aerobee

On 7/19/2022 at 1:46 PM, Lazy Sailor said:

“I think those that treat the waiters as people not servants….”
 

I’m a veteran of only one Azamara cruise, Norway Intensive a few years ago. That was my first impression: many of the long-time Azamara cruisers had friendships with waiters and other staff, and were treated as their friends in return. I felt like an outsider at first, but really it was on me to learn and join in. 

On 12/27/2019 at 12:03 AM, Hutchinj said:

Sad to say but the Category C aft cabins will be no more after the refurb in May 2020. Seems they are converting those 5 cabins Into 2 suites (Grand or Owner types). We booked cabin #767 over a year ago for our 4 July 2020 cruise but that cabin will no longer exist.

 

Sorry to hear this....

On 7/18/2019 at 6:08 PM, bob278 said:

So we enjoyed another airport hotel overnight.  To top off the entire trip, our bags did not make it to Charlotte.  We are now home (arrived in Charlotte at 1:30 and 2 of our bags are on their way from Atlanta to Charlotte and one is still in the Baggage Services Office at JFK.  We may need drugs before we get on another airplane. 😳

 

But despite the horrors of transportation (and doing without luggage for the first 4 days of the cruise), it was a wonderful cruise. We met really nice people, saw some beautiful scenery and enjoyed an on-board experience that made us book the 2021 trip with Capt. Johannes (but we'll have to get over the flight fiasco to keep that date).

Good grief! We shared the pier-to-EDI-to JFK leg and had no idea you were heading into trouble again.

Speaking of Capt. Johannes, I took photos at his Q and A

Richard

We'll be on Journey this Summer, in a V2 Veranda cabin. Four nights on land and 16 nights on board.

It appears the two of us will be packing in three checked-bag-size suitcases and two overhead-rack-size suitcases (I know we should travel lighter, but what can I say).

Is there room to store these five pieces in the cabin after we empty them? They don't fit one within the other.

Thanks!

I'm late to this topic, but there's a new luxe class hotel in Oslo. Rooms start at about 300 euro/night which is still cheaper than The Thief, its sister hotel.

Not on the water but well-located for tourists, in front of Central Station at the start of the walking street.

https://amerikalinjen.com/

My post-cruise report on our stay in Cabin 767 is here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=56278038#post56278038

I took five trips to Tahiti to find the courage to buy my strand. I bought it on board the PG from Tahia. Have also bought stuff from Robert Wan and Island Fashion in Moorea.

The pearl shop on board the PG is no longer a Tahia outpost - - I don't recall the name of the current concession.

There's a Tahia branch a couple of hundred meters north of Le Petit Village in Moorea, and another very near the PG tender stop in Vaitape, Bora Bora

http://tahiapearls.com/en/the-boutiques-of-tahia-exquisite-tahitian-pearls/

My trip report has pictures, inside and out, of one of the newer air-conditioned bungalows at Les Tipaniers:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=56287056&postcount=7

Beach restaurant at Les Tipaniers (at sunset)

Aitutaki, Cook Islands

 

 

 

 

 

Not sure who you’re referring to—Fortunately we made it there!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Today and most mornings we had breakfast at La Grille. We prefer their location because the 8th deck is open to the outside near the pool, from 8:00 on. Early birds can get coffee and croissants at La Palette at the other end of deck 8 starting at 7:30. Room service breakfast starts at 6:30.

Another correction to my report: Breakfast at Le Grille starts at 7:00, and La Palette continental breakfast is served from 6:30.

LesTipaniers is beachfront in the northeast corner of the island.

Correction to my earlier post: As the map shows, Les Tipaniers is in the northwest corner.

Moorea 2

We had previously booked the Trails of the Ancients trek with Mark Eddowes for Moorea 2, but renting a car the previous day allowed us to cancel it (and we heard later that Eddowes canceled anyway due to illness). We booked the catamaran snorkel trip instead for our final excursion, despite having been warned that the snorkeling would be in deep water with not much to see. But we learned the night before that it too was canceled. After some debate we switched to Dr. Poole’s dolphin watch (dolphins not whales in June).

