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

Chocolate and Grand Marnier Torte

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Strawberry Bavarois

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Each night, the waiters served a little plate of sweets for the table to share, and they were always different. These little chocolate balls were a rich, dense fudge and they were fantastic!

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After dinner, wanna guess where we went?

If you guessed to listen to Alex play at the pinao bar, you’re right! There really wasn’t anywhere else to go for that downtime between the end of dinner and the start of the evening show, so luckily we greatly enjoyed listening to Alex because we spent a lot of time there!

Tonight’s show was at 9:30pm in the Grand Salon. The Cruise Director Claudine is a wonderful singer, and she performed a show singing songs of the Divas.

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The show ended around 10:15pm, so we went back to the cabin to get some sleep after another wonderful day in paradise.

I have been on Ato’s tour a few times but only once has he taken us to see the sharks and snappers outside the lagoon. The weather has to be just right for it. You were indeed lucky.

However, we have had other experiences with him. Once, my friend went with Franck , his son, to spear fish for our lunch.

He really makes things special. I was the first person to source him out in 2011 and what a treasure he has been. The first time we went it was extremely rustic so the next time I took him a collection of Tupperware and my own condiments. Then he graduated to two boats, plastic stools and fish kebabs! I was tickled to see his new tee shirt too in your photos. He has developed this excursion business and brought prosperity to his family! So happy for him.

He loves Appleton rum so if anyone wants to take him something!

I have been on Ato’s tour a few times but only once has he taken us to see the sharks and snappers outside the lagoon. The weather has to be just right for it. You were indeed lucky.

However, we have had other experiences with him. Once, my friend went with Franck , his son, to spear fish for our lunch.

 

He really makes things special. I was the first person to source him out in 2011 and what a treasure he has been. The first time we went it was extremely rustic so the next time I took him a collection of Tupperware and my own condiments. Then he graduated to two boats, plastic stools and fish kebabs! I was tickled to see his new tee shirt too in your photos. He has developed this excursion business and brought prosperity to his family! So happy for him.

 

He loves Appleton rum so if anyone wants to take him something!

Miriam, thank you for your recommendation as that was how I originally learned about Ato. I told him that while we were there and he was very appreciative that you helped to build his business.

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Tuesday, September 12, 2017 ~ Sea Day

Today was our one and only sea day on this 10-day cruise, so we planned to make the most of the day off from hectic port days. As you can see in the daily schedule, they planned a lot more activities for us to do on board today as compared to the days we were in port.

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We woke up at 7:45am (how wonderful to sleep a little later and not need to set an alarm clock!), and went to breakfast at La Veranda.

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I spent the next 2 hours sitting in the comfy chairs in the hallway of Deck 5, catching up with my notes in my trip journal. I loved how quiet and deserted it was down there in the morning (there was definitely more action here in the evening with people going to the casino and piano bar!)

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The only reason I moved was because they set up a game of Bingo at the piano bar at 10:30am, so I went upstairs to Deck 8 to give them space to play. Looks like everyone was enjoying the warm sunny day!

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Nothing but sky and water for as far as the eye can see!

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As tempting as it was to lay out on one of those loungers, I don’t always get along so well with direct sun light. My mission was to stay indoors as much as possible today since it was the one day that I could avoid the sun (as opposed to all the beach and water-based tour days when it was unavoidable). As you can see, there isn’t much shade on the pool deck aside from the 2 little sections near the pool bar and near the bathrooms, but all the seats were taken already. I didn’t want to miss out on the pretty views by hiding downstairs all day, so I got creative. There are a bunch of tables lining the glass wall of Le Grill. They weren’t serving any food at this time because it was between breakfast and lunch times, so DH and I set up camp at one of the tables. It was quiet and had a light breeze, and we could look out through the floor to ceiling windows to watch the action around the pool, but we were totally in the shade. Win, win!

