Icecat

While everyone's at the buffet or pool on day one waiting for cabins to be ready, was really hoping to sneak in a quick workout. Just wondering if they let people use the gym. Before bugging everyone here, I tried searching for the answer in past threads. Older 2012-2013 thread said said no...gym is not open...only avail for walk thru tours. But someone on there disputed that, saying he saw people working out early before cabins were ready...he thought maybe they don't enforce it. Someone else said they don't open until later that day/evening.

 

Anyone have more recent info from the past few months?

Just got off the Connie and no the gym wasn't open for use prior to sailing.

Which cruise director was replaced?

We did a 14 day Fiji cruise on the PG back in May, and it was outstanding. Was it has nice as Tahiti no, but different experiences, for example on one island Tanna in Vanuatu we were the first cruise ship ever to stop, and all the locals came out for a big time celebration. An experience that can't be duplicated. If you're a scuba diver this trip is a must, some of world's best diving is located in Fiji and New Caledonia. Some day trips from Noumea for example to Amedee Island was an enjoyable day.

Port Vila is a dump, but Vanuatu is a 3rd world country.

That's my two cents worth.

 

Also, the cruise schedule says the ship docks at 7:30pm in Papeete on Friday night. Has anyone ever booked the 11:59pm Air Tahiti Nui flight on Friday instead of staying over until Saturday night? It seems like enough time to make the flight.

Yes, we have use the 11:59pm flight and it works out great, getting you into LAX in time to make connections to anywhere in the US and Canada along with Europe. We found a significant number of shipmates were on this flight also. PG will have taxis at the ready to take you to the airport, and you can't check in before 9pm so everything works out.

Not worried about that leg, it is the LAX general mess that concerns with a 1.5 hour change time.

Our last trip we were traveling with a couple with Global Entry and they in end didn't save any time, because the bags come when the bags come. They also have kiskos for non-GE passengers which cuts down the time. Also remember LAX is the Airbus 380 capital of North America which could delay your bags if you arrive during Asian Prime time.. No airline would sell you an 1.5 hr connection (international to domestic) because it's is an illegal connection. So basically every thing will have to go perfect for you to make that connection.

Said American goes on strike, and it does.

 

Everyone got a big pay and benefits cut, you know it.

 

I flew for Texaco on the 2 corporate G-IV's. Chevron bought out Texaco back in 2000-2001 period. Our Texaco CEO became the head guy at United. And he's the guy who did all the big 50% benefits cuts. I actually liked this guy and his wife. He didn't cut my pay.

 

CaptDave

Again when was the last time American went on strike? It was February 15, 1997 and it lasted less than five minutes, just enough time for President Clinton to invoke the Railway Labor Act. Just for the record, most American pilots are happy campers right now, with their big pay raise; the seniority issue from the merger already resolved and brand new planes.

Great link thanks...

 

Who has signed up for the ten day Celebrity "Big Nude Boat 2016 cruise", 02/06/2016 or the 8 day 02/12/2015 one?? :o:p

It's my (and my husband) preferred way to cruise,

The male was the one that remember us turning it in, all I can say the female working the area wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Actually, a first for any cruise ship. On June 4th, the Paul Gauguin was the first ever cruise ship to make a port call at Tanna in the Vanuatu Islands. A holiday was declared; a elaborate welcoming ceremony which lasted all day with traditional dancing took place and the tribal chief gave a speech how their prayers have been answered with the arrival of the pg and hopes for further visits in the future and he asked us passengers return with our friends.

It's been over four weeks. When I've sent postcards from Europe, even notoriously slow Greece, they've arrived within a couple if weeks or so.

 

By the way, no, I will not apologize for them losing my clothes. Talk about blaming the victim. Sheesh!

Again, I just returned yesterday, and compare to my cruise on the PG last March, a certain staff member in guest services this time wasn't up to par. For example, we had to prepare a immigration form when the ship returned to Fiji. I do so and gave it to the staff as instructed. Two days before returning to Fiji waters, several of us, got a notice that we didn't fill out the form. So I filled out the form and waited until the guest services staff member that was on duty when I turned it in was on duty, I asked him if he remember me turning it in, sure do was his reply, he pulled my passport and there was the forms...

Just back from the south pacific trip; here is my comparison;

Fiji Airways cabin's are immaculate; and they should be since the 330's are less than a year old. ATN's have new interiors; so rate this a tie.

Legroom: ATN wins hands down. Fiji Airways is cramping 20+ more seats in their planes than Delta or US Airways does with the same model. Therefore the seat pitch is only 31" compared to ATN's 33". Those two inches make a big difference for someone that is tall.

Cabin Staff: ATN again wins. The only time we saw a cabin staff member while in flight was during meal service and they weren't really friendly.

Meals: ATN once again take home the prize. The arrival breakfast meal into Nadi was just a cheese Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich. I kid you not.

