Review- PG 7 Night Society Islands Oct 2012

[Emdee]

Thanks Family- really enjoying your posts. You are a prolific writer! Its good also to see things with fresh eyes. Sometimes with us we look but dont see any more.

 

Glad you took the panoramic room - its out of the main area but is usually in a quieter and more private area. I havent taken it this Jan though but that is because we are just overnight and out to Moorea the next am

[Familygoboston]

It's so nice to hear encouragement from everyone! Thanks!

Tiki, you'll have to make that a Bloody Mary. Our Internet is out, though the power is on and DH is letting me use his mifi on his cell phone to do a quick email check, but unless the Internet comes back tomorrow morning, I'm done for tonight because I can't access the website with our photos:(

We DO in fact, get on the ship and promise to tell all about it, as soon as we are connected again!

Stay safe everyone!

[Tikiintahiti]

Our prayers go out to you all in the North East.

[Escriteur]

REALLY enjoying your travelogue and photos - it's been wonderful to re-live our travels through your detailed review! And thanks for the shout-out; I'm so glad you found my earlier advice helpful. :)

 

I still have to get around to writing a review of our July 28 cruise. I had hoped to do it sooner, but I found out that our online photo hosting site (Webshots) will be gone as of December 1. So I've been spending all of my time trying to transfer some 7,000 pics to Flickr, and it's been taking ages to upload and organize them, and copy & paste the original captions from Webshots. So whenever I finally get through that, I plan to post my own travel review and photos.

 

If anyone is interested, I did create a Shutterfly photo book that can be viewed online; it captures highlights from cruise and OWB pre-cruise stay:

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=85d6002ce0c5f54a&sid=8QZN2TZmyaOYg (It's best to view full-screen to really be able to see all the pics.)

 

In the meantime, I hope that you're well and have survived Sandy. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that your power returns quickly, as I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment of your review! :)

[Familygoboston]

Day 3 Oct 6: Embarkation Day

AND we're back!! Internet is back and other than a few trees down - not too much property damage in our neighborhood, thank goodness, and hope everyone weathered the storm ok!!!

Ready to sail???:D

Quick notes about the travelogue- I will start each day with the daily schedule -Ia Orana. On day 1 I am including some other documents of interest. I didn't scan the shore excursion paper work or deck plans, as it's all pretty much the same as what is on line.

 

I will include "ship tour" photos here at the beginning, and I will caption each one so if you are just looking at photos, it will be clear what they are without needing to follow the rest of travelogue.

 

 

Embarkation Day Ia Orana

 

[Familygoboston]

Embarkation paperwork

 

 

 

(cell phone service)

 

sorry to make you twist your head around...I'm still new to some of this photo stuff, DH helps when he can, but he does have a day job!

 

 

 

(Internet service)

 

 

 

 

(PG Officers)

 

 

UH OH! Just realized that I didn't scan the other side with the photo Captain Ante-Toni Mirkovic...this is an oversight on my part! He was a wonderful captain who was very visible and clearly runs a great ship, given how hard his staff works and the wonderful service they provide. Anyway if you see him onboard its easy to identify him...he's the only guy with 5 stripes;)

 

 

 

The paperwork we received on checking in delineates the procedure for checking out. It was extremely well organized. Bags at the door by 11 AM and be out of the room by 11 AM. Decks 7&8 depart IC for the pier at 2:45 PM and decks 3, 4 and 6 depart at 3:15 PM. We decide to put off breakfast till 10 AM to avoid the need to get lunch here again before we leave for the pier.

 

(transfer info for IC Tahiti)

 

 

We go to the gym for a 1/2 hour work out, then return to our room to shower and pack. We keep a change of clothing in our day pack and wear our bathing suits with cover ups for our late breakfast. At about 10:30 we get a couple of towels (this time we are not required to check them out with our room number) and choose some shady loungers by the infinity pool to spend the afternoon. The chairs are starting to fill with what looks to be day guests who arrived this morning also waiting to embark PG, and later with folks returning from PG the prior week. This morning I do see a bar man come by and ask if I would like a drink. I don't partake at 11 AM, but he's there if you choose too!

