Live from the PG - May 30 - Cook Islands & Society Islands Review

[CelticMutt]

Damn "send" button on a dark balcony! Anyway, just an aside for those thinking that this will be a walk down a PG memory lane. My intent here is to pay info forward - one of the reasons for the lack of photos. The narrative may serve as a reminder of your time here for you but I hope I don't disappoint by being too dry.

OK, first reco and review from a frequent traveler. 1. Air TN is wonderful! Forget all the negative hype. No one is going to be happy after 8.5 hrs on a plane! But these folks did it well. We were in coach (16 A & B) and our friends were in First. But traveling on a Thursday evening, the plane was less than half full. We were able to spread out to all those empty seats once the plane leveled off. Some even had a 4 across to sleep in. Food (2 meals - they say the second is a snack, but it's really a full meal 90 minutes before touchdown) was good for airline chow. Adult beverages (talkin' booze here folks!) are free and easily refreshed. I asked for a gin and tonic and the attendant then went on to ask, "yes, but what type of wine do you want with dinner?" There is a USB recharger right next to the video screen - very cool - and the movie selection was very good! (Imitation Game [i cried!], the new Exodus and my 4th go around on Die Hard kept me occupied for most of the 8 hours! Bottom line was that we weren't a whole lot less uncomfortable in coach than our friends were in first class and we saved $3200! Now the situation may reverse itself on the way home (Saturday) when the plane is more full but for right now my recommendation is to fly out Thursday in a relatively empty plane and take advantage of the empty seats!

(Both couples also stopped at duty-free in LAX and picked up wine and spirits for use in our room when we got to Tahiti. Drinks are about 20 bucks a pop here so the cartage was certainly worth while!) ATN restricts your carry-on to 20 pounds so be aware of how much yours weighs before you get on line! But the duty-free carry-on does not count toward that weight!

ATN gives you a cute little package with ear phones, sleep mask, socks and ear plugs just like the first class folks get! Pretty cool!

Got off the plane about 9 PM and customs and immigration are about as slow in the islands as you would expect. Having a low seat number or walking quickly can buy you some extra time, so do with that information what you will! With seat number 16 – they went up to 45 – we are relatively forward in the line and our luggage was waiting for us when we got off. They made sure that first class got off the plane way before everybody else did! Cabs were plentiful – even at 10 PM at night but be aware that they charge you per luggage piece. Even so, the 1.5 mile drive to the IC hotel cost us about $20 U.S.

Okay, here ends my positive part of the review for the day! Our initial impressions of the Intercontinental Hotel have not been very good. We had booked a panoramic view room at the hotel almost 9 months previous. I am also an Ambassador member and while that is supposed to get you and upgraded room, I frankly didn't expect that to be the case. However, when we arrived at the hotel we were informed that because we had arrived late they had given away our panoramic view room and they were assigning us to a garden view room! The exclamation exclamation being that the over-the-water bungalows had to be closed due to hi wave activity. My lovely wife blew a gasket and after a lengthy conversation with the on duty hotel manager he reluctantly agreed to give us a room in the panorama area that he would "clean himself". Note that our friends who had checked in two minutes before we did received their panoramic view room without a hitch!

Long story short – (well I guess it's already a long story) these rooms were already available and cleaned - we were just being told that they weren't available! A little honesty would have gone a lot farther than the subterfuge! Also, I can understand the fact that weather can play a part in assigning rooms when they are so close to the elements, but these OTW bungalows should have been designed a little better in the first place.

Some guests actually had to be moved out of their OTW bungalows because the wave action was jostling items off of the shelves!

Okay, it's starting to get light and I'm sure today is going to be better than last night was! We've got a half day island tour booked with Tracy this morning and breakfast awaits after a shower so more later!

The light has revealed Moorea and some palm trees – an infinity pool and lovely grounds so – okay I'm not really pissed!

Cheers,

Bill

[RZ3]

Thank you for doing this. I am hoping to get back to FP next year and eat up all of the reviews.

 

Your view on the IC in Tahiti seems common. For us, it was a decent hotel, but not great by any means. I have an Ambassador membership as well.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Thanks for the ongoingn reports, they are great. Just a comment or two.

 

Were you travelling on one of the refurbished airplanes? With the newer hardshell seats? This means that your friends were actually in what they now call Business Class, right? I understood that they eliminated the older small First Class section when they renovated the planes.

 

It will be interesting to hear about how your flight back goes. My impression has always been that the food going outbound is superior to the food coming back. A provisioning issues, no doubt.

