Paul Gauguin Two Week Sale

[MrRandal]

If you feel comfortable that the Paul Gauguin will make it out of dry dock, the Society Islands will once again be welcoming tourists, and the Paul Gauguin will be cruising by the end of the year, they are running a great two week sale if you book before March 5. The sale is only on the basic 7 day Society Island Cruises from August 2021 through December 2021. A Category C stateroom is up to $1750 less per person/$3500 less per couple, a Category B stateroom is $2100 less per person/$4200 less per couple, so a pretty substantial sale. It does not apply to any of their other itineraries. Keep in mind if you book one of these trips, you are giving Paul Gauguin 20% of the cost of the cruise upon booking, and if cancelled, either by you or by them, you will only receive a FCC.

[MrRandal]

After studying the Paul Gauguin website, it seems that lower prices will apply to almost all of Paul Gauguin Cruises in 2022. I'm seeing some dramatically lower prices in 2022 for identical cruises/dates charged in 2021. The Dec 4th, 2021 11 night Society and Tuamotus cruise prices start at $6995, while the same cruise, minus the extra night in Taha'a, just 30 days later on Jan 4, 2022, has a starting price of $5110, that's a 27% drop in price. Other 10 night Society/Tuamotus cruises in 2022 range from $5395 to $5900 with one at $6200. That's pretty significant. My Sept 25, 2021 Society Island/Cooks cruise has a starting price of $7245, but the March 5, 2022 price for the same itinerary starts at $5410, and a cruise closer to the same season I'm supposed to cruise in 2021, an August 27, 2022 cruise has a starting price of $6010, again, same itinerary. Of course I may not see the Cooks in September, as it appears NZ and the Cooks will most probably remain closed to tourism through 2021. My cruise may turn into an 11 day Society/Tuamotus cruise, with that extra night in Taha'a. Or not, who knows at this point. Those are all per person prices for the cheapest cabin, and includes economy air on Air Tahiti Nui out of LAX. I'm not sure when these prices dropped, I just started looking at 2022 cruises in case the Paul Gauguin cancels our September 25 cruise. I don't know if other cruise lines are dropping prices like this, or if this is a reflection of all of the negative PR Paul Gauguin and Ponant have received over their pandemic caused cancelled cruise refund policies, which as we all know by now Ponant changed after cruise contracts had been signed by both parties, and which denied many passengers refunds, that were entitled to refunds, and only offered FCC. I suppose the good news is if you took the FCC, and want to/are able to cruise in 2022, you can bump up to a nicer cabin, or use your extra FCC on excursions. Also curious is that as of today, the Le Paul Gauguin is not listed on the Ponant website. There is a picture of her on one page, but she is not listed as one of the ships in the drop down list, and you can't find any of her cruises. They were there a while back. Perhaps this is temporary, maybe they are updating their site.

[seascot]

On the Ponant UK site our Paul Gauguin cruise in June 2022 is showing.  I don't know why they are not showing on the US site.

[MrRandal]

That's interesting, the U.S. site seems to be a bit wonky. The ship does not show up in the drop down menu at all, and if you look for Oceania and Pacific cruises, it says no matches. Then the Paul Gauguin popped up on one page, and when I clicked to see the cruises it disappeared. It may very well be that it is  an issue with the U.S. site. Do the prices I quoted above from pgcruises.com align with the prices Ponant is offering? How long ago did you book? Has your price changed from when you booked?

Edited February 28, 2021 by MrRandal

[seascot]

We booked on 8th February when the 2022 cruise schedule became available on the PG website.  The 2022 schedule was not available on Ponant at that time as they only showed cruises to December 2021.  The prices shown on PG appeared in US $, but when we phoned to book the cruise we spoke to a Ponant agent in France who then quoted us in Euros!  We paid the deposit in Euros which was the equivalent of the $ rate they quoted.  The  PG and Ponant prices do align, but when we booked they had a 30% Ponant Bonus which has now dropped to 25%.  Hope this all makes sense.

[Host Jazzbeau]

2 hours ago, seascot said:

The  PG and Ponant prices do align, but when we booked they had a 30% Ponant Bonus which has now dropped to 25%.  Hope this all makes sense.

This is Ponant's usual pricing strategy:  cruise prices have a set rack rate and a diminishing Bonus discount.  Booking early gets you the best price.  This works really well for people like me who plan and book really early.  I wonder if they are adopting that strategy for PG?

[MrRandal]

It's a little bizarre, if I type in Ponant.com, I will sometimes get the French site, which shows the Paul Gauguin. However, if I click one of the cruises, it takes me to the US site, which is us.ponant.com which does not show Le Paul Gauguin or any of her cruises. Most of the time when I type in ponant.com, I'm automatically redirected to the U.S. site. If you look for Oceania and Pacific Cruises on the U.S. site, they only show cruises in Australia,  perhaps it's because they are still booking U.S. passengers out of the Washington state in the U.S., and they are using the pgcruises.com site. I can change countries on the site to Australia, and it will take me to au.ponant.com, show the Paul Gauguin and her cruises and prices in Australian currency. As I said, all rather bizarre, or a site malfunction.

 

So did you get a 30% discount off the already lowered 2022 prices posted on pgcruises.com? 

Edited March 1, 2021 by MrRandal

[MrRandal]

5 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

This is Ponant's usual pricing strategy:  cruise prices have a set rack rate and a diminishing Bonus discount.  Booking early gets you the best price.  This works really well for people like me who plan and book really early.  I wonder if they are adopting that strategy for PG?

 

That may be the case, but curious if seascot received a 30% discount from the prices now posted on pgcruises.com. This was never Paul Gauguin's policy before that I'm aware, although they would offer sales for short periods on select cruises. However those cruises were usually in the near future, were not full, and they were trying to fill empty cabins.

[seascot]

The prices showing at the moment for 2022 include the 25% Bonus discount.  We saved an additional 5%  as there was a 30% Bonus offer on when we booked.  I wish we had received a 30% discount on the current prices shown!  Still, I thought the price we paid was not too bad a deal and gives us something to look forward to.