Detailed Photo Review of Paul Gauguin 10-Night Cruise 9/6/17 Plus Moorea Pre-Cruise

[deladane]

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[FlightMedic555]

Spectacular review, thanks for sharing. I know it is a ton of work to write this type of exhaustive review. I'm quite on the fence when I hear that a tour guide would hold on to a shark simply to impress the guests. In all honesty I would vote with my feet and NOT recommend this tour. The guides behavior is simply unacceptable. I know it does entertain us tourists but we have to have some concerns about what is happening. Just my humble opinion.

 

We've taken the Pure Snorkeling tour by Reef Discovery on Bora Bora 5 times now. Spectacular tour in a very fast boat. Easy to get to four separate snorkeling spots and also see the manta rays (if they cooperate) and you are back on the pier by about 1:00 pm. You have tons of snorkeling opportunities but at 40+ knots the boat gets you from place to place quickly.

[Emdee]

Great review and pics.

[deladane]

Great review and pics.

 

Thank you!

[deladane]

Spectacular review, thanks for sharing. I know it is a ton of work to write this type of exhaustive review. I'm quite on the fence when I hear that a tour guide would hold on to a shark simply to impress the guests. In all honesty I would vote with my feet and NOT recommend this tour. The guides behavior is simply unacceptable. I know it does entertain us tourists but we have to have some concerns about what is happening. Just my humble opinion.

 

We've taken the Pure Snorkeling tour by Reef Discovery on Bora Bora 5 times now. Spectacular tour in a very fast boat. Easy to get to four separate snorkeling spots and also see the manta rays (if they cooperate) and you are back on the pier by about 1:00 pm. You have tons of snorkeling opportunities but at 40+ knots the boat gets you from place to place quickly.

 

Thank you! And yes, I agree that 'riding' the shark probably isn't the best practice. I did consider Pure Snorkeling, but they charged 30% more and didn't offer the same experience to swim with sting rays and reef sharks (my favorite part of this tour!), so that's why we went with Raanui.

[deladane]

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Just as the sun dipped below the horizon, the catamaran started to make its way back to the pier. We stared at the sun with hopes of seeing the elusive “Green Flash” but no such luck! Overall, the excursion was a fun activity but it was definitely not romantic at all with over 20 other people on the boat with us. You can see similar views of the sunset from the PG, so if you are debating between this and a different excursion on a different day, this may be one you could skip. I was glad we did it though… it’s not every day that you get to watch the sunset from Bora Bora!

 

The PG looked so pretty as we sailed passed it on the way back to the pier.

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We got back to the pier around 6:15pm and could see the tender sitting at it’s dock a short distance away. We grabbed our shoes from the bin, threw them on our feet, and speed walked over to the tender before it pulled away without us. Sure enough, a second or two after we sat down on the tender, it pulled away without waiting for the other people on our excursion. Then, I’m not sure if they saw the others coming, or if they flagged down the driver, but the tender returned to the pier so everyone else could board. Why doesn’t PG do a better job of coordinating these tenders with returning excursions? I understand that they have a schedule to keep, but when it is a 30 minute wait between tenders, there’s really no excuse for them to pull away when they can see people walking towards the boat (especially people coming from an excursion booked through the cruise line!)

 

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Once we were back on the ship, DH stopped back at the cabin to change into pants and shoes to comply with the dress code. We had 7:30pm reservations tonight at LeGrill, but that was over an hour away and we were already hungry, so we decided to go up to L’Etoile to order an appetizer to hold us over.

 

This was tonight’s menu in L’Etoile.

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[deladane]

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We shared 2 of the appetizers and both were tasty as always!

 

House Made Salmon Rillette

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Potato Gnocchi

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After our pre-dinner snack, we went out to the piano bar to listen to a few songs until it was time for our Le Grill reservation.