 

Also interesting that you were lied to at the IC. Too bad you didn't get your OWB because of the weather, but at least you got your sea view. Interested to hear your overall impressions of the hotel--I've never particularly liked it.

[CelticMutt]

Just decompressing from our first full day in paradise on the panoramic deck overlooking Moorea. I'll give my final thoughts on the IC tomorrow upon leaving, but for now I'd sooner concentrate on the wonderful day we had today in paradise. A very nice breakfast buffet comes with the room – or at least our reservation had this. The food was very good and the view was spectacular looking out on one of the two pools and the island of Moorea.

We had scheduled a half-day tour of the West Coast of Tahiti with Tracy – the owner of Unique Tahiti Tours. Tracy picked us up in the lobby at precisely 8:30 AM and her $75 per person tour which lasted a full four hours was worth every penny! Tracy's a transplanted Brit,t but knows the island cold and her continual conversation as she drove her air-conditioned red minivan around the west coast of the island was both informative and personal. If you have a morning or afternoon to spend with Tracy, I would highly recommend you doing so. She offered just the right amount of "tourism" to give us a taste of Tahiti and then got us back in time to spend the rest of the afternoon poolside. Thanks, Tracey!

While the morning was beautiful, the afternoon turned a bit cloudy. But the interplay of clouds and sun across Moorea and the waves out on the reef as we sat at the infinity pool was spectacular.

There is a Friday night buffet/Island entertainment at the buffet restaurant tonight that we're going to pass on. We're all a little bit sleep-deprived so were just going to hit a local Italian restaurant (Casa Bianca) and call it an early night!

Sorry if this started out a little bit "grumpy" but as I dictated the report early this morning I was feeling the effects of a long day in the plane. We are looking forward to a well-rested day tomorrow and boarding the ship in the afternoon.

(A quick aside – apology. I'm dictating this as it's an awful lot easier to do it that way. This makes for a little bit of a more constrained narrative and may cause some errors in the dictation itself. I apologize for them up front and hope you will all understand that proofreading on an iPhone may not be the easiest chore to undertake.)

Salud!

Bill

[CelticMutt]

Wendy, the plane was as you described. Our friends were in "business" and had clam shells. I'm hoping home bound is as good because we're doing it all sequentially. Leaving Bora Bora at 5 on Sat and getting back to NJ late Sunday evening! Not thinking about it!!!!

[CelticMutt]

Aztec and anyone else from the cruise that wants to chat; we are in the palapas in front of the panoramic rooms by the infinity pool. Five hours till boarding!

Kanpai,

Bill

[CelticMutt]

Just some finishing thoughts on the Intercontinental Tahiti as we are packing up to leave and head on over to the ship. First impressions weren't great, but I have to say that after that initial contact efforts were made to smooth things over. Charles, the manager, became very attentive and we were offered the over the water bungalow when it became available. (We chose not to move – it was just too inconvenient). We also got the late (4 PM) check out that comes as a part of the Ambassador membership.

The property really is lovely with two nice pools and excellent views of the island of Moorea. The buffet breakfast in the morning were great and the rooms were reasonably well appointed. The draw for us was – still is – location and it's certainly convenient for travel to and from the airport and to the ship itself. We read today that the Intercontinental chain and Paul Gauguin are owned by the same parent company which explains the interrelationship a little bit more clearly.

I'd give the place – will give the place when I do the review on TripAdvisor – 3 stars or so simply because the level of service just didn't make the grade. (In spite of Charles' hard work after the fact!)

Give you an example: we went for lunch yesterday at about 1:45 at the Lotus restaurant and were told there weren't any seats available. Since there were other open restaurants available on the property my thought would've been that a trained employee would have tried to find us open seating someplace else on the since we were obviously guests. That didn't happen. Perhaps in the long and short of things that's a small point but it's stuck with me because it exemplified the feeling that I had leaving the property. People just didn't try quite hard enough!

Don't give me completely wrong, we enjoyed our stay here, but if I was coming back for the same sequence of events I would probably look for a different property. Sorry, IC!

Na zdravie!

Bill

[Jim Avery]

Just some finishing thoughts on the Intercontinental Tahiti as we are packing up to leave and head on over to the ship. First impressions weren't great, but I have to say that after that initial contact efforts were made to smooth things over. Charles, the manager, became very attentive and we were offered the over the water bungalow when it became available. (We chose not to move – it was just too inconvenient). We also got the late (4 PM) check out that comes as a part of the Ambassador membership.

