TheDarkestBlue

Yes - Panama Canal!  ❤️ 

3 hours ago, Gretchendz said:

 

It's too peppery for me, for sure!  But it has many fans.

I love bacon, but it was too peppery for me as well, especially in the morning 🌄 

Not unheard of, if you have remaining bar tab, you can always splash out with a nice bottle of bubbles to share with your new found friends at the bar on your final evening - guilty lightweight here, lol 🙋🏻‍♀️ 🥂🍾 

Thanks for taking us along! 

Panama Canal sounds awesome, always wanted to do full passage through 🙂 

1 hour ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

If you mean Debarkation Day, you can only make that reservation while onboard, not in advance. Once you're on the Ship WiFi you can make brunch reservations for debarkation day. 

I was able to make reservations for The Wake on debarkation day for 9am when I made all my other reservations 45 days out with no problem. 

There is a huge amount of information on TripAdvisor South Pacific boards here as well 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ListForums-g8-i119-South_Pacific.html

We also upgraded for the same price (8 day) but had told my TA we were interested in a balcony upgrade if any deals came along. Last minute, booked 5 weeks out, 2 weeks later she came back with the opportunity to upgrade, I was so relieved 🙂 would have been my first time without a balcony and so glad to have had it, the views are fantastic and you feel part of it when you're out there 🌊

1 hour ago, Ski Mom 2 said:

Thanks for the recommendation! We will be on Bora Bora for two days in January. I have emailed with h2o and need to choose when to set up our snorkel 1/2 day tour with them. I can choose either day, morning or afternoon. What would you recommend? I do want to go out to dinner the first evening off ship but other than that we have no plans. 😁

The snorkel trip was so beautiful, but I was pretty physically and mentally wiped, just wanted to shower and have an easy meal, so ymmv. I guess it depends on how physically fit you are, and how fresh you would like to be for your night out? I chose the afternoon because we had early morning excursions all week, and wanted a day to sleep in - he dropped us off last, as the sun was setting, very pretty. The mornings are suppose to be better at finding the manta rays, they hang out by the channel, we swam over, visibility was a bit low and they were nowhere to be found, no problem for us, we had seen so much and got to track the eagle rays, see below. If you are in touch with Aimee at h2o, please tell her the lady with the beans says hello 🙂

I was more curious what they wanted to know than that $50 will sway me, lol, I never take surveys or give reviews. Just interested in what direction they may be headed in. I have no cruises on the horizons, just land based stuff for now.

Hi everybody 🙂 This came in my email a couple days ago, $50 additional bar tab for filling out the survey. Not as lucrative as the previous one I heard about here, iirc $200?

IIRC, questions were like  - 

Prioritize the order I like to book through - airlines, direct with cruise line, TA, expedia, web based cruise sellers?

Would I pay a amenities fee for certain services? 

What is more enticing, $1000 discount on the booking price or $1000 OBC? 

What inclusions would get me to purchase - gratuities, internet upgrades, priority embarkation

Advance booking for the best price if there was a low price guarantee 

At booking, choosing my cabin vs auto assign vs guarantee, or after, at embarkation.

The price I would pay for flexibility in booking, canceling, changing names, moving around a reservation 

100% PIF vs 20% down

Sea Terrace vs Sea Terrace XL vs a 200 sq ft (Panorama?) cabin pricing

Importance of cabin location and cabin amenities, balcony views 

What types of cabin bundling options (of the above questions) would I choose, and at what price point

The costs of the bundles were all over the place, they assumed Sea Terrace, XL, or 200 sq ft - 2 sailors, 7 days, Caribbean itinerary, money was from ~ $3k to $11k+ iirc 

We want to hear from you, Sailor.

We know how valuable your vacation time is, so we would like to thank you for your interest in sailing the world The Virgin Way. And as we continue to explore the high seas — from the sun-kissed shores of the Caribbean to sensational destinations in the Mediterranean — we'd love it if you could fill out this survey to help us better understand what’s important to you. It will take approximately 20 minutes to complete.