 

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When we got up to deck 8 and spoke to the maitre’d in LeGrill, he told us there were no tables for 2 available, but he could seat us outside beside the pool at a shared table with 2 other couples if we wanted to. We were happy to share, especially when we realized that one of the couples was the Australian couple we ate dinner with last night, and the other couple was our friends from our roll call, GenoaAspenGirl and her husband! It’s really amazing how well you get to know your fellow passengers on a ship with only 330 guests. It’s so much more likely that you will cross paths with people you already know, and it starts to feel like you must know everyone on the ship after only a few days! We had a wonderful conversation and enjoyed our company as much as we enjoyed the food.

 

As I mentioned earlier, the menu at Le Grill remains the same for the first half of the cruise, and then it changes to a new menu forthe second half of the cruise. On our sailing, they were changing menus on Sunday, so since today was only Friday we still had the first menu.

 

 

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[deladane]

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Polynesian Prawns

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Caesar Salad

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Seafood Brochette

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While we were eating, Les Gauguines came over to sing for us.

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I wish I thought to take a photo of the pool deck set up at night because it was so pretty to eat dinner outside on the deck with the dim lighting and light breeze. We specifically booked dinner here tonight because the ship was anchored in Bora Bora and we didn’t have to worry about heavy winds or other issues that may arise when the ship is sailing at night.

 

Paul Gauguin’s Pineapple Cake

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Dinner took about an hour and a half. When we finished at 9pm, we went upstairs on deck 9 with hopes of star gazing, but unfortunately all the lights from the ship blocked our view of the sky.

 

At 9:30pm, we went down to the Grand Salon to see tonight’s show, Que Bola. They perform a magic show with a quick change act, card tricks, and a few other tricks. I thought they had an okay show, but most of what they did were things Ihad seen before on America’s Got Talent so I wasn’t very impressed. One thing I will say is they asked for lots of audience participation, so make sure to sit up front if you want to be part of their show! When that ended, we went back to the cabin and called it a night.

[longhorn5]

My husband is salivating looking at all of the seafood pics! Caesar salad is one of my favs but I’m going to have to remember to order it sans the anchovy ;)

 

We loved seeing all of the fun pics from your day of snorkeling in Bora Bora.

[deladane]

My husband is salivating looking at all of the seafood pics! Caesar salad is one of my favs but I’m going to have to remember to order it sans the anchovy ;)

 

We loved seeing all of the fun pics from your day of snorkeling in Bora Bora.

 

Thank you! And yes, OMG, that anchovy was HUGE!!

[deladane]

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Saturday, September 9, 2017 ~ Second Day in Bora Bora

 

Prior to the cruise, we did not plan any specific tours for today, but somehow we still had a very busy day. Here is the daily schedule for today:

 

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As you can see in the schedule, PG runs a different tender towards their private beach than towards the main island in Vaitape. The first tender to the beach does not leave until 10:15am, so we had no need to wake up early today since that would be our first stop of the day. I kind of wished that they would start running these tenders earlier in the morning because the late start meant we wouldn’t have much time to enjoy the private motu, but I do understand that the staff needs time to set up the beach before our arrival.

 

I did not set an alarm this morning, and as luck would have it, I was able to sleep until 8am!! How wonderful it was to wake up after sunrise for once! Haha

 

We decided to eat breakfast outside at Le Grill so we could enjoy the view of Mt. Otemanu while we ate. Since we didn’t need to rush off the ship for a tour, this was the one morning when I took the time to order from the breakfast menu. I ordered nutella pancakes and fried eggs, and they arrived about 10 minutes later.

 

 

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[deladane]

After breakfast, we lounged around until it was time to catch the tender. No matter where you look, there are such beautiful views here in Bora Bora.

 

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By the time 10:15am rolled around, there was quite a crowd down near the elevators on deck 3. Apparently we were not the only ones who planned to go to the beach this morning! PG uses a much smaller tender to get to/from both of the private beaches (here in Bora Bora and in Taha’a to get to Motu Mahana) so it was questionable if everyone would make it on the boat for the first ride of the day. Luckily everyone did get a seat because this tender ride is looooong! It took us 30 minutes to get to the beach, and the tender schedule dictated that there was only one tender leaving per hour, so if you missed this one, you had to wait until 11:15 for the next one.

