Live blogging -- Bali to Fiji -- March 2023

[AveSaloon]

This is a quasi-live blog from the Paul Gauguin.  I’m a few days behind in posting, but will try to be more contemporaneous as we go along.

 

This is our first sailing on the PG.  We chose this sailing for the itinerary, as these are ports that are rarely visited by our favorite cruise lines.  We are well-seasoned travelers with many cruises under our belt.

 

The cruise starts in the port of Benoa, near Denpasar Bali Indonesia.  Rather than just fly into Denpasar and board the ship, we chose to do a resort stay for over a week before the cruise.  This turned out to be a wise choice, as a number of folks aboard were bemoaning the jet lag the first few days.

 

Boarding was a reasonable process, with a personal check and questionnaire with the ship’s medical staff.  Boarding numbers were distributed, and the onboard process went fairly smoothly.  The system for taking a credit card was problematic, but we were told to just come back to reception the first day and swipe a card.

 

Since we arrived at the terminal several hours before they began boarding (which turned out to be 3pm), our luggage was well aboard and waiting for us.  Well, almost all the luggage.  One bag eventually turned up several hours later.

 

Impressions of the stateroom and ship to follow.

[AveSaloon]

Our stateroom was ready for occupancy as we finished the check in process.  First things – doing an inventory of the available storage spaces and divvying they out between myself and Mrs AveSaloon.  The first thing we noticed was the sad excuse for a nightstand.  Maybe only 4 inches wide, and with a pull-out that was open and almost useless for storage.  My CPAP fit (barely) but there was no real room for my clock or to put any kind of drink on the table.  Minus one for an early start.

 

The cabinetry has a number of cubby spaces, but with minimal depth.  Few drawer spaces, but luckily some decent shelving in the closets (trading off with less hanging rod space).  I guess that for the usual 7-10 day itineraries, this is adequate.  For a 2 week plus sailing, perhaps less so.

 

Electrical outlets included one under the television and two at the “desk” area near the closets.  For a ship of this age, that’s pretty good.  Fortunately, I could run the cord from the CPAP over to the desk without it being a tripping hazard.  And the other outlets provided enough options