June 15 2013 Society and Cook Islands review

[Familygoboston]

The moonrise is perfect Al! Isn't it true that every time you turn around its more beautiful than the last vista!:D

[NJBeaglemom]

complimentary photo.

 

Nice! We had to pay $30 for ours.

[ALB0711]

We started our second day in Bora Bora with the ships Around the Island Wave Runner tour. After tendering over a van took us along with 4 other couples to the Intercontinental Hotel where our guide and Wave Runners were waiting. After a brief safety talk we started our tour all the way around the island. DW is the daredevil in our family, so she drove while I sat behind her and held on for dear life!

 

We had to follow the guide and she liked to be the last person in the line so we could “get air” going over the wakes of the Wave Runners in front of us. It was really interesting going through the lagoon and around all of the resorts. We got close enough to a few of the over water bungalows to almost see inside them. About ¾ of the way around, we stopped at a motu where our guide setup a fruit and coconut snack for us. After about a 30 minute rest we completed the tour and were driven back to the tender dock. The Wave Runners have two watertight compartments, one large one in front and a smaller one near the seat. Again we only took our diving camera because we didn’t know if we could keep the regular camera dry, as it turns out it would have been fine.

An interesting observation I made about Bora Bora, they have a lot of closed/abandoned hotels. I suspect they overbuilt and haven't recovered from the 2008 global crash. Hotel Bora Bora closed in 2008 for renovations, and was still closed. The Club Med was closed and starting to deteriorate. This hotel in the photo with over the water bungalows visible from where the ship docked was damaged in a typhoon and never reopened. It’s hard to see from the photo but many of the bungalows have damaged piers and roofs.

After lunch on the ship, we headed back to shore where we arranged an around the island 4x4 trip. I believe the cost was $80pp and we had no problem finding an agent to get it setup for us. The day we were here, a lady with a map of the island was sitting in front of the souvenir market on the dock. She could arrange just about any tour you wanted.

 

The 4x4 was interesting, and this time we needed the 4x4. We went to 2 overlooks, one by the island antenna’s and other near a world war 2 cannon.

Of course we made the traditional shopping stops, one at a parea workshop and the other in the town near the tender docks.

Instead of hitting up the pearl shops in town, we walked over to the grocery store in an effort to find unusual spices to bring home. No luck with the spices, but saw some great deals on fresh fish! Our guide was a lot of fun and she spoke Tahitian, French, English, Spanish, Chinese and Italian.

After our afternoon tour, we returned to the ship where we had our second La Veranda dinner, this time outside. The menu had changed since our first visit and I had this wonderful piece of Fois Gras – they even had a bottle of Sauterne open that they served just for asking.

Life doesn’t get any better than this!

[ALB0711]

Nice! We had to pay $30 for ours.

 

Were you on your anniversary or honeymoon? I thought everyone got a complimentary photo, but maybe only honeymoons?

[NJBeaglemom]

Were you on your anniversary or honeymoon?

 

30th Anniversary. We almost didn't buy it, but since it was a memento of our anniversary, we went ahead and got it.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Too bad about the hotels in Bora Bora. The last couple of times I've been there they were in fact overbuilding massively, so there it is. I believe the Club Med has been closed for a number of years. Hotels in that climate have a very short "shelf life", so if nobody takes over the abandoned hotels, they will crumble very quickly.

 

Thanks for the pictures. Can't wait to get back next year!

[Capri73]

I noticed in one of your photos that a couple was walking around the deck in the evening.Can you wear shorts to dinner?I did not think so they could have been talking a stroll but made me think about the dress code.

[Silver Sweethearts]

I noticed in one of your photos that a couple was walking around the deck in the evening.Can you wear shorts to dinner?I did not think so they could have been talking a stroll but made me think about the dress code.