Here again we were thwarted. Although he took the boat three-quarters around Moorea, counter-clockwise from Cook’s Bay to the ferry terminal, we were the unlucky five percent of his customers who saw nothing but landscape and water. (Apparently ocean swells closed the main openings in the reef and the spinner dolphins stayed outside the reef for the day.) Dr. Poole did his usual talk in the absence of any creatures to look at and most of the people on board were not dissatisfied.

The evening entertainment was another local group, “O Tahiti E, Polynesia’s #1 folkloric dance troupe, live on the stage.” They were highly professional and theatrical, but personally I preferred the more natural look and feel of last night’s group not to mention our Gauguines and Gauguins.

Tahiti

Since we were not using the PG’s transfers and air service, we had to be out of our cabin at 9:30 and off the ship by 10:00. We had 8:00 breakfast as usual and walked off the ship at 8:30, promising to return. We used the hour to see the Cathedral and the Municipal Market (the lady in the picture below gave me permission to photograph her). An hour well spent!

Coming back on board we collected our carry-ons from the cabin at 9:30, met our suitcases on the dock, and were escorted to the waiting taxi (having paid PG a fee to arrange the taxi and so forth). The taxi got us to Le Meridien in about 15 minutes, and I paid my last 4,000 ($39) of local currency for the ride.

Our room at Le Meridien wasn’t ready so early, but we rummaged in our suitcases for bathing suits (there is a changing room) and waited by the pool. Our room was modern and comfortable with a third floor balcony looking out to the pool (sand-bottom and huge) and beach (narrow but nice). Meridien’s OWBs are currently closed for renovation. There was a current running parallel to the beach, and we weren’t feeling adventurous at this point so we stayed at the pool. The restaurant choices are good but unusually expensive. The first night we walked to the adjacent strip mall for water and wine from the supermarket, and take-out pizza from a food truck.

The following day we signed up for a tour of Tahiti (the circular road around the island, not the mountainous trek inland). Four hours mostly in the back seat of a van, ourselves and a french lady the only passengers. The final stop was the lighthouse built by R.L Stevenson’s father, after which I was not sorry to be returned to the hotel.

We planned to eat in the main hotel restaurant the second night, but that evening there was a huge gathering at the poolside bar/restaurant. Literally hundreds of young French women and men, dressed for the Club, eating, drinking, and talking while house music throbbed in the background (oddly nobody was dancing). We bought $75 of credits for two drinks and two small-plate tapas and found a table. Apparently they gather at Le Meridien every other Thursday for the scene.

Then came the trip home—a 5:00am taxi to catch the 7:30am Air France flight to LAX, Friday night at the Westin LAX, and LAX to Denver to Hartford on Saturday.

As I said at the start, we’ve been home only since the weekend and already it all seems like a dream.

The End!

Moorea 1

The beautiful weather continued throughout the cruise. The pool is open all day at forward deck 8 and it’s often empty and never very busy. Pool towels tend to run out in the afternoon if you don’t have your beach towel with you (if you took your beach towel with you on an excursion you won’t have it because you were asked to drop it in the hamper upon reboarding the ship).

We had a difficult time deciding what to do in Moorea, having already done the jet ski and snorkeled on our own pre-cruise. Because Moorea is an overnight the last return tender on Day 1 isn’t until 10pm. We wanted to see the sites we’d missed pre-cruise (despite having had a rental car the whole time!), namely Belvédère, the agricultural school (and an opportunity to buy their local preserves which we’d been enjoying daily at the deck 8 buffet table), the roadside Maraes, some snorkeling, and more. We decided to rent a car, which is easily done since the tender landing is only a couple of miles from the Avis desk at the Intercontinental and they’ll pick you up. The car, by the way, was a standard shift which is not a problem for me.

We did all the above sites including a final return visit to Les Tipaniers and its beach. We looked at the new public beach just beyond Le Petit Village but it was very sterile-looking with a big parking lot, a narrow beach, and uninviting to snorkel.

The Avis desk closes at 4:30 and although I think we could have stayed at the Intercontinental pool for hours after and taxied to a late tender we did it the easy way, returning the car at 4:00 and taking a free lift from Avis to the tender.