 

Two interesting cultural things we've seen here at the resort- a young woman in a French Olympic Taekwondo outfit ( an internet check tells me this was probably Anne-Caroline Graffe who was born in Papeete) was having a photography session with her London Olympic silver medal.

 

On Saturday, we notice several long outrigger canoes warming up early and by 10 AM we hear races or intense training going on, as a pace boat calls to the rowers, who appear to be racing. We also heard some PA announcements carrying across the water from the city of Papeete, so we think some kind of race is going on here today! We later learn from our kayaking tour leader in Raitea, that a large national outrigger canoe race is held in November and everyone is training for that.

 

I was so glad we decided to pace our journey here with a night and morning in Santa Monica and two days in Tahiti; there is no doubt it was very relaxing, and felt like we were already on vacation!

 

We spent several hours relaxing on the beach by the infinity pool, in loungers under a nice palapa and near some shade trees. It was a relaxing way to spend the late morning and early afternoon.

 

At 2:30 we find the transit rooms. They are locked, and we don't feel like seeking the key at the front desk and then coming back, so we use the rest rooms near them to make our quick change, but you could ask at the front desk for a key to one of the changing rooms if you wanted to shower. These are on the third floor, just off the lobby. There are water dispensers at the business office and the fitness center to refill water bottles.

 

When we arrive in the lobby at 2:50, they are boarding the buses for the transfer to the PG. Once everyone is on, we leave at 3:10, 5 min before our scheduled departure.

______________________________

[Familygoboston]

What should be a short trip past the airport into the cruise terminal is longer due to the main road being closed and traffic is detoured around the main roads by police onto secondary roads. This might be related to the canoe race event going on in Papeete on Saturday for which they closed the main roads.

 

We arrive at the terminal and are met by the International Director who gives us the wellness cards to fill out. We hand these to the nurse, who barely looks at them and begin to be greeted the PG staff. "Welcome aboard- here's a towel", "welcome aboard, lets take your photo", "welcome aboard, lets scan your hand luggage". This all moves very fast and we are soon in the main lounge ( "welcome aboard- have some Champagne!") where a panel of staff is available to checks us in, takes our photo with a webcam, and takes an imprint of our CC. This process doesn't take 2 minutes.

 

We are again welcomed and escorted to our cabin on deck six by one of the cabin attendants. Along the way the attendant escorting us takes us out to deck 5 to show us our muster station. After leaving the bus it didn't take 10 minutes before we were escorted to our cabin.

 

Here is a photo tour of our cabin 621

 

 

 

 

 

(All these lovely things were set out for us to celebrate our 25th anniversary.)

 

 

(A view out to the balcony)

 

[Familygoboston]

More Cabin Photos

 

Storage areas are copious...for people like us who hardly brought anything there is more than enough room, but even if you are a big packer...wow! There is room for everything!

 

(TV, safe, mini bar and storage)

 

 

 

 

(dual closets and vanity or desk)

 

 

 

 

(bath storage- one on each side of the vanity)

 

 

 

(a view of our balcony)

 

 

621 is the lower row of balconies (deck 6) the third in from the left. You can get a good sense of the differences in 6 (two door panels wide) and 7 (3 panels of glass) and 8 (they are more deeply set) The double windows on 5 are pretty similar to the windows you'd have in a deck 4 cabin. You can see the bow of the tender on the left hand side of deck 6...it would be lowered from deck 6 to 3 where you debark. Again, this was hardly noticeable and always done at reasonable hours!

 

[Familygoboston]

TIPS:

Thanks to the good advice of folks on CC, we have a little task list of things we want to do; I've included it below.

 

Embarkation Day checklist:

 

-Go to Le Grille or call, there is a Maitre D taking phone calls and in person reservations for Le Grille and La Verandah

 

-While there, get a bite to eat (and maybe a drink) at Le Grille before the staff has to break it down for muster drill.

 

-Check you excursion tickets, make any changes needed at the excursion desk on Deck 4 either before or after the muster drill

 

-After the muster drill, go to marina (stern deck 4) and pick up snorkel gear for the week.

 

-Use your device to sign up for internet from your cabin (or if you don't have a device, in the internet/computer room on deck 5)

 

-Make any spa appointments you want...although specials (I've put photos of them in the a future post) will arrive in your cabin during the week, so you may prefer to wait.