 

We found this on the PG website:

 

"DRESS CODE FOR EVENINGS

Evenings on board are elegant, yet they are not formal. “Country Club Casual,” or resort wear, is appropriate for all evenings. For gentlemen, this means slacks and a button-down shirt, for example. No ties are required at any time, although gentlemen may wish to bring one blazer to wear on the evening of the Captain’s Welcome Reception. For ladies, pantsuits or informal cocktail attire are recommended. Please note that jeans, shorts and T-shirts are not appropriate for evening wear on board."

[Capri73]

thank you,just what I thought.:)

[ALB0711]

I noticed in one of your photos that a couple was walking around the deck in the evening.Can you wear shorts to dinner?I did not think so they could have been talking a stroll but made me think about the dress code.

 

If it is the photo of the moonrise in Bora Bora, that couple along with us and a few others were headed to Bora Bora and Bloody Mary's where you dine barefoot.

 

No shorts or jeans at dinner in the dining room, and while I wasn't tracking the rule I don't think anyone ever challenged it. The food in the restaurants was so good, you wanted to dress for it! I kind-a sort of a little maybe missed an opportunity to wear a tux. But didn't miss having to pack it. :rolleyes:

[ALB0711]

Too bad about the hotels in Bora Bora. The last couple of times I've been there they were in fact overbuilding massively, so there it is. I believe the Club Med has been closed for a number of years. Hotels in that climate have a very short "shelf life", so if nobody takes over the abandoned hotels, they will crumble very quickly.

 

Thanks for the pictures. Can't wait to get back next year!

 

More photos coming!

 

I didn't see ANY building on Bora Bora or any of the other islands. It was sad to think you can't get a room on Bora Bora for less then $300-400 and nice properties were shut down because they couldn't get visitors. I'm wondering if they can't lower prices because their costs are so high and regulated?

[Familygoboston]

More photos coming!

 

I didn't see ANY building on Bora Bora or any of the other islands. It was sad to think you can't get a room on Bora Bora for less then $300-400 and nice properties were shut down because they couldn't get visitors. I'm wondering if they can't lower prices because their costs are so high and regulated?

 

As to the economic and regulatory situation in FP, I can't say. But having followed the travel industry for some time now, I can tell you a little about the economics of US travel that may have affected far flung destinations like FP.

 

First, of course 9/11 which really scared a certain segment of the population from any international travel. Of course this would not affect most of the types of people who would normally travel to places like FP...but it did cause many other international destinations to drastically lower prices, creating a far greater inventory of inexpensive rooms for a far smaller pool of international travelers to choose from.

 

Then of course just as the airlines were staggering to their feet again, the US economy took a major body blow. Again, even well heeled travelers tightened their belts and for a while it was "unfashionable" to "look" like you could spend when or if your neighbors couldn't. Remember All those starlets making the red carpet in browns and grays? Luxury items, like luxury travel and goods suffered even though their usual market was not suffering- there was just a "sense of austerity" among their usual market.

 

Fancy weddings and pricey honeymoons that places like BB were counting on slowed, couples postponed marriage all together or scaled back on their plans. Of course the US market isn't the only place sending people to FP, even though its arguably the largest market...but then another shoe dropped-

 

Airlines simply had to cut routes because of the decrease in passenger load, and of course fuel prices skyrocketed at the same time. Air prices went up, and for a while, with a glut of rooms to fill, prices in FP dropped like a rock. Far flung destinations like Fiji and BB were practically giving rooms away, hoping that people would come and eat and drink to make up the difference. I'm sure some of the larger chains "held on" by being profitable in other places, but in plenty of board rooms, closing up shop was the only option. It wasn't sustainable- and now empty hotels. :( And worse, local folks who are out of work.

 

And my little Econ paper ;) hasn't even considered any of the regulatory or economic factors that may have been going on in FP at the time...but when fuel costs rise, I have to assume so did the price of all those imported fine spirits and foods that guests expect to find in the larder at their resort! Well, it's pretty clear why there are crumbling resorts today!:(

 

Anyway, sorry to hijack your review, Allan (which I am loving BTW,:D) ...I'm sure none of us was living under a rock that last 10 years, but if you followed the economics of travel as I have- its pretty clear what happened!