We even had easy access to the pool bar so I got to try today’s drink of the day: Island Affair, with blue curacao, triple sec, melon liquor, and orange juice.

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We stayed here until noon when they started serving lunch, and then helped ourselves to our mid-day feeding! Today’s buffet theme was Italian.

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Made-to-order pasta station

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Salad bar

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salad dressings

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I swear I could eat pasta every single day!

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Desserts

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After lunch, DH and I split up… he went down to the Grand Salon to watch a presentation about Paul Gauguin. Later in the day, he told me it was actually a movie, and while he enjoyed it, it was a bit long at 2 hours.

I went to La Palette to listen to Les Gauguines talk about life on board the PG. They were very candid in sharing their inner secrets. Here’s a few of the tidbits I learned…

1) They go through a casting process in Tahiti, and while they should know how to sing and dance, it is not essential as they also go through training to learn all the songs and dances.

2) While they are required to speak English as that is how they communicate with guests, they should not speak the language too fluently because then it wouldn’t seem authentic! Haha

3) They work 4-6 month contracts, and then take 1-2 months off.

4) There are 7 of them in total… 5 women and 2 men. 1 of the women was not on board for our sailing (I think they said something about her being sick?). Of the 6 remaining Gauguines, 2 are single, 2 are dating people off the ship, and 2 are dating each other! I would think that is normally frowned upon (what if they break up? Will that make for an awkward work environment??), but I guess it’s not an issue on the PG!

5) They are very proud to have these prestigious jobs and to be able to share their culture with us, but they know this will not be a lifetime career as it is hard to be away from their families for so long. When they do leave the PG, they will mostly seek jobs in the tourism industry, and having PG as an employer on their resume will make it easy to find a job at one of the other resorts on land.

I really enjoyed the talk and found it very interesting, so I would definitely recommend you take the time to chat with them or attend the talk if you can. When it ended, DH and I met up again at the Piano Bar for the 3pm game of Name That Tune. Alex gave us a different question sheet from what we tried the other day, but it was equally as hard.

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Alex is used to playing these songs with a flowery flourish when he plays background music at the bar, but that doesn’t work as well when we are trying to guess the song he is playing! It was really hard to recognize the name of the song, but we somehow managed to get 9 correct out of 26 songs, and that earned us 2nd place!!

I agree about Alex, I had real trouble with his game. I could be done a lot better.

Your review is amazing! To go to the "free" snorkeling spot would we go to the right or left as we exit the tender area? Is it pretty easy to see where to exit the water safely? Can you swim safely away from shore or is the water deep enough to swim around the area to see as much as you would see on the ship tour? Thank you so much!

Wow! Your photos are amazing. I had to add a few to my PG album. The Blue Lagoon was so stunningly beautiful. I am dreaming of going back someday. Next big trip for us is the Galapagos on the Silver Galapagos in April. Maybe I will write a review... you are an inspiration. Thanks again SO much for sharing your incredible details and photos.

Your review is amazing! To go to the "free" snorkeling spot would we go to the right or left as we exit the tender area? Is it pretty easy to see where to exit the water safely? Can you swim safely away from shore or is the water deep enough to swim around the area to see as much as you would see on the ship tour? Thank you so much!

Thank you!

I assume you are asking about Rangiroa? It is kind of hard to explain the set up- I wish I had taken a photo! Not sure if this is helpful, but I made you a little map...

You can see my artistic skills end with photography lol

All of the blue is water. The tenders drop you off at a spot that juts out a little bit from the land, kind of a peninsula. Follow the red arrow and just walk straight across the very narrow strip of land and you will see a low cement wall lining the property of one of the local's houses. That's where we left our bags. The water there is very shallow and rocky at first, but then drops off about 50ft from shore. It wasn't the easiest entry point, but once you get deep enough, it was totally worth it.

I also noted on the map that there was a huge ship docked at the end of the peninsula. It did not impact our snorkeling, but I was aware it was there in case it started to sail away while we were still in the water! It didn't, of course, and I don't know how often there is a ship docked there.

