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Additional input on the May 26, Cook Islands Cruise


doug52
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Just returned from the Cooks and Society Island cruise, some thoughts:

I read Rich’s review (aerobee), and since we were on the same cruise I thought I would just provide some thoughts on what we experienced. First, this is a fabulous experience--our favorite cruise ship, our favorite destination, and our favorite post cruise experience on Vahine Private Island Resort.

With that being said, to start with we booked everything through PG and it made the entire trip effortless as they took care of everything. We initially booked the Redeye flight on ATN, but then changed to the afternoon flight with two nights at the IC. The benefit being we got a full night’s sleep(versus attempting sleep on a red eye) and were therefore able to enjoy the IC Tahiti for all the next day and thenone additional night before boarding the ship. We had a panorama room at the IC, although our view was somewhat restricted by the trees . It is a very nice room, larger than the superior lagoon rooms.

Food was good at the IC, the included buffet breakfast was very extensive with excellent local fruits, pastries, eggs and just about anything you would want for breakfast.

We had dinner that night in the Tiare restaurant with plans to watch the Friday night show from there. Well, jet lag caught up with us and we left about half way through rather than fall asleep during the show. I do recommend their lagoon fish entrée, an Emperor fish, very nicely prepared and one of the less expensive items on their menu. My Wife had the sesame crusted Tuna and it was just OK.

The next day we not only had the lavish breakfast buffet but also a lunch before we left for the ship. They let you choose any entrée for lunch(same menu as dinner) with your voucher and a dessert. Very generous, could have ordered a very expensive fish entree, but we were still somewhat full from breakfast. I had the Polynesian Ribs which were good, but I have had better. We also had a voucher for 2 free drinks that came with our membership in IHG (beer, soft, or Iced Tea only).

By the way, their Tropical Cocktails are excellent; their Mai Tai was especially a favorite of ours as we sat by the pool. Of course, it should be good at $20 per drink!

All for now, I need to leave to go play Pickle ball, will return with our input on the PG cruise.

 

Doug

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Continuing with our trip, the transfer from the IC to the cruise ship was very easy, lined up at 2:45 pm at the IC, got on the first bus, and about 20 minutes later we were at the port, and on the ship a few minutes after that. We were escorted to our room, which is in a prime location on deck 7, steps away from the aft stairs and elevator.

 

Our luggage was in our room when we got there, unpacked and then went out to explore the ship. As per others instructions, we went to La Veranda and met with the Maitre d and he did allow us to make 2 reservations per specialty restaurant, just as Rich reported. Possibly this was allowed since it was an 11 day cruise.

 

After muster, we immediately went to the Marina, second in line, and another great tip I got from this board.

 

That night we had an excellent meal in La Veranda, I had the full degustation menu, which was excellent except for the escargot course. Odd way of serving escargot, in a martini glass with avocado and a potato foam. Otherwise the meal was excellent, especially the opening foie gras course(seared foie gras with beets). The steak was very good as was my Wife's mahi-mahi and the Chocolate Vacharin desert was delicious.

 

Our waiter was Joey, a great waiter, and we didn't see him again for about 9 nights when we had our second Veranda meal and he remembered our names from the first night! The entire crew is amazing at remembering your names and calling you by them. And, we didn't even sit at one of his tables, he saw us in passing and called out to us.

 

End of day one for us, we were tired and had an early morning excursion in Huahine.

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Doug,

 

Glad y'all had a good time. Our cruise is coming up quickly. :)

 

Thanks Texed, if you have any questions feel free to ask. We represent a newbie, who now has a full case of the flu.:D

 

 

Doug

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Glad to hear you had a wonderful trip. I am also thinking of combining Vahine Island Resort with our second PG cruise ( not booked yet, possibly fall 2019 or 2020 ). Last time we had one night at IC followed by 3 nights Hilton Moorea pre cruise and flew home the night after the cruise. Curious.... Would you recommend the Vahine pre or post cruise or doesn't matter.

Thanks

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We loved Vahine! I will get to it shortly, but to answer your question, for us Vahine at the end of the trip was perfect. After many days of excursions that we wanted to do since it was our first trip to French Polynesia, the 4 nights at Vahine was very relaxing.

 

And, one other point, the food prepared by the Chef on Vahine every night was some of the best dining experience we have had anywhere. The PG food was very good, but still mass produced to some extent. The Vahine Chef was preparing for just a few couples every night. So, it would have been a let down if we had the Vahine food first and then went to PG.