The property really is lovely with two nice pools and excellent views of the island of Moorea. The buffet breakfast in the morning were great and the rooms were reasonably well appointed. The draw for us was – still is – location and it's certainly convenient for travel to and from the airport and to the ship itself. We read today that the Intercontinental chain and Paul Gauguin are owned by the same parent company which explains the interrelationship a little bit more clearly.

I'd give the place – will give the place when I do the review on TripAdvisor – 3 stars or so simply because the level of service just didn't make the grade. (In spite of Charles' hard work after the fact!)

Give you an example: we went for lunch yesterday at about 1:45 at the Lotus restaurant and were told there weren't any seats available. Since there were other open restaurants available on the property my thought would've been that a trained employee would have tried to find us open seating someplace else on the since we were obviously guests. That didn't happen. Perhaps in the long and short of things that's a small point but it's stuck with me because it exemplified the feeling that I had leaving the property. People just didn't try quite hard enough!

Don't give me completely wrong, we enjoyed our stay here, but if I was coming back for the same sequence of events I would probably look for a different property. Sorry, IC!

Na zdravie!

Bill

 

So far, you mirror our experiences. Keep up the good work posting. I am surely enjoying it. Actually, mirror is the wrong choice of words as that would be the reverse. We had much the same experiences as you have has so far. Thanks!

Edited May 31, 2015 by Jim Avery

[twin123185]

Sorry to hear about these IC experiences. I have stayed there 8 times and over the years I feel service has improved greatly. The food in the restaurants certainly has.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I suspect part of your experience at the IC comes down to the simple fact that this is not a service-oriented culture. They try, but training I guess comes and goes, and operates on "island time".

Edited May 31, 2015 by Wendy The Wanderer

[Cruisedreamer1]

I always recommend spending your money for more time on the PG rather than staying in a hotel either before or after your cruise. We have done both and except for getting over jet lag, it is always a disappointment in terms of service, food and cost.

[Jim Avery]

I always recommend spending your money for more time on the PG rather than staying in a hotel either before or after your cruise. We have done both and except for getting over jet lag, it is always a disappointment in terms of service, food and cost.

 

Good point. Everything PG related was excellent on our voyage. Everything non-PG, well lets just say not so much.

[okiebaugh]

Loving the review so far! We leave in about 2 and a half weeks so I am very interested in current information.

[sammyboots]

Loving the review so far! We leave in about 2 and a half weeks so I am very interested in current information.

Okiebaugh you must be on the cruise before us? We are on the June 27th sailing. :)

I'm also enjoying the review, first time on the PG so all and any extra info is welcome!

Edited June 1, 2015 by sammyboots

[thesparkmeister1]

My commentary may have been a bit on the negative side these last couple of days, but I can honestly say that these past 24 hours have been among the best – if not the best – ever on a vacation.

 

We left the IC at around 4 PM for the ship after Charles, the manager at the hotel assured us that he was putting in “a good word” for us with the manager at the IC Thalasso Spa who was dining at the Tahiti facility that evening. (Nice if it happens!)

 

When we got to the dock we were pretty much the only guests checking in at that time and were processed very quickly. We spent the next 45 minutes or so unpacking and were surprised by how much storage space the cabins have. We have a standard balcony – 724.

 

After the muster drill we went up to our friends’ suite. They upgraded to one of the two grand suites - 801 with a lot more space, a butler (Sherman, who’s great!) and a wrap around, mostly forward facing balcony - huge! (I was told today, by readers on our tour that I didn’t mention our friends’ names. Sorry, they are Mark and Kathy and they’re pretty cool even if they have a nicer room than we do!)

 

Sherman (did I say the guy’s great!) had made reservations already in la Veranda and we were treated to one of the best meals ever! Far and above the best cruise ship meal I’ve ever encountered, and the food was as good as that of any 5 star land restaurant period! Perfectly cooked steaks, a wonderful tuna carpaccio and super soup! The wines, both red and white were excellent as well. Capped off by a bit too much white port (new to me) and we were up to our respective cabins by 10 missing the sail-away party. But by this time a few too many adult beverages coupled with a jet lag that we hadn’t quite shaken yet took its toll. (Mostly it was the bartender’s fault; we were simply over-served!)

 

We were up early and breakfasted outside at The Grill; a perfect spot! Breakfast was either a buffet of an la carte menu or a combo of the two. Excellent! (I have become hooked on a local pineapple and vanilla jam!)

