A Very Late Review - 10 Night Society Islands & Tuamotus

[Emdee]

Thanks so much for your review. You are a wonderful narrator.

 

Its also amazing that you have been able to be so positive.

 

Recently Motu Islander had a similar story about PG staff and doctor.

 

Glad to know DH is back to normal and happy to know that you will be back in FP.

 

 

Miriam

[VacayAddict]

Thank you For your detailed review. I loved reading it, as we prepare for our first PG cruise along with the repeaters. My prediction is that you will have a long and beautiful life together. Most couples don't face such challenges so early on, but the way you two handled the adversity sure points to a lifetime of wedded bliss. Congratulations.

Vacay Addict/Danice

[lovetotravel68]

Thanks so much for your review. You are a wonderful narrator.

 

Its also amazing that you have been able to be so positive.

 

Recently Motu Islander had a similar story about PG staff and doctor.

 

Glad to know DH is back to normal and happy to know that you will be back in FP.

 

 

Miriam

 

Thanks Emdee! Have a wonderful time on the repeaters cruise!

 

We hope to return to FP and the PG many more times in our lives, even with all the dramas it was our favourite holiday by a mile :D

[lovetotravel68]

Thank you For your detailed review. I loved reading it, as we prepare for our first PG cruise along with the repeaters. My prediction is that you will have a long and beautiful life together. Most couples don't face such challenges so early on, but the way you two handled the adversity sure points to a lifetime of wedded bliss. Congratulations.

Vacay Addict/Danice

 

Aww thank you, that is really lovely!

 

You will have a wonderful time on the PG and in FP! We are looking forward to hearing all about it when you get back :)

[Cruisedreamer1]

Please tell us how your travel insurance performed and what did it cover for you?

 

Once again, thank you for such a delightful recounting of your adventure.

[Familygoboston]

OH.MY.Gosh!! I feel like we should take up a collection to send you and hubby back for a redo! Or at least you should write your tale for one of those "honeymoon disaster" story contests! I hate to say it, but I fear had this happened to an American couple there would be lawsuits and demands on social media for compensation :rolleyes::(

 

Well, maybe PG honeymooners are different- we did have one couple whose agent hadn't told them they should get a day room, and having never cruised before they turned up at the dock when their plane came in...at 6AM:eek: They were turned away of course (luckily they could leave their bags) but they had very good humor about to even though it was still practically dark and they were sitting on a park bench with their carry bags (full of jewelry and cameras!) with all the winos and other late night partiers eyeing their bag! Eventually, a little breakfast shop opened up and they went in and had breakfast, but were hanging on and on into the midday and the chef (who only spoke French and they only English) was trying to shoe them out, but they hated to leave since they still couldn't embark the ship! Luckily, they also had your attitude, that it was a great story to tell their children one day!

 

Another couple had been told PG was "casual" by their TA, so the young man turned up with only shorts for the cruise, which of course are not welcome in the dining room. Once they learned that, they ordered room service dinner, so not to show up under dressed. But a couple of gay men befriended them and wanted them to join the rest of us at a table for dinner so they said "you must have something you could wear" and went through his closet. They found he did have a pair of pajama bottoms that were just dressy enough to pass muster...and we all had a good laugh with him about why on earth would a honeymooner need PJ bottoms !!!:p Finally, at Bora Bora he got himself a pair of slacks and was good to go the rest if the week!

 

I'm so glad your hubby is ok, and that as scary as the experience was, he did get excellent care in both places...I too would love more details about how the heck you got out of there and what your insurance covered for you! (Flight changes, extra nights, oh my! )

[lovetotravel68]

Please tell us how your travel insurance performed and what did it cover for you?

 

Once again, thank you for such a delightful recounting of your adventure.

 

Thanks Cruisedreamer1 and yes I will update about our travel insurance!

