Need some help re PG cruise,,from Regent

[alexandra cruiser]

first,,are they connected ,,see sticky above,,,if so,,are they similar?

 

Posted this on PG site,,but maybe Regent cruisers,,who have taken a PG can help..since I love Regent,,,taking another in 4 wks..will I love PG too?

How does this area differ from Hawaii? we love it there,,but hubby says the "same" and not too interested...I want to change his ideas,,,HELP...

Did read some PG reviews,,,mostly good,,,but need help from those that have taken both,perhaps.Thanks in advance...all details would be appreciated,,such as which cruise,what air arrangements,to book pre cruise hotel,when best time to go...PS...saw post re Air tahiti nua,,which is listed on PG brocure,,said having financial probs.and selling planes..a worry.:confused:

[Threechicks]

I was concerned about booking excursions for my two May cruises as I am Gold but fell between the cracks when Regent picked May 30 to commence their program There was no need to worry as I was able to book all that I wanted. Overall there were only two or three excursions sold out but they weren't on my list.

[Threechicks]

I was concerned about booking excursions for my two May cruises as I am Gold but fell between the cracks when Regent picked May 30 to commence their program There was no need to worry as I was able to book all that I wanted. Overall there were only two or three excursions sold out but they weren't on my list.

My apologies to Alexandra. This was supposed to be a new thread. I did not plan to hijack your thread. Elsie

[Dreps]

We have spent 24 days on the PG--while it was under Regent. We obviously loved it. My understanding is that it is just as good, if not better, under its independent management. Of course the PG does not have as luxurious cabins as Regent's current ships, but you really don't need all the space. You don't need nearly as many clothes, and you spend virtiually all your time enjoying the outdoors. Food of course is subjective. The first time we went on the PG it was our first Regent (actually Radisson) cruise and the food was outstanding. The second time, it was not quite as good. Again, I have heard that it is now back up there.

 

Have not been to Hawaii, but we have traveled widely, and French Polynesia is probably the most beautiful area we have visited. The lagoons around Bora Bora and Moorea are beyond belief. If you like to snorkel (or dive), it is wonderful. I have heard some comment that "Tahiti" and the other islands are like Hawaii was many years ago.

 

Regarding Air Tahiti Nui, I cannot comment on their financial situation. It is a perfectly respectable airline experience for an 8 1/2 hour flight from LAX.

 

The last time we went, which was 5 years ago, I did an extensive write-up, which I would be happy to send to you; contact me at dreps@comcast.net.

[gdlamberth]

Here's some extracts from our live "sea mails" we did while doing a 14 Day Papeete to Fiji a couple of years ago. This was our 2nd trip on PG so no discussion about cabin just the overall experience. Our B2B a few years ago was our initial trip to FP and we are now addicited. As you can see from signature block been three times. FP is very expensive (even compared to Hawaii) so the PG is reaally the best way to do it. I'd recommend a B2B, or longer than 10 day cruise though as the flight over is quite long. What I'd really recommend is the 14 day Tahiti to Fiji described below if you can swing it. Fiji is also relatively inexpensive once you're there.

 

Link for pictures:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/USNA72/TahitiToFiji2007?authkey=bgCHIfGiGEk

 

Well here we are on the 5th day of our cruise. so I thought I'd check in with some early thoughts:

 

1. Still really haven't figured out what to do with a Butler. He does bring canapes every evening (but as others have said you can really get that in any suite). He does have our "standing order" for two pots of Cafe Au Lait every morning at 0700 and that seems to work nice. Far and away the best thing about our upgrade is the Location. Being the tightwad I am I'd never pay for them but I sure do enjoy the proximity to the pool deck and no one above us. the bigger balcony is a real plus also but that is somewhat driven by the fact that there are three of us.

 

2. Pre-Cruise Hotel at Le Mandarin. We did a one night pre-cruise at Le Mandarine and the minisuite for three was VERY nice ($170 or so). the location was about a 3 minute walk from the PG berth. I walked over to the Roulettes Friday evening so eating was easy. Saturday AM we walked around the Marche and had breakfast at a little coffee shop near the hotel. Very nice (fruit, bread and butter and coffee). PG would not let us on until 2PM but we were able to drop off our bags and continue our shopping.

 

3. Moorea. We rented a car on the beach (no advance reservations). Went to a Catholic church service near where the tender docked. The singing was fantastic and everyone was very warm and welcoming to the "strangers" from the PG. Driving around Moorea was great for us. We stopped and had a picnic lunch at Tamae Beach (ordered sandwiches from room service before we went to breakfast). I got lost behind the golf course so we wound up on some little point by the end of the airfield with a great view of Tahiti. couldn't find it again in a million years. There was some sort of strike action taking place at the Sofetiel so we didn't go in there.

 

3. Taha'a. Gretchen and I did the Drift Snorkel in the AM and Cheryl did the Pearl Farm and Vanilla tour before meeting us at Motu Mahana. the drift snorkel is some of the best I've seen but there was a bit of a current and spots were very shallow (I really had to suck it in to float over).