 

We were on the first tender to the pier to be on time for Mark’s Island Safari. Thanks to previous posters for turning us on to this wonderful tour. It was spectacular! The ship was picturesquely anchored in the harbor between the two connected islands of Huahine Nui and Iti. And promptly waiting for us was Viae was our “on land” tour guide. (it’s pronounced Vi-ah, and though she spelled it for me on leaving, I’ve since forgotten, duh!) There were just the four of us in her jitney and we made stops in a small market town of Fare, (ladies bought pareos), visit to an archaeological site near Maeve and a visit to feed the famous, sacred blue-eyed eels and stop at a small vanilla shop. She then transferred us to a sleek outrigger (powered) canoe where we were joined by about 8 other tourists mostly from the ship. This seagoing portion of the tour was ably captained by Armondo; a great guide, but not nearly as pretty as Viae! Our first call was at the pearl farm; short and instructive. We then were dropped off in a lagoon for a drift snorkel of about a mile. Pleasant though not a lot of fish, but just the idea of drifting along with a pretty significant current was very cool. The cap’n and some of the less adventurous stayed with the boat and drifted just in front of us. The current petered out and we were easily able to re-board. After a bit of a cruise around we went to Mark’s private, beautiful beach for lunch. Just great! Lime and fresh coconut marinated tuna combined with veggies (kind of like a ceviche on steroids!); grilled tuna with a vanilla sauce, grilled chicken, saffron rice, salad, fruits and a ton of rum punch and beer – soft drinks if preferred – and fruit for dessert! The food was delicious and plentiful and a far cut above the norm for this type of excursion. After staying at this delightful spot for about an hour, we packed up for a wonderful water tour circumnavigating about half of the island with stops for points of interest. Morning cloudiness had long since been replaced by a brilliant sun and the ride was exhilarating even for an old boater like myself. The final stop of the day was an opportunity to jump in the water for an up close encounter with the feeding of a school of about 50 black tip sharks. You transfer to a secondary anchored barge the out to a triangle of stationary line (rope!). Armando’s assistant then jumps in and starts the feeding. The sharks average about 3-5 feet and I have photos of them inches from my camera! They mostly stay in front of you where the shark chow is being liberally dispensed, but they are right there with you up close and personal – amazing and exhilarating seeing these beautiful animals so intimately! After this 20 minute stop it was back into the boat for the 5 minute cruise to Mark’s dock and the 10 minute drive back to the tender dock returning at just 4 PM just in time for the last tender. The tour lasted the entire day; cost $140 pp and was some of the best money we have ever spent! A super day on land and water, involved every minute with great guides and equipment. If your stop involves Huahine, don’t pass up this excursion. Their contact info appears in my itinerary photo.

 

The ship pulled out promptly at 5:30 PM and we hit some pretty big swells for most of the evening. Most passengers seemed unfazed by the rocking, however. Either they were taking some good drugs or were experienced sea folk.

 

Dinner was great in l’Etoile with all of us having the moon fish. Wonderful and very different. We then hit the cultural show with the Gauguines that was excellent; entertaining and funny. (Friend, Mark, up on the stage with five other male passengers learning a Polynesian war dance! We ended our day by catching the end of “piano person”, Tetiana’s show at the piano bar. (She’s quite good!)

 

As I said, one of our best vacation days EVER! And it was really only our first full day! Nana for now!

 

Skål,

 

Bill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[sammyboots]

Thanks for your latest post, it has encouraged us to try and book Marc's Motu picnic. We were a little unsure before but I now have a snorkeling vest which will help my confidence for a drift snorkel. Just hoping we manage to get on a tour as we have left it a bit late to book. :confused:

[DGK]

Thank you so much as I am thoroughly enjoying reading your post as it brings back wonderful memories from our Jan. 2013 trip. Wishing you a vacation filled with many more spectacular fun filled days.

[micmacmissy]

Sounds like the trip is off to a wonderful start!

 

Was that excursion a ship excursion, or did you book it privately?

[CelticMutt]

First of all, sorry for being absent. It’s more of a connectivity issue than anything else. Had the time and connection on Monday – the last sea day. Tuesday in Rarotonga and Wed. in Aitutaki were so busy that … well you get the drift!

 

The ship switched schedule and hit Rarotonga first. Still not quite sure why, but all excursions were unaffected.

 

Weather on Monday at sea was a mix of sun in the morning and some nasty weather in the afternoon and evening. As others have posted, the seas can be rough making the crossing to the Cook islands and the ship rolled quite a bit. The four of us are boaters so we were fine, but we noticed that l’Etoile was a bit empty. Weather has been perfect since. We’re on our way back to Bora Bora as I write this and it’s a lot less “rocky”.

 

We took the ship’s Glass Bottom Boat (Captain Tama’s Lagoon Cruise) excursion on Rarotonga and while I wasn’t anticipating anything special, it really turned into a pretty good excursion. After a bit of a cruise we stopped for a nice snorkel. While the fish weren’t spectacular, the view through the glass bottom provided those not inclined to swim a nice up close experience. After about 45 minutes in the water we relocated to a nice little moto about five minutes off our starting spot for a swim, island exploration and a light, fruit lunch. Our tour guide, a transplanted New Zealander was quite informative about island life, costs and workings. After about an hour on the moto we were ferried back for our bus trip to the ship.

 

We spent the afternoon by the pool and the ship brought aboard a school age dance troop both boys and girls. Their native costumes were wonderful and the kids were very talented.

 

A quick word about food on board. It has been unfailingly wonderful. We have dined in all three restaurants and while menus remain the same (they’re changed for the rest of the cruise today) there has always been enough of a variety that no one is bored. Service has been superb with the wait staff knowing names and drink preferences after the first day.

 

We took the private tour on Aitutaki with Teking. At $95 – even tough he charges for water and beer – his tour is a real deal and the best snorkeling I’ve ever done…period! We stopped his two boats (total of 14 people) at three separate sites, each better than the last. Teking’s a bit of a character. (OK, a lot of a character!!) And can tease his guests, but it’s all in good fun. His lunch of grilled tuna, grilled banana (incidentally way good!), breadfruit , salads and fruit was superb! You could even pick your cook on the fish. Our last stop was at one foot island for a passport stamp. (Do bring your passport to have this done; very cool!). The only negative was that the one boat we all packed into for the ride back blew the prop and we had to limp a bit home. Still made it in plenty of time, but he said he’d have to have the (outboard) engine repaired in New Zealand so check to make sure he’s up and operating fully within the next couple of weeks. Even so, I’ve been a boater for 25 years and this was my best day on the water in all that time. Teking knows his stuff; has the best marked snorkeling routes and despite his quirky personalty (or maybe because of it!) it’s a real blast. Do this excursion! Tell him Bill says “Hi”; I was a bit of a “target” for a lot of his barbs!

 

I’m on Deck 8 by the pool on one beautiful day as I write this. These narratives are a bit shorter than I’m used to because Im typing on an iPad rather than dictating. As I said, connectivity issues preclude dictating. It would be prohibitively expensive and probably slower than my hunt and peck. I’ll try to fill in a bit when I get home and I’ll probably delay answering questions until then too (June 15). Not looking forward to leaving Paradise, but we still have over a week left!

 

Back to my gin & tonic!

 

Å’kålè ma’luna

 

Bill

[sammyboots]

Thanks for the update, I've been checking in several times a day to catch the latest! Three weeks and counting until we are there! :D

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Don't be sorry for not reporting constantly--you're having too much fun for that. Wow, you're day on Aitutaki sounds amazing, if I ever make it there Ill remember this.

 

When you say "dictate", you mean you're talking into an electronic device, right? But obviously one that works online, if you're having connectivity problems. This is given me the idea that I could solve my "journalling" problems by getting a speech to text app for my phone. I'm going to give it a try.

 

Enjoy Bora Bora!

[S-stuff-55]

Hello: Thanks for the updates . Hope your having an awesome trip , we did this in Jan.2015. Some different results . But awesome still . When in "BORA BORA" if you get a chance for an excursion try the Jet - Ski through "PG" a little more expensive probably but they do look after you very well. My wife is a "chicken " we are both in our late 50's and this was a must for me even if i had to go alone , she went with me and had the time of her life , lots of fun and a lunch on a beach on the other side of some island . Very informative as well as a "BLAST" . The colours of the waters were spectacular.... Keep up with the updates... Thanks S-stuff-55

[MotuIslander]

Sitting on our balcony at the Tahiti IC waiting for you to sail from Moorea to Papeete...

[CelticMutt]

So sorry about how I fell off the earth. We've been so busy and the connectivity became a real issue. I promise to do a completed day by day when we get home. (Boo!)

Our last evening at sea and the whole 10 days have been phenomenal! Best cruise, no vacation EVER!

Will fill y'all in when I don't have to type on my iPhone. (Strongest signal on it!)

Quick note to those getting on tomorrow. Albert's 4x4 is quite good, but The Trail of the Ancients pretty much duplicates it. Mark is very good but the 4 mile trek through rough terrain is not for everyone! Choose one or the other; I'd suggest not both like we did.

On to the IC Thalasso - looks spectacular - at least from what we saw and heard!

Manuia!

Bill

[twin123185]

Sounds great and yes the IC is awesome. Enjoy!