On my flights both airlines were on-time. **I'm not counting the last departure on ATN when a native went bonkers as we were backing away from the gate at PPT, causing up to return to the gate and we ended up departing an hour late.

On the whole, flying ATN was just a better overall travel experience.

Yes, and I found your words more touching than any picture, pretty as the flower was. You're correct. After reading your post grandma, I made a donation to the Wounded Warriors Project. Anyone who can afford to cruise should make a donation today.

 

http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org

 

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I don't mean to rain on your parade. The wounded warrior project is nothing more than a scam. Your money would have been better used with a local veterans group.

nformation taken from veteranstoday.com

You seen the ads on TV asking for $19/a month; wonder where that money goes? The top ten employees salaries go from 150K to 330K a year. 61% of the donations go to WWP's administrative costs. Despite what you see in the ad's WWP does not give any direct grants to wounded veterans, rather they make grants to Easter Seals, American Red Cross and Fisher House.

Second, the thank you for posting. A couple of years ago on another board; I started a tread asking about family members service during WWII. The responses were very touching.

Take a minute tomorrow, to remember the ones that didn't come back, and those that served.

-USAF Vietnam Era Vet (who is very thankful to this day that he ended up in the UP of Michigan)

Thanks for the warning regarding the taxi drivers, and Bellamariya thanks for your information

Thanks for the tip, some how I didn't think of looking there.

The PG has left Papeete heading for Fiji and points west. We will be taking the two week cruise in 12 days which includes Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

Has anyone been to Vanuatu's Ambrym Island, Port Vila or Tanna, Lifou and Lles des Pins in New Caledonia?

The first flight out in the AM will get you into LA at noon. That leaves more than enough time to connect, even if your flight is delayed. There are numerous flights from NY to LA during the day, so even if your flight is cancelled you should be able to get rebooked and get there. Bad weather closing the airport or a system wide ground stop would be the only real deal breakers. Coming from NY, the worst case scenario is you get rebooked on a flight out of one of the other NY airports and hustle to make it.

The minimum time for a legal connection is 2hrs. If you check your bags all the way to PPT 3hrs is more than enough. If you're taking the first flight out of JFK/EWR to LAX, the plane will have probably have been at the airport over night reducing the chance of a delayed flight.

The Polynesian/PG Flu strikes again......welcome to the club.

 

We did this some years ago. Basically it's the same ATN to Papeete with the return to LAX on Air Pacific. The latter is no better than ATN. The ship gave us the day room at the Westin.

The Air Pacific name is no more. About a year ago the airline was re-named Fiji Airways, when their brand new Airbuses 330's arrived. I just read an article on Fiji Airways last week, the reporter stated the new aircraft has resulted in a huge improvement in the inflight experience, and they are making money hand over fist, as compared to the money losing TN. In 59 days I will find out for my self it FJ is superior to TN.

Bummer. Looks like you'll need an extra day on Tahiti. :D

If it's Air France you will have more than one extra day, since they only fly 3x week. Enjoy..

AF is showing Business, LAX/PPT r/t at a shade over $8,000 for both of us.:eek:

Don't panic; you can buy an upgrade at the check in counter on the day of departure, if seats are available. That's what we do. $700-900 depending on the departure. Since you're from PHX, we took the afternoon flight and get's you in between 9-10pm then you can go to the hotel and get a good night rest. Remember TN is a leisure airline and not a world class like Cathy Pacific, Air France etc, but saying that we didn't have any problems inflight with TN. Another thing to consider, Air France load factor to PPT is 93% vs. TN 75%.

Yes, but business class on AF is a step up from ATN.

Don't forget TN has installed a new business and coach seating. It's a huge improvement over what they had.

Here the story about the incident:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/fl-holland-america-cruise-rape-overboard-20140218,0,7727316.story

We have been on nearly twenty CO cruises. Our first one was just to do something different, well to my amazement my wife began hooked on this type of cruise ever since.

Let see; Holland American, Costa, Carnival, Star Clipper, Paul Gauguin, Celebrity are some of the cruise lines that we have sailed CO.

Rumor floating around the ship, another incident happened last night.

No where does it say that the lady was nude at the time of the incident. Most of us that travel on these cruises are nude just during the day time around the deck, and clothed during the evening.

On our cruise last April, we were told one of the project is to add more shade near the pool area.

Regarding the security at the airport, they didn't fisk us. The only problem we saw was at the airport, was boarding ATN had one staff assigned to the Y class line and 5 staff assigned to the business class line. (We were pushing back a lady went crazy and they disembarked her, and it took awhile to find her luggage which took a hour, then when we got to the runway a thunder storm hit, and we sat on the runway until it cleared, so we were 90 minutes late to LAX)

We could also wear shorts into the dining room,(apparently we were the given more leeway since ours was a charter) which I wore all 14 nights with a nice shirt.

There wasn't any side to side rocking of the ship that we noticed.

We used deck 9 for relaxation due to the shade and the, and the quick access to the bar.