[lovetotravel68]

Another couple had been told PG was "casual" by their TA, so the young man turned up with only shorts for the cruise, which of course are not welcome in the dining room. Once they learned that, they ordered room service dinner, so not to show up under dressed. But a couple of gay men befriended them and wanted them to join the rest of us at a table for dinner so they said "you must have something you could wear" and went through his closet. They found he did have a pair of pajama bottoms that were just dressy enough to pass muster...and we all had a good laugh with him about why on earth would a honeymooner need PJ bottoms !!!:p Finally, at Bora Bora he got himself a pair of slacks and was good to go the rest if the week!

 

I'm so glad your hubby is ok, and that as scary as the experience was, he did get excellent care in both places...I too would love more details about how the heck you got out of there and what your insurance covered for you! (Flight changes, extra nights, oh my! )

 

Haha that's a great story about the PJ's at dinner! I love it!

 

Hubby was definitely very well looked after! They were very nice in the hospital and would bring me (and DH of course) breakfast, lunch and dinner which believe it or not was actually pretty good for hospital food!

 

I will update about our insurance seeing as a couple of you have asked. I didn't think anyone would be too interested in that so didn't bother elaborating! But seeing as you and Cruisedreamer1 asked, I will :)

[lovetotravel68]

So seeing as a couple of you asked, here is my recount of what happened with our insurance company and how we managed to reorganise our flights back to New Zealand. It is a rather long story and was an absolute disaster but here it is...

 

On our last day in Moorea when DH found out he wouldn't be able to fly the next morning, we had to get a letter from the PG doctor stating this (so we could cancel our flight under insurance). The doctor provided us with said letter which we emailed to our insurance company. They accepted it and cancelled our flight for us.

 

The next document required was while DH was in hospital, they asked for a letter from his doctor in order to process our claim for the hospital bill (which was 1500 euros per day eek!). Seeing as we could not get a letter in English, they initially didn't accept our French version (the one that took me a whole day to organise). I spent many hours on the phone with them trying to explain the situation and that our hopes of getting a letter in English were nil because the only doctor that spoke any English at all, could not write in English. The other problem was that once this doctors shift finished (and after she had written her French letter) we never saw her again. There was not one single other person there that could have written another letter for us. I couldn't understand why the insurance company, who offers international travel insurance, would only accept letters in English while we were in a French speaking country?!

 

Days later (and after my tenth suggestion), they finally figured out how to use Google Translate and accepted our French letter. DH was out of the hospital by this stage and we were staying at the Hotel Tahiti Nui.

 

The second problem occurred when we wanted to fly home as our insurance company had to book (and pay for) our flights for us. They refused to book tickets until they had a letter from the doctor (you can see where this is going) saying that DH had been cleared to fly. Unlike in NZ (I'm not sure if it is the same in North America) DH did not receive any discharge papers upon leaving the hospital so we had nothing to give them (in French or English). The thought of going through this whole debacle at the hospital again was enough to make me want to cry so I actually ended up emailing the doctor on the PG and explaining the situation to him. He provided us with a letter stating that DH had been released from hospital and was ok to fly (after me assuring him that we weren't just super keen to get home and he actually was ok). He also made me promise that as soon as we got home I would take DH straight to the hospital in NZ as he said the altitude would make the swelling around his infection site worse. I gave him my word and he emailed our insurance company the letter. The insurance company accepted this and booked our tickets for the following day. DH was upgraded to business class as he had to keep his foot elevated throughout the flight but as there were no seats left I had been booked in premium economy (a step up from regular economy).

