Leejnd4

Exactly. I enjoyed my Oceania cruise immensely, but it was definitely NOT a "luxury" cruise when compared to my OC cruises. There are specific, identifiable factors that characterize a luxury cruise ship vs a premium one. Oceania ticked every premium box, but is skipping on some of the luxury ones. That does not mean that it's not a fabulous cruise line! It's all in what's important to you. I've often seen people get into pissing matches over whether a particular cruise line is luxury or not. That seems silly to me.

It's definitely more relaxed! I'm bringing a few sun dresses for dinner, which are also appropriate to wear during the day. It's what's commonly referred to as "resort casual". If you look at Cruis Critic's professional review of the ship, this is what it says: These tropical itineraries call for casual attire by day and country-club or elegant resortwear clothing by night. During the day, you'll need bathing suits, cover-ups, shorts, shoes that are comfortable for walking or hiking, and reef shoes, a must for the private island experiences, where rocks, broken bits of coral and sea cucumbers can make for an uncomfortable walk. Bug spray with DEET is also a necessity in the lush, tropical environment. At night, women traditionally wear skirts or slacks or capris with blouses, and men go for trousers and short-sleeved collared shirts. (Think "Tommy Bahama," rather than golf shirts.) On Tahitian Night, which occurs once a cruise, women are encouraged to wear pareos (Tahitian wraparound skirts, which are available ashore at the various ports or in the ship's gift shop), and men don Polynesian shirts. Fill your suitcase with lightweight clothes made of natural fibers (cotton, linen and silk), and you'll have everything you need.

I believe it is - I saw someone mention it in a recent PG roll call that I was scanning for ideas.

Probably not. She's just not stead on her feet enough for that. Thanks for the feedback, both of you! We've decided not to do this tour. We found a PG snorkeling/BBQ tour on Moorea that we will do instead. We were going to find a private tour for that day, but we've got the OBC so we might as well use it. And we'll use what's left for spa treatments. 🙂 On Fakarava I'm going to dive in the morning, and then the two of us will just walk around the little village.

Has anyone done an ATV tour on Fakarava? I'm doing a cruise with my friend who has mobility challenges - she walks with a cane. We're considering doing this ATV tour on Fakarava. The excursion description provided by the cruise line doesn't include any warnings about mobility-challenged persons, unlike many of the other tours. And unlike the ATV tours on other islands it doesn't say anything about steep climbs or rough roads. There's also a little video about it on the cruise line site that looks like it's entirely flat. So I'm thinking it might be something we can do together, with me driving the ATV. Thoughts?

Anyone done the ATV Quad tour on Fakarava? I have two questions: 1) Does the PG run this tour in the afternoon? I want to go diving in the morning, and possibly do this after lunch. Note: I've seen that this tour is available to book privately, but we have some OBC to use up and are trying to find a PG excursion (all our other tours are private). 2) I'm doing this cruise with my friend who has mobility challenges - she walks with a cane. The excursion description doesn't include any warnings about mobility-challenged persons, unlike many of the other tours. And unlike the ATV tours on other islands it doesn't say that there are steep climbs or rough roads, and the little video about it on the PG site looks like it's entirely flat. So I'm thinking it might be something we can do together, with me driving. Thoughts? Thanks for any insight!

Oh right! I forgot about the Aramiti ferry. 🙂 They are a bit slower if I recall, but not by much. We did the Terevau ferry, and it was quite zippy. We also rented a car in Moorea, which gave us the opportunity to tour the island on our own, at our own pace. I'd recommend that option. It's a lovely island.

Take a 30-minute ferry: https://www.terevau.pf/en/home/ It's about $13 US each way. You can take a cab from the airport to the ferry terminal in Papeete. The ferry will drop you off at Vaiare marina on Moorea, and you should be able to arrange for pick-up there through the Hilton. It's been a while for me, but as I recall, the ferry terminal is very close to where you board the ship - walking distance. So you can catch a return ferry on the afternoon of embarkation and just walk onboard. We did it the other direction: Moorea after our cruise, and the ferry terminal was right next door, so we disembarked, collected our luggage and walked to the ferry. You can buy ferry tickets in advance online.