 

We felt our first two nights at the IC got us ready for the PG, and our very active PG experience, got us ready to relax at Vahine. If ( no when!) we do the PG again, we would most likely do it exactly the same.

 

Doug

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Our next day we were in Huahine. We elected to do the independent Marc's combo tour based on the feedback we received on this board. It was OK, the snorkeling was just average, the lagoon tour from the boat was good, and the Motu stop for lunch was good. Would we do this tour again, probably not. I think a land tour would have been the better choice, especially the Iti tour provided by the ship.

 

This was the first of many of our independent excursions, and brings up a nit on the PG experience. All of our excursions were first thing in the morning, with the expectation of being on the first tender if possible. This requires that you line up in the deck three small lobby area right by the forward elevators and stairs. This became very crowded with the line going up the stairs to the deck four lobby and in one case, going up to deck 5 when we first arrived in Bora Bora. We lined up with everyone else and when we were diligent, we were one of the first to tender. But, especially when the line was very long, several couples saw the line on deck 4, and instead of getting to the back of the line, got on the elevator on deck 4 and took it down to deck 3, and merged with the group down there, avoiding the long line. There was no PG representative in charge of this line, they should have some way of handling this as other cruise ships do, in my opinion.

 

And, of course, if you take a PG excursion, they come right through the line and have first priority. Just like any other cruise line. When we take another PG cruise we would most likely take mainly PG excursions to avoid this issue since all ports are tender ports versus docked ports where this would not be a problem.

 

Btw, this is the only time where there was any line on PG, and did not significantly affect our overall experience.

 

Doug

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Huahine cont., So we returned from our Marc's combo tour a little late for the Children's show, but in plenty of time for the Moonfish filleting demo. This was performed by the Exec. Chef and very interesting. For those that remember my previous posts before the cruise, I did ask him about the cheeks, but he said they were tough and difficult to prepare with the consistency similar to liver.

 

That night we had an excellent dinner in L'Etoile with a wonderful risotto appetizer with mushrooms and prosciutto and then, of course, the Moonfish.

 

Our next day was a sea day and the first opportunity to experience the Italian cookbook authors lecture and food and our Italian winemaker and one of her wines. They were both excellent all three times they presented. The food and wine they offered would have cost well over $100 per person on any other cruise line. A major addition to this cruise.

 

Also, on this sea day, the illusionist did close up magic in the Piano bar right before dinner. He came to each table and performed and his illusions were excellent. We were there with Phil and Laurie(holisticdoc) the other Cruise Critic couple that we had met at the IC and spent several hours with throughout the cruise. We spent many hours in the piano bar listening to Alex and being served by Francisco and Anthony primarily. Anthony would have my Gibson as my before dinner drink ready for me a couple of minutes after entering and taking a seat. Fabulous service!

 

Doug

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Enjoying the read .... please continue :)

 

One of the major reasons our trip was so fantastic, was all the detail you provided before our cruise. I highly recommend to anyone reading this review to go back and read all the excellent info that TBK provides on his numerous threads.

 

And, btw I haven't included pictures since mine don't hold a candle to the professional pictures by TBK.

 

Oh, while I am thinking about pictures, about halfway through the cruise my underwater camera(Hero 5 Black) totally went black on the back viewing screen. Could not get it to work again, even took it to the camera guy on PG and he tried but was also not successful.

 

So, my other MAJOR NIT with PG, that the camera guy has been trying to resolve with no success---- they had NO GoPro cameras for sale!! He had been trying to get camera's for several weeks. They have videos and pictures of GoPros and a few accessories but no cameras. They also have pictures and I assume a supply of Canon cameras, but none of these are underwater! This was his other major complaint, that here we are in French Polynesia every week, and his Canon line were not suitable for underwater.

 

I was ready to buy on the spot another GoPro since it went out at Bora Bora, but nothing for sale. Like McDonalds running out of hamburgers, unbelievable.

 

Fortunately, it did last through our first day of Bora Bora, but not the second day or Moorea or the fantastic corals on Vahine :(:loudcry::mad:

 

 

Doug

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Thanks Doug for your comments regarding the Vahine Resort and for taking the time to post. Your review has us very excited to plan our second trip.