 

after that you will have all your "business" done for the week and can relax and enjoy the cruise!

[Familygoboston]

Tour of the PG

 

 

Welcome aboard!!

 

We found the PG to be just beautiful; recently refurbished and sparkling clean. I was so impressed by the quality of the furnishings, which are lux, but also durable. One of the things that brings life to designs is the layering of textures in furnishings, and the new furnishings do this beautifully. Some experienced PG sailors have asked about the changes, so I took some photos (forced DH too, actually, over his howling protests, that a chair is not a good photo!) to illustrate some of the changes.

 

 

(Detail of a chair with a textural design on the outer part and easy clean surface on the inner part)

 

 

 

 

I'm sure those who have sailed her will notice new fabrics throughout PG, in my tour.

 

 

So we will move from lower decks to upper decks bow to stern, if (like me) you are the type to "follow along" on the deck plan, while looking at the photos;-)

 

Stay with me, people!

 

Deck 3 and deck 7 have passenger cabins, but no public areas other than the medical center on 3, and you really don't want to go there, right;)?? So we will just leave it out!!

 

(typical cabin hallway)

 

[Familygoboston]

Deck 4:

 

 

(reception)

 

 

 

 

(dvd's for loan at reception)

 

(take the box to reception to get the actual DVD, or you'll end up like our newlywed friends- with an empty box!!)

 

 

 

(travel concierge- shore excursions)

 

 

 

 

(sitting area and dive excursion desk)

 

 

 

 

(at the end of the hallway a door to this passageway and ladder to the Marina on 3, but you have to access it from deck 4)

 

 

 

 

(the Marina- opened up, it's just a dark little closet when its closed!))

 

Edited October 30, 2012 by Familygoboston

[Familygoboston]

Deck 5:

 

(Grand Salon)

 

 

 

 

(bar area)

 

 

 

 

 

 

(casino and piano bar- the bar part-)

 

 

slots are in the room behind the door on the right

 

 

 

(the Piano Bar- the piano part)

 

 

 

 

(artwork in the Piano Bar)

 

[Familygoboston]

Deck 5

 

(Internet/computer room)

 

 

 

 

 

(Photo Shop)

 

 

Say "Hi!" to Antonio for us, he works for the photography vendor and he and DH bonded over equipment, including Antonio coveting my DH's Iphone 5, as the Apple shop in Tahiti did not have any in yet. He's a terrific young man, if you get to say hello! Every evening he's trapped in that tiny closet of a shop while folks look at their photos on the way into dinner- I have no earthly idea how he gets in there??

 

 

 

Images of the L'Etoile, the main dining room can be seen in the travelogue

[Emdee]

Thanks family.

 

Although we had seen the proposed fabrics when we were last on - its great to see them in such detail.

 

Looking forward to the next

[Familygoboston]

Huff...puff...maybe we should have started at the top and gone down the stairs! (which are actually supposed to be called "ladders" on a ship, but lets not get all silly with our nautical terms!)

 

Deck 6

 

 

(fitness center)

 

 

This space is just tiny!! There are loads of pieces of equipment (2 bikes, treadmills and the always popular ellipticals) for the size of the space. There are free weights as well as weight machines. There were exercise balls and mats, but absolutely no where to use them. I would recommend using the free weights on the deck if you think they will let you remove them for a short time. Luckily, when we used the weight room, no one else was there and we were able to lift free weights between the apparatus, but this would not have been possible if people were using the apparatus.

 

 

 

(Spa)

 

no we didn't stage that- this customer waiting just happens to look exactly like the poster!

 

 

 

(spa specials left in our cabin one night)

 

 

 

(clearly not enough of us were using the spa, as this showed up later in the week)

 

 

 

(La Boutique)

 

 

 

 

(the library- on the honor system)

 

[Familygoboston]

Deck 6

 

(entrance to La Verandah and the Fare Tahiti exhibit)

 

 

 

 

(indoors La Verandah- notice again those chairs with texture on the outside, easy clean inside!)