AHHH! Thank you for this. I absolutely adore the Amalfi Coast, and it's been way too long since I've been there. I appreciate this small taste - brings back incredible memories. Hmmm. Methinks I'm gonna have to find a cruise that hits the Amalfi Coast sometime in the future.

Are you unable to use the PG website to book your excursions? That's how I've always booked excursions on the PG in the past, and from what I can tell, it still seems to work that way even now that Ponant owns PG. My cruise shows in my account on the PG website, and it appears that I will be able to book my excursions there once I'm 60 days out from my cruise. I have not heard of any valid reason for using the Ponant app for PG cruises. Is this a Europe-specific thing, perhaps?

Keep in mind, some of the scuba excursions are run by vendors. Most of their scuba trips are run by the PG scuba staff, and you dive right off their own zodiacs, which you board from the retractable marina platform at the stern. But some of them in the more far-flung islands are run by third-party dive operators, so you may take a tender to shore and get picked up by the local dive op. We had the same experience. They did everything for us! We live in Southern California, where dive boats expect you to manage your gear completely yourself, so it was a very nice luxury to have the PG staff do it all for us, including setting up, breaking down, rinsing and storing. 🙂

I've not done this myself on my two PG cruises, but my understanding is that you are allowed off the ship shortly after they arrive in Papeete in the evening before morning disembarkation. And I've read of recent PG cruisers disembarking that evening, so I don't think the Ponant ownership will change that. But it's not a bad idea to have your TA call PG just to ask.

Happy to help! In fact I'm having fun. 😉 I've already done all the planning for my upcoming PG cruise, and don't have another cruise on the horizon to work on, so I'm actually enjoying working on yours. LOL! Yes, I believe you are looking too far ahead. While the high-end cruise lines often alter their routes, they do tend to do the same itineraries for a few years so you can see what will likely happen in 2025 by looking at what's going on in 2023 and 2024. FYI, my go-to for searching for cruises is vacations to go dot com. I don't use their booking services, just their search engine. IMO they have the best search system I've ever seen. If you use their custom search option, you can filter your search by a wide variety of options, including by multiple regions or even by one particular port stop; by ship rating; number of pax; even by year ship was built! Check it out. I threw in Tahiti/South Pacific for Sep/Oct/Nov 2025, and the ONLY cruise line so far that is showing any itineraries there is Windstar. But if you look for the same months in 2024 you've got a full range. If you compare 2023 to 2024, it's very close and you can assume that it will look pretty much like that for 2025. Based on everything you've described, the best itinerary I've seen for you is the Silver Muse 15-day from Cairns, AU to Auckland, NZ. It stops in several ports in Fiji as well as some other really interesting, and less-touristed, islands in the South Pacific. It's running in November of this year, but not next year, so I don't know if you'll have that option in 2025. Another one to consider is Celebrity Solstice. It's a big ship, but as mass-market ships go, it's on the higher end. They've got an itinerary in Oct. 2024 that goes from Hawaii to Sydney, stopping in the Society Islands. A lot of sea days, but that ship has a TON of stuff to do on it! They might be running that one in 2025. I'm an early planner like you. And for a wedding, that's even more important. But unfortunately I think you're gonna have to wait a while until the 2025 itineraries are out.