 

Glad you are enjoying the review, easy to write about since this was the most amazing trip we have taken so far.

 

Doug

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Doug ...

 

Thanks for the kind words.

 

FYI, I always bring two GoPros. Usually only use one but it's nice to have a backup. We lost one GoPro back 5 years ago and since then we always carry two. Actually I carry backups of almost everything camera related.

 

Yes, that would have been a good idea to have two of them. I did have my I Phone 7 plus for above water. And I did have one of those inexpensive plastic cases for it, but I just did not trust it and didn't want to be without any cameras or a phone.

 

Btw, I did some research on line as to what may have caused the breakdown and found out that one of the primary causes for Go Pro issues is leaving the battery in the camera for extended periods of non use. And, that very well may have been the problem. Will always remember from now on to take the battery out after using it. I already bought a new Go Pro Hero 5 Black at a much reduced price since the 6 is out now.

 

Doug

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Yes, that would have been a good idea to have two of them. I did have my I Phone 7 plus for above water. And I did have one of those inexpensive plastic cases for it, but I just did not trust it and didn't want to be without any cameras or a phone.

 

Btw, I did some research on line as to what may have caused the breakdown and found out that one of the primary causes for Go Pro issues is leaving the battery in the camera for extended periods of non use. And, that very well may have been the problem. Will always remember from now on to take the battery out after using it. I already bought a new Go Pro Hero 5 Black at a much reduced price since the 6 is out now.

 

Doug

 

Hero 5 is all you need. The Hero 6 is nice if you really want 4K at a higher frame rate but the Gero 5 is very good at 1080 60fps.

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Cook islands, when we arrived at Aitutaki, we were in some pretty big waves and the ship has to anchor outside the lagoon for both of the Cook Islands. This made tendering very difficult for the passengers but the staff does an excellent job of helping all passengers get on the tender.

 

We elected to do the independent Teking tour and if you read Rich's report we were on the same tour with them. Teking gave us a lengthy speech before we boarded and excused himself from going due to some unexplained medical reason. As Rich said, we were treated well by his guys. Very good tour with several stops for snorkeling and multiple stops on the various motu's. And a nice stop for lunch. The highlight for us was the motu stops on Honeymoon Island and One Foot Island. From the water, the highlight was the giant clams.

 

We ate at The Grill that night, and I had a scallop app and a main course shrimp dish that was very good and my Wife had a swordfish dish. Very good meal, but not as memorable as the first night in La Veranda.

 

 

After the full day with Teking in Aitutaki, we were ready for a more leisurely day in Rarotonga. Again, the tendering was difficult, but according to the staff, it would have been much worse the preceding day. First, on our agenda was shopping, we set out to find a Tifaifai quilt which was the main objective for my Wife for this trip. I asked a local at one of the first stands as you got off the boat, and she directed us to the outdoor market. When we got there, we were directed to a shop, that is next to the market and they had many quilts available for purchase, all hand made. You can buy them completely finished or they are somewhat finished with the pattern, but they need to be sewn by the customer to finish them. Much more were available this way and at a much reduced cost since this will take several hours to finish it. So, my Wife found one of these that she loved and now she has work to do to finish it:p. I was able to use our dollars to pay for the quilt, the lady that owned the shop figured out the exchange rate and charged us accordingly.

 

After the shopping, and right across the street from the market, was the car rental company where I had reserved a car for the day. They ended up giving us a convertible which was great, but it was a stick shift, which was not so great. Probably been 40 plus years since I had driven a stick and since it is an island where you drive on the other side of the road, this compounded the stick issue as I had to use my left hand to shift, not my right. Well, fortunately I got used to this pretty quickly, and did not have any significant issues. By the way, very inexpensive to rent a car for the day, about $45 is all.

 

We drove around the entire island, stopping at Muri beach for a while, and then having a leisurely lunch at Captain Andy's( part of Rarotonga Beach Resort and Spa) where we had excellent tropical cocktails and excellent local fish prepared as fish and chips. We were right on the water, and close enough to the reef that you can watch the waves crashing against the reef. We loved this stop for lunch.

 

We completed our drive, filled up our car for about $10, again I was able to use American dollars but it was a dollar per dollar cost. Meaning I paid too much for not going to the ATM. This also happened at a t-shirt shop, as I just paid in our dollars with no exchange rate calculation. I was just too lazy to try and find an ATM and get exactly what I needed for the gas and the t-shirt. This may have cost us an extra $10 for using our currency.