 

I want to mention here that La Verandah has a lunch buffet identical each day to what is at Le Grille

 

 

 

(outdoors La Verandah)

 

 

After a few days eating breakfast and lunch at Le Grille, we realized that we should have been eating at La Verandah...the same buffet, on the same deck as our cabin, and I think, better views from the tables both inside and on the stern. I loved these stern tables because they are in the shade! You can also order off the menu for breakfast. We only had one time we could not have an outside table, and even inside the views are so nice. Don't make our mistake. Try it early in your cruise!

[Familygoboston]

Deck 8:

 

Secret Bow Balcony

 

(it's not illegal- it's just unknown...but if you have a window cabin and are craving a little wind in your hair, you can get to the bow on 8 and enjoy this view. There are suites on either side of this spot, and I'm sure the folks who paid dearly for them would prefer you don't hold a raucous cocktail party out there, but we went up to take photos and found it peaceful and lovely!

 

Follow deck 8 port side hallway the end, you'll see this sign )

 

(It is not a prohibition, just a reminder that in an emergency you can go this way (look around, you'll see them on other doors on the ship you use all the time!)

 

(Go through the door and enjoy the view)

 

 

 

(pool sitting area- there is another on the other side by the bar)

 

 

 

 

(Le Grille- day time buffet)

 

 

 

 

(La Pallette interior with the excellent Dan Murphy)

 

 

 

 

(La Pallette outside sitting area)

 

 

So there is an outside stairway (ladder;)) to the sun deck and bar on 9. We found this to closed fairly often, but this is where private cocktail parties are held and we did attend one there while we were underway and found it very pleasant. It was dark and we didn't get a photo though.

 

So that concludes our tour!! Let's all go over to the pool bar and join Tiki with a Mai Tai!! I'm going to take another little break and then continue with the travelogue!

Edited October 30, 2012 by Familygoboston

[Familygoboston]

Our prayers go out to you all in the North East.

Much thanks!

 

REALLY enjoying your travelogue and photos - it's been wonderful to re-live our travels through your detailed review! And thanks for the shout-out; I'm so glad you found my earlier advice helpful. :)

 

I still have to get around to writing a review of our July 28 cruise. I had hoped to do it sooner, but I found out that our online photo hosting site (Webshots) will be gone as of December 1. So I've been spending all of my time trying to transfer some 7,000 pics to Flickr, and it's been taking ages to upload and organize them, and copy & paste the original captions from Webshots. So whenever I finally get through that, I plan to post my own travel review and photos.

 

If anyone is interested, I did create a Shutterfly photo book that can be viewed online; it captures highlights from cruise and OWB pre-cruise stay:

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=85d6002ce0c5f54a&sid=8QZN2TZmyaOYg (It's best to view full-screen to really be able to see all the pics.)

 

In the meantime, I hope that you're well and have survived Sandy. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that your power returns quickly, as I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment of your review! :)

 

I can't wait to look at your book...yes, those photo hosting sites have been coming and going, must be a nightmare!! Hope you get them all moved! This is why I'm glad DH has his own site we can use:D

[Familygoboston]

Thanks family.

 

Although we had seen the proposed fabrics when we were last on - its great to see them in such detail.

 

Looking forward to the next

 

I was really impressed with them. The only room I wasn't crazy about was Le Grand Salon- but that might just be that those colors aren't my taste.

 

Here is a close up of the headboard...I loved this!

The swirls are textured and probably sound absorbing too. Then the tufted headboard was again a more "easy to clean" surface.

[dontdiwundrin]

Thanks for taking the time and making the effort to post such a detailed review, love the photos too. Reading it brings back delightful memories of our cruise in July. Can't wait to go again!! -already planning.:D

 

PS. (and importantly) - We are thinking of you in the North East, and watching with shock and dismay at the storm destruction. It looks awful, keep safe.

 

Tess

[Familygoboston]

Thanks for taking the time and making the effort to post such a detailed review, love the photos too. Reading it brings back delightful memories of our cruise in July. Can't wait to go again!! -already planning.:D

 

PS. (and importantly) - We are thinking of you in the North East, and watching with shock and dismay at the storm destruction. It looks awful, keep safe.

 

Tess

 

Thanks Tess!! Thanks for the support, luckily, everyone was well prepared! Some of the scariest photos and videos are usually pretty isolated cases vs widespread damage. We have this one town that is practically on top of the sea due to erosion all the time and that's where they always go to get dramatic footage of houses sliding into the sea, very sad, but frankly, it's rare, and in the case of that town, expected. I do hope the totals for loss of life and property are low though!