Yes, that's a good point - many of the islands bar the larger ships entirely, and these restrictions are expected to get even more rigid. Bora Bora recently banned any ship larger than 1000 pax, and I read that they will soon reduce that number further. And honestly, I wouldn't want to cruise to the South Pacific without stopping at Bora Bora! You won't find better snorkeling, or a more romantic setting, on any island that any cruise ship can get to. So it looks like your options may very well be limited. In looking at the higher-end lines visiting the South Pacific in Sept/Oct/Nov of this year, you've got PG, Silversea & Seabourn. There's also a Viking ship that will be visiting there, but it looks to be part of a month-long cruise from LA. I haven't personally sailed on Silversea or Seabourn, but my understanding is that they are pretty sedate, luxury-focused cruise lines. Plus, the only Silversea ships going there are the Silver Explorer, which is even smaller than the PG - 130 pax - and the Silver Muse, which is probably more to your liking with about 600 pax. And it does have a small casino.🙂 Seabourn only sends the Odyssey to the South Pacific, and that's kind of in between - 460 pax. It has a very small casino, but it appears to be a VERY sedate ship with little in terms of entertainment or activities. If you're willing to go on one of the lower-end mass-market lines, NCL, Royal Caribbean and HAL seem to have some cruises that hit the South Pacific, but their itineraries are not very exciting. Plus, well, mass-market big ships. I think if you want to avoid the big boys, you're going to end up with a quieter cruise.

Thanks for the tip. Makes me feel super welcome on this board.

I was kinda hoping they'd come back and keep live-blogging, but I think that ship has sailed (literally). 😉 Their cruise ended weeks ago. Bummer! I was looking forward to hearing some details.

OMG that's HILARIOUS! 😂😂😂 Thanks for sharing!

I didn't know he had a website, but thanks! I'll check it out.

I was going to ask that same question! He made my last Crystal cruise so fun. I ended up having a lengthy conversation with him after his show, as this was right before my husband and I planned on retiring and moving aboard our sailboat to cruise the Pacific for several years. He was absolutely fascinated with that plan, and asked a bazillion questions. I would love to see him on my next Crystal cruise, once we're back living on land next year, so I can tell him how it went!

Ah, okay that makes sense. Yes, I read that the PG eliminated the casino recently. I don't think it was very heavily used. And it's true that as a small ship, doesn't have all the activities that the big ships have. The PG is all about the destination, and cultural immersion. Good luck with your search for the perfect ship for your wedding!

RUSS IS BACK??? That's WONDERFUL!!! I was actually going to post a question to the forum, wondering if anyone had heard if he was coming back or not. This makes ALL the difference! He was CD on my last Crystal cruise in 2019, and I just adore him. He made it such a special trip, in so many ways. I'm a terrible dancer, but he had me out on the floor doing a tango that would have earned at LEAST a 4 on DWTS! 😉 I'm so happy to hear this. I hope he sticks around so I can get on a cruise with him once we move back to land next year. This is happy news indeed. Thanks Keith!

And I'll be looking forward to hearing your report on whether or not the Carpaccio on NC stands up to the Carpaccio on OC! As for Mikey...boy are we dating ourselves even knowing who Mikey is. LOL!

I just saw this thread, and let me say that I am THRILLED to hear that the Carpaccio will come back! One of my most enduring memories of my Crystal cruises is their delectable Carpaccio. I swear I've never had it better, and I'm Italian (and have been to Italy seven times)! And the whole production around serving it - the big shavings of Reggiano Parmesan, pouring that deep green olive oil over it all - makes it even more fun. I'd be heartbroken if that went away. I'll be eager to hear if it's the same on NC.

I'm curious why you're counting out Paul Gauguin? I've cruised that ship twice, and have a third cruise booked with them for November. I've also cruised Regent, Oceania, Crystal and Windstar in various parts of the world, but for French Polynesia I would pick a PG cruise over all of them in a heartbeat. If it's the luxury factor you're concerned about, both of my PG cruises were comparably luxurious experiences while also offering total immersion into the Polynesian culture and vibe, which you DON'T get on the other lines. That ship may be a bit old, but they do a great job of keeping it sparkling. Also she just had a dry-dock refresh, and I've read that the ship looks great. Just some food for thought! 😀

Oh that's WONDERFUL to hear! We are doing a Paul Gauguin cruise in November and we've already booked this tour. I'd read about them elsewhere, and heard that they really are the creme-de-la-creme of private excursions on Bora Bora. Thank you for confirming!