Thank you!

 

I assume you are asking about Rangiroa? It is kind of hard to explain the set up- I wish I had taken a photo! Not sure if this is helpful, but I made you a little map...

 

 

 

You can see my artistic skills end with photography lol

 

All of the blue is water. The tenders drop you off at a spot that juts out a little bit from the land, kind of a peninsula. Follow the red arrow and just walk straight across the very narrow strip of land and you will see a low cement wall lining the property of one of the local's houses. That's where we left our bags. The water there is very shallow and rocky at first, but then drops off about 50ft from shore. It wasn't the easiest entry point, but once you get deep enough, it was totally worth it.

 

I also noted on the map that there was a huge ship docked at the end of the peninsula. It did not impact our snorkeling, but I was aware it was there in case it started to sail away while we were still in the water! It didn't, of course, and I don't know how often there is a ship docked there.

I appreciate all of your artistic skills :) Looks very close to the tender drop off. Thanks so much! Cant wait to read the rest of your review!

Wow! Your photos are amazing. I had to add a few to my PG album. �� The Blue Lagoon was so stunningly beautiful. I am dreaming of going back someday. Next big trip for us is the Galapagos on the Silver Galapagos in April. Maybe I will write a review... you are an inspiration. Thanks again SO much for sharing your incredible details and photos.

OMG, the Galapagos?!? That's incredible! I would love to read your review if you do decide to write one, so please let me know!!

When Name That Tune ended, it was tea time… ya know, because it’s been a whole 3 hours since we last ate lol

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While we were near the pool bar, I grabbed some kind of yummy frozen fruity drink

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At 5pm, we went back upstairs to La Palette for karaoke. There was a much bigger crowd today than there was the other night, so we had fun watching and singing along until it was time for sunset. There’s nothing quite like watching the sunset from an outside deck on a cruise ship…

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As per our usual routine, we headed downstairs for pre-dinner drinks at the piano bar. The waiters passed out some tasty small bites for us to nibble on.

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When we arrived at L’Etoile, we were immediately seated at a table for 2, but we spent so much time chatting with the couple seated at the table next to us that we still turned it into a two and a half hour meal!

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Tuna Tartar

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Chilled Pineapple Carpaccio

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Risotto with Ink Squid and Grilled Scallops

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Pork Kwangton

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Each night, Les Gauguines entered the dining room singing a traditional Polynesian song and they paraded through the aisles singing and playing guitar. We were seated towards the front of the dining room tonight so we had a great view as they walked in.

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Dessert Menu

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Chilled Cheese Cake

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Tonight’s entertainment was the second show from the magic act Que Bola, but we decided to skip it and just went straight to bed instead.

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Wednesday, September 13, 2017 ~ Motu Mahana in Taha’a

Taha’a (Tah – HAH – ah) is a small island within the Society Islands, and they share a barrier reef and lagoon with their sister island Raiatea. Taha’a is approximately 35 square miles and is home to just under 5000 residents. They produce 70-80% of French Polynesia’s vanilla and is therefore known as the “Vanilla Island”, but they are also known for producing very high quality black pearls.

When you book a cruise with PG, they highly promote your day here in Taha’a as PG owns a private island here, called Motu Mahana. They set up a wonderful beach day for their guests, complete with a huge BBQ picnic for lunch, open bar with fruity cocktails served in coconut shells, and hundreds of lounge chairs spread out under the shade of palm trees (or out in the direct sun if you’d prefer!). This was a day we were greatly looking forward to as it sounded like an easy, relaxing beach day which would involve zero planning or out-of-pocket expenses (unless we opted to buy anything from one of the local vendors set up on the island).

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Note that there is no lunch buffet served at Le Grill today, and there is no buffet theme of the day. I think they assume that most guests will be on Motu Mahana at lunch time and they put most of their efforts and resources into that lunch instead of on the ship like every other day.