[Emdee]

I totally agree with Family.

What i have also noticed is the decline of French and Japanese visitors.

 

The expensive pearls arent selling as much as they used to. It was common to have the shop on the PG sell a few complete strands each cruise. Now people tend to buy smaller pieces and the prices for well matched strands have really gone up.

 

There is a strong move to decolonize FP. If this goes through and they lose all their subsidies from France this will increase hotels and other costs.

 

There are also a number of Tahiti hotels that have closed over the years - The Sheraton and more the Sofitel come to mind.

[ALB0711]

We didn’t really understand that Taha’a was an island, and a rather large one at that. I suppose my Caribbean “private island” concept was powering my thinking as I assumed we’d be stopping at a nice beach somewhere that was in fact a part of a much larger island that wasn’t even close to being private. Should have done my homework, or maybe it was better being surprised. This is the real thing!

Taha’a and Raiatea were both visible in the distance from the Bora Bora lookout points. They didn’t look to be more then 10 or 15 miles from Bora Bora. The ship sailed all night to get to Taha’a because as we were later told the Paul Gauguin had to be 15 miles away from any of the islands before it could dump it’s two days of accumulated wastes. Apparently we sailed way out 15 miles and then back 15 miles and finally arrived at Taha’a early in the morning.

First view of Taha’a reminded me a little of Huahine, not a lot of people appear to live here and at least from the side of the island we were on, there were no resorts in sight. We anchored in a beautiful clear lagoon with the Motu Mahana visible a few hundred yards in the distance. An announcement was made for passengers on the Taha’a tours to take a tender to the island of Taha’a and if I understood what I heard correctly, only passengers on the ships tours were allowed on the island bound tender. We kept hoping we would bump into someone who took the tour, but it never happened. We decided next time we are near Taha’a we’ll make sure we take some kind of tour that actually gets us on the island.

 

We caught one of the first “beacher” tenders to the Motu. The beacher will literally strand itself in the shallow waters where you walk off the end of the boat and wade to shore in a foot or so of water. Lots of squishy sea cucumbers here that we all tried hard to avoid stepping on.

We were met by the wonderful bar staff and even the floating bar where if you wanted you could pick up a cold concoction before even setting foot on the sand. DW and I wanted to spend the entire day here, so we held off on bar activates until late in the afternoon.

 

Motu Mahana is the island you dream about being willingly stranded on. Absolutely beautiful perfect beaches and the clearest water you have ever seen in your life. You can choose to be near the bar action with music and games or do what DW and I did and find the perfect lounge chair under a coconut tree.

We did a little snorkeling, a little canoeing and a lot of nothing. The BBQ was very nice and a simple hamburger or hot dog really hit the spot after all of the over the top food we’d been eating. The Gaugines serenaded us with their Tahitian songs while we ate our lunch. Off in the distance you could see Bora Bora looming majestically over the ocean .

 

We followed through with our plan and spent the entire day here, even taking the last tender back from our best beach day ever!

[Cruisedreamer1]

Did attend any of the lectures on board?

 

That is one of our favorite activities while cruising with PG. Some of the lectures actually out draw the entertainment. I am an advocate of making some of the lecturers the evening entertainment.

[ALB0711]

Did attend any of the lectures on board?

 

That is one of our favorite activities while cruising with PG. Some of the lectures actually out draw the entertainment. I am an advocate of making some of the lecturers the evening entertainment.

 

Yes, we attended the geological lecture - ie how were the islands formed and Mark Eddowes Settlement and spread of the Polynesians across the Pacific. Both were interesting. There were many more offered, but we always seemed to have something else planned. I'm with you on offering them in the evening, I'm sure we would have seen more.

