Leejnd4

Depends on the yacht. I live on my private yacht, and while it's a wonderfully adventurous life (and I'm certainly never bored!), we have no "staff" on our boat. So I have to do all the cooking. 😝

Thanks! Yep that works. Our cruise is still pretty far away, but some categories are already sold out (including all porthole cabins, and the two upper levels). We don't want an upgrade - we booked very early as we needed that one and only accessible room (my friend that I'm cruising with is mobility challenged) so we were happy to get it. It's actually 25sf larger than the usual PG cabin, so that works for us! It would have been nice to get a balcony, but having a walk-in shower (not a bathtub) and other accessibility features was more important.

Yes, this will be my third PG cruise. It's been a while, but I'm excited to go back! The Gauguins hold "Polynesian Time" every day as I recall, and teach things like dancing, arts & crafts, lei making, etc. I don't recall if they teach pareo tying there, but I'll bet they can. And they always offer a dedicated pareo tying session on Moto Mahana.

I have an excellent suggestion for how to handle mail: use a mail service like Traveling Mailbox. That's what we do. We live full-time aboard our sailboat, currently cruising the Pacific Coast of Mexico, and have for the past 4 years. We have all mail sent to our Traveling Mailbox address. They scan it in, and you simply log into your account and see all of your page scans. They don't scan obvious bulk mail - it gets shredded immediately so we never see it. (We do still get some junk mail that filters through, but not much.) You scroll through your mail, read it, then shred/delete it. If it's something you want to keep, they will hold it for you. You can also have them forward it somewhere, such as a relative's address. They will receive packages for you and forward them as needed. We've been doing this ever since we moved aboard our sailboat and left the US. It works great, and is quite reasonably priced. I'm sure there are plenty of World Cruisers who do this.

How did you check the cabins to see how full the sailing is? I'm very curious about how full our sailing is, but I have no clue how to see that for myself. And I don't want to keep bothering my TA.

Well if you only tie it around your waist, I would encourage you to wear SOMETHING on the top. A pair of coconuts might do the trick. 😉 Or you could attend one of the pareo-tying workshops put on by Les Gauguins, so that you can actually wear it more like a dress. I attended one, but I've now forgotten all those crafty ways to tie them! So I'll be getting some re-training.

Don't worry about dressing up. The evening dress code is "Country Club Casual". Here's how it's described on the PG site: Country Club Casual, or elegant resort wear, is appropriate dress for all evenings aboard The Gauguin. A dress, or skirt or slacks with a blouse or sweater for ladies, and slacks and collared shirts for gentleman. No ties are required at any time, although gentlemen may opt to wear a jacket to the Captain’s Welcome Reception. I plan on wearing casual sun dresses to dinner every night. While shorts are not supposed to be worn for dinner, I think a teenager wearing them is going to be left alone as long as he's otherwise dressed nicely (Hawaiian shirt, collared polo type shirt). There's no "formal" night. Polynesian night is a great night to wear something very colorful - women are encouraged to wear Pareos. If I recall correctly, you can't make dinner reservations for the two specialty restaurants until onboard, and it's best to reserve them early. We're going to do so as soon as possible after embarkation. I believe you can only make one reservation for each restaurant initially, to ensure everyone gets a chance. Then if you want to go back, you can check each evening to see if there's any availability.

This is wonderful! I was trying to find these somewhere as we're in the process of planning out our days for our upcoming cruise (which isn't until November, but we're early planners haha). Thank you!