As a thank you, we will send you $50 in Bar Tab credit to use on any future voyage booked after April 15th, (New bookings only). Your credit will be shared in the coming weeks via access key for surveys completed in full, and this access key is only redeemable online during the booking process.

We encourage you to respond quickly, as this survey will only be available for a limited time— so make sure to complete it in one sitting. And rest assured, your answers will be kept completely confidential. This link is unique, it can only be used once and will only give one credit per Sailor.

As a potential future Sailor, your input is incredibly valuable. Would you be willing to help us out?

5 hours ago, WanderingTravels said:

Is that $10k per person or per couple?

It's per cabin - wish I could 🙂

Starting at $9990 per cabin — yes, that’s a 30% savings value — you and a sailing mate can enjoy four weeks at sea in our iconic Central Sea Terrace cabins from June through September. For a month’s long stay, we’ll provide the comforts of home — Premium Wi-Fi, a $10 daily coffee credit per cabin, Wash & Fold laundry service — as well as prepare you for the thrills of the unknown — early access to book dining and Shore Things, onboard RockStar support, access to Richard’s rooftop, and a complimentary bottle of bubbly to welcome you aboard

19 hours ago, Ski Mom 2 said:

Thank you so much for your response TheDarkestBlue! We already have an Azamara cruise of New Zealand booked later in January 2025 and this PG cruise lines up perfectly for us. We do realize it’s the rainy season but we are ok with that. I’ve spent the bulk of the afternoon and now all evening reading up on PG and it looks and sounds like what we enjoy and we are pretty excited. We have a cabin on hold and have a few days to make our final decision. We already have flights to Tahiti so at least we won’t have to switch those. So instead of having 3 nights in Fiji following the WS cruise that is no longer we will have 3 nights ahead in Tahiti for this cruise. We will then fly direct to Auckland from Fiji and jump on our Azamara cruise the next day! Crazy I know but it will be an adventure!

 

I know I’ll have more questions about PG. I will post those as I think of them. Again thanks so much!

Wow! New Zealand looks fantastic and hope that is part our next trip to the South Pacific. Hope to get back onboard the Paul Gauguin again while we are down there, we really had a blast. Fiji 😍 you are going to have a great time!

For 7002 

Both beautiful - have fun! We celebrated a big anniversary as well, they do a vow renewal (pay) and a marriage blessing ceremony (free but with other couples) hope that helps! 🧜🏻‍♀️

Hi 🙂 Haven't stayed in those but found some pics and floor layout for both 

Floorplans and pics for 701

Wow that's a great itinerary 🙂

Hi 🙂 It's the Marina next door - I would choose 437 if possible just for the buffer.

Which itinerary? 

5 hours ago, Ski Mom 2 said:

Here is what the letter stated:

 

We have been looking forward to you joining us on the Star Breeze, South Pacific – January  2, 2025 – February 5, 2025 sailings. Due to necessary fleet maintenance, it is our regret to inform you that the Star Breeze will not be operating in this region. As a result, your itinerary has been cancelled.

I'm so sorry this happened to you, and for the second time 😑 Are you able to go in a different month, because, as pappy1022 said, it's the rainy/humid season? I was looking at May through August as the dry side of the calendar,  we went in June of last year and only had 1 day with rain, the rest was lovely 🏝

There is not a lot of throughput in this forum compared with others, please ask away and someone will help 🙂

Hi 🙂

Being that we also had the overnight in Bora Bora, it gave us the opportunity to get back to the ship later than usual on the first day, so we did an afternoon snorkel with H2oBoraBora which was great, highly recommend 

https://boraborah2o.com/index.html

We went to a large coral garden, then off to find Manta Rays, after we went to a lagoonarium, very beautiful - next, our guide found a group of eagle rays that we swam over, tracking them a bit, so serene and graceful 😊 We had a good time and felt we saw a lot. Unfortunately, the next afternoon was the only rain we had all week and missed the private beach.

I would add that if you go on any snorkel excursions, you should bring your Paul Gauguin snorkel gear with you, even though the private companies say they can provide equipment, it was much easier to use your own stuff that you've already fitted and is good quality. 

There is a huge amount of information on TripAdvisor South Pacific boards here as well 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ListForums-g8-i119-South_Pacific.html

4 minutes ago, SteelCityCruiser10 said:

Did some visiting over in Naples.  Now all checked in waiting for boarding.  Flight on time.  Hope to be at home before 10pm. 🤞🏻

You have good timing coming home - cold weather here in PA about to break, high 62° tomorrow 🌞 Safe travels back! 

Hi - That's an interesting choice for your first cruise! 🙂  Feel free to ask whatever, that's how I learned.There is quite a lot of information on this forum from just moving up and down the list of topics, but there is a search button up top of the page that you can use for just PG here, or sitewide for more general stuff, or destinations.

We brought back more than 900 pictures, and we're just amateurs with an underwater camera. I'm sure you'll have lots of material to work with! I hope you have a great time! 🧜🏻‍♀️

1 hour ago, SteelCityCruiser10 said:

Keep your notifications for the VV app on and you’ll get all the updates.  None of the notifications were actual announcements over the loudspeaker.

 

I’ve been ignoring this one for 15 hrs 😂 

 

 

 

Hi there! No actual need to do this, just as long as you get off the boat by 10:30. We had breakfast reservations at 9:00 a.m. for The Wake, made it back to our cabin to grab our suitcases at 10:15, and proceeded out the gangway line 🙂

34 minutes ago, SteelCityCruiser10 said:

No lugging towels to Bimini BC

Not sure why the one notice said to bring along.

 

🙂 Hi! They mention to pick up towels because not everyone is going to the Beach Club, some are perhaps on private excursions, the tram drops off at various places 🧜🏻‍♀️

Thanks for sharing your vacation time!

Petit Fours 

I remember the Yum Yum Man 🙂

5 hours ago, FlightMedic555 said:

We were on the PG for our 8th time this past July. We are trying Windstar in July of this year.

 

Returning guests notice little things.  No flowers in the rooms.  No fruit in the rooms.  No petit fours after dinner, only the same poor cookies every night.  At the repeaters cocktail party the captain was expected but did not even have the courtesy to show up.
 

New cruisers are offered OBC and a credit which rivals my discount although I have been on the ship 8 times.  The PG fare has gone up and air is now no longer included.  I am paying $2800 per person all in on the Windstar for one of the newer midship window cabins.  277 sq feet on the Windstar vs 200 on the PG.  While I love the crew on the PG I have my doubts that the price difference is worth it

 

i realize PG is all inclusive but we don’t drink.  Even if we added in the all inclusive rate of $89 per person per night on the Windstar we would still be saving about $1-1.5k per person on Windstar. 
 

After  my last cruise I sent a lengthy email to PG expressing my concerns.  They acknowledged receipt but never contacted me   I hope the Windstar is fantastic 

I hope the Windstar is fantastic for you Medic 🙂 but your issues have more to do with your very idiosyncratic stand as someone who has gone on that ship and those itineraries 8 times now. Very few cruisers here are coming from the same place as you. I'm glad you have found a way to save money and still get down there. I did what I could to try and get you that referral money from Ponant last year, perhaps that would have sweetened the deal for you, but I suspect you knew my work was in vain.

I'm sorry you feel the way you do. We had Petit fours every night in June, and as far as we're concerned, we don't spend enough time in the room to care about flowers or fruit, especially when there is so much lush scenery around, I sip coffee on my actual balcony, and I could care less about meeting the Captain, ever. Perhaps it's generational, but these things are so low on my priorities they don't register 💁🏻‍♀️