 

Two hours before we were due to leave for the airport, I received a call from the insurance company stating that they had a letter from the doctor saying DH could not fly and as such they were going to cancel our tickets. Yes they were looking at the original letter we gave them to cancel our original flight when we first found out about the sepsis. I explained that they were looking at a letter from days ago (it was even dated) and we had since sent a second letter yesterday which cleared DH to fly and this had been accepted by them (as the insurance company were the ones who had booked the flight we were about to leave on). She told me they had no record of it and they were going to cancel the tickets. I was walking home from Le Marche while I was talking to this woman (after buying supplies for DH) and the words that were coming out of my mouth were making me the centre of attention in downtown Papeete. I was walking along the sidewalk while yelling and flinging my arms around and demanding to speak to her manager. Well she did put her manager on the phone and I calmly (I like to think it was calmly but I'm not so sure...) explained the situation. He concurred that they could not find the second letter (the one saying DH could fly), their hands were tied and there was nothing they could do. He told me it was no big deal to just get another one sent to them, and that was when I just about lost it. I ended up speaking to four different people during that conversation and each time I did, I had to explain from the beginning. I was hell bent on making sure DH and I were going to be on the flight that afternoon as we REALLY wanted to go home by this stage. They ended up making me talk to a nurse who was asking how DH was feeling, what his temperature was etc etc etc. I said he was feeling fine and his temperature was in the normal range (which it was by that stage). They were still going to cancel our flight.

 

Now you might be wondering why I didn't just forward them the email from the PG doctor clearing DH to fly? Well the wifi at the hotel was so spotty that I had to get the doctor to email it directly to the insurance company (which I know they received because they rung me to tell me so and confirm our flight details) as it wasn't coming through to me. It was just such a ridiculous situation that could have been solved so easily back at home, but in a foreign country where nothing happens quickly (island time) I cannot even begin to describe how much of an effort all this was.

 

I hung up the phone, forced myself to calm down, walked back to the hotel and packed our suitcases. Ten minutes before we were due to leave for the airport, the insurance company called saying they had found the letter (clearing DH to fly). I was an absolute frazzled mess by this stage and had a few choice words to say to them down the phone. Anyway, we made it to the airport, checked in, received our tickets and that's when I just had to laugh while pushing DH around in a wheelchair. I kept thinking of the saying 'oh how the mighty have fallen' and I started laughing like a crazy person. We had just spent the last three weeks swanning around FP and living it up on the PG and then our trip ended with DH in the hospital and me pushing him around in a wheelchair. In that moment of sleep deprivation, stress and relief at DH being ok and us about to fly home, I found this hysterically funny.

 

We arrived back in Auckland (where we had another wheelchair waiting for DH as he couldn't walk long distances) and my Mum was waiting there to pick us up. She drove us to our house where we picked our car up and went straight to the hospital as promised. DH's foot had swollen up from the flight so they gave him another prescription for antibiotics but he did not have to stay the night, we got to go home around 3am. It took another couple of weeks before he felt 'normal' again and could walk around properly. He still has a scar where the original infection started, a good memento of our honeymoon. I got pearls and DH got a scar ;)

 

So by the time we arrived home the insurance company had paid for our flights and that was it. We had to send them the receipts for everything else and they would reimburse us. The accommodation and taxi expenses were no problem but our phone bills were another issue (mine was over $1000, DH's was $400) and they refused to pay for them saying they were a 'personal expense'. Most of my bill was from actually talking to the insurance company so I was not giving up on this and wrote letters to management until they reimbursed us.

 

We also had a drama with the hospital bill as we had not paid it when DH was discharged. At the time, we tried to ask about payment but with the language barrier it was just not happening (DH was literally wheeled out into the carpark and left there by the orderly's) and we figured we would sort it out once we were home. Well the insurance company was trying to get us to pay the hospital and then they would reimburse us (they refused to pay it directly to them for some reason). Based on our past experience with them, I was not keen at all for this to happen so after much discussion we finally received payment for the hospital expense which we then paid to the hospital. So they did end up covering everything but oh my gosh was it an effort!

 

The one positive thing I can say about this whole situation is that if we hadn't of had travel insurance, we would have been tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket. The extra four days we spent in Papeete, DH's medical bills (on the ship and the hospital), phone bills etc cost more than the whole rest of our honeymoon! It was a bit of a nightmare but boy am I glad we did have travel insurance. This trip was not far from home for us (it was only a 5 hour flight which is very short for NZ standards as we are miles away from everywhere) so it didn't feel like a 'faraway' vacation where you imagine things going wrong.