 

We are already planning our next one...probably as a diversion to or from our next trip to your part of the world!;)

 

I have a question for you...we say two cruise yachts with an Odyssey logo on them in port at Papeete. They both had NZ flags, are you familiar with this cruiseline in that area? I haven't heard of them, but one ship looked like a specialty diving boat- v high end, but active and casual. I was wondering about it, and haven't found much on the web.

[Familygoboston]

Day 3 Oct 6: Embarkation Day

 

So according to plan- first we head to Deck 8 to make our dinner reservations and enjoy the buffet before it ends at 4:30 PM. We take a few minutes while relaxing before muster to sign into the internet. We walk around to explore the ship and relax till muster. Muster is at 5:30 PM. After muster we notice we have no tickets for shore excursions in our cabin so we stop to ask at the desk.

 

There is a long line here. Pia and another gentleman are taking orders for excursions. Luckily, some folks we met at the IC are willing to let us ask our quick question before they begin booking excursions. We are told by Pia that the tickets will be in our room later during dinner. It doesn't quite turn out that way- more on that later! We head to the marina, and there is no wait to get outfitted for snorkel gear. We take that back to the room and relax in the balcony and get ready for dinner at l' Etoile.

 

"7 short blasts followed by one long blast"

Most fellow cruisers know what this means! We made our way to our muster station outside on deck 5 and listened to the captain tell us about safety on the PG, as well as the latest features on board for our safety. He stressed fire safety in particular, which I had not heard much on other ships. While standing on deck, the captain instilled confidence and made me feel that our safety would be his first concern.

 

Upon returning to my cabin, I got cleaned up for dinner and plugged in the blow dryer when... it suddenly began to flame and shoot sparks out all over the bed....ahhh!

 

Not 20 minutes after the fire safety lecture, I am about to ignite the entire ship! DH is in the shower, so I take charge of the situation myself by immediately unplugging the blow dryer, running into the bathroom and tossing it into the sink because I'm fairly certain the marble bathroom won't ignite! DH is wondering what I'm doing!

 

I call the front desk and explain that my blow dryer just exploded in a shower of sparks. And they tell me they will send our cabin attendant April June with a new one. She arrives in a few minutes and tries plugging it in, but it's dead. She provides me with another one- this one fits in the 220 plug! DH is stunned that their response to my nearly torching their vessel on embarkation day is to provide me with an appliance with more power!

 

I took a look at the new one and briefly considered going to dinner with a wet pony (tail, in my hair- not the small farm animal; which I am quite certain would not be welcome in the dining room despite the casual nature of PG) Luckily, this one worked just fine.

 

Thinking about it later the hair dryer cord was wrapped in that "factory new" way (that no human can possibly replicate with subsequent wrappings) and I think it was just an out of the box failure of a brand new appliance that sometimes happens!

Fortunately, I was not charged for the mishap ;-), but should you want anything from your cabin here is what you can expect to pay!

 

 

(PG Cabin items price list)

 

[Familygoboston]

After all that excitement, we made our way to L'Etoile for dinner. We asked to be seated with others, and Remy the Maitre D said "there's another young couple looking for someone to join them." He then seats us at a table with a pair of young newlyweds, who must have been horrified to see people married 25 years (probably their parents' age!) seated with them! Luckily, they were good sports and a mother, close to our age and daughter, close to their age, also joined our 6 top. As it turned out we had loads to talk about and we laughed and laughed all night and just had a wonderful time!

 

I can't say enough about the service on PG, as I stretched my arms out to their full length in order to "see" the menu, the head waiter came rushing over with a whole box full of reading glasses, for me to select from to read the menu. I could just leave them on the table after dinner or return them to the Maitre D stand. Also, the young man we sat with had some serious food allergies. They had him review the menu the night before and would prepare his food without any contamination from his allergens. Really, no matter your need, if you make it known or even if they just notice, they will attempt to accommodate you!

 

TIP: One of my major tips is to ask to be seated with others early in the cruise- you meet folks and will feel comfortable joining them for lunch or if you see them in an excursion later! Usually on cruises, DH and I stick to ourselves, with a little socializing, but we really enjoyed the people on this ship and were happy to have communal dinners and strike up conversations in lounges or on tenders.

