see fit or move as needed…

Here’s a trip report from my recent trip to New Caledonia. On this trip, I stayed at the Sheraton Deva, the Le Meridien Noumea, and the Le Meridien Ils de Pins, so basically hit up all the hotels in New Caledonia.

I flew Air Calin, the international carrier of New Caledonia, from Sydney. It’s only a 2-hour flight from Sydney, so a bit closer than Fiji is and just as beautiful weather – so a good break from winter here in the Sydney (which is summer in the US). Flight was delayed by about 2 hrs due to a mechanical issue, but the seats were fine (economy) and the price was right (about $400 AUD RT, out on Air Calin, back on Qantas – all QF codeshares).

Arrived in New Caledonia and a friend from New Caledonia met me at the airport and we made the drive to Sheraton Deva in the evening. In New Cal, just like France, they speak French (though at the hotels, everyone speaks English) and drive on the right side of the road, so for me, being an American living in Oz, it was nice to drive on the right side of the road again!

We had booked a bungalow at the Sheraton Deva and the room was great – large room with a great bed, back patio with a day-bed, huge bathroom with separate tub & shower. Breakfast was excellent, there are a few cats roaming around to keep the birds away. We had lunch on their beachfront restaurant and I had the mahi-mahi with coconut rice and mango. Fresh seafood, locally caught. I can’t remember the exact term, but in New Caledonia, for an after-meal coffee, they have an option where it’s an espresso with several petit fours and it was a great end to a delicious meal. The pool area is decent sized and the weather here in winter is great. Lots of rum drink choices by the pool.

Next on the agenda was supposed to be 2 nights at Le Meridien Ile des Pins. I say supposed to be because we had booked the evening flight on Air Caledonie to IDP, but it got cancelled. When I had spoken to the hotel about the reservations, they did recommend not doing the evening flight in case it gets cancelled, but I didn’t listen (should have taken the afternoon flight) because I wanted to spend more time in Noumea and see that before heading to IDP. Should have listened…Air Caledonie cancelled the flight. My friend from NC went to stand in line to rebook while I waited for the bags to be offloaded. Good thing we split up the tasks as there were only 4 seats on the first flight of the morning, so we snagged 2 of them. Everyone else got rebooked for the next afternoon or evening. Air Caledonie offered to put us up at the Novata (sp?) hotel, but my friend who is from NC and speaks fluent French got them to give me a room at Le Meridien Noumea instead.

Taxi from airport to LM was about 2500 XPF. We got in around 8pm to the hotel & had to leave at 7am the next day to go back to the airport. I didn’t really experience the hotel that much because we went out to dinner (there’s a restaurant row area about a 10 minute walk away as well as restaurants at the hotel). Went to a restaurant called Stone Top grill (I think) – pretty decent steaks there. Nice gelato shop next door which made “flowers” out of the cone (can’t even describe this well, but they make “art” out of how they pack the gelato cone – it was pretty cool and tasty).

We arranged a hotel car to the airport in the morning – checked in. So, there is literally no security procedures at this airport. It was like flying in the golden age used to be. Check-in, check your bags (12 kg max for free – I had 10 kg, she had 14 kg, so they let us slide without paying, but also because she was from New Cal, I think – if we were both Americans speaking English, I think we would have had to pay). You could have brought liquids, etc – not even an x-ray machine or metal detector. Just an ID check and boarding pass check.

I had heard from colleagues in Sydney that you can ask to sit in the jumpseat on this flight (the colleague who told me this was a 26 year old French girl who had spent 2 years in New Caledonia previously – so I assumed, of course, a pilot will let a 20-something French girl in the cockpit). She told me to just ask, so my NC friend asked for me – and low and behold, after take off, the flight attendant came to get me and I got to sit in the jumpseat for the last 15 minutes of the flight and landing and it was awesome. Seeing the area from the flight deck was pretty cool. I took pictures, but was asked not to post any pictures or videos with the pilot on Facebook or anywhere – so, not doing that.

At IDP, there’s a desk for the Le Meridien there – they have a shuttle service that will take you to the hotel. There’s not very much on the island – it’s a very peaceful place and true to its name, it’s an island of pine forests. We got in on the first flight of the day and due to the cancelled flight the night before, they had 10 rooms stay-over, so they had sold out the night before and the room wouldn’t be ready right away. No problem, they had a changing room and storage area for bags (this apparently happens all the time due to flights).

The hotel has two small buildings with normal rooms and the rest are bungalows. We had a beach view bungalow. King bed, living room, large bathrooms with tubs (though my friend said it’s bad to take baths on Ils des Pins due to water shortages as it’s an island – they encourage conservation there). The patio had a view of the beach and a day-bed lounge on it. We walked the resort area since we had some time to kill. I saw where the Panoramic Bungalows are and I definitely see the appeal – they are way more private and they had walk-out steps into the ocean during high-tide and the beach during low tide and better private patios than the other bungalows.