We were back in time for a Mini Heiva featuring “the Local Mamas from Moorea as they demonstrate how to make Heis & Leis made of local fresh flowers and their weaving technique.”

The same group provided the evening showtime where the flower-work was augmented by song and dance. They were wonderful!

wow! Those photos are so vivid. beautiful!

Thanks! Apart from a few IPhone pictures, they're all taken with the Olympus TG-5 that Deladane recommended.

Taha’a

We had pre-booked the popular drift snorkel excursion but having not gotten to a pearl farm in Huahine we cancelled it and substituted the snorkel + pearl farm excursion. The pearl farm demonstration was pro forma, especially since our Taha’a day was a Sunday and the place was empty. The proprietor did give a talk and his assistant partially opened a demo oyster to indicate where the seed and a bit of mantle from a sacrificial oyster are implanted. The emphasis was on moving to the shopping portion of the program.

Fortunately the snorkeling was excellent, and we had a full hour for it. The site was in the same neighborhood where they do the drift snorkel, but we had an area with no current and particularly beautiful coral and healthy fish all to ourselves. No bread-feeding this time and we were on our own in shallow water to explore it.

From here the boat took us directly to the private island well in time for lunch and swimming.

We stayed until the last tender at 4:15, and watched the sunset sailout from our deck. That's Bora Bora on the horizon!

Tonight’s show was Les Gauguines/Gauguins and we enjoyed them as always. This was another long day for them!

Bora Bora 2

This morning we booked via the PG the Maohi Nui version of the three-stop tour that we took with Lagoon Service earlier. Our skipper was the famous Patrick who was professional if a bit distant.

Our first stop was the reef sharks, etc.; it was good to see them again.

Second stop was the sting rays, and he handed us fish pieces to break up and insert bits into their gill slits next to the eyes, which connect to the mouth below. Yes, I took this picture!

On the way to the third stop Patrick stopped to show us a school of manta rays swimming far below us.

Third stop was the section of coral near the Conrad where we again had the mobbed-by-fish experience. I couldn’t help noticing that because they’re drawn by heavy chumming with bread, the fish are limited to a few varieties and I wonder what this means for the less aggressive species. Swim a few meters away from where the bread is thrown and you’ll notice a total absence of fish.

We shuttled to Vaitape for a final chance to look at pearls and souvenirs, and unfortunately we ended up missing the third and final food and wine presentation. We heard later that Chef Hazan did a raw tomato sauce and Marilise presented three of her wines including a pricey amarone.

Bora Bora 1

Because our Cook Islands tour took us out of the country, an immigration officer was in the theatre at 7:30am to meet each passenger face-to-face and stamp every passport. We lined up early for fear of missingt he 8:30 shuttle necessary to meeting our Pure Snorkeling boat in Vaitape at 8:40. All went well (despite our being with an independent company and thus theoretically required to board after all the in-house cruisers).

Pure Snorkeling uses a handsome and comfortable outboard powerboat. The skipper is the only crew and Fabien did a terrific job. The highlight was the final stop, in somewhat shallow water in an inlet near an opening to the reef. Fabien cautioned us that the nearer you go to the opening, the stronger the current flowing in. You didn’t need to swim far to see beautiful corals, and the current would run you back towards the boat anyway. Fabien borrowed my camera to take closeup pictures of the coral.

We were a group of eight: a couple from Edmonton and ourselves from the ship, and two couples from Rome, Italy who were staying at our former hotel, Pearl Beach. He dropped them off first and as he headed to Vaitape we asked about getting a taxi to Bloody Mary’s. He said since he had no afternoon booking (he’d asked if anybody had afternoon plans at the start and since we didn’t he ran an extra 1 1/2 hours to 1:30) he would drop us at Bloody Mary’s private dock and save us the taxi there. (Yes, we tipped him the price of the fare.)

We didn’t want a full lunch at Bloody Mary’s so we were relegated to the bar for drinks, taco chips and salsa. This turned out to be the best choice anyway since we heard nothing good about the food there, while their bloody mary drink and amber Haino beer on tap was excellent.