 

Moral of the story, well firstly don't get an infection on your honeymoon :rolleyes: and secondly, don't let those insurance companies push you around!

[VacayAddict]

What an enlightening installment. I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that. I see it also as an example of why a vacationer in FP would want to be extra careful (while diving, snorkeling, etc) and not take unnecessary risk, although I understand that your husband's health emergency was through no fault of his own. Thank you again for sharing all the details!

[DGK]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed, phenomenal review with amazing glorious pictures. I am so relieved your DH is healthy and absolutely admire both of your positive attitudes. I hope that both of you can return to the PG again very soon.

[lovetotravel68]

What an enlightening installment. I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that. I see it also as an example of why a vacationer in FP would want to be extra careful (while diving, snorkeling, etc) and not take unnecessary risk, although I understand that your husband's health emergency was through no fault of his own. Thank you again for sharing all the details!

 

I completely agree with you about being extra careful while away on holiday! Sometimes it's easy to forget that things can go wrong while you are in paradise too.

 

I think enlightening might be a good word to describe my last installment haha! :D I feel like this 'travel story' has ended on a negative note :( but I just tell it how it is and that's what happened with our insurance unfortunately. We did try our best to stay positive and make the best of the situation and believe it or not we didn't actually have a bad time while DH was in the hospital. And it all worked out in the end so we feel lucky that although there were definitely disastrous moments, overall everything did work out for us and we still think our honeymoon was absolutely amazing :)

[lovetotravel68]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed, phenomenal review with amazing glorious pictures. I am so relieved your DH is healthy and absolutely admire both of your positive attitudes. I hope that both of you can return to the PG again very soon.

 

Thanks DGK! We have the FP (and PG) flu very badly so we will absolutely be returning again one day. I'm glad you liked the review (and the pics) and thank you for your kind comments. I really cannot say enough positive things about the PG and it's nice share my story with others who feel the same way!

 

Thanks again :)

[Cruisedreamer1]

My husband was hospitalized for 2 weeks in Mexico while we were on vacation for an amebic cyst on his liver. He received great care from his doctor (they have lots experience dealing with this) and he has recovered fully.

 

We, too, had to deal with a insurance company and 50 pages later (translating a medical report and bills) we were reimbursed subject to our deductible.

 

Lesson learned: read your policy prior to going and if you have any questions call the company and get them answered (like what will they need to reimburse)

 

In Mexico, you don't leave until you pay the bill!!! Fortunately, I knew enough to review our first bill and had to telling the 1st clinic that their bill was not detailed enough to pass mustard. Fortunately, his treating doctor trusted us to send him a bank wire to pay his bill.

 

I enjoyed reading your complete travel tale and you both definitely have some unusual adventures!

 

Thank you again for sharing the WHOLE story!

[lovetotravel68]

My husband was hospitalized for 2 weeks in Mexico while we were on vacation for an amebic cyst on his liver. He received great care from his doctor (they have lots experience dealing with this) and he has recovered fully.

 

We, too, had to deal with a insurance company and 50 pages later (translating a medical report and bills) we were reimbursed subject to our deductible.

 

Lesson learned: read your policy prior to going and if you have any questions call the company and get them answered (like what will they need to reimburse)

 

In Mexico, you don't leave until you pay the bill!!! Fortunately, I knew enough to review our first bill and had to telling the 1st clinic that their bill was not detailed enough to pass mustard. Fortunately, his treating doctor trusted us to send him a bank wire to pay his bill.

 

I enjoyed reading your complete travel tale and you both definitely have some unusual adventures!

 

Thank you again for sharing the WHOLE story!