We paddleboarded for a bit (they don’t have motorized watersports, but all non-motorized watersports are free). After that, checked-in, got our rooms and around 3:30, went for a 15 minute walk to a natural pool area. The reason I note the time is because the sunsets around 530-6ish and when it’s dark here, it’s dark. The hotel said to try to get back by 530 at the latest. It’s about 15 minutes to get there. Wear a swimsuit – and if you have old shoes that can get wet, or water shoes, I’d recommend them. We went during low tide and wore flip-flops. Once we got there, it was quite beautiful and we decided to go towards the ocean area. If it was higher tide, we would have had to swim out there, I think – at low tide, you can walk through waist-deep water. We swam some of it and walked some of it – but left our clothes (except swimsuit) flip flops, phones, and bottles of water hidden on the shore. When we got to the ocean area where it was really beautiful, it would have been nice to have water shoes or something to ease the pain of walking on that sort of surface – of course, after returning, I find that they sell watershoes in the gift shop. Nothing terrible, but nothing comfortable either – shoes would have been better than barefoot.

If you go out there, I’d recommend bringing snorkeling gear – as it’s protected and there’s crabs, fish, anemone in the central area.
Basically, Ils de Pins is a place to go to really relax. Wifi is pretty much only in the lobby area – but that’s actually a benefit of the resort. Dining was great – one night we had the ½ lobster and the beef with gnocchi and the second night shrimp pasta and the mahi mahi – both meals were excellent. Lunches were good as well. If you have a rental car (they actually aren’t that expensive from what I hear), there are other options on the other side of the island. We drank out on the pool deck area til about 10pm, by then, the resort died down (only about 40-50 rooms and mostly couples, but 1 family with 2 small children), so in the evening people go to bed. The Le Meridien Explorer (concierge) had some great suggestions of things to do, but we just kind of hung around the resort, drank, and chilled - i think if I had had the full time intended, I would have done more. I think about 4-days would be the right amount of time here, at the very least 3 given the flight risk with Air Caledonie though.

I was booked on the 3pm flight from ILP to NOU Domestic, but it was cancelled. They rebooked me on the 6pm flight and the hotel advised me of this before I checked out. They gave me a comp 4pm checkout as a Gold member and called the transport I had arranged in NOU to get me to/fr the airport.

Pick-up at the domesitic airport was waiting for me, so that was good. From there, I spent the night at the Le Meridein – got upgraded to a suite with my Gold status, so that was pretty nice. The LM is definitely a great hotel and probably the best in all of Noumea. I only stayed for about 13 hours due to my flight schedule. Went off-site for dinner, and went to the same area as I went previously – there’s a pizza & pasta place a couple of doors down from Stonetop Grill. I would definitely *not* recommend eating there as it was pretty bad - maybe one of the worst pizzas I've had in a long time.

Overall a great trip and I can’t recommend enough that New Caledonia is worth checking out. 3 hour flight from Sydney for any Aussies that are reading this. Generally great food, great wine, and great cheese.
Only caveats – don’t aim for the last flight of the day due to cancellations domestically – they seem to just randomly cancel based on load. I’d recommend a night in NOU if you’re on a day-time flight back to your home country if you’re coming from IDP - just to make sure you don't get cancelled on - especially if it's low season.

Nice to see you reporting and on an area of the world I have listed for potential future travel. I've bookmarked this report for future reference.

thanks for the detailed report
expresso with petit fours is called "café gourmand"

Yes - Cafe Gourmand - they need to introduce this everywhere.

Thanks so much for this very timely review – planning to visit next year and this is really helpful, particularly the logistics and re overnighting in Noumea.

Did you consider taking the boat from Noumea to IDP? I see the le Meridien reference it on their website.

Thanks for posting, OP! A refreshingly different review ^

I didn't because it was only a 20 minute flight and the way I was planning my trip, that didn't seem to make sense to me.

Also, my understanding from when I was looking at things that the boat isn't every day and that it's weather dependent (not that we were expecting bad weather) - that said, the boat probably doesn't cancel as often as the plane does as the boat is also probably bringing supplies to the island for the hotels & restaurants, so they have more commercial reasons for going.

From my post in the Ocean/Australia forum on airport transportation:

Also, here's contact info to hire a private car transport. It's 10k XPF for airport-to-airport in 4-seater SUV, vs about 3k XPF per person on the shuttle, vs. about 17-20k XPF for a taxi.

I asked the owner if it was ok to post & he advised me it was:

Harold Mary
email: [email protected] (not it's privat, not private)
Tel: (687) 96.16.95

Harold's a New Caledonia local - he asks that if anyone emails him for reservations to try to give him at least 24 hours in advance to book so he can ensure availability. Note - there is no Uber or anything like that & taxis, except at the airport, aren't just sitting around waiting for passengers.

