Hutchinj

Lisa, I really enjoy reading your helpful reviews and comments here. Thank you so much. We are taking our first PG cruise in July 2020 so would be interested in how the weather was when you cruised FP in July.

Also, I'd love to see your photos but the photobucket  link you posted at the beginning of this thread says the album is password protected. Could you unlock it? Thanks!

Tried to send you a message but it said I could only send 0 messages per day and to try again later. Fat lot of help that is, eh? <grin>

On 11/29/2018 at 10:50 AM, Larro9 said:

Intimate and small is always better in French Polynesia...you will visit smaller ports in lagoons so a ship designed for this area like the PG is perfect! Older yes but no glitz, two story common areas or 1k plus passengers which is really what you want in Tahiti ...everything you read about the PG is true!  As for the ship being your cabin and balcony..many people say this and bunk on level 4 in a smaller cabin and that is ok for them...people are very friendly and social on the cruise but some of us enjoy a little private time also and a balcony in the early morning, late afternoon and evening makes the cruise even better ...not to mention fresh air ...coffee on the balcony in the am and champagne in the late afternoon became one of our fav things to do..btw, we have booked one of the five aft cabins on deck 7 in the past and already booked an aft cabin for early fall 2020...you see everything from the aft cabins and the only way for us....either way it will be wonderful 

Sorry for the late response. Just now saw this. I'm really glad you enjoyed the aft cabin experience on the PG. We love aft cabins as well and are thrilled to have booked the center aft cabin #767 for our 7-night cruise in July 2020. Can't wait! But I guess we'll have to. :)

Hey Medic, we're leaning towards taking the PG airfare credit and booking our own Premium Economy seats, not because we have enough award miles (I wish!) but for the cost savings.

My TA says PG charges $1250 to upgrade from their included Coach fare to Premium Economy. Given a PG $1700 credit if you book your own air travel, that means they're essentially charging $2950 for a PE seat that currently sells for $2213 (July 2019 rates). Rates change, of course, but it's worth keeping an eye on.

We plan on a 1-night pre-cruise stay at the IC Tahiti before boarding the PG. That includes hotel transfers from the airport and to the pier so I think we're good on that end.

I don't think the day room benefit is of much value to us post-cruise, however, as we'll be staying at the St Regis in Bora Bora which is not an IC property. We'll get a late check out there before our flight back to PPT and on to LAX that night.

Related question... if we choose to go back to PPT several hours before our evening flight back to LAX, are there any luggage storage options at the airport? We may want to taxi downtown ($50 or so?) to the market for some shopping and dinner before the trip home and obviously don't want to haul our luggage around. Most airlines won't accept checked bags that early. Not sure what ATN's policy is at PPT.

cindivan -- sorry for the late reply but oh, what a cute idea! We will definitely try to hide a poker chip or something similar for Larro9 to search for in aft cabin 767. Everyone loves a treasure hunt! :)

My TA says you get a $1700 credit per person from PG Cruises if you book your own airfare so that gives you an idea of what the upgrade to Premium Economy should be given ATN fares currently range around $2200-$2600. My TA is checking with PG but I'm guessing they'll likely charge $800-$1000pp to upgrade. I'll post what I find out.

Thanks also for the St Regis photos. Just can't get enough of those! :)

We've settled on the 7-night cruise and are still trying to work out the details (and economics) of both pre and post-cruise stays but a few days at the St Regis Bora Bora before flying home is a given.

"alwaysonaship" -- congrats on your upcoming 50th! When are you cruising?

Call us crazy but we really like AFT cabins. Have had those on a couple cruises so far and they've been our favorite. Something mesmerizing about the ship's wake when underway. So for our 7-night PG cruise we've booked the center most aft cabin #767. No bathtub (we are shower people, anyway) and the cabin and balcony are a bit larger than other Cat C cabins (229 ft2 & 74 ft2, respectively).

