MrBill923

Thanks. I will look at LAX maps for further info. Glad to know we don't have to haul our bags around for several hours. 

Thanks this is good info. On our way back to home, we have a 6 hour wait at LAX to depart to ORD. What are our options for our luggage as we won't be able to check those for several hours. 

Thanks. 

Just wondering about this to help arrange flight times. Where is Customs checks going to PPT and returning to LAX?

Just want to make sure we have enough time for connections. 

Thanks. 

We booked with TA for the Pre and Post Days with PG. The cost was $550/pp for Pre and $420/pp for Post. We booked two months ago. 

Hope that helps.  

There is the Post Cruise Discover info on the website under "Trip Enhancements".

We are doing this. Here is link to site:

Extend Your Trip | Paul Gauguin Cruises (pgcruises.com)

We were on a Holland ship last fall in Alaska. We have Verizon phones and had service in ports. If you do excursions in the wilderness don't count on service.

I use Tile tags from Best Buy, with Samsung phones. They work well. But you have to remember that they have to be "found" by other phones to be tracked and signal be sent to you. 

Thanks to both of you for the info.

Beautiful picture. We will look into pre and post stay. Thanks. 

Did anyone use PG airline reservations? We typically make our own flight plans as we like to pick times and seat locations. 

Just curious.

Thanks The Darkest Blue. This is very helpful, The Daily schedule answered several questions. I did notice there was no food available between 2pm and 6:30pm. Is there no quick bites somewhere to fill in after a long excursion or late at night?

I agree with booking hotel pre and post cruise. Did the Hilton Tahiti work for you, was it nice? How did you get to hotel from port and hotel to PPT? By Taxi - was it easy to get taxi and what was the cost and did you use $$? 

Thanks for your help. I think we will book August cruise. 

We have cruised 9 times and are in our 60's. We enjoy active ships and look for things to do onboard and onshore. We have done some searching but thought I would let your experiences guide us. Questions:

What is the cabin difference between Balcony D and C besides the deck number?

Is any of the ship's entertainment more than just a piano or Polynesian music/dancing?

How do you RSVP for dinner at the La Grill?

Can you be seated at a 2 Top table?

How and where do you sign up for excursions? 

Are the pre-cruise "day rooms" a good idea with the cruise line or with individual hotels?

Thanks.

On 10/5/2023 at 7:50 AM, TeeRick said:

Yes all good points.  The cruise industry and passengers are all now paying the piper for the extended pandemic shutdown and what the industry had to do to survive financially.  And coupled of course seriously high inflation over the past couple of years and supply chain disruptions.  These are facts,  undisputable, for all cruise lines.   The cruise lines today that deal with all of this best and get back to less debt and profitability will win.  But we all must recognize the major changes with more coming.  Not that we have to like it.  Some (like me) will not cruise for a period and spend money on other vacation choices.  

TeeRick, Well said! I hope everyone reads your post, especially all the complaining guests. 

Thanks.

Oh. Thanks. I was just curious why I can't see them. I just got yours. So strange. 

Moderator: I cannot see responses to my post #12. I have received notices that kplady and Copper 10-8 have responded. Can you help?

Thanks

Here are two short Videos of the sled dogs in action. It was fun to watch and see how the dogs are cared for. Hope you can see these. 

We did the triple. There were good parts and not so good. I posted a review here on CC for the Nieuw Amsterdam Aug 31-Sept 10. If we went again we would arrange it ourselves. 

On the subject of food: We were just on the N. Amsterdam in Alaska. We are not picky eaters, but there are some things that are not to our liking. We could always find something to eat in MDR. But many times out of the 4 apptz and 5 entrees and 3 desserts -- there was only one thing we wanted out of each category. To me that is not good enough. Dinners are basically 1 beef, 1 chicken, 1 fish, 1 pasta, 1 vegan. A few nights there might have one or two more, but not every night. We did not eta dinner in the buffet, we prefer the personal service in MDR. 

Here are a few pics from WP Scenic Train, Mendenhall Glacier, Glacier Gardens.

Sorry I did not have a pic of the shuttle/cart that went up thru the gardens. 

Thanks. In Skagway we did White Pass Summit scenic railroad. It was good and as described. Three hours in an old train car with an oil burner for heat. Saw lots of sights and one black bear. In Juneau we did Mendenhall Glacier and Gardens. It was good and very well narrated. Plenty of time to get out of bus and walk around. Just be aware that at the Gardens you ride in an open 12 passenger shuttle (large golf cart) and the roads are narrow. If you have fear of height, etc --- this might not be for you.  I'll check if I have any photos of that cart. In Ketchikan we just walked the city and took in the history, and saw salmon and otters. 

We were on N. Amsterdam last week. The beds together seemed slightly smaller than a queen size. Our 7th deck Verandah cabin had a small sofa. Don't know if it pulled out, but it would not be comfortable to sleep on as a sofa. 

See my Covid post in Holland forum from earlier today, for last weeks sailing.  

Something else we noticed is that some of the info we were given at the different locations was different than what we had been given pre-cruise. Some info actually had two different times on the front and back of the info. We were also given info about luggage tags for each part of the trips. Some of this info was not clear either. Like departure times or location. Another example was that sail away was supposed to be at 8pm, but we departed at 7pm. 

Don't get me wrong, it was nice to get additional info for the different legs of the land trip, but it would have been better to be not conflicting. 

Blackduck: As I mentioned, I noticed the problem on the last night as I saw it while sitting at bar. I had not seen any waiters touching raw ingredients going into the finished drink with his bare hands previously. In this case he grabbed a peeler and a portion of orange and peeled of a section and then used his fingers to drop in glass. In most cases a bartender is using his bartender tools to properly make and finish off the drink. Of course, a bartender touches an ice scoop, glass and shaker. But they don't touch the inside of the items. I posted this to alert anyone else that prefers dirty fingers not be in their drink --- to be aware. 

Forgot to mention the most annoying part of the land tour. The early morning before each stage of moving from one point to the next - we had to have our luggage outside our door by midnight or 5am. The morning to get on the Whittier train, we had to have it out there at 5am, but when we departed our room at 7am it was still sitting there. They use a truck (6 hours) to transfer all luggage to Whittier while we take a 10-hour train ride. 

I posted separate thread for my Covid experience, so if people were interested in that subject, it was easy to find.

Unfortunately I didn't notice what waiters were doing until the last night when I sat at the bar to order our drinks to see if I could get them faster. The bartender ignored us and waiter walked up behind us to take order. I watched the bartender make our drinks, place them and the waiter station and then saw what he did. This whole procedure had already taken over 15 minutes. Since we were heading to dinner, I knew I would just order wine at the table and not drink the Manhattan and Cosmo. 

So, didn't report it. Just posted here so others were aware.