 

After a great dinner our dining group went to the pool deck on 8 for the welcome party with Siglo and Les Guaguines, and continued laughing well into the night!

 

(Photos of pool and Siglo)

 

 

 

When we returned to our room, there were still no excursion tickets, the tour desk is closed and I was a little annoyed as we did have an excursion booked in Raitea and I had no idea if it was still planned for the same time or not, and wouldn't be able to check till 8 AM the next morning. This was the only weak link on PG- the travel concierge desk- we learned the next morning that there was a problem.

 

We had booked two excursions in Moorea, one on each day with each of the on board experts. But a change in their plans made it impossible for us to do both without overlap, ( Mark Eddows had a dig scheduled for the original time and changed days) so the excursion staff needed us to make some decisions before dropping off our tickets. The change was no problem- that happens, but it could have been handled better.

 

It would have been proactive for them to call or leave a note informing us that we needed to see them at the desk. It would have been responsive for them to check their "pile" of problems when we went to the excursion desk the first time and asked, rather than brushing us off.

 

It was one of the only service lapses on this cruise, and had it been isolated, I wouldn't even mention it. But one of our changes was to ask the staff to arrange for bicycle rental in Moorea, which Fernando offered to do and call us when it was confirmed. The following day, after no call, the day before our stop in Moorea, we asked if it was arranged since no one had called to confirm. An action list of some sort was checked and it was clear no one had attended to it yet. Luckily, Fernando did arrange the bikes right away after our second visit and called us just an hour later, but had we not checked at 4pm, we likely would have been out of luck since the bike rental place surely would have closed up.

 

At least a few other folks we talked to had some trouble there too, though I will not relay 2nd hand information here. Again, for us, these were very minor problems, that had no negative impact on our trip, but were uncharacteristic of the excellent service we received everywhere else on the PG.

 

We prepare our first large bag of laundry to go out first thing in the AM, and are rocked to sleep on our way to Raitea.

[Familygoboston]

Day 4 Oct 7 Raitea

 

 

(Raitea Ia Orana)

 

 

We are on starboard side, and we can't see the dock and port, though we pass a beautiful atoll. One of the things I love about a balcony is cruising into and out of ports. Because this itinerary has so many daylight and short cruises between islands, it's wonderful to step out onto the balcony in my robe before breakfast in the morning or enjoy the sunset before showering for the evening.

 

(Sailing into to Raitea)

 

 

 

 

(PG docked in port)

 

[Familygoboston]

We have breakfast at Le Grille. Every morning there is a buffet with just about every possible thing you could want, plus the waiter will come and take your order for eggs done any way if you like. If you are walking with a plate in your hand- unless it is at the absolute busiest times, a waiter would come and take the plate for me. Service was friendly, prompt and not overly familiar; really very professional in every way.

 

Once we've picked up our shore excursion tickets, we see our Faaroa River kayak trip is on for 1:30 PM.

 

We decide to disembark to look around in the morning before our tour.

It's Sunday and the town is very quiet except for St Andrews Catholic church where services are just ending, and the two supermarkets, where everyone seems to be leaving with diapers. The mamas are all dressed up for church while the papas are waiting on benches around town for services to end.

 

 

(One of the Papas)

 

 

 

(Photos of the port area in Raitea)

 

 

 

(St. Andrews)

 

We see quite a few children are around the docks with the mamas and they are carrying grass skirts in plastic bags and we realize they are meant to perform on the ship. Unfortunately, we miss the time in the Ia Orana and the most adorable part of the entertainment, the children of Raitea, we miss!

 

While on shore, I'm thinking this is an evening activity, so we are just taking photos, looking around the supermarket and dodging rain showers when the children were performing. How this happened I don't know, but if you refer to the Ia Orana above, there is a giant box that says "Don't Miss It", but I guess I was looking at the picture of the child and right under it is a note about a show at 9:30 PM...I guess I just whiffed on it!~ I'm very disappointed about this, and that (and two other things we miss later due to weather) are what will have us return to the PG one day soon for sure! After that we decide to give the Ia Orana a careful checking over every night!