Our PG Captains

[happydolphin]

I’ve cruised PG in 2013 and 2016 and have booked another sailing for October 2020. Who are the current captains? I’ve been fortunate to have Captain Toni on both sailings and would like to know if he might be at the helm next year. I don’t know if they work predictable schedules. I’m also curious to know who the other captains are. What are they like?

[pgcruises]

21 hours ago, happydolphin said:

I’ve cruised PG in 2013 and 2016 and have booked another sailing for October 2020. Who are the current captains? I’ve been fortunate to have Captain Toni on both sailings and would like to know if he might be at the helm next year. I don’t know if they work predictable schedules. I’m also curious to know who the other captains are. What are they like?

Hi happydolphin,

We look forward to welcoming you aboard the m/s Paul Gauguin in October 2020. It will either be Captain Ante Toni Mirkovic or Captain Davor Ljutic at the helm.  

Kind Regards,

Paul Gauguin Cruises

Edited October 2, 2019 by pgcruises

[happydolphin]

Wonderful! Thank you for the reply! 

[bogiestack]

Any idea who cruise director/asst cruise director will be? We will be on March sailing Papeete to Fiji

[happydolphin]

No, but I’m also curious for October 2020. I loved CD Steve Wood. He was so personable and seemed to really care about the guests. I think he moved on, came back for a bit, and then moved on again. The website shows one CD on the Onboard Staff page: Maire Caherty

[lovestx]

Last week we had CD Carlos from Brazil and Capt.Ljutic. Some told us that Captain Ljutic said he would be leaving the ship at the end of his contract in April or May due to new owners, Penang. He was very friendly.

[Emdee]

Oh, sad to hear. 
He will be missed.

[SWFLAOK]

On our September cruise from Tahiti to Fiji, our cruise director was Carlos Ferreira. We, and our neighbors in the cabin next door, met Carlos at the block party. He was accompanied by the guest relations manager, Christelle Raoul,  who we had met on our previous PG cruises. Later in the cruise, we were invited to dine with Carlos and Christelle, along with our cabin neighbors. Even though I normally dread eating with senior officers and staff, we had a great time. Carlos was quite charming, and Christelle seems to be his mentor since she's been on the PG for a quite a while, and he's relatively new to PG. We're hoping to see both of them again in April.

The new owners are Ponant, not Penang. We spoke to the Ponant corporate rep who came aboard on the tender from Aitutaki in the Cook Islands (having flown into the airport there). He was grilled quite a bit my the rest of us who were waiting for the tender, returning from our excursions. He was quite adamant about wanting to keep the PG experience the same since Ponant  customers would like it. He spoke to all of the employees onboard in a large private meeting. The room stewards, waitstaff, and their managers were expecting to stay. Those providing entertainment onboard were not optimistic.

If the Captain's contract runs out at the end of April, when the PG goes from Bali to dry dock with out passengers onboard, then perhaps they're parting ways at that point. Ponant could be looking for a French speaking Captain, or Captain Ljutic might not want to deal with the  new management, or a combination of both. I'm definitely hoping that the current Captain is there until we reach Bali since I trust him to get us there.