 

4. Bora Bora. Went to Bloody Mary's for a drink and got Gretchen and Cheryl into the men's room to get their picture with the "flushing device" on the men's urinal. (not for the under 18 crowd). Spent the afternoon at the Motu and had a get time. More good snorkelling and drinks.

 

5. Speaking of drinks. The piano lounge and La Palette are 3/4 or better full every night. It is particularly nice to have a mai Tai by the pool and not have to sign for it.

 

6. We have met Martha and Dave from Milwaukee and Brian from NZ who booked through Brown and Keene. Don't know if wither hang out here much though. Met with a group from CC and they're all very nice folks.

 

7. First Sea Day. Had our first Sea Day after Bora Bora and Gretchen had a bad day. More or less recovered by dinner though and the drugs had thoroughly kicked in by today.

 

8. Aitutaki. Ladies and gentlemen, this island is quite possibly the prettiest we've seen. we hiked up to the highest point (about as high as Flagstaff hill at Bay of Islands for those of you who've been there) and the view was a 360 degree killer! We could see most of the motus at Aitutaki and all the colors in the lagoon. Hiked on down to the Pacific Resort (it's about 1.2 miles from where the tender comes in) had lunch and went snorkelling off their beach. Had my first close encounter (water was only 3-4 feet deep all the way to the barrier reef) with a Moray Eel. Scared the sweet bejeezus out of me. After the paramedics got my heart re-started we walked back (part way along the beach). Could see the ship the entire way.

 

Part 2. 25 May

 

9. Some thoughts on the entertainment. The Gauguines are, of course, wonderful. However, they no longer sing and dance during dinner . Hina, one of the Gauguines, has playd for tea a couple of times and that's quite nice. There is also a lady piano player/singer named Manon who plays in either the Piano Bar or La Palette before and after dinner. Maybe not great but definitely a pleasure to listen to ('cuse the crappy grammar). Karen (missed the last name) does a show where she imitates a variety of female singers (Cher, Reba McIntyre, and such). That was also entertaining. Siglo is good but seems to have lost something since last time. Still good and fun but just not WOW! anymore.

 

10. Guest Lecturers. So far we've had Estelle Davies from the Ocean Futures Society, Mark Eddowes (Polynesian anthropologist) and a Doctor Harrison ( I think that is his name) who's an astronomer and does star shows from the 9th deck on sea nights. All in all, I'm pretty impressed and have found all these guys quite good and entertaining.

 

11. Special events. We've had a dance troupe come on in Bora Bora the evening we left; A dance show on shore when we arrived at Aitutaki; and a Dance troup come on as we left Rarotonga tonight. Our "Gold" event was an invitation for Champagne and canapes on the bridge as we sailed out of Taha'a. There were about 8 of us and we all thought it was very nice. Cheryl and a couple of other guests got to steer for a few minutes; Gretchen got to turn on the running lights. Very nice.

 

12 Dining (part 1). I said part 1 because I suspect I'll add to this as we go along. Overall food as been very good. Asian day sashimi was particularly good. The Salmon of all things was wonderful. A bit like eating butter. The tuna and smoked Marlin were also very good. Only real negative on food was Cheryl had a piece of string in her Udon that day at lunch. Only thing I can think of is that's how bundles of dried Udon are tied together and a piece wound up in the pot! Ngaire, I had lamb chops this AM and there were wonderful.

 

13. Service. Gretchen broke a guitar string on the first day and didn't have a replacement. Hina ( the lead guitarist in the Gauguines) tried to fix with one of her strings but her only spare broke also. She cut herself on the wire in the string when it broke and said, "S**t!" I asked why of all the habits we Americans have she picked up that vulgarity. She calmly explained to me that "s**t" was a French word too! Imagine my surprise to discover that I've known a bit of French all these years!

 

14. Dining Part 2. I realize I did a bit of a diservice to the dining here when I didn't mention a couple of items. First, I had the Lamb Chops in La Veranda the night we ate there and they were fantastic. Second, we've had two (so far) truly excellent fish dishes: a grilled moonfish and last night we had the Halibut baked with an herb and sun dried tomato crust. Two nights ago we dined at Le Grille and the I thought the menu was far better than four years ago. I had teh fish with Tahitian spices and it was very nice; chunks of moonfish, scallops and shrimp cooked in a coconut/lime/vanilla/ginger sauce. I thought it was very tasty.

 

15. Rarotonga. We had arranged a tour to the Cook Island Cultural Center over the internet. The car they sent met us at the wharf and took us to the Center (Brian joined us for the outing) where we had a very interesting 3 hour tour/lunch and show. The lunch and show were good but not quite PG; but the tour was excellent. We went though several huts or (long houses) each focused on a different aspect of Cook Island culture (one on clothing and how to make it; one on fishing; one on medicine; one on farming; etc.). As we left Raro a dance group came out and performed on the ship. They brought their small children so we had a show similar to the Children of Raitea show on most 7 day cruises.

 

16. Trivia! Brian and his team won the first triva contest and Gretchen, Cheryl and I (with a lot of help from "Bob") won the second one. No more little white chips. Winners received their choice of a nice Regent Visor (suitable for golf outings), a nice suede looking tote bag, or a really nice framed (4'x6") photo album.

