Leejnd4

Well, we would DEFINITELY have preferred to have started our full-time live-aboard life without the pandemic! It made the early days very challenging. Especially at the beginning - we got trapped on our boat in La Paz, Mexico, unable to leave the port but also not allowed to even leave our boat except once a week to buy provisions. Those first few months were scary. And even after that it was not what we'd expected our cruising life to be. But it's all great now, and we're loving it, so I can't complain. Except for the fact that we never got to sail to French Polynesia! I'm sure we all have some wild stories of what the early days of the pandemic were like for us. I remember wondering what was going to happen to the cruising industry. There were several cruise lines who anchored their ships off the coast of La Paz and just left them there for over a year. There were HAL ships, NCL, Carnival, all just sitting out there. I'd look out at those ships hulking offshore and feel like the world had gone sideways. I'm SO GLAD that cruising has come back to life! And now so has Crystal, so that's even better. 😀

Thanks Keith! Yeah, that was an epic kerfuffle, wasn't it? 😂 I just recently came back to Cruise Critic, having left it once we started cruising full-time on our own boat in 2019. But we only have a little more than a year to go before we start making our way back to being dirt-dwellers, and already I'm figuring out how to get back out to sea. 😉 In fact I'm doing a Paul Gauguin cruise this November, even though we will still be living on our boat! Crazy, huh? That might seem nuts, but the reason I'm doing that is because we'd originally planned on sailing our own boat over to the South Pacific, but Covid messed that up for us when they closed the entire South Pacific to pleasure craft. And now that they've opened it up again it's too late for us to go, since we're already 4 years into our 5-year cruising plan and we don't have time. I really wanted to see French Polynesia again. So I will be back to cruise ships to get my fill of the sea! I still hope to run into you on a ship someday.

I would TOTALLY do a world cruise as a solo! Of course I'm not single so take my thoughts with a grain of salt. But let me just say that I have thought to myself (and don't tell anyone this LOL!) that if something awful happened and I lost my husband, one of the first things I would do is book a world cruise by myself. I think it would be a lovely way to escape, become comfortable with being alone, make some friends, and enjoy the world while having all my needs met in luxury. Just food for thought!

Boy ain't that the truth! I stayed off this board for several YEARS after I got brutally attacked for posting about a concerning experience I had with Crystal customer service before my Baltics cruise. I posted a completely factual account, thinking it would help other Crystal cruisers to know that this situation was going on and how to get around it. But some people can't handle any negative comments about their favorite line, no matter how accurate. Shoot the messenger! 😉 I actually stayed away from cruising Crystal for a few years, because a couple of the attackers were frequent Crystal cruisers and I was afraid to run into them! One of them had actually called a crew member on the ship with whom they were friendly, to "warn" them about me before we embarked. (Fortunately the crew member made an effort to get to know me, which is how I found out. LOL!) I'm glad I eventually came back, as my Crystal cruises are among my favorite of all time. I'm looking forward to hearing how the early cruises go. I'm not ready to start cruising Crystal yet...probably not until late 2024, once we are back living in our house in CA (we currently live on a sailboat in Mexico). But depending on how the reports come back, I'll be looking at itineraries soon. 😁 And I too hope the tone on the board stays welcoming, and more people come back to CC. There really isn't another communication method that works nearly as well.

I'll buy that! 😉

I believe the photo of Rio was posted by Keith, not Roy. In fact yes, I just went back to check the post, and indeed it was Keith who posted that photo. Roy does post a lot of wonderful photos too! 😁 But the one I was commenting showing Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro looks to have been posted by Keith.

Oh man. This photo makes me think of Crystal Cruises! My last Crystal cruise was Rio to Buenos Aires in 2019. I'll never forget this sight. Thanks for the memory, Keith!

Same here! I have started many roll calls, probably because I'm such an early planner...I always book my cruises insanely early. And I too have always been the one organizing private tours, get togethers, etc. I know there are many people who would never consider doing a private tour with veritable strangers, but some of my BEST moments on cruises have been on these tours! They've usually been van or boat tours with 6 or even 8 people, so even if one or two of them were not folks I would choose to hang out with, the rest made up for it. I've only done a 4-person private tour with roll-call people once, and they were lovely and we're still friends. I guess I should count myself lucky. 🙂 Exactly! And for me, it was even more for meeting people before the cruise, so that we could have ready-made friends when we board. I'm a very social person, and what I discovered from my heavy participation in roll-calls was that you could get to know quite a bit about people, and then when you meet them face-to-face you already are past the awkward stage and immediately have things to talk about. I have met some of the loveliest people that way, some of whom are still very good friends. One couple we met on our roll call on my last Crystal cruise (South America in 2019) lived near us and we've had dinners at each others' homes. Another couple I met on a Regent cruise in 2005, and I consider them some of our dearest friends. I'm pretty dismayed at the massive drop in CC participation. This has happened across pretty much every type of message forum - Scubaboard used to be THE hangout for divers, and a rich source of information and connections, but it's a shell of its former self. I know that Facebook has a lot to do with it, but you just can't get the same sort of conversations, or find people or targeted info, on Facebook the way you can on message forums. Also, regarding roll calls - I know that the mass-market cruise lines have definitely migrated to Facebook. A good friend is a frequent NCL cruiser, and just finished up two back-to-back cruises, both of which had VERY active Facebook roll-calls, but nearly empty CC ones. But the smaller and/or luxury lines don't seem to have Facebook roll-calls at all. I'm particularly bummed because my upcoming Paul Gauguin cruise has only one other couple in the roll call, and they seem to have disappeared after their one post. Crickets ever since. 😞 I guess I'm just gonna have to meet people the old-fashioned way. LOL!

Well said! I have never chosen to go/not go on a ship due to its age. An old ship can be made to be just as beautiful and enjoyable as a new one, and some older ships have attractive features that you won't find on the new ships. And Keith I love your analogy of houses. We bought a new-construction house back when our kids were small; then, once they grew up, we sold that one, bought a 50-yr-old house and fixed it up. I can honestly say I love my current house way more than my prior house, for innumerable reasons (which I won't bore you with). I'm currently booked on the Paul Gauguin in November, and that is a pretty old ship! But they do a great job of maintaining it, and on both of my prior PG cruises it was sparkly and gorgeous. Sure you can see some age and wear-and-tear, but then, I could say the same thing about most of us! 😉 Just like I don't need to see taut skin and unlined faces to see the beauty in people, I don't need a ship to be brand spanking new to appreciate its beauty and enjoy my cruise. So many other aspects are way more important to me. Oh, and back to the topic - I just learned that the PG removed its casino in its last remodel. So this appears to be a theme. I'm very curious why! I assumed the extra income was needed, but I guess not or these cruise lines wouldn't be removing them, right? I'm in the neutral category myself. I've had a few romps in ship casinos after dinner with fun people, but it's not a big deal to me.

Oh, interesting! I just went to the PG site to see if this is correct, and YUP! No casino is shown on the deck plans. This seems to be happening among other lines as well. Crystal Cruises has recently resurrected after going bust early in the pandemic, and is about to start cruising again with major changes made to their ships, including removing the casinos. There's a long thread in the Crystal forum discussing how fans of Crystal feel about that, including a poll. 53% voted "Neutral on whether or not there are casinos - don’t care either way", but 18% voted that they will not even cruise Crystal due to no casinos! (The rest of the votes are split between "attracted more to Crystal" and "I wish they'd retained casinos but will still cruise Crystal.) I'm in the "neutral" category. I've had a few romps in ship casinos when playing with fun people after dinner, but I've never won a penny! I decided a while ago to stop gambling on cruises because I assume they are not governed by the same laws as casinos on land, and are likely set up to heavily favor the house. So unless I plan on just throwing away some money for the fun of the game (kinda like dropping quarters into arcade games), there's no real point. On my two prior PG cruises, I honestly don't remember ever seeing anyone in their casino!

I'm told it's 60 days out. There are a couple of excursions we really want to be sure we get, so I'll be watching for that!

When is your cruise? I just booked all of my private tours for my cruise, which isn't until November. I like to book very early, because I don't want miss out if they are already booked!

Thanks! We definitely want to get this excursion, and don't want to chance it filling up. So as soon as they are available we'll book it. Appreciate the help!

We're going to have some on board credits from our travel agent. I've been told that on some cruise lines, if you book a shore excursion online in advance, you are unable to use your OBC to pay for it - you have to book it onboard in order to use OBC. Does anyone know if this is true on the PG? Thanks! -- LeeAnne

Thank you! I'm going to book the ATV tour. The PG offers one too, but it's $50 more and this one looks to be more adventurous. Great suggestions! We checked out Janou's web page, and she looks great. We're going to book with her! Hoping we can find another couple to go with us, to bring the price down...but we'll do it even if we can't. It's harder to round up people for private tours these days since Cruise Critic roll calls just don't seem to get the traffic they used to, and I don't know of any other way to connect with people pre-cruise on the PG. Larger mass-market ships often have F-B groups, but not the PG. I've got a roll call started, and one other couple in it, but I see lots of PG roll calls that have little to no traffic. 😞 We just booked them! I read a whole bunch of really positive reviews of them in the Pacific Islands forum, and I liked what I saw. Small but comfortable boat, only 6 people total. And I don't need to find the others passengers! I've decided to do all the dives on Rangiroa and Fakarava, so Sandy may or may not do an excursion in those islands. Thanks again everyone!