 

When we finally arrived, they lowered the back of the boat so we could step off right into the ankle-deep water. I think it may have been low tide because there was a section of sand there for us to walk along until we reached the main part of the beach. This is a photo of the next tender arriving an hour later, but just to give you an idea of what it is like…

 

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This beach was absolutely stunning! The white sand was soft under your feet as you walked along the shore, and just a few feet back from the water’s edge was a line of palm trees so there was more than enough shade without needing an umbrella. There was a small cut out of very shallow water just in front of the beach area so you could sit in the water and cool off without needing to swim. If you preferred deeper water or wanted to do some snorkeling, that was also available just passed the peninsula of sand jutting out into the water. If you looked to the left across the lagoon, there was a gorgeous view of the PG and Mt. Otemanu. What more could you ask for?!

 

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[deladane]

Pardon me while I bombard you with photos from the beach… I can’t decide which ones not to post, so when in doubt, I choose to post more photos!

 

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The water was so clear… I loved the effect of the sunshining on it

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Pay attention if you are walking out into the water because it does drop off quickly in some spots… DH is standing in waist-deep water here…

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When I took this next photo, I was standing at the spot where the tender drops you off, looking out towards the beach and the palm trees for shade.

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[deladane]

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Just to clarify, when PG calls this their “private beach” they do not mean “private island.” PG has this beautiful section of beach reserved just for their guests, but the island is shared with other hotels and I think there’s also a section of beach used by the locals. Down on the far right side (when facing the water), there is a fence and there were about 50 locals on the other side of that fence and in the water, playing and having a grand ‘ol time. They were a bit loud and it did take away from the peaceful serenity of our beach since the PG guests were all very quiet and respectful, but I just tuned them out. You can see them in the background of this photo if you look very closely at the far left side:

 

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[deladane]

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You will notice one thing missing from this beach… lounge chairs. If you want to sit down here, you can either sit on your towel or directly in the sand. Normally, I am fine with that, but we noticed that there were a lot of ants crawling around in the sand. One or two ants is tolerable… this was like hundreds of ants! They crawled all over our towels, into our beach bags, and I kept finding myself swatting them off my legs when I was trying to sit in the shade and write in my journal. Eventually, I just gave up and had to walk around (which I suppose benefits all of you because that meant that I took more photos! Haha)

 

There was a table set up towards the back where they had coolers filled with bottles of water, cans of soda, and cans of beer. They also had 2 bins filled with potato chips and peanuts. It wasn’t much, and it certainly wasn’t lunch, but we knew what to expect and had eaten a big breakfast, knowing we couldn’t eat again until we were back on the ship. There are no bathrooms at this beach either, so maybe it’s for the best that they didn’t have much else to eat or drink!

 

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I liked the shredded empty cans hanging up around the perimeter… I guess that’s one way to get rid of trash!

 

Even after the second tender arrived at 11:45am, it never felt too crowded and there was still plenty of space for everyone to spread out in their own little spot.

 

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[deladane]

These over water bungalows are from the hotel on the other side of the island where our beach was

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As we were taking that last photo, we saw the tender quickly approaching and that was our cue to pack it up! Since the tenders only run once per hour, we needed to take the 12:45pm ferry to be on time for the rest of our plans that day. That meant we only had 2 hours at the beach, but it was actually plenty of time and I don’t know if we would have wanted to stay another hour even if we could.

 

Once we were back on the ship a little after 1pm, we went up to La Veranda for lunch. Today’s theme was Greek Buffet, and they had a make-you-own gyro station! I was thrilled since I love gyros, but I also couldn’t resist the made to order pasta station.

 

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[deladane]

The dessert station

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The bar waiter was able to bring me today’s drink of the day: Bounty Bay- a refreshing mixture of Bacardi White, Myers Rum, Malibu Rum, Orange Juice, and Sweet and Sour Mix. Yum!