One other factor of using a private car (it's about an hour drive) other than comfort, is that when the shuttles arrive, you have a lot of people getting their luggage and then standing in line. I got there about 5 minutes before 2 buses arrived and I was thankful I was able to get in line before the hoards (though I was flying QF and OW Emerald, I used the elite line)

I'm gently musing about New Caledonia. You said "LM is definitely a great hotel and probably the best in all of Noumea.". So Le Meridien Noumea instead of Sheraton, right? How does LM Iles de Pins stack up? Is it a must to do both LMs or is LM Noumea sufficient?

I haven't been yet but I have friends living in the area and they highly recommend Ile des Pins.

Somebody here on FR, a regular poster on the luxury subforum, mentioned that Ile des Pins was the most beautiful island he ever visited (and he had seen Bora Bora and the likes). Can't retrieve that post but I remember it and added IdP to my list because of that post.

So I would never ever skip LM IdP!

LM Noumea is kind of like an resort in the middle of a city. It's not the most spectacular hotel in the world (though the suites are pretty great) - but definitely the best in the country...

I thought Deva was a great property - and if you're into golf, spa, and chilling - it's a great option. It's about 1:45 north of the airport - and there's nothing around there, but the beach is decent, the bungalows are great, the golf is great and the spa is great. But, if you want to stay in the city, then LM for sure.

I *really* like LM Ils des Pins and if I had to choose one or the other, i'd go to Ils des Pins just because it's so relaxing and the flight over is great - especially if you can sit in the jump seat.

Le Meridien - Great stay
Had a 5 night stay on points in December. It's not Ile des Pins, but it's a very nice property at half the cost. Facilities are very good, especially the pool and beach. As a platinum, I was upgraded to a suite. View from our long balcony was spectacular. Staff was great. Hotel is a short walk from a shopping area with many restaurants. Just outside the hotel is a long and lovely jogging/biking path with magnificent views of the ocean.
We had one problem. Management corrected, apologized profusely and credited 10000 points to my Starwood account.

Had a stay at LeMeridien Noumea for 6 nights in December and the hotel is just OK but nothing spectacular.

I don't understand the comment: "Facilities are very good, especially the pool and beach" by avja above as the beach really sucks. It's a public beach and absolutely over crowded during weekends and holidays (we were there over Christmas 24th onwards) so we pulled back onto the pool area instead.

IMO the big problem here is the staff: Lazy, unprofessional with no eye for detail what-so-ever, inconsistency in cleaning etc... but miles ahead of Le Meridian Ile Des Pins service-wise (more to come)

Examples:
Dining: Food and/or paper pieces could be left on the dining room floor without anyone taking notice of it, or they saw it but apparently had more important things to do like, erh, doing nothing so it was just left there. Went to the restaurant/café/bar by the beach/pool outside of the lunch "rush" and were ignored. Tried to get the attention of the staff but got ignore so had to Leave. Breakfast not up to scratch if you're an American Style Breakfast fan (burnt / semi cooked thick bacon slices)
Room: The Cleaning staff would take towels we left hanging as we wanted to reuse them but never gave us any in return. Had to go to the reception and asked if we could get more towels and was promised it would happen... 5 hours later nothing materialised from the promise so had to go down again and waited for the person to have it fixed there and then. Some days we got bottled water other days we didn't.

On the positive side: Close to public transportation, walking distance to restaurants and bars (shortcut through the neighbouring hotels parking space rather than up through the Casino) and the pool guys are actually quite OK when you get "accepted" after a few days, the beds were very comfortable (we were on the top floor) with views out over the sea and the gym not half bad except dumbbells only went up to 10Kg...

This is not intended as a flame. I guess YMMV.

Hey all,

I'm a new member to these forums but have been on the Australian Frequent Flyer forums for a number of years and someone suggested to review the Marriott section of this form which is much more populated with threads and feedback.

I have been meaning to post a trip report I just had at the Sheraton Deva Spa Resort in New Caledonia, so thought this the best place to detail my trip and the experiences.

We stayed for 5 nights from 28/12/19 – 02/01/20 so it was just after Christmas, and over the NYE period.

I’d done a lot of research into this resort and the vast majority of reviews online were extremely positive, with an average of 4.5 across all the major travel sites. I booked 2 x Bungalow King rooms for myself and my wife, and a mate and his wife.


