World-Class Architecture Surprise in South Pacific Islands

Day 35, 2025 Grand World Voyage

Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025; Nouméa, New Caledonia.

The Shard in London. The Pompidou Centre in Paris. The Nemo Science Centre in Amsterdam. The Regal Princess cruise ship.

And the Tjibaou Cultural Center in Nouméa. What do they all have in common?

Each was designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano. I became familiar with his work designing the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas and an expansion to the Kimball Art Museum in Fort Worth when I worked with both organizations during my corporate days.

So when I read that Piano designed the center celebrating Kanak culture here in New Caledonia, I signed up for a tour to see it.

This design is unlike any of Piano’s others. Rather than traditional buildings, it features 10 “cases,” or pavilions, with giant curved “ribs” of wood and steel, giving the appearance of the traditional great huts of native Kanak chiefs. The tall structures, built in clusters of three connected through walkways, soar above the Norfolk Island pines along the ridge of a peninsula. Inside the structures are exhibits, a library and meeting rooms.

We explored the history of the Kanak through their totems and other carvings, as well as exhibitions about the competition among architects that led to this complex.

Once outside, we walked along a meandering path between the structures and the ocean, leading to three traditional Kanak Great Huts.

The Zuiderdam arrived in Nouméa early, but as my tour was in the afternoon, I didn’t head out until 10 a.m. When I visited this very French city in 2018, we docked right in town, but the Zuiderdam is a little too large for that dock, so today we tied up at a nearby commercial pier, taking shuttle buses to the main cruise terminal building.

I spent a couple of hours re-familiarizing myself with the town, following much the same path I took in 2018. This time, I did find Chinatown, which now is even shorter than the block it was in 2018. A cute pair of shoes caught my eye in one store window, but perhaps fortunately they did not have my size. I really don’t need more shoes.

Despite the labels in French, I was able to find dry shampoo (“shampoo sec”) in a drug store and some spicy Pringles chips for my room stewards in a small grocery store. If I want to shop more, there will be ample opportunity in our next port, Sydney, Australia.

Holland America has always offered potential cruisers the ability to book segments of the World Cruise, but this year they heavily promoted them. The simultaneous grand pole-to-pole cruise cut into the usual world cruise bookings, so we have almost 500 people leaving in Sydney on Feb. 11 and another 450 joining us. Other segments end in Singapore on March 1, Cape Town on March 25 and Athens on April 19. (You can still book them!)

Because of our time changes, we will watch the Super Bowl live at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 10. I hear that this year’s license to broadcast it on the ship will include rights to show the commercials, which might be of more interest to some people. Of course, I will be cheering on my Kansas City Chiefs. I’ve watched them win the Super Bowl on my last three world cruises – 2020 from Antarctica, 2023 from Hobart, Tasmania, and 2024 from the western Pacific Ocean near Guam. We have a large contingent from Chiefs Kingdom who will be cheering the team.

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