Tere Moana Review

[azgkrudi]

CC has published my review under member reviews and I will post it here as well. Since reviews on this small ship are so few and far between, I went into quite a bit of detail.

 

Tere Moana 12/6-13, 2014 Colon to Puerto Caldera

 

This was our first time on the Tere Moana after having sailed on the other ship in the fleet, the Paul Gauguin, twice in the French Polynesians (2006 and New Year's 2007/08). We had been seeking out a Panama Canal Transit cruise for many years, and it seemed that each and every cruise line we were interested in, the Transit itinerary was 14+ days, which is too long for us. We fortunately stumbled upon this 7-day itinerary which was priced right, and in addition, we received the prior PG guest 5% discount.

 

Getting on/off the ship: Both embarkation and disembarkation were very easy, as there were only 84 of us passengers. During port days, I worried a little bit that sometimes the crew didn't swipe guests' cards. They would just ask your cabin number upon your return. Again, there were so few of us, I am sure it was easy to keep track of us. But still - it was a little disconcerting and I wondered if something could slip through the cracks, whether it be someone coming on board who didn't belong, or a guest who was supposed to be on board being left behind.

 

The rooms were just as pictured in the 360 degree video tours on the PG Cruises website. Housekeeping did an excellent job (we never did meet our stewardess - she always managed to sneak in & out when we weren't in the cabin). The only downside to the room was, it seemed a bit warm temperature-wise. We mentioned this to the front desk and they supposedly sent an engineer to correct it (we weren't in the cabin at the time they came), but it didn't feel any different after that. It's not like we were full-on sweating, but I am one of those who likes to feel a little chilly overnight so I can pull up that sumptuous duvet right up to my chin, the way I have gotten so spoiled by on prior cruises. It was way too warm for that. Oh well, the sheet was nice, the pillows fluffy and plentiful, and we slept very well regardless.

 

Most of the ports were decent, although there were some changes (more on that later). The Panama Canal transit itself was marvelous! We were able to enter the first lock at sunset; the rain held off, so all of us were up on deck watching the whole incredible process. We made excellent time, and I believe we went through the last lock around midnight-1:00am. Perfect! This is not always the case, we have heard.

 

One thing the Tere Moana needs to work on: what the actual printed itinerary is, and what they actually do. There were multiple discrepancies of sailing time, arrival time, and even things like the hours that venues are open. For instance, the Ia Orana (daily ship newsletter) stated on one side of the sheet that the pool opened at 10:00am; directly on the other side of the sheet, it was stated 11:00am. I thought they would correct it but it was printed the same way every day. Then, they completely changed one of our ports, and we weren't notified until we were on board. Instead of going to Golfito (which we had researched and had a couple of places in mind to visit), we went to this tiny area called Casa Orquideas. So you tender in - to someone's private residence!!!??? It was some type of nature sanctuary that was lauded by the Naturalist lecturer guy on board, Christian. We really thought that was strange, and we were a bit disappointed we didn't get to visit the places we had sought out in Golfito.

 

But the one HUGE plus: the Tere Moana did something very similar to the Motu Mahana day on the Paul Gauguin. We went to Coiba Island and had our own gorgeous expansive beach to enjoy. There was snorkeling, kayaking and hiking and of course, the full-on beach barbecue complete with drinks being served to you in the ocean. (No floating bar, but bartender Vishal would still bring a full tray of drinks out for anyone who wanted them.) So we got to have our "cheeseburger in paradise" just the exact same way we did on the Motu in the French Polynesians. That was a VERY nice touch.

 

Speaking of the food - it was excellent! We were very impressed that such a small ship could have the quality and variety they did. Service was excellent, as well. The staff get to know you by name and they just can't seem to do enough for you. One unique thing about the meals: the breads they make are to DIE for. They all seemed to be flavored differently (mostly with herbs), with lots of variety each day throughout the week. This was complemented by the flavored butter of the night - i.e., honey cinnamon, truffle oil, apple mint, banana, peach, etc.

 

The one thing I would suggest to the Tere Moana, is to provide a small continental breakfast for late risers. Breakfast is served only from 7:30-9:00am. The next meal of lunch is not served until 12:30, so as late risers, we often went until 12:30pm without eating anything. Yes, you can order room service, which we did - but there really isn't room in the cabin to comfortably eat. The tables aren't large enough to accommodate more than one plate, so we ended up eating on the bed and hoping we didn't spill anything. I just think it would be pretty easy for them to save aside some fruit, pastries, coffee, and juices after the 9:00am breakfast cutoff and keep them in the breakfast area until around 10:00 or 10:30.

 

The ship itself was nice, the public areas very spacious for the amount of passengers on the ship. One irritant though with this being a small ship: there is only one venue (the Grand Salon) for entertainment, lectures and cocktail time. They would set up lectures with the Naturalist guy, Christian, and a few of us just wanted to sit in the back and have a drink and a conversation, and the passengers who were trying to listen to the lecture were "hushing" us like we were children. Believe me, we were NOT loud. I wished they would have scheduled these lectures for a time other than evenings - that would make better sense, no?

 

Speaking of Christian - we almost felt like he was the one responsible for changing the Captain's mind about where we were going and what we were doing. He was a supposed "expert" in this part of the world, and we wondered if Captain Zupan (who is Croatian and spent most of his time on the PG in the French Polynesians) just kind of deferred to Christian. Not a fact, just an observation. Regardless, it was nice to have the same Captain on all 3 of our Paul Gauguin cruises. Our waiter for the week was also a former PG'er, Joey. We were so happy to see him!

 

The only other thing I should mention that needs to be worked out on the Tere Moana - the billing/checkout process. We had prepaid for a transfer from our disembarkation port of Puerto Caldera to the San Jose, Costa Rica airport (not cheap - $179 per person). This was paid about 6 weeks in advance to Paul Gauguin Personalized Services. The only thing we purchased on board was internet service. There was no interim bill delivered like most other cruise lines do (which is another thing I think the TM should do). I was not happy when I woke up on disembarkation day to a $400+ bill charging us for internet AND transfers, even though I had clearly written on our disembarkation form the night before that we had prepaid transfers. Then, when I went to the front desk to correct it (I showed her our prepaid receipt), all she did was circle the charges and write "prepaid" and put it in her pile of final invoices to be processed. I asked if I could get a new invoice that was corrected and she said no!? So I just had to trust that the right amount would be posted to our credit card. Which, thank God, it was. By the way, when we got on our shuttle, there were 3 others who had the same double charge happen to them...this is definitely something that the TM needs to work on.

 

All in all, we had a great time and feel like we received a great value for what we paid. I truly believe once the TM works out the kinks, they will be a great option for "yacht-style" cruising.

[Emdee]

Hi Kristin,

 

I am so happy that you had a great time on the Moana.

 

Joey is on my list of all time WONDERFUL PG waiters and there are so many of them to choose from. We missed him on the Reunion cruise. Vishal is also a real gem.

 

We are really looking forward to our Croatia Cruise on the Moana in August.

 

Miriam

[justmeindustland]

Kristen, it sounds like you had a good cruise with some of the same issues as we did. We did get intruim bills but a large portion were wrong due to wrong billing of excursions.

 

I wished we had a naturalist on board. We only got one expert for the canal.

 

Hopefully I will get around to doing a review after the holiays.

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your review, glad you had a good time on the Tere Moana.