GENERAL HOTEL OVERVIEW:

• 1 x large restaurant ‘The Reef' where breakfast and dinners/buffets are served which had a nice setting
• 1 x bar 'Creek Bar' near the pool that is open all day that serves the pool + anyone in the hotel daily – lots to be discussed about this bar!
• 1 x beach side restaurant 'Sand Beach Grill’ open only for lunch which by far the hero of the resort
• You could rent bikes from the lobby for use around the hotel only
• Spa and gym on site (gym open 24/7 and free, Spa costs $$ for entry)
• Relatively large pool + jacuzzi + lounge chairs and umbrellas
• The resort is extremely peaceful and I felt well laid out
  

POSITIVE EXPERIENCES:

• Over email and face to face, the guest concierge was very helpful and friendly with assisting in all my questions regarding activites we could do, and what was on over the NYE period
• Staff across the whole resort were extremely friendly
• Sand Beach Grill had A+ service and the food was A+ as well (pity it is only open for lunch)
• The Bungalow King rooms we booked were extremely spacious with large bathrooms and a large deck area so we had plenty of space
• Typical Sheraton heavenly bed and pillows which were up to expectations
• Received a massage at the Spa and it was very good
• The gym is small but wasn’t busy and had all the basic hotel gym equipment which was fine
• Buffet dinner at the Reef Restaurant had a large variety of dishes
• Even though I’d only spoken to a few front desk staff members, they all greeted me by my name which was really nice of them to remember considering the hotel was busy during this period
  

NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES:

• The attentiveness and speed of service at the Reef Restaurant (buffet dinner) and Creek bar (for all poolside drinks and food, and general food/drinks throughout the day) was unfortunately abysmal
• We waited typically 30-45 minutes for drinks to arrive after ordering them at the pool
• Receiving 1 x bottle of wine as a separate poolside order took 40 minutes to arrive
• We ordered drinks every night after dinner at the Creek bar and on the first night, 45mins after we ordered the waitress came over and asked us to confirm our 4 x drinks again which then came 15 minutes later
• Wait staff seemed to literally look at us with our hand up asking for service, and then would wait 2 more times for us to ask them for service before coming over (I made the joke one night that they were in the middle of a Solitaire game on the EFTPOS machine hence them not coming over when they first saw our hands up)
• It could have been the language barrier, however we had 2 activities booked incorrectly with the guest concierge. I made sure to be very specific in emails to help with any translation issues, and would also triple confirm the bookings to make sure it had been booked correctly however;
  • Booking a snorkel trip to the reef ended up being a glass bottom boat that didn’t allow for swimming. The concierge said she had booked that as no snorkelling was available on the day we asked for, but didn’t mention this when booking (not to mention when we met the boat driver his colleague was taking others out at the same time for the snorkelling version of the trip...)
  • We booked a restaurant and driver through concierge to pick us up from a restaurant in Noumea and drive us the 2.5hrs back to the hotel after the dinner, however that morning when in Noumea we were able to book ourselves at a better restaurant, so I found wifi and emailed concierge asking her to cancel the original restaurant booking, and update the driver that we’d be at another restaurant down the street. Concierge came back saying she had noted everything I asked and would update things. I replied with thanks and re-confirmed the driver pick-up location change to triple confirm things... anyway come 9pm when we were to meet the driver there was no car in sight at our new restaurant. 5mins later my mate runs the 15 mins to the original restaurant where the driver is, who hadn’t been told about the change at all....
• At the buffet we literally had to walk around and find staff to clear our dirty plates so we could go back and order more. Often they’d say they’d come over to clean the plates but would wait 10 minutes to do so...
• We spent the vast majority of our time in the Sheraton resort – we knew it’d be an expensive trip, but given the prices we had to pay for all food and drink, ($24 for a basic cocktail and $15 for spirits, high $40’s for a fish fillet) the speed of service, the incorrect orders received, and the general delay in receiving all orders really disappointed us
  

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND THOUGHTS:

The 4 of us staying at the Sheraton Dev Spa all had an extremely varied stay. There were some great aspects of the hotel and we had a very relaxing holiday. However the service at the two main restaurants was just horrendous. We didn’t know if it was our high expectations based on living in Australia but we didn’t believe this to be the case .

Two of the staff at the Creek pool bar had told us they’d been in the job for 2 days so we wondered if that was the case for the majority of staff at this bar due to the Christmas period and hence they didn’t know how to provide good service as they were brand new to the job?

I don’t think we’d come back here purely due to the service and the extensive waiting times. 10-15 minutes would be expected to wait for drinks at the pool or when in the bar/restaurants if busy, but when an order is a bottle of wine that just needs ice in a bucket and glasses - to then wait 40 minutes was comical


The resort itself was extremely nice. A great location (about a 2hr drive from the international airport), the rooms were great, staff were very friendly, 1 x restaurant was delicious and right on the beach, but as you’ve probably gauged, the main pool and dinner restaurant was sub-par and really let the whole resort down which highly likely means I wouldn’t recommend this resort to anyone who asked.