 

Hi Cruisedreamer1,

 

I'm so sorry your husband fell ill during your vacation but so glad to hear he fully recovered and you managed to sort everything out with your insurance company.

 

I hope we never need to use our travel insurance again but if we do I would definitely do a few things differently and have a bit more of an idea of the whole process. They never really explained what documents we would need to get in advance (such as the letter clearing DH to fly) so if there is a next time (fingers crossed not) I would make sure we found out everything they required up front instead of day by day.

 

Hopefully no one reading this ever encounters the same problem but if they do I hope they remember my tale and get everything they think they might possibly need in writing and in advance.

 

:)

[avalong]

Hi Cruisedreamer1,

 

I'm so sorry your husband fell ill during your vacation but so glad to hear he fully recovered and you managed to sort everything out with your insurance company.

 

I hope we never need to use our travel insurance again but if we do I would definitely do a few things differently and have a bit more of an idea of the whole process. They never really explained what documents we would need to get in advance (such as the letter clearing DH to fly) so if there is a next time (fingers crossed not) I would make sure we found out everything they required up front instead of day by day.

 

Hopefully no one reading this ever encounters the same problem but if they do I hope they remember my tale and get everything they think they might possibly need in writing and in advance.

 

:)

 

And what if both husband AND wife are incapacitated by illness or accident? Who would navigate the insurance maze? It doesn't bear thinking about. :(

[sfvoyage]

to the OP:

 

I searched on "soy milk" on this forum, and this post was the only one that showed up, because you had mentioned buying soy milk at a local market somewhere. Do you by chance know if PG has soy milk available on board as a regular item (i.e. no need for a special request)?

 

I have't had a chance to read your trip report, but I did notice a pic of your DH with a big plate of sausage fried rice, so I assume you both are not vegetarian. In any case, do you have any opinions and information on the vegetarian food offerings on board? Also, do they have dessert items that are free of gelatin? What about soy yogurt or soy cheese?

 

Regarding champagne, do you recall the brand? From other posts, it seems PG does not serve french champagne but prosecco or other sparkling wines only. Is that still true?

[lovetotravel68]

And what if both husband AND wife are incapacitated by illness or accident? Who would navigate the insurance maze? It doesn't bear thinking about. :(

 

I can't imagine! Let's hope that doesn't happen to anyone on here as it would be so difficult to organise everything.

 

Luckily these hospital visits in FP do not seem to be too common among visitors!!

[lovetotravel68]

to the OP:

 

I searched on "soy milk" on this forum, and this post was the only one that showed up, because you had mentioned buying soy milk at a local market somewhere. Do you by chance know if PG has soy milk available on board as a regular item (i.e. no need for a special request)?

 

I have't had a chance to read your trip report, but I did notice a pic of your DH with a big plate of sausage fried rice, so I assume you both are not vegetarian. In any case, do you have any opinions and information on the vegetarian food offerings on board? Also, do they have dessert items that are free of gelatin? What about soy yogurt or soy cheese?

 

Regarding champagne, do you recall the brand? From other posts, it seems PG does not serve french champagne but prosecco or other sparkling wines only. Is that still true?

 

Hi sfvoyage,

 

In answer to your questions:

 

1. I don't know if the PG had soy milk available as a regular item sorry. I don't remember seeing any on board but then again I wasn't really looking for it....

 

2. I am semi vegetarian and eat only fish and chicken (I picked all those little bits of sausage out of my rice in that pic :)) so I did eat some of the vegetarian meals on board and I thought they were very good. If I remember correctly they had vegetarian offerings available for each course (appetiser & main). I also did request on a couple of occasions for the meat to be removed and replaced with something else that was part of a different meal.

 

3. I'm 99% sure there were desserts available that didn't contain gelatin. If you search for Familygobostons review she included pictures of the menus so that might help you?

 

4. The brand of champagne we were given as our honeymoon gift was Francois Montand (which I think might be sparkling wine??)