We woke up at 7:10am this morning, not because we wanted to, not because we set our alarm, but because we heard our neighbor’s alarm going off on the other side of the wall! We never heard any sound for either of our neighboring cabins aside from this one time, so it probably had to do with how silent it was and that our bodies were nearly ready to wake up then anyway.

When I peeked out our porthole window, it looked like we were still making our approach towards the lagoon.

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We got dressed and went upstairs to La Veranda for breakfast. I don’t know why I bothered taking photos of my breakfast every day since I always ate the same thing, but it is fun to see our view out the windows this morning!

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When I finished eating, I stepped outside onto the deck that goes around the outside of La Veranda as it offered beautiful views of Taha’a and the outer motus.

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We could even see Bora Bora in the distance!

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Okay- is it me, or is it kinda skeevy that the Gauguines are in the dining room barefoot? Health codes, anyone?

Okay- is it me, or is it kinda skeevy that the Gauguines are in the dining room barefoot? Health codes, anyone?

Feet are likely much more sanitary than shoes. They get washed regularly. Besides, I doubt anyone puts their feet in the punch bowl. :D

The reason cruise lines don't allow passengers into the dining room in bare feet is in case a glass gets broken and the passenger gets injured.

I'm with broberts on this one. It wouldn't bother me at all.

Shoes have been all over the ship and then back to the cabin and we walk barefoot in the cabin and don't give it a 2nd thought. No big deal.

The first tender to Motu Mahana leaves at 10:15am to give the staff some time to set up the island before we arrive. That gave us a few hours of downtime after breakfast so I found a seat near the pool and took some notes in my trip journal.

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At 9:45am, we went down to Deck 3 near the elevators where we usually exit the ship and there was already a line of about 10 people waiting ahead of us to board the tender! PG uses a much smaller tender to access their 2 private beaches, and most people on board planned to spend all day at the beach today as there aren’t many excursions available, so we knew this first tender of the day would be in high demand. We hung out in the elevator area until 10:15 when they let us board the tender. It’s a good thing we got in line early because they did have to cut people off when they ran out of seats!

The ride over to the motu takes about 10 minutes, if that, and I was surprised to see us pull up to a brand new pier! I remember seeing photos from previous reviews where the tender made a wet landing like we did in Bora Bora, but that is no longer necessary thanks to this beautiful pier. There was actually someone working on the pier while we were here today, so maybe they are still finishing building it? I took these photos when the second tender came in a little later, just to show you what it looks like…

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The green blob of leaves floating under the white umbrellais the floating bar! I had envisioned this as something they pull up and down the shore along the beach throughout the day, but it actually just stays anchored in that one spot. It was convenient though when you wanted to wade in the water and get a refill of your drink!

Les Gauguines walked out to the end of the pier to greet each tender as it arrived.

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Since we were among the first 50ish people to arrive, we had our choice of lounge chairs!

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If you walk to the right when you get off the tender pier, you will find a beautiful view of the PG floating in the lagoon. I considered sitting here, but it was too breezy for my liking on this side of the island.

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There were also lots of tables if you preferred that over a lounge chair, but I think people only really used these to eat lunch.

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One of the reasons they weren’t ready for our arrival until after 10:30am was because the crew needed to climb up the palm trees to retrieve hundreds of fresh coconuts for our drinks! These guys were slicing them open with expert precision!

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There were plenty of lounge chairs to go around (and they even had little tables between each pair of chairs! What more could we ask for?!)

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Little tents were set up around the motu where the locals were selling their goods… jewelry, black pearls, pareos, and many other souvenirs.

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Motu Mahana really is an indescribably beautiful place!

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Back at the bar, there is a list of all the cocktails you can get inside your coconut!

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I started off with a Midori Colada

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Now THIS is paradise!

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Yet another one of my favorite photos from our honeymoon:

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