 

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We were scheduled to take a tour of the bridge today at 2pm. If you are interested in taking part in this complimentary tour, make sure to sign up ASAP because there are only 10 spots available (we did it within minutes of boarding the ship on the first day!). We saw a few people arrive in the lobby who said they were on the waiting list, so I assume the tour was ‘sold out’. I have never done a bridge tour on any of my cruises, so this was a great opportunity to learn some interesting facts and see all the equipment. Once everyone had gathered in the lobby, we were escorted upstairs to the bridge on deck 7. The tour was lead by 2nd Officer Larry Samson because he was the person assigned to watch over the bridge at that hour.

 

At first I was annoyed that the tour was scheduled on a day we were in port because I was hoping to do it on the sea day when it wouldn’t take away from my limited time to explore an island. Then I thought about it and realized they probably don’t want passengers on the bridge when the ship is moving and they are busy working and steering the ship! I guess that means we need to do this while we are anchored, and if that meant missing a few hours in Bora Bora when we had already been there a day and a half, that was okay with me!

 

Larry gave a very through and informative tour that lasted about 45 minutes, and he was kind enough to allow us to take as many photos as we wanted. He explained that they have a team of 5 people to assist with sailing in and out of port, and then once they are out at sea and the Captain deems it safe, they have just 2 people working to drive the boat for the distance to the next port. He showed us the computerized charts and how to look up a location, the depth of the water, and a few other things.

 

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[deladane]

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They use this wheel to steer the ship when going in and out of port…

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…and they use the little 2 inch tall joystick on the top right of this panel to steer the ship once at sea.

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Not surprising to see a perfect view out the front windows on the bridge!

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Larry explained that this panel shows the fire detection system. The ship is broken down into 4 sections and they must test that the doors close properly on the first day of every cruise. If the ship hits something that breaks a hole in the hull such that water fills a compartment, the doors will close. If a crew member is inside of that compartment, they will not drown (like you see in the movie Titanic!) because there is an escape hatch in the ceiling of each level. As long as you can find the hatch, you can crawl through it to a dry deck above you, then close and seal the hatch behind you.

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Big brother is watching you!

 

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[micmacmissy]

So i'm guessing this is a different stop than the one at the motu where they have the floating bar that you see in all their literature?

 

Am I the only one who thinks it's weird that you are dropped at a private beach...with no chairs? Not even available for rental? I sure love me a beach day but it's only comfortable on a towel for so long.

[deladane]

So i'm guessing this is a different stop than the one at the motu where they have the floating bar that you see in all their literature?

 

Am I the only one who thinks it's weird that you are dropped at a private beach...with no chairs? Not even available for rental? I sure love me a beach day but it's only comfortable on a towel for so long.

 

Correct, the beach with the floating bar is Motu Mahana (in Taha'a) and that's a whole different ballgame. They have hundreds of lounge chairs (with side tables between them!), a huge bar ready to fill you with fruity refreshing cocktails served in coconut shells, a full BBQ lunch, and bathrooms.

 

Given that there are no facilities at the private beach in Bora Bora, I don't think PG expects you to stay there all that long. I wouldn't want to sit on a towel on the sand for a full day (we stayed at Motu Mahana for 6 hours!), but for one or two hours, it was tolerable.

[deladane]

Wings off the side of the bridge to get a better view down the ship…

 

 

I took note of this sign in case we heard any announcements during the cruise and wanted to know what the codes meant. Luckily, we never heard any of these codes being called!

 

Larry showed us that even though they have a computerized charting system on the bridge, they also have paper maps as a back up for every area we will visit on this sailing.

 

 

I really enjoyed the bridge tour and thought it was worth the time missed exploring Bora Bora. It was very kind of Larry to answer all of our questions and let us take as many photos as we wanted. We left the bridge around 2:45pm and had some time to kill before the 4pm Galley tour, so we went up to the pool for a bit.

 

 

At 4pm, we met the Executive Chef in the lobby and he escorted us up to the main galley in L’Etoile. When we walked into the galley, we were greeted with a glass of champagne and a platter of cookies. Unlike Larry, he would not permit us to take any photos during this tour, so we just listed as he spoke about the kitchens on the ship. There are 4 total galleys on the PG: one in each of the dining rooms (L’Etoile, LeGrill, and La Veranda) plus one for the crew on deck 4. 38 people work in the 4 galleys but the executive chef is the only one who is French. They make all the pastries and breads fresh onboard, and they bring in fresh fish and produce on most port days. All of the cheeses served onboard are imported from France, and most are unpasteurized which is why they taste so much better than the cheese we eat in America! The chef was happy to answer all of our questions and even said he would give us the recipe to anything we ate onboard (I did not take him up on this offer, but I assume he held his word if anyone else asked). I think there were about 20 guests on this tour, and then it repeats again a little later in the afternoon so many more people have a chance to tour the galley versus the bridge. Even still, I’d recommend signing up as early as possible if you want to attend.

[deladane]

The tour ended within 30 minutes, so we went upstairs to the pool deck for the sail away party. Santa Rosa was playing a fun set of Beatles songs, and there was a good crowd of guests enjoying the views.

 

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Once we were out of Bora Bora’s lagoon and sailing in open water, we noticed a friend swimming alongside the ship… there was a whale following the boat! I was not able to get a photo of it above the surface, but I did get this photo of it’s spout of water to prove it was there!

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Once word spread that there was a whale in the water, everyone rushed over to that side of the ship to catch a glimpse.

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Bye bye Bora Bora!

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We made our way back to La Palette to observe a beautiful sunset as we sailed north towards the Tuamotu Islands.

 

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[deladane]

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I just can’t get enough of these beautiful sunsets in French Polynesia! Just as the sun dipped below the horizon, Cruise Director Claudine came on the overhead to announce the start of the Block Party! This is another interesting part of cruising on a small ship. The stewardesses bring bottles of wine to each deck and guests are encouraged to gather in the hallway to meet the“neighbors.” Since there’s only 14 cabins on Deck 3, it was a small turn out at our Block Party. Half the cabins attended, but that was only 12 or 14 people haha It was still nice to get to know the other people on our deck, and we made friends with a few people who we might not have met otherwise.

 

The Block Party lasted until 6:30pm, and then we went upstairs for dinner. When we arrived at L’Etoile, we requested a table for 2 and were treated to much speedier service than we had had the previous nights there with group tables. We were perusing the dessert menu just one hour after being seated!

 

Tonight’s dinner menu:

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Spice Crusted Yellow Fin Tuna Medallions

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Duck Pate in Puff Pastry Crust

 

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[deladane]

Seafood Brochette of Shrimp and Scallop

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Local Wahoo on Carrot Mousseline

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Dessert Menu

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Vanilla Profiteroles

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Cardinal’s Delight

 

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[deladane]

Abundance Horn

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Over the course of this cruise, DH developed a passion for their cheese plate. It was listed as part of the dessert menu every night, but by the end of the cruise, he requested it as an appetizer instead. One of the waiters was assigned ‘cheese plate duty’ so sometimes it took a while for the cart to arrive if they were serving it to a different table at that time, but when he came over, it was quite a presentation! There were 5 different cheeses on the cart and you could pick any or all of them to sample. Then he pulled out a bowl of crackers and breads that you could choose from to go with the cheeses, and there were also grapes and other fruits if you wanted something sweet. The cheeses tended to be bolder than I personally cared for, but DH loves bold cheeses so he was always happy with the selections.

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I mentioned earlier that we were reading our dessert menu one hour after being seated. Had we just ordered normal desserts, we would have been out the door about 15 minutes later. Unfortunately, the cheese plate was our bottleneck because it took the waiter 30 minutes to arrive! We were long finished with our other desserts by now. I guess there is only one cheese cart and the waiter may get backed up if many tables request it at the same time?

 

Once DH had his fill of cheese, we spent a few minutes listening to Alex play at the piano bar. He typically played 3 sets each night… the first set was around 6pm and he usually just played instrumentals, the second set was around 7:30pm and that’s when he started to sing. We rarely went to the last set because it was usually late enough that I was falling asleep and ready for bed!

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You could pretty much order any drink you wanted from the bar here, but there is a drink menu if you needed some inspiration.

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