 

I would email the PG in advance and let them know of your food requirements. If they have prior notice I'm sure they will be able to whip you up some delicious offerings. I would definitely let them know though so they can be prepared :)

 

I hope that helps!

[NJBeaglemom]

I am going to say yes to the Soy milk. I could be wrong, but I seem to recall seeing some (along with either Rice milk or Almond Milk) in a bowl with ice at breakfast.

[Cruisedreamer1]

Explain to her at your earliest convenience your dietary needs. If they can come up with Diet Pepsi in lieu of Diet Coke and Diet Tonic your soy should be simple if they have enough time.

 

I have sat with others who have special dietary needs and the the chief was involved each day with them over the next day's menu. The milk is in cartons so I assume the soy would be too.

 

We love champagne but bypass their champagne (it is French but very average)-"life is too short to waste your calories on wine you don't like".

Edited August 3, 2014 by Cruisedreamer1

[lovetotravel68]

"life is too short to waste your calories on wine you don't like".

 

Haha too true! I like that quote :D

[dcrmt]

Wow, wow, wow, what an incredible review of an even more incredible experience! I echo everyone's sentiments above about all aspects of your review. It was enough to draw me out for my first CC post (my husband gives me the overview of his regular CC reads and told me I have to read this one!) Congratulations on your marriage and I hope you are loving your life together. We found PG entirely by accident on a 'cruisefinder' app when planning our honeymoon. The fire in our bellies were instantly lit when we visited the PG website the first time, then read all the reviews. This was a 'once-in-a-lifetime' trip for us, too, so we splurged (and my husband had a dental emergency in Papeete which pales in comparison to your DH's experience!) He was very well taken care of by the concierge at the IC as well as the dentist who, thankfully, spoke some English! We also had no issue with our insurance company in reimbursing, however the receipt was not submitted since the treatment was so inexpensive ($50 instead of the several hundred it would have been in Canada.) Once on board and meeting all of the equally amazing people, we learned that so many were on this ship multiple times! We couldn't imagine HOW! Before we disembarked, we still didn't know how we would manage a repeat trip aboard the PG, but we knew full well that we would be back. We are counting down the days until the Reunion cruise which coincides with our second wedding anniversary. :) We know this second trip will also not be our last with PG! We'll worry about the 'how' later. ;)

[Emdee]

Dcrmt.

Looking forward to meeting you on the repeaters cruise.

Please check the roll call as we are planning on meeting up at the IC on the monday evening before the cruise for BOGO drinks.

Emdee

[lovetotravel68]

Wow, wow, wow, what an incredible review of an even more incredible experience! I echo everyone's sentiments above about all aspects of your review. It was enough to draw me out for my first CC post (my husband gives me the overview of his regular CC reads and told me I have to read this one!) Congratulations on your marriage and I hope you are loving your life together. We found PG entirely by accident on a 'cruisefinder' app when planning our honeymoon. The fire in our bellies were instantly lit when we visited the PG website the first time, then read all the reviews. This was a 'once-in-a-lifetime' trip for us, too, so we splurged (and my husband had a dental emergency in Papeete which pales in comparison to your DH's experience!) He was very well taken care of by the concierge at the IC as well as the dentist who, thankfully, spoke some English! We also had no issue with our insurance company in reimbursing, however the receipt was not submitted since the treatment was so inexpensive ($50 instead of the several hundred it would have been in Canada.) Once on board and meeting all of the equally amazing people, we learned that so many were on this ship multiple times! We couldn't imagine HOW! Before we disembarked, we still didn't know how we would manage a repeat trip aboard the PG, but we knew full well that we would be back. We are counting down the days until the Reunion cruise which coincides with our second wedding anniversary. :) We know this second trip will also not be our last with PG! We'll worry about the 'how' later. ;)

 

Hi dcrmt and thank you for your comments, I feel very privileged that I received your first CC post!

 

Have an amazing time on your second PG trip and happy anniversary! :)