[ALB0711]

We started our 2 days in Moorea with Mark Eddowes Trail of the Ancients tour. We had read a lot of positive reviews here on Cruise Critic so we booked this one by calling Paul Gauguin as soon as tour bookings could be made several months before the cruise. Once again we were blessed with perfect weather and were told that the view of the mountains was rare as they were usually shrouded in cloud cover.

 

 

 

 

Before going up to the overlook, we made a stop at the agricultural school and our big bus full of tourists along with several others were offered tastes of the jam. Very good ice cream was sold as were the jams in large jars and sampler packs. This was the first time since we left the Island of Tahiti that I felt like a mass market tourist. I’m sure the school would have been more interesting if we had come there when other tourists were doing something else! We stayed here a good 30 minutes and then proceeded up the hill to the overlook where Mark talked to us about the different warring clans, the movement of the villages up the hill and the burial practices of the ancient Polynesians. The view was incredible, but like the agricultural school it was very busy with many other tours also stopping here.

 

 

 

 

Proceeding back down the hill a little, the bus pulled off for us to disembark for our trek down the hill with Mark. He shared stories of the Marea restorations which he had worked on and explained the significance of the orientation and components of the Mareas. He was very proud of the work that had been done restoring the sacred sites, and was very agitated when he found recent damage to one of the sites.

 

 

 

 

We proceeded through the jungle and across a small stream eventually exiting into a clearing with a pineapple field. Once to the field we probably walked another quarter of a mile to the waiting buses that took us back to the tender for our trip back to the ship.

 

 

 

After lunch we took advantage of the kayak at the dive platform. This was our third or fourth kayak trip since we started, but the first time we had brought our camera along. We always got the same basic instructions, stay in back of the ship where the dive team can keep an eye on us and come back in 30 minutes so others can use the kayak. In addition to two of the two person kayaks we had, used we saw two one person kayaks and a windsurfing board. Our longest wait was 30 minutes, but the time passed quickly enjoying the view of the island and the water from the platform.

 

 

 

 

I like to see ship galley’s, so we signed up earlier in the day for the tour of the Paul Gauguin galley led by the executive chef. We met at reception and he took us to the largest of the galleys for L’Etiole. We were not allowed to take photo’s here, but if you've been on other cruise ship galley tours just imagine something a lot smaller and less specialized. The L'Etoile Galley supported the L’Etiole restaurant and was the main bakery for the ship. There are other galleys in Le Grill and La Veranda.

 

 

 

We had an opportunity to ask the chef questions, and before seeing this nights Polynesian Night menu I asked the chef where he got the lobster for tonight’s dinner? He responded with “What Lobster?”. I had read rave reviews of the lobster with vanilla sauce served on Polynesian night and assumed we would have it on our Polynesian night. Apparently I had read old posts because at some point a year or so earlier French Polynesia had passed a law forbidding the import of food that is produced in French Polynesia. Chef explained that they couldn't’t find a reliable source that could supply the ship with enough lobster in French Polynesia, so that had to stop serving it. I had also seen some comments about the butter on the ship and how some of missed the French Butter that had once been served on the Paul Gauguin. During our time on the ship, we had seen French Butter, Wisconsin Butter and New Zealand Butter. So I asked the chef why do they get their butter from so many different places, and in this case it was simply about the lowest cost supplier.

 

 

 

 

When we returned to the public areas of the ship we saw a group of Tahitian ladies making leis, headdresses and other beautiful flower goods on both deck 5 and deck 6. DW had always dreamed of becoming a Tahitian Princess so she sat with the ladies and with their help made her own headdress. We don’t know what time they started making leis, but at exactly 6PM they packed up and left. Plan accordingly if you decide to participate. It was a lot of fun wathcing them mix and match from the floral items that had laid out on the floor.

