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Emdee

By Emdee,
in Paul Gauguin Cruises

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Merriem

Merriem

Posted
Posted
Hi:

 

We jumped at the chance to sail on a P.G. ship at what seemed a bargain price but after reading comments on this page we are wondering if our expectations for a 5 star experience will be met. We are booked on the Nov TA & are quite happy with lots of sea days so that is not a problem. What could be is the use of zodiacs to get ashore at the few ports on this trip.

 

DQ

 

We cancelled. TA advised against it.

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Merriem

Merriem

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Posted
Would you mind telling us why your TA advised against it? and did you get all of your deposit back?

 

We are 90% decided to cancel the TM cruise & go back to our first love - Windsurf

 

He was aware of the issues on the first voyage, and said service was not up to par. Although it had the potential to be 5 star, but would give it 3. We just had a hold on a cabin for 4 days, and after I read the reviews, he said we could watch it and see what happens, but PG will not give you a full refund. So, I cancelled. It is a lovely ship, and I was disappointed in what I read. We all work hard for our money, and I didn't want to take a chance. We are already booked in July for the Celebrity Xpedition (2nd time, great trip) and I had a voucher from Silversea after a bad cruise, so we will try them one more time in November.

 

So that is the story, and I feel that we made the right decision. I hope they get it all together, as it does look lovely.

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paulmichael

paulmichael

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He was aware of the issues on the first voyage, and said service was not up to par. Although it had the potential to be 5 star, but would give it 3. We just had a hold on a cabin for 4 days, and after I read the reviews, he said we could watch it and see what happens, but PG will not give you a full refund. So, I cancelled. It is a lovely ship, and I was disappointed in what I read. We all work hard for our money, and I didn't want to take a chance. We are already booked in July for the Celebrity Xpedition (2nd time, great trip) and I had a voucher from Silversea after a bad cruise, so we will try them one more time in November.

 

So that is the story, and I feel that we made the right decision. I hope they get it all together, as it does look lovely.

 

Sorry to see your not going to be sailing with us. We were on the first 21 days and yes, they had some issues, but each one was corrected as we went. We had a blast and some of the best times cruising the past 21 days. so much so that I am re-booking for June, just need to make sure that I can get the time off, and you are correct, she is lovely ship with a great crew.

 

Mike

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Emdee

Emdee

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Crisp1,

 

The ship docks near Marigot. It is an industrial area with nothing near it. It is about 5 mins by cab to Marigot.

 

The ship does not dock at any ports except St. Martin. This may change in the future but all ports are tendering only. Our documents said Tortola we would tender to Road Town and actually tendered to Sopher Hole (about 20-30s mins away from Road Town). In St. Kitts all the docks were used by an RCCL, Princess and seabourn ships.

 

Emdee's DD

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paulmichael

paulmichael

Posted
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How late can we board and how long can we stay onboard the last day- trying to figure out air/hotel situations

Thanks

 

Your need to check with PG on your cruise date as when you need to be on board, last day normally is off by 9am, but again, don't use the this site, check with your TA or the PG staff.

 

Mike

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paulmichael

paulmichael

Posted
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PG brochure has the TM leaving St Martin at 10pm. The flight I am about to book arrives at 3:21pm the day of embark. I'm sure this is early enough. Everyone agree?

Thanks

 

that gives you a lot of time. If it were me, I'd book, like we did, the transfers with PG. that way they know your on your way. it takes about 45 min from the airport to the ship.

 

have a great time, we did

 

Mike

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crisp1

crisp1

Posted
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At least the brochure got the departure time from St Martin correct. Tortola 8-midnight (8-6pm), Jost Van Dyke 8-midnight (8-6pm), Vitgin Gorda 8-8pm (8-6) St Kitts 8-6pm correct, Les saintes 8-8pm (8-6) St Barts 8-midnight (8-11:45pm). Says we should arrive back in Marigot at 5 am- hope they don't throw me off that early :rolleyes: ;)

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paulmichael

paulmichael

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For Emdee and any others on that first cruise in St Martin, I would like to know if they kept to these times listed or something different.

 

If I’m not having a senior moment, all of our departure times were as listed, due to some weather, some of the arrival times changes and we did not go to English Harbor.

hope this helps

Mike

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Emdee

Emdee

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AlbertaCouple

All times were as listed or better ( they stayed longer in port) on the first cruise.

The issue was only that the docs said we would be in one area of the island and the tenders were to another area.

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Emdee

Emdee

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For those who are thinking of this cruise I want to clarify my thoughts one month later.

On the Inaugural cruise:

The ship was not technically ready to provide a 5 star cruise.

The staff were not ready to provide a five star cruise and some didnt not know how to do so ...but they were mostly just overworked. They will soon be having 6 additional staff with passengers reduced to 88 from 90.

The Travel Concierge/Cruise Director person, who could have really helped the morale of the passengers who were frustrated and disappointed, fell flat in his role.

 

The real problem was expectations:

Advertising led us to believe that the product would be 5 star and the ship would be five star. This was not the case in the first cruise.

 

The cruise was priced close to its high end competitors but didnt match up to them.