We're certainly not the only people whose plans were screwed up by Covid, that's for sure! And we are among the luckier ones - we were able to ride out most of the pandemic aboard our sailboat, avoiding a lot of contact with people while enjoying the pleasures of coastal cruising. So I have no place to complain! Thanks again for all of your details about your cruise. If you are up for it, post a review in the PG reviews section, for people like me who are jonesing to read anything and everything in anticipation! 😉

Oh Dave. TRUST me, if we could we would. In fact we were going to! That was the plan when we left to go cruising in late 2019 - to spend two years cruising Mexico, then sail over to the Marquesas, and spend at least a year cruising the South Pacific before heading to Australia, where we planned to sell the boat and move back home to CA. But then Covid hit, and the South Pacific shut down to all pleasure craft. We have friends who were half-way to the Marquesas when they shut down their ports, and they had to divert to Hawaii - and had a helluva time getting there. So we've been kicking around the Mexican Pacific coast ever since...and recently the South Pacific fully re-opened. We know numerous boats who just made the leap, most having just arrived in Nuku Hiva or Hiva Oa, and several others still underway. But we missed our window to do it ourselves, and now we can't go. 😟 Long story short: our agreed-upon plan has always been to cruise for five years (for various reasons I won't bore you with). But we just finished year 4, and now that FP has re-opened we only have one year of cruising left. That's just not enough time to cross over, properly cruise FP and the rest of the South Pacific, get to Australia, and get the boat sold. So...we will do our final year of cruising in Mexico then head home. And I will get my South Pacific fix by doing another PG cruise. 🙂

YAAAAAS!!! I have zero problem with hypotheses, speculations, cogitations, contemplations, or conjectures. But these constant snarky clap-backs are just...well, yeah, you said it Roland. I also see nothing wrong with being a cheerleader for a cruise line that one loves...provided it's honest, and not blind to the downsides of said cruise line. And I haven't seen any cheerleading going on that isn't, as far as I can tell, open-eyed. But maybe I'M the one who's blind? 😎

Once again thank you so much! Glad to hear there are shallow snorkel spots on both of those excursions. I suspect Sandy will stay on the boat for the deep water ones, and go in for the shallow ones. This is the BEST news!

You make a good point. It's not just about the performers, it's about the whole production. And I admit I've only been on one Oceania cruise. And I admit to feeling a bit of motherly defensiveness over my friend's son. And now I have to ruefully admit that I did exactly what I talked about in another thread - I made a snarky comment. BAD LeeAnne! Honestly tho, I do not recall the entertainment on Oceania being so awful. In my recollection the production shows were no worse than ones I've seen on many other lines. The magician was horrific, but the production shows were great, IMO.

This is SUCH an excellent point! My expectation is that much of the *cruise experience* will be similar because these are the same ships, with (as Keith has painstakingly explained) many of the same crew on board. And, of course, the fact that the new company has made such an effort to get the word out that it WILL be a similar cruising experience, so clearly that's their intent. But the *ownership and management* is a completely different company, so my expectation is that working with them will be very different. How can we hold against them something done by an entirely different entity? I had my own less-than-positive experiences working with Crystal management many years ago, but I never had anything but a fabulous cruise experience. So I can't help but think this is a good thing. And of course this is all speculation for now...but not blind speculation, as we do have enough info to formulate our opinions. 🙂

I'll be sure to tell my dear friend's son, who was a singer/dancer on Regatta, what you thought about his efforts to entertain people. All the months of learning the routines, rehearsals, and then shows...turns out they weren't entertaining at all. I know he THOUGHT he was doing a good job! But I guess the fact that he was one of the actors in the movie Pitch Perfect doesn't at all mean he has any talent. I enjoyed the shows on Oceania. While admittedly not as professional as some other lines, they were still fun to watch. But apparently I don't really know what entertainment is.

Well, I haven't been on the Regent board in years (having not taken a Regent cruise for over a decade) but, after reading the most recent discussion on this board, I'm not so sure the warmth here is particularly notable either. Keith sure does get dumped on, and I cannot fathom why! And I got mildly snarked at recently myself (by one of the same people), for a completely benign comment, which is why I've mostly just been reading rather than posting. It just didn't feel good. I'm not one of those who've been active on this board for years and years and years, so I suppose that makes me an outsider. But from an outsider's perspective...YEESH! There's some weird vibes in here. Keith, I appreciate your input as I know you have lots of contacts. I don't expect you to offer hard and fast statistics...your history with Crystal tells me you probably know more than most. Good enough for me. And now, given past history, I suspect I should don a flak jacket. I wonder if I can find one that has sequins so I can wear it on formal night?