 

When we return to French Polynesia, I think we would do one of the other itineraries as I enjoyed the Cook Islands but did not find that it added anything extra that I thought was unique to the trip. Teking was good, but we thought the snorkeling was better in Bora Bora and on Vahine. Rarotonga was good to accomplish my Wife's shopping goal, but otherwise not much to see. Having to anchor outside the lagoon was a negative compared to the wonderful anchoring throughout the Society Islands.

 

Doug

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think we would do one of the other itineraries as I enjoyed the Cook Islands but did not find that it added anything extra that I thought was unique to the trip. Teking was good, but we thought the snorkeling was better in Bora Bora and on Vahine. Rarotonga was good to accomplish my Wife's shopping goal, but otherwise not much to see. Having to anchor outside the lagoon was a negative compared to the wonderful anchoring throughout the Society Islands.

 

Doug

 

I have stayed 10 days in Cooks Islands and have also done it as part of a PG cruise. Spending the 10 days was very special because we got to know some of the locals and had wonderful adventures. But the trip with the PG was my least favorite. All the special things we experienced on the other trip was not possible in the short time the PG provided. In a nut shell, I agree you.

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Bora Bora, our day began going through the customs procedure on the ship. Since we had an early morning excursion, we went down to the main salon early and it took all of about a minute to go through their custom procedure. Very well organized.

 

We had booked the Raanui lagoon excursion after reading the reviews from Emdee and Deladane and compared to Patrick's it was considerably less expensive. When we got to shore, we were met and asked whether we wanted the full day or the half day excursion. We immediately went for the half day, as the only difference was the time and lunch on the Motu. Since we had already had two Motu picnics, we decided to save the money and have lunch on the ship.

 

This is a fantastic tour by Raanui the son of the owner! We had incredible stops with an emphasis on the sea animals. Like the other lagoon tours, he fed the sharks and we were in the water for that and for the feeding of the sting rays. We had sting rays all over us, they are like puppies they are so affectionate.

 

We went to a coral garden and I noticed Raanui kept diving down over and over and hitting the same spot with a snorkel tube. After about 20 dives, he pulls out an Octopus. He holds it long enough underwater for it to release its ink and then brings it up for all of us to see. Then he proceeds to put it on people's heads or hands for pictures(you can see an example of this on Deladane's review). When we are finished, he does put the Octopus back. While this was a unique experience, this may offend some people, although the Octopus did not appear to be harmed.

 

So, at the same coral garden, Raanui had a piece of fish and he went under water only about two feet in the garden and he knew this was the location of a Moray Eel. Well, he proceeds to tease the eel out of his hole with the fish, and it comes and comes and comes out about 3 feet before Raanui feeds him the fish. I had my Go Pro about a foot away from this, got a great video.

 

Three snorkel spots in total, similar to Patrick's.

 

We ended the excursion on their Motu for about 20 minutes with refreshments and a quick coconut demo. Beautiful location with a restroom for the ladies. Some of the people stayed on and had lunch which was the full day tour we elected not to do. Btw, we were the only PG couple on the tour, all the other couples were from land based resorts.

 

We got back to the ship, had lunch, and then since we had time, came back to shore and took a taxi to Bloody Mary's for one drink. Nice ambiance, felt like we had to do it, but really nothing special. Between the taxi rides and the two drinks, it cost me about $70 for this experience.

 

We wanted to get back to the ship, as this was the last of the Winemaker and Cookbook authors presentations at 4 pm, and we easily made it.

 

That night we went with many other CC's recommendations, and enjoyed our reservation at Le Grill with our table by the pool under the stars while anchored in Bora Bora. This is a must, so I highly recommend you book one of the two BB nights when you board.

 

Will post our second BB lagoon excursion later which was equally as memorable the second day.

 

Doug

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Bora Bora day2, on this day we booked the Pure Snorkeling lagoon tour by power boat. After reading all the great reviews about this company, we decided that two days of snorkeling in BB would be worth it. And, it was! This was a totally different experience from the first day. You are in a very comfortable bow rider power boat with at most 6 other passengers and the captain. He took us to four different stops than we experienced on the first day. The first stop he looked and looked and found the very large Manta Rays and we all got in the water and watched them as they fed on the floor of the ocean.