Tonight was the crew show and I regret we couldn’t stay up for it having gone nonstop from 6:00am.

Rarotonga

As advised here we prearranged a car rental for the day. We used Avis in the center of downtown at the main harbor. The PG tender however landed opposite the commercial container port about a half mile from downtown. It was a hot, sunny walk but not a bad introduction to the island. Avis is next door to the CITC main store and we did some souvenir-type jewelry shopping before getting the car. Getting the car in Rarotonga was no different than anywhere else—show your license and credit card and away you go. Not what we expected, having been told on the ship we would have to go to the police station to buy a local license and so forth.

We drove the Island clockwise in air-conditioned comfort but there wasn’t much to stop for. We did stop at the National Museum (probably also walkable from downtown) which holds a small but interesting collection of artifacts, including a native mariner’s map of atolls made from strung-together sticks, coral fishhooks, and impressive ironwood war clubs. Admission NZ10 for two—I’d gotten NZ40 from a bank atm downtown. We drove from there to Fruits of Rarotonga and then doubled back a short way to Muri Beach. The only fruity item to be had at Fruits of Rarotonga was a mixed fruit smoothie so we had one apiece of those (they were fresh and delicious).

Muri Beach was disappointing. We parked along the road and walked to the beach through one of the hotel properties. We felt like intruders but the few people we saw didn’t appear to care (I believe there are places that welcome you to buy a drink but this wasn’t one of them). More importantly, the lagoon water here was dark and turbid—uninviting and certainly not good to snorkel. I asked a fellow at a paddleboat concession and he assured me the water was clean. He said you know the water is clean because of the many sea cucumbers that are on the bottom. Another reason not to want to wade out there when you can’t see the bottom! He pointed out four motus across the water, three opposite and the fourth out of view to the left (north) where the lagoon opens to the ocean. He cautioned that the farther left you go the more risky the current.

We finished the circuit clockwise around the island, passing the airport, bought a Cook Islands straw hat, paid $10NZ to refill the tank, and returned the car. The Avis representative offered us a ride to the pier, which we gladly accepted.

Sea Day 2

The highlight of the day was Chef Hazan’s second demonstration of the cruise. He made pasta fagiola and again provided some good tips: use your peeler to de-string the celery before you chop it, cook the egg pasta in the soup, and purée some of the solids before adding the pasta to thicken the soup. The wine pairing was a bright valpolicella. Gauguin’s audiovisual staff dropped the ball again and Marilisa Allegrini had to give her Italian wine talk without benefit of her slideshow.

The nighttime show featured the Gauguins and Gauguines. I want to note the tremendous contribution they make to the cruise program. Not only on-stage but morning, noon, and night. They’re always approachable (and if you seem alone or confused they’ll approach you). They embody the charm and warm spirit of these islands.

Excellent review and pics so far. I look forward to the rest! Thanks for taking the time to do this. By the way, you mention that the menus change mid-week in the specialty restaurants. Can you book each place more than once on an 11-night cruise?

They invite everyone to book each restaurant twice, so they can have both menus in each.

Others here may have better information, but my sense is there is flexibility in how rules are enforced, especially if you're chummy with the maitre d', the sommelier, etc., or if you've befriended staffers on prior cruises.

Aitutaki, Cook Islands

Today and most mornings we had breakfast at La Grille. We prefer their location because the 8th deck is open to the outside near the pool, from 8:00 on. Early birds can get coffee and croissants at La Palette at the other end of deck 8 starting at 7:30. Room service breakfast starts at 6:30.

We were somehow able to board the first shuttle at 8:30 despite not being on a ship’s tour. We booked independently with Teking Tours and based on complaints we heard later about the ship’s tours we’re glad we did. Mr. Teking did the orientation and a scary safety briefing (no jewelry to be worn; no flash on cameras; heed all instructions), and he apologized for not going on board with us.