Well! I'm sure you're unhappy about that ten pounds, but it makes ME happy to know the food was that good! LOL! 😁 Thank you SOOO much for your detailed review! It's everything I remember from my PG cruises from years ago, but I wasn't sure how the Ponant ownership had changed things. Sounds like it's just as wonderful as I remember. I'd love to hear more about your excursion with BoraBoraH2O. We're booked on that one as well. Biggest questions: how comfortable was the boat? And how challenging was the snorkeling? The reason I'm asking is that my friend is somewhat mobility challenged (she uses a cane). I'm going to be her helper, but we're hoping it's relatively easy and shallow so that we can manage it. Also the Moorea snorkel tour - was this the snorkel & bbq on motu? We're doing that one as well. How was it? Thanks for telling us about Fakarava! We'd considered doing the ATV tour there, but it sounds like it's not worth it. I'm going diving in the morning, and then we will probably just check out the town and then relax on the ship for the afternoon. I'm glad you had a wonderful time! And sorry for all the questions. 😀

Nice shots! Can you share what you decided to do in each of the ports? Any other comments on your cruise? I haven't seen a recent review or trip report in ages! --editing to add-- Hmm, I just checked the reviews and sure enough there is one new one there for the PG, but unfortunately it's pretty bad! Specifically, the reviewer complained about the food. Can you share your thoughts?

Yes they do! If I recall correctly, it's a separate tender from the one that goes to the town.

I agree that could be tight, and it's even possible you won't have time to have lunch at all if you miss a tender. I think they only run every 30 minutes. Why not take the afternoon off and head to the PG's private motu? They don't have much in the way of amenities on the motu (unlike Motu Mahana), but it's a gorgeous beach and a nice way to spend an afternoon. I don't like to cram my cruises with too many excursions...time to relax is important as well!

I didn't find it to be awful. It wasn't as fabulous as some other cruise lines, but I enjoyed it.

Oh...oops! I misread and thought you meant Oceania. I enjoyed the entertainment when I cruised the Oceania Regatta. It wasn't overwhelming, but it was worth seeing.

"No entertainment"? Um...😉 Tell that to my good friend's son, who spent 8 months on Oceania as a singer/dancer, along with a troupe of other singer/dancers, doing shows nearly every night. I wonder what they were paying him for, if not to, ya know, sing and dance? LOL! I too have encountered people who found themselves gobsmacked to be on a ship that was not at all what they were expecting. Which makes no sense to me. Honestly, I just don't understand why they wouldn't have spent just a LITTLE bit of time researching the ship they've just spent a lot of money to cruise on. Every cruise line these days has a website with wonderfully detailed descriptions and photos of their ships, their cabins, their entertainment, dining options, shore excursions, dress codes, etc. It's not rocket science. But of course this is coming from a person who spends at least a year reading everything there is to read about every vacation I take. So maybe I'm the weird one!😝

LOL! It's pretty loosy-goosy. You will find not a single sequin on my boat. Or high heel, for that matter. 😉And it depends on if I have a line out trolling for fish. In fact, my profile photo shows what I was wearing the last time I caught one, which was about a month ago. Thanks Keith! It's...ahem...an ENTIRELY different experience than a luxury cruise ship, but I'll take being at sea any way I can. And I am very much looking forward to my next cruise, which is the Paul Gauguin in November. The problem is, there's no spa on my boat! And I have to do all the cooking. 😭

Since I know you all love seeing sunsets at sea from a cruise ship, I thought you might like to see what a sunset looks like from a tiny sailboat! We just completed an overnight passage from Bahia Chamela to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle on the Mexican Pacific Mainland. This was our sunset as we sailed about 15 miles offshore: