Sailwithbars

6 hours ago, MrRandal said:

They used to mail them, in a beautiful 6"x9" binder  that was enclosed in a wonderful matching zippered pouch. The cruise documents detailed your itinerary and provided you with pretty much all of the information about the ship, your cruise, deck plans, available excursions at each port, restaurant locations, meal times, etc. It was a very exciting day when it was delivered in the mail. They are now delivering a 2 page e-Doc that shows what cruise you are on and what cabin you are in, plus a 6 page health questionnaire, which not only asks about your Covid Vaccination and any prior Covid infections, but basically your entire health history for the past 5 years. You need to fill this form out 2 days prior to boarding, and if the ship's doctor finds you not healthy enough to cruise, not just a positive test for Covid, but for any medical condition you may have they deem makes you a risk, they can refuse your boarding. It certainly dampens some of the pre cruise excitement, and removes what was a wonderful and professional "Welcome to your cruise" presentation. 

Thanks so much! This was super informative! 

We are sailing in September and it’s going to be our first time with PG. I’ve heard about these “Cruise Documents” but what exactly are they and when should I expect them to be delivered? We made final payment in June. Also, will the “Cruise Documents” be electronically delivered or mailed to us? Thanks for any info! 

3 hours ago, minidonuts85 said:

I created an account, was given a passenger number but it says we have no cruises booked (we do have one booked) and I dont see an option to add a booking number. In past experience, would the cruise just eventually show up or would this require a call to PG? Thanks! 

Are you the "Primary" guest on the reservation? I only asked because that's how we were able to access ours successfully. I tried to make an account under my name but couldn't. When I asked my husband to make one under his name, we were able to sign in and our reservation was already listed in the account.

Hello all,

Can't wait for our cruise in September! Anyone know how much the typical taxi fare is in Tahiti and Fiji?  Is it recommended to set up Transfers in advance or just wing it on the day of? I'd imagine we'll probably need some cash if we decide to wing it, I'd love to know in advance how much we'll need at least. Thanks in advance for any info! 

PPT Airport to Hilton

Lautoka Port to Denarau Hotel

Denarau Hotel to Fiji Airport

If anyone can recommend/has had good experience with Transportation company, would love to know this as well. Thank you! 

7 hours ago, Hutchinj said:

 

Actually, PG is still planning to sail as soon as early as June 6th (I'm currently booked on a July 4th cruise). They have not (yet) cancelled that cruise since FP hasn't committed to a firm date to open the islands to non-residents. We are all being held hostage until that happens.

 

We are booked on the June 6th cruise. I emailed them two weeks ago regarding the status of our cruise and they informed us that it has been cancelled. American Airlines also called me and wanted to check what we wanted to do with our flights because the Fiji-FP flights, operated by Fiji Airways and Air Tahiti respectively, has been cancelled. 

I'm currently having a hard time deciding what to do... receive a 120% credit for a cruise next year or demand for a refund? We also have purchased a travel insurance with Cancel for Any Reason clause. Should I just cancel it myself and file a claim? Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks! 

Latest PG Advisory: 

March 12, 2020, Update

We were informed overnight that the French State and French Polynesian authorities have decided to suspend all cruise calls in French Polynesia until April 11, 2020. We will be communicating throughout the day with our travel advisors and guests booked on affected sailings and will be sending out notices and updating our travel advisory as our plans are introduced.

Link to the latest PG travel advisory regarding coronavirus: 

https://www.pgcruises.com/travel-advisory

I received this from Windstar yesterday. We have a PG cruise booked for June, do you guys think PG will implement something similar? 
 

1 minute ago, vjr said:

Are you on the Sept 2019 itinerary or a later one?

Our trip is not til June 2020 (so excited!). We booked our cabin the other day... just doing some research on the flights to get an idea if air/sea is the way to go or not. 

On 7/24/2019 at 7:31 AM, Notion_of_the_Ocean said:

 if you don't extend stay they usually put people on the last flight of the night on the day the cruise departs..... 

 

 

This is my biggest concern... what if I do not like the flight they put us on? 

Pre or post cruise stay is not an option because I’ll run out of vacation days! Lol #firstworldproblems. A week before the cruise we are flying to Italy to get married.

On 7/24/2019 at 5:12 AM, vjr said:

My husband and I are cruising for our 3rd time on PG in September and I always book the air/sea package.  Yes, it’s more expensive but more convenient and safer.  PG takes care of all flight arrangements and transfers to and from the ship and any pre or post cruise land packages and transfers.  Completely worry free.  If you don’t know the area, booking on your own carries some risk and being in a foreign country, even more.

Did they ask for your flight and seat preference? When did they confirm your flight reservation? I hope they don’t book it last minute and just give us left over seats. I guess that’s my biggest concern. 

16 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

We prefer to book through PG for our air from LAX. It makes us worry less to know that the ship won't leave without us. That makes us feel good enough to not worry about booking our own flights from LAX, even if we could find one for a few hundred dollars less.

After our first trip, we also book at least one night pre and one night post through PG cruises, since it makes it a lot more relaxing  on both ends of the cruise.

For us, this is an expensive vacation, so we aren't worried about a small savings here or there as part of the cruise experience.

But, we also need to get to LA and back from SW Florida at each end of the trip, so it's not the same as being from the LA area. We do try to not spend excessively in the LA area. We've spent a few days in a rental car, killing time between a hotel room before, or a red eye back to Florida, or both. We've found quite a few great places to visit in the LA area, and have even met people for lunch that we lost touch with long ago. We spent an hour walking through a Whole Foods store, and comparing prices and selections to our store in Florida. It was cheaper in California, and had a better selection. I love to go to grocery stores wherever we travel so this was actually enjoyable for me.

Hi, seems like you have experience booking air/sea before... I guess my main concern is the type of flights they book. I don’t want to be stuck in a flight that lands so late... maybe that’s just an issue when landing in PPT from LAX, I think there are two flights that day most PG guests mention, one arriving at 5:30am and the other one at 11:30pm? Not sure. It might not be an issue if we are arriving in Fiji and departing in Tahiti. But anyway, back to my concern... did they ask you for your preference when they booked your flight? And also seat assignment preference? And how far out before the trip did they confirm the flight info? I’m anxious that they might do it last minute and select leftover seats. We booked a cruise for June 2020 and they said it’s their “busy” and “popular” month... I just want to make sure we get the best possible options we can for our trip while it’s still early. Thanks for the advice!

Hi guys, we are set on the itinerary for our honeymoon---Fiji, Tonga, Cook Island and FP. Now we are undecided whether to include the air/sea package or not. Do you guys have any advice/experience in this matter? This is our first time to book with PG... no clue if it's better to do the package or not. Thanks in advance! 

I'm sailing on the Conquest Dec 3rd... can't wait to hear about the mini/major improvements they've done! Following this thread!

FLICK

• I didn't know what to expect... I just heard that it was a good show. I told my BF that it's like a Broadway musical... I love musicals but he was like "eh." I was happy he still went to see it with me.
  

• 
  I like Broadway musicals but from past experiences, I find cruise ship shows to be a little cheesy. NOT THIS ONE!!! : ) I throughly enjoyed it because the performers were amazing singers and the songs were familiar to me!!! I wanted to bust out my karaoke machine after watching the show and sing the songs they were singing!
  

• There was a "red carpet" event before the show. Jaime, our cruise director, interviewed a bunch of people and it was "televised" in the theater while we waited for the show to start. That kept us entertained.
  

• I would suggest sitting by the middle aisle as most of the action happens there.
  

Great review[emoji16]. Would you mind telling me what you did in Crete? I guess the port was Souda?

 

 

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The port of call was Heraklion... we didn't do much, just walked around the nearby old city, had lunch, did a little bit of shopping, and walked to the old Venetian Fortress. The ports before Heraklion were Florence, Rome and Naples... we were so tired by the time we arrived in Crete.

Great review and pictures! Which dining room was YTD

I'm not sure what the name was... but the dining room on deck 3 and 4 AFT. The check in are was on deck 5 AFT.

• My favorite thing to do after a loooong day in port... the DIVE IN THEATER!!! Since our cruise was soooo port intensive, my BF and I just wanted to relax and watch movies at night! We just had enough time to watch a movie and dinner most nights because we like to get a decent amount of sleep before getting to port the next day.
  

• Dive-in Theater usually have 2 movies each night... we saw Independence Day Resurgence, Batman vs. Superman, Captain America Civil War and The Jungle Book! They were also playing movies like Finding Dory and Me Before You.

• They provided blankets and popcorn, free of charge, whenever movies are shown in the Lido deck. I like to bring my neck pillow and the towel from my cabin to make the lounge chairs more comfortable.
  

• We try to find seats 20-30 minutes before the movie begins. We never had problems finding a good spot when we are early. We also get food from the Lido Marketplace before the movie starts.
  

• Imax Theater... we were able to see The Magnificent Seven during our cruise. It was only $12.95 per person if I remember it correctly. We were both happy about the price because iMax movies are usually about $16 in Los Angeles!
  
• The seats were very comfortable and the theater was clean and huge!
  

• Sully and Deep Water Horizon was also playing during our cruise.
  

• We purchased movie tickets through this little machine. You just need to put in your folio number to be charged.
  

Next up, the show Flick and the Comedy Lounge!!!

Great review thank you but I have a question do you have to make reservations for show or anything else? Thank you for any response.

 

 

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No, we didn't make any reservations for the shows... but, you might have to show up at least 20 minutes early if you like great seats! We didn't have any problems finding a seat as long as we were 15-20 minutes early from show time... that's how our experience was from the comedy club and when we saw Flick. If you're watching an imax movie, the seats are not reserved as well... so come at least 10 minutes early before the movie starts!!!

• Lido Marketplace - the food was ok and sometimes really good! We ate here when we needed to eat dinner early to catch the movie at the Dive in Theater which usually starts at 7pm.
  

• The Lido Marketplace didn't feel crowded or overwhelming compared to the lines we experienced when we were on the Breeze! This made our experience less stressful and enjoyable!
  

• I'm not sure if I was blind or just confused... because I only saw one soft serve ice cream machine... it was towards midship.
  

• 
   
  
• Breakfast at Blue Iguana - I had the breakfast burrito twice during the cruise. I never ate lunch at the Blue Iguana during this trip. The breakfast burrito was okay... I wished I ate there for lunch instead. Because I do remember the taco meat was tastier than the chicken sausage or ham they served for breakfast!
  

• They were serving breakfast at The Taste Bar everyday of the cruise and lunch during Sea Days. We had breakfast there one time but didn't go again because the food was not as hot as the one in Lido. Did they forget to turn the food warmers on? I'm not sure.
  

• We didn't try any specialty restaurants as we were already spending so much money for the shore excursions and lunch outside of the ship (that's 8 ports!!!). Maybe in the future, I will try some of them!
  

• Room service, deli, omelets station - with only 2 Sea Days, we didn't get to try any of these.
  

• My BF and I are not picky eaters and we do not have any food allergies or restrictions. With that said, I do believe that there are sufficient food choices on the ship. Some were definitely better than others! My overall impression of the food (just taste) is a 7 out of 10 as well.
  

Up next, entertainment!

• Up next, food from the Lido deck Marketplace (deck 10)
  

I saw myself on your sail away pic!!! LOL! Cool! :D

• SEA DAY BRUNCH - If I remember it correctly, they served brunch between 10 am and 1pm. We were able to have brunch just once because we had a massage appointment the second sea day and we were kinda running late because we over slept!
  

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• Tomato soup and Caesar salad
  

• We both picked the salmon dish (served with this sort of like potato cube/cake)... and shared a delicious stack of chocolate chip pancake!!! Both dishes were very tasty!!!
  

• We didn't order any desserts but I think our waiter heard us talking about the cheesecake and the chocolate cake... so, he brought us some!!! And of course, we ate it too!!! I liked the Salted Caramel Cheesecake better!
  

• Are you guys ready for Guy's Burgers?
  

• That's a big pile of lettuce!!!
  

• This version of the burger came with bacon, onion ring and some chili
  

• Seared tuna
  

• Some type of lamb dish... tastier better than it looks!
  

• Chocolate mousse cake with ice cream
  

• Grand Marnier Souffle
  

• THE FAMOUS CARNIVAL CHOCOLATE MELTING CAKE!!!
  

HI all!

 

Sailwithbars ~ thanks for doing this unique Vista review. It's helping to get me excited for my Vista cruise in 4 more sleeps!;)

 

I'm currently waitlisted for early dining so if I do end up with Your Time or whatever it's called, would I be able to sit with others rather than alone since I'm sailing solo?

 

Loving your pictures & bring on the food porn!

 

~ Jo ~ :)

Yes, I'm sure they can sit you with other people as well. Just mention it that you are open to meeting new people and don't mind sharing a table! :)