We were about 16 people divided between two boats. Mostly Australian or New Zealand tourists who were staying at island resorts. The boat captains and helpers are big men who speak a guttural Maori language to each other (and English to us, of course), impressive to see and hear. We made a snorkel stop to see giant bull-head wrasse, then another to see giant clams, and a third to see beautiful purple coral and many fish. I’m embarrassed to say I was so engrossed in fish and coral-watching on the third stop I failed to notice I was out there alone keeping everyone on the boat waiting for me.

The tour also included a stop on a sand bar where red-legged terns and their babies were nesting on the ground.

The final stop was at one-foot island and its beach. The boat ride back to the pickup point was extra fast and extra bumpy—I hope not because I’d slowed us down. Anyway we made what I think was the 3:00 shuttle so there was no danger of the ship sailing away without us (last shuttle was 4:30). Five stars!

Dinner tonight was our first-half booking at La Veranda (the menus at the two specialty restaurants change mid-cruise). When we first boarded the PG there was a bottle of champagne in our cabin—apparently courtesy of our travel agent—so we iced it and brought it with us to La Veranda. The menu gourmandaise was exotic and impressive, and the champagne paired well with it.

Showtime was the magician’s show, somewhat disjointed and marred by low quality audio from his headset microphone and an overloud soundtrack from the booth.

Huahine

Huahine was our first stop, and after considerable debate we signed up for Huahine Iti By 4x4. We were ten guests divided between two vehicles with two young French women who doubled as drivers and guides. They made several stops at scenic places to see specimens of food and medicinal plants, followed by time at a local resort for a drink and quick swim, and finally a stop at a significant marae, a 600 year old royal artifact. Most interesting though was their account of island people’s current cultural and social/economic life and their own story of moving from mainland France to Huahine and raising children there.

The tour returned us to the tender dock, and we hopped on LeTruck for a ride out to see the town on the main island, Huahine Nui. The town didn’t seem to offer much (we stayed on the truck for the return leg) but guests we picked up said snorkeling was good just up the beach from town, and people who took the Huahine Nui excursion saw a pearl farm, sacred eels, and a much bigger marae.

Back on board we were well in time for the Children of Huahine show.

After that we saw the fascinating Moonfish presentation and, later, we ate our share of it at dinner.

Sea Day to the Cook Islands

I did some quality napping and got up in time for our two guest hosts’ cooking and wine presentation. They were interesting and enjoyable. The cooking was by Giuliano Hazan (son of Marcella Hazan who was to Italian cooking what Julia Child was to French cooking); the wine was by Marilisa Allegrini of Allegrini wines. Chef Hazan made a nice preparation of a baked fish filet with tomato and diced onion, substituting Polynesian papio for his usual halibut, in the course of which I learned better ways to dice an onion and peel a tomato.

Before dinner the ship sponsored a block party, providing an opportunity to go out in the hall and meet your neighbors, with a staff member pouring wine for everyone. A good idea!

We watched moon-rise from our deck.

On Board The Paul Gauguin

Our itinerary was 11 nights including Huahine, two sea days, a day apiece in the Cook Islands Aitutaki and Rarotonga, Bora Bora overnight, Taha’a, Moorea overnight, and back to Tahiti. Our cabin was 767, the center stern-facing balcony cabin. We chose it for its bigger footprint and larger than average deck. It had a nice walk-in shower and no tub.

On the open sea there’s some vibration and a fair amount of motion in the cabin, but not nearly as much as we felt downstairs at dinner in L’Etoile. We wore Sea Bands that press on an acupressure point on each wrist and they seemed to work. There’s no soot on the deck, no tobacco smell, and no sound in the cabin from the restaurants/disco above and below our balcony. We overpacked but the cabin had room for everything and our four suitcases fit nicely under the bed.

Following advice here we quickly booked the galley and engine room tours. We missed booking the two specialty restaurants during their departure day lunch hours, so we returned at the dinner hour and got three of the four dates we’d planned for, one apiece before and after the mid-cruise menu change. Le Grill didn’t have the first half date we wanted, so we took advantage of their open seating on departure day and had our first meal with them.

Other folks have posted menus and food photos here so I’ll spare the details. We mostly ordered fish this week because we like it and every fish served on the PG, except salmon, was fresh line-caught Thursday or Friday last week in Polynesia. Meats and poultry are sourced mainly from the U.S. and New Zealand and come aboard frozen in primal cuts which the on-board butcher portions out (not that they aren’t delicious).

Le Grill’s dinner was excellent, both the shrimp appetizer and the seafood brochette. Also we’ve been satisfied with the daily wine offerings, one red and one white (so far we’ve only had whites). Service has been quick—actually the Le Grill service that first night was too quick. Also I was surprised how informal Le Grill was that first night, which I wouldn’t ordinarily consider a negative except a party of six across from us was very loud and boisterous. [We had our second seating at Le Grill on the last night of the cruise, likewise in Tahiti, and that time the tables were set outdoors by the pool and the ambiance was calm and romantic.]

Subsequent to that first night we mostly sat at group tables, and we’ve enjoyed the luck of the draw guest-wise. We met interesting people from Canada, Australia, and yes, America. Ages mostly range 50’s through 70’s (which is our demographic), what I call the new old. Most of our relatives and acquaintances in New England go to Florida, Cancun or Aruba, and maybe an occasional big trip to London or Hawaii. Here we heard talk of Nepal, Morocco, Cambodia, Antarctica, Africa, and so forth. Not to mention the people who’ve taken a dozen or more cruises on the PG.

Moorea

We booked a bungalow (on land—no OWBs here) at Les Tipaniers Hotel, making sure to get one that was renovated and air conditioned. The air conditioning was good, but limited to the two bedrooms, one with three single beds, good for storing luggage; the other with one large bed. Our bungalow also had a full-sized kitchen with stove, refrigerator and microwave but we didn’t use them. Everything was very clean.

Most guests were French families on holiday, their children playing unsupervised on the beach but very respectful and well behaved. It reminded me of my youth when children were trusted to adventure on their own, and as in my day it wasn’t unusual to see a child with arm or leg in a fresh plaster cast the price of tree-climbing or whatever. The holiday was Lundi de Pentecôte (Pentacost or Whit Monday) and many take the full week off.

Les Tipaniers is beachfront in the northeast corner of the island. There’s a beachside bar/restaurant on the property, good for a light breakfast or lunch, and a roadside French-Italian restaurant, one of the best on the island. Meals taken at either place can be charged to the room.

We had an Avis rental car, delivered to us at the airport on arrival and returned by us to their office across the road from the ferry to Tahiti.We drove out to Le Petit Village, about a mile away, to buy water and souvenirs, and to one of the nearby black pearl stores. We also drove fully around the island at and after sunset, about an hour’s trip, stopping at Mahogany Restaurant for dinner (an unusual menu but excellent and we were lucky to get a table without reservations).

We drove one morning to Moorea Activities Center (MAC), although they would have picked us up, and took the same jet ski tour that Deladane describes in her extensive review. We’re an older couple, reasonably fit but with no jet ski experience, and keeping up with the guide and two young couples was somewhat scary but fun in hindsight. Afterwards we drove to Snack Mahana for a terrific lunch (cash only).

The highlight of our stay at Les Tipaniers was lunch and snorkeling off the beach at Coco Beach Bar on motu Tihara across the water in front of Tipaniers' beach. We telephoned them for pickup at the Tipaniers boat dock. I used my high school french to tell them where, when and how many) and their motorboat came about 20 minutes later for the free crossing--I learned later that the standard way to get to Coco Beach Bar, no telephoning required, is to drive or taxi to their signpost on the road about halfway between Les Tipaniers and the Intercontinental. We enjoyed lunch there and especially the snorkeling a short way down the beach. It was the same snorkel spot that MAC jet ski had taken us to the day before.

We drove to Avis on Saturday, returned the car, and boarded the Teravau 3:00pm ferry to Tahiti. The ferry crew loaded and unloaded our luggage. Arriving on the Tahiti side we managed to walk all our luggage the 200 or so meters to the Paul Gauguin.

excited to follow along!

Thanks, I'm hoping to get this all in today. Posts on cc are limited to six pictures and I have forty-something in the report.