Due in part to the comments in this thread, I am now seriously considering adding a pre-cruise stay of a couple nights at the Hilton Moorea. So 1 night at IC Tahiti, 2 nights Hilton Moorea, 7-night PG cruise, and 4 nights St Regis Bora Bora is adding up to a considerable trip in time and money, but hey, you don't celebrate a 50th anniversary every year, right? :)

To be honest, I'm more interested in the Premium Economy class to be offered on ATN's new 787 fleet. Depending on price, I think it could be the perfect compromise between physically painful Economy and financially painful Business classes.

I'd try AF but so far they only have morning departures PPT -> LAX which is too bad as evening redeye departures work much better for us.

Number8 when you said you are 766 I did a double take. I thought that was our room, but we are actually 765 (which I think is the mirror version of 766?) on that October cruise. Looks like we will all be neighbors for 10 days! So glad to get these rooms as they go so fast.

Larro9, Number8, Cindivan -- Hope you all have a great time in your aft cabins aboard the Paul Gauguin. We will be preceding you in #767 on our cruise in July 2020. Will certainly post a detailed review here upon return.

Now we all have to suffer through the long wait until cruise time. I'm sure it will be worth it, though!

Awesome photos. Thanks so much for sharing. Can't wait unit it is our turn for this wonderful aft cabin! :)

We've booked this aft cabin #767 for a 2020 cruise. We had a similar aft cabin on a smaller NCL ship on a Mediterranean cruise in 2016 and loved it.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I've found two TA's I really like, one for the PG cruise and one for the post-cruise portion. Price quotes I got are definitely cheaper and more inclusive than I could have done on my own.

Can't wait! :D

Many thanks to all those who provided tips and suggestions in this thread.

I've finally settled on a 7-night PG cruise (7 July 2020) with 1-night pre-cruise at the IC Tahiti and 4-nights post-cruise at the St Regis Bora Bora. As this is definitely a "bucket list" trip for us (celebrating our 50th anniv in 2020) I wanted it to be something very special. I have no doubt it will be!

Yeh, the cruise is a long way off but I enjoy the prior planning and CC and TripAdvisor are invaluable assets.

I am SO excited! And yes, "she" still doesn't know anything about this. :D

Wonderful review, Silby. Thanks so much for sharing.

Congrats on 50!! What an achievement! And what a fun surprise for your wife!

 

We are doing our first FP cruise on the PG in October of 2020. We are coming from the east coast as well. We are doing 10 days because we felt if we are going that far we might as well do a longer cruise, especially with the price difference between the two not being that much (well, compared to the overall price anyway).

Thanks, Cindivan. I always tell people my wife deserves a medal for having that much patience! :p

Coming from the east coast, are you planning on a pre-cruise stay anywhere?

Should I make use of a Travel Agent for a Paul Gauguin cruise?

I know this is a pretty generic question but I'm posting here as it is specific to a planned Polynesian cruise on the PG.

I actually enjoy planning all the details, organizing travel, scheduling excursions and such for big vacations such as this. I did 100% of the planning on a trip to the Mediterranean a couple years ago and we had a blast.

I don't mind doing the leg work, and rather enjoy doing the research, but should otherwise should I expect any real benefit from using an experienced TA. Is it unrealistic to expect some kind of financial perks from our TA such as on-board credits or similar?

I know it is not allowed to promote any specific TA here on CC and I've already found a couple of TA's that I like but just unsure of what I should expect from them. Thanks!

Would you recommend visiting Tahiti in July during the Heiva Festival?

Thanks for the replies!

I’m definitely considering a 2-3 day pre-cruise stay, probably the IC Tahiti for convenience although looking at Moorea, too. Likely will not do an overnight near LAX though.

Like the looks of the IC Tahiti premium Motu OWB rooms as another check off the old bucket list.

Would love, love to do a pre-cruise stay in an Otemanu view OWB at IC Thalossa in Bora Bora but tough to justify.

The DW missus and I have a 50th Anniversary coming up in 2020 and having never been to French Polynesia what better way than to celebrate with a Paul Gauguin Cruise?