 

This is not to say that given time and fine tuning this could not turn out to be an exceptional product and we will consider sailing on it in the future. The ship is very nice in its own way and could have a wonderful niche market once its a well oiled operation and technical and staff issues are resolved.

 

I understand that Nelson Trindade who is currently on the PG as Hotel Director will move to the TM. I have every confidence in him licking the ship into shape with his CAN DO attitude. Poor Jacques who was the hotel director, and the nicest person possible, found himself on the receiving end from all sides ( staff and us).

 

I know that Mike Yarman had a blast on this cruise and he says he had the best time ever.

But my analysis is not based on emotion but on reason - yes we made the best of what we had but expectations were not met and the cruise as presented to us was not as advertised. Nothing can bring back the lost holiday time for my DD, crucial for her since she doesnt have a lot of holidays.

 

PG cruises recognized passenger issues and disappoinments and treated us very fairly and has offered us a credit of $2000 per cabin to be used on either TM or PG by the end of 2014. We have received an email to this effect though the letter to follow hasnt arrived.

 

When PG cruises took over the PG this was a well run machine. By retaining staff they provided continuity and quality of service. In the case of TM they had to start from scratch and it was clear they started before they were fully ready for the challenges - both technical and personnel.

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paulmichael

paulmichael

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For those who are thinking of this cruise I want to clarify my thoughts one month later.

On the Inaugural cruise:

The ship was not technically ready to provide a 5 star cruise.

The staff were not ready to provide a five star cruise and some didnt not know how to do so ...but they were mostly just overworked. They will soon be having 6 additional staff with passengers reduced to 88 from 90.

The Travel Concierge/Cruise Director person, who could have really helped the morale of the passengers who were frustrated and disappointed, fell flat in his role.

 

The real problem was expectations:

Advertising led us to believe that the product would be 5 star and the ship would be five star. This was not the case in the first cruise.

 

The cruise was priced close to its high end competitors but didnt match up to them.

 

This is not to say that given time and fine tuning this could not turn out to be an exceptional product and we will consider sailing on it in the future. The ship is very nice in its own way and could have a wonderful niche market once its a well oiled operation and technical and staff issues are resolved.

 

I understand that Nelson Trindade who is currently on the PG as Hotel Director will move to the TM. I have every confidence in him licking the ship into shape with his CAN DO attitude. Poor Jacques who was the hotel director, and the nicest person possible, found himself on the receiving end from all sides ( staff and us).

 

I know that Mike Yarman had a blast on this cruise and he says he had the best time ever.

But my analysis is not based on emotion but on reason - yes we made the best of what we had but expectations were not met and the cruise as presented to us was not as advertised. Nothing can bring back the lost holiday time for my DD, crucial for her since she doesnt have a lot of holidays.

 

PG cruises recognized passenger issues and disappoinments and treated us very fairly and has offered us a credit of $2000 per cabin to be used on either TM or PG by the end of 2014. We have received an email to this effect though the letter to follow hasnt arrived.

 

When PG cruises took over the PG this was a well run machine. By retaining staff they provided continuity and quality of service. In the case of TM they had to start from scratch and it was clear they started before they were fully ready for the challenges - both technical and personnel.

 

My response is as follows:

Yes I agree that the ship was not ready to provide a 5 star cruise and our expectations were not met. We, like everyone paid full price for a product that was not ready.

Anyone that has sailed or is intending to sail on a maiden voyage that is a seasoned traveler should understand what they may be in for, we understood that things might not be as advertised and went with the attitude that lets have a great time no matter what.

Uriah and I both work and need to like most of the rest of us, work hard and save to go on a cruise that cost upwards of $20K, our air, hotel and 21 days on the ship, so I do understand that a lot of the fellow cruisers where disappointed. But as noted, PG has treated us all very fairly with the credit.

 

Yes we cruise with our emotion, that’s half the fun, we chose to have fun, join in and become part of the staff, we enjoyed a lot of experiences and were allowed access to what it takes to run a ship, that we would not have had if everything was as advertised. Jacques and all the staff treaded us as family and part of the crew, so I understand why others don’t know what they missed and why we had such a great time.

 

We did our best, and I have received a lot of emails that we succeeded in helping the morale for both staff and fellow passengers, more so on the second 2 week cruise when all those now posting were safe at home.

 

Yes, this was one of the best times we have had on any cruise, as we chose to make it that. We sang, we danced, we cried and had fun.

Mike and Uriah.

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Emdee

Emdee

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Normally I would agree with you, Mike, regarding your comments on a first voyage. However, this ship has been around for a few years and not just out of the shipyard so none of us expected it to be transfered to the PG ( not even the cruise line) in the shape it was. As early as the second night on board my DD brought up the issue of expectations with Richard Bailey and even discussed what other lines do to compensate passengers ( not necessarily with money or a credit). If there was a come clean statement at the end of the cruise or very soon thereafter and an apology for missed expectations and wrongly stated advertising I think that the boards ( here and cruise report) would not have slammed the cruise line too much. The bulk of the cruisers were repeaters who were looking for the 'better than PG experience' that was promised and they would have taken it on the chin. My major concern is that this venture does not create collateral damage for my beloved PG!

 

FYI, our enjoyment was as always with emotion, but reason is needed for analysis.

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