 

We're passing through a rain squall so a quickie...

 

17. Available selections:

- Sugar, Sweet 'N' Low, Equal, and Splenda

- Coke, Pepsi, regular, diet and caffine free

- lamb Chops, minute steak and eggs Benedict every morning along with made to order omelets

- Orange Pekoe, Dajarleing, Earl Grey, English Breakfast (all regular and de-caffinated) and a variety of herbal.

- If anyone has any particular questions post right up!

 

Today we were in Tonga.

 

Until today in Tonga water has been running 25-27 degrees C. In Tonga RSSC set up a free shuttle from the pier to the town. We were dropped at the Post Office. The main market is an easy walk and there will be Taxi drivers willing to take you around the island to see everything the ship's Circle the Island tour sees. Very poverty ridden country on surface. I would say seeing the "Blowholes" is worth the trip. It isn't a single blowhole like in Hawaii; it's several miles of coastline with hundreds of separate blowholes. Pretty phenomonal, we thought. Our taxi driver took us to an ongoing archeological dig being conducted by Dr. Jeff Clark of the National University of Austrailia. Seems our driver had driven Jeff and some of his crew around so he knew them and they let us into their site and Dr. Clark took time to give us a 10-15 minute overview of their project. Basically, they're trying to get this site named a World Heritage site. Anyway, it was quite interesting and Dr. Clark and Mark Eddowes (the antropologist on the ship) know each others' work so I think Mark is going to try to get linked up with Jeff on the return trip.

 

Last Sea Day.

 

18. Itinerary Change. Some of you may have noticed that we had to change the itinerary a bit on this cruise. Due the the inability to reliably get fuel in Lautoka, we are now stopping in Suva and will substitute Malalo for Yasawa. Bottom line we loose an overnight in Lautoka and add a stop in Suva; and swap one outer island for another.

 

19. Trivia wrap up. Brian's team won a second trivia and our team one a second time also. Again nice gifts.

 

20. County Fair. The ship staged a "county Fair" on our sea day prior to Tonga with games put on by al of the ship's departments (very similar to what we had on the Auckland to LA trip on Mariner two years ago. Lots of fun and we won another bag full of goodies.

 

21. Had an impromptu lunch with Claudia the Cruise Director at Le Grill our day in Tonga. She explained that the reason the Les Gauguines don't dance in the dining rooms any more has to do with the revamping of the ship that added a lounge (the Piano Bar) that required entertainment. At the same time the number of entertainers and musicians has remained the same. The results in some of the Gaugines supporting lunge shows and therefore they've eliminated the dining room dancing. Turns out Claudia's husband in the Hotel Director on Voyager right now.

 

22. Last night we had dinner with Brian, Estelle Davies (the Ocean Futures Society lecturer), Karen (the hostess/singer who runs all the Trivia and other games), and Vivian Guzman the Flutess from Chile who is on board. Very nice. At the SSS reception Claudia recognized by name all of the Gold members on board. There weren't as many as I might have guessed (or maybe they just didn't attend).

 

23. The Les Gauguines did a show night before last and as it came to pass I got to dance with Repeta. She's been on the PG for 6 years so some of you may know her. After she took off my glasses and shirt we did the "push the apple, push the pear, push the banana, grind the coffee" routine. Mercifully, neither Gretchen, nor Cheryl or Brian brought their cameras.

 

Tomorrow we dock in Savusavu. I'll try to post once more prior to getting off the ship and will be happy to answer any questions upon our return.

[nana541]

Oh my Hawaii and Tahiti are not the same! Having spent 2 weeks out of nearly everyyear in Hawaii and only visited Tahiti once......my dream is to return on the PG! Hawaii is nice don't get me wrong but Tahitii is IMHO one of the most beautiful places on earth.....i have pictures that i would swear if i did not know better were doctored! The water really could not be that blue......well you have to see it to believe it.....start with Bora Bora ( and don't leave) :)

Enough said....

[RachelG]

We sailed with PG when it was part of Regent. LOVED our trip. The cabins are just that, but perfectly adequate as you spend most of your time outside.

Tahiti is beautiful but not like Hawaii at all. I like Hawaii ok, but have no real desire to go there again. Tahiti I would go back to in an instant. Staying in a hotel there is extremely expensive, as is food. So the PG really is the way to go.

Air Tahiti Nui was a perfectly fine airline. We got business class seats using AA miles. No problems at all though I have heard about the recent financial issues. I wouldn't let that dissuade me from going.

[ChatKat in Ca.]

I would book air via the cruiseline. ATN is related to Air France from my understanding. Air France does a Tahiti flight as well from LAX.

 

We loved our time on the PG. That said, we love Hawaii and if we want to go on a Tropical vacation, we'd go back to Hawaii over Tahiti. Both are expensive, but, the value of Hawaii over Tahiti would trump it for us.

 

We stayed at the Intercontinental in Papeete for four nights precruise. They own the Paul Gauguin. Regent/Radisson never owned the ship - just managed it.