But shhhh... she doesn't know about this. For right now she thinks we'll be going to some resort in the Caribbean. Nice but no comparison to a bucket-list trip to Tahiti let alone a PG cruise! :cool:

I've checked the recently released cruise schedules for 2020 and they seem pretty limited for the 7 and 10-night cruises. I'm struggling trying to decide WHICH cruise to go for... either the 7-night Tahiti & Society Islands or 10-night Society Islands & Tuamotus. The fare difference is only about $1800 between the two choices for a Category C cabin. Makes the cost per day enticing.

I have a specific cabin in mind so I need to get the reservation done ASAP in hopes of getting the one I want so any suggestions on cruise choice would be greatly appreciated! I don't mind doing the legwork but I think working with a TA might be smart for this trip. Thoughts?

As our first PG cruise I'll have plenty of questions so please bear with me. CC was hugely helpful during my planning for a Mediterranean cruise we took 2 years ago.

Thanks in advance!

Thanks, Royo! Not what I'd hoped for but just what I needed to know.

At least until they upgrade their Internet service as promised (if ever!), there's no need to spend megabucks on an Unlimited Internet package.

We had the 250 minute plan, which we got for free. It is really, really slow, completely unable to do anything beyond a simple email. Can't upload or download pictures. Our neighbor sent us a picture of a tree that had fallen near our house and I could not download it at all. Tried for days. We only used it to check email and logged off and had time left at the end of the 13-day cruise. We checked our emails in port.

Rats... so is this May 2016 NCL Press Release baloney? It announced Norwegian's plan to deliver super fast Internet across the entire line:

https://www.ncl.com/press-releases/n...s-three-brands

The press release says:

"Guests on all Norwegian, Oceania and Regent ships can expect to experience the new, lightning-fast WiFi powered by SpeedNet by July 2016."

Cruise ship Internet service, particularly NCL's, has been notoriously slow so this is welcome news... if it's true!

I'm sailing the Spirit in September and I'd like to know if the ship's Internet has been upgraded *before* I pay an outlandish fee for Internet access that might be unusable anyway.

We are on the Spirit next week. The letter we received from the Concierge's desk Alluded that the unlimited plan was available. Be aware that the $19.99 per day rate is for cruises 13 days or longer. Our cruise is 12 days at a rate of $24.99 per day.

Time marches on...

The current rate as of July 2016 is $29.99/day for 1-12 day cruises and $24.99/day for 13+ day cruises. Hard to justify that kind of cost for slow and spotty Internet service.

Guess we'll just buy a 250 minute plan for $125 and hope that's enough.

Cardbucfan -- Great review! Thanks so much for taking the time to share your experiences and the wonderful photos.

We are taking the reverse of this cruise (Venice - Barcelona) on the NCL Spirit in September so this makes us just all the more excited about the trip!

Have cruised the Mediterranean in October previously and temperatures were in the late 60's/ early 70's some rain but mostly warm and sunny, occasionally a bit windy when sailing but it would be a good time to do this as it would be cooler when walking around the different tourist places and possibly less crowded as well. Temperatures in October are very pleasant but not too hot even. As someone who lives in the UK, the weather in the Mediterranean is almost always better than the weather we have at home

Many thanks, Dallas. I think we're going to keep our original cruise date of 18-30 Sep since I can't get the staterooms I want on the later cruise, anyway. Besides, we're from Orlando, Florida so temps in the 80's would seem balmy to us anyway. :)

Doing the Spirit Next October 2016 12 Day cruise, was wondering if she has a dry dock plan before then. Reviews I have read states she has had some worn areas like carpet and furniture . Or does anyone know when her last dry dock occurred.

Hey Firecapt25...

We are doing the 12 Day Grand Med Cruise on the Spirit from 18 - 30 Sep. Was considering pushing it back to October but worried about the weather possibly being wetter/colder. What are your thoughts?