Hello! My friend Sandy and I are booked on the PG in November for the 10-day Society Islands & Tuomotus itinerary. We're starting to pull together the info we need, and that includes figuring out what we're going to do each day. I would LOVE to hear from PG fans about their favorite private tours they've done on this itinerary! FTR, I know I could ask this in the Pacific Islands forum, but I'm interested specifically in what PGers have to say, as I only want ones that we can actually do based on the PG's unique port schedules. I don't want to hear about fabulous excursions that we can't actually do because the PG tender times don't work, y'know? The islands we need recommendations for are: Huihini Bora Bora Moorea Fakarava Rangiroa I'm planning on doing some diving, although I haven't figured out exactly which dives I'm going to do. So I'm interested in exploring private tours on all of these stops - even though I might end up going diving, Sandy may want to go on an excursion while I'm out diving. They can be anything - snorkeling, cultural, adventure, whatever. Sandy is mobility challenged (walks with a cane) so it's possible we may end up on different excursions if there's a challenging one I really want to do, and she can find something else that is more appropriate for her. We're certainly not opposed to using the PG excursions but if there are better ones we should investigate, we'd love to hear! Thanks! -- LeeAnne

Thank you, that's great! We'll be doing the same thing when we depart our cruise in November. I really don't have time to stay post-cruise - We've got stuff going on that I need to get back for. So we're taking an 8:20 am flight to LAX. I'll ask them to arrange for an early taxi for us.

That's probably a wise decision. We're doing our extra time pre-cruise rather than post-cruise. I need to get back as soon as possible after the cruise. I'm not too worried about getting to the airport - the ship arrives the night before, and I'm sure they are used to passengers needing to debark early for those early flights. But I'll reach out to my travel agent, who is a PG expert, and see what he says. This will be my 3rd PG cruise, and I'm super excited to get on that ship again! See you in the roll-call! LeeAnne

Hey, you're on our cruise! 😁 We have the same situation...our AirFrance flight to LA leaves at 8:30 am. Maybe we can share a cab! By the way, we have a roll call started. Pop in and say hello!

Thanks! We do want to drive around some. This will be my third PG cruise, but the other times we just did a couple days pre-cruise at the Intercontinental, and didn't see any of Tahiti. So I guess the unlimited miles will be the better option for us. And thanks for the tip on insurance, I'll be sure to pre-buy.

Hello PGers! We're booked on the PG in November. We're arriving a few days early, staying at an AirBnb, and want to rent a car. I've been researching but sheesh, I'm confused! It seems some cars come with 0 included mileage, while others have unlimited miles. And I've read some concerning comments about people getting stuck with huge, unexpected up-charges for insurance. Any suggestions for the best, safest, most cost-effective way to rent a car for a few days in Papeete, that won't hit me with any surprises? Thanks for any help!

Just popping in to say that e-bikes are FUN, and not much effort! There are different types and configurations, and I'm not sure what they are using on this tour, but we've done e-bike excursions in other places and they are great for people who want to experience a bike tour but don't want to huff-and-puff it up steep hills. They are easy to control, and you can choose how much power you want at any given moment - full power up the hills, pedaling on the flats. Or full power the entire time, if you don't want to break a sweat. 😉 I plan on doing the e-bike tour up to Belvedere on our cruise in November. I've been up to Belvedere before by driving, but doing an e-bike up there sounds fun!

Thanks for keeping us informed! I'm following. We've got a Tuomotu-Society Islands cruise booked for November. I've been on the PG twice, but it's been a number of years (and under different ownership) so I'm eager to see how the ship and cruise experience is holding up.

Thanks for the responses! They will be on the Norwegian Bliss, so I'm not sure which pier they will be on...I'm hoping the one closest to the terminal. I will let them know that there will probably be a hike to get to the taxis. The federal taxis are likely going to be their best bet, even if they are a few dollars more than they would pay for the city cabs. A few bucks for convenience is often worth it.

Hello! We have friends whom we are meeting for lunch in Puerto Vallarta when they are there for a day while on a cruise. They are both mobility challenged, but can walk with a cane. I'd like to be able to tell them exactly how to get a cab and meet us at a restaurant on the Malecon. I've read that there are two kinds of cabs that you can get at the PV port: "federal" cabs that will be inside the port gates, closer to the ship, or yellow "city" cabs that will be less expensive, but outside the port gates. My two questions: 1. How far will they have to walk, for either of those two types of taxis? 2. What is the price of the "federal" taxis? I know the city taxis should be about $10 US to get to the Malecon from the port, but it may be worth the extra money for the shorter walk to take the federal taxi. Thanks for any insight!