 

 

We thought the service in La Veranda was a little more personal than in L’Etoile so we opted to enjoy our Polynesian dinner in La Veranda. If you enjoy La Veranda, but don’t want to go there because the menu doesn’t change often, then Polynesian night is a chance to enjoy the service and ambiance without the repeating menu. DW the Tahitian Princess and I had a great dinner, even without the lobster. Believe it or not….. I made my own headdress!

 

 

 

 

After dinner we saw a Tahitian dance show and then headed back to La Palette for a little dancing and drinking. I’m not sure if all PG cruises were like ours, but the nightlife was very tame. A few guests got up for a dance or two, but many like us simply enjoyed the beautiful night sky and a drink with our new cruise friends.

[cruisefun27]

This is so much fun following your post. Can't wait until Nov. 2. We will be doing the 11 day Cooks Island trip. Keep us up to date with all your fun. Thanks, Janine

[ALB0711]

Glad you are enjoying it Janine. You are going to have the time of your life! No PG for us until 2015..... so please post your experiences when you get back so we can dream.

 

Only 2 installments left......

[Familygoboston]

 

 

 

 

We thought the service in La Veranda was a little more personal than in L’Etoile so we opted to enjoy our Polynesian dinner in La Veranda. If you enjoy La Veranda, but don’t want to go there because the menu doesn’t change often, then Polynesian night is a chance to enjoy the service and ambiance without the repeating menu. DW the Tahitian Princess and I had a great dinner, even without the lobster. Believe it or not….. I made my own headdress!

 

 

 

Ahh, you both looked so sun kissed and relaxed in your headdresses and I like your DW s pareo! Very pretty colors! Looks like another day in paradise!

[ALB0711]

Thanks Goboston. I'm very proud of my flower work!

[dexddd]

I haven't gotten through all of your review yet, but had a question about tips. On the PG website, it says: "All onboard gratuities included for room stewards and dining staff"

 

Does that also include bar staff? Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but wanted to clarify.

 

Thanks.

[Emdee]

All gratuities for all staff are included on board the PG.

They do have a crew welfare fund in case you feel the need to contribute.

[Escriteur]

I haven't gotten through all of your review yet, but had a question about tips. On the PG website, it says: "All onboard gratuities included for room stewards and dining staff"

 

Does that also include bar staff? Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but wanted to clarify.

 

Thanks.

 

I've been wondering the same thing, but I didn't bother to ask since it'll probably be some years until our next PG cruise, and I hoped someone would address this question before then. ;-) When we went on our cruise last summer, the PG promo materials indicated that "all" onboard gratuities were included. Sometime this year, they changed their website and brochures to say "All onboard gratuities included for room stewards and dining staff"...which leaves the bar staff question up in the air. Do they consider bar staff as part of their dining staff? (I wouldn't think so, except for perhaps the wine stewards in the dining room.) But then how would you tip the bartenders when all drinks are included, and you're not handing over a key card where they could track your drinks or add a tip? Would you have to carry cash for bar tips? I'm really curious why they changed this wording in their marketing materials this way.

 

If bar tips are indeed still included, then the only tips you'll need are for any pre-/post-cruise hotel stays and any excursions. (I think a lot of people must have been in no-tipping mode since the PG is all-inclusive; we always gave a small cash tip to our tour guides and drivers, but we noticed that many other people didn't bother.) As Emdee noted, you can always contribute to the crew welfare fund. A convenient way to do this is to purchase raffle tickets for the ship's chart drawing at the end of the cruise; all raffle proceeds go toward the crew welfare fund.

 

dexddd - You might also consider posting this question as a new thread, so a PG rep might be more likely to notice and respond to it.

[ALB0711]

We didn't tip the bar staff, but a few of our friends did and the tips were graciously accepted. I don't think it was at all expected, and am sure the service was genuine and without strings attached.

 

The only tip I did feel obligated to leave was for our massage appointments. There was a place on the charge slip that you signed for gratuity. I tipped them as I would tip in a spa at a resort.