 

Second, he went a little further and spotted a large school of Eagle Rays and we snorkeled and followed them for awhile until they joined with another school of rays making a total of about 35 rays below us.

 

We went to two coral gardens, with one being by the reef that was especially vibrant as you weaved in between the corals.

 

Our guide was excellent, very helpful and knowledgeable about all the fish. And we loved the almost private tour experience of this day.

 

Afterwards, back to the ship for lunch and then that afternoon we went to the private Motu that PG provides for about an hour.

 

These two days were our best snorkeling days by far on this cruise. I highly recommend both companies.

 

Doug

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Sounds wonderful Doug, think we will try to book them for next year. I was just looking at their website this weekend. Did you do this privately too and just join others on the boat? Can I ask the cost for your second day tour? Many many thanks Wendy

 

 

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Cook islands, when we arrived at Aitutaki, we were in some pretty big waves and the ship has to anchor outside the lagoon for both of the Cook Islands. This made tendering very difficult for the passengers but the staff does an excellent job of helping all passengers get on the tender.

 

We elected to do the independent Teking tour and if you read Rich's report we were on the same tour with them. Teking gave us a lengthy speech before we boarded and excused himself from going due to some unexplained medical reason. As Rich said, we were treated well by his guys. Very good tour with several stops for snorkeling and multiple stops on the various motu's. And a nice stop for lunch. The highlight for us was the motu stops on Honeymoon Island and One Foot Island. From the water, the highlight was the giant clams.

 

We ate at The Grill that night, and I had a scallop app and a main course shrimp dish that was very good and my Wife had a swordfish dish. Very good meal, but not as memorable as the first night in La Veranda.

 

 

After the full day with Teking in Aitutaki, we were ready for a more leisurely day in Rarotonga. Again, the tendering was difficult, but according to the staff, it would have been much worse the preceding day. First, on our agenda was shopping, we set out to find a Tifaifai quilt which was the main objective for my Wife for this trip. I asked a local at one of the first stands as you got off the boat, and she directed us to the outdoor market. When we got there, we were directed to a shop, that is next to the market and they had many quilts available for purchase, all hand made. You can buy them completely finished or they are somewhat finished with the pattern, but they need to be sewn by the customer to finish them. Much more were available this way and at a much reduced cost since this will take several hours to finish it. So, my Wife found one of these that she loved and now she has work to do to finish it:p. I was able to use our dollars to pay for the quilt, the lady that owned the shop figured out the exchange rate and charged us accordingly.

 

After the shopping, and right across the street from the market, was the car rental company where I had reserved a car for the day. They ended up giving us a convertible which was great, but it was a stick shift, which was not so great. Probably been 40 plus years since I had driven a stick and since it is an island where you drive on the other side of the road, this compounded the stick issue as I had to use my left hand to shift, not my right. Well, fortunately I got used to this pretty quickly, and did not have any significant issues. By the way, very inexpensive to rent a car for the day, about $45 is all.

 

We drove around the entire island, stopping at Muri beach for a while, and then having a leisurely lunch at Captain Andy's( part of Rarotonga Beach Resort and Spa) where we had excellent tropical cocktails and excellent local fish prepared as fish and chips. We were right on the water, and close enough to the reef that you can watch the waves crashing against the reef. We loved this stop for lunch.

 

We completed our drive, filled up our car for about $10, again I was able to use American dollars but it was a dollar per dollar cost. Meaning I paid too much for not going to the ATM. This also happened at a t-shirt shop, as I just paid in our dollars with no exchange rate calculation. I was just too lazy to try and find an ATM and get exactly what I needed for the gas and the t-shirt. This may have cost us an extra $10 for using our currency.

 

When we return to French Polynesia, I think we would do one of the other itineraries as I enjoyed the Cook Islands but did not find that it added anything extra that I thought was unique to the trip. Teking was good, but we thought the snorkeling was better in Bora Bora and on Vahine. Rarotonga was good to accomplish my Wife's shopping goal, but otherwise not much to see. Having to anchor outside the lagoon was a negative compared to the wonderful anchoring throughout the Society Islands.

 

Doug

 

 

 

Hi Doug, I know you’re not posting pictures but could you post a picture of your wife’s tifiafia? I haven’t seen any that were half done. And if you don’t mind about what you paid for it. I would love to get another one. Specially if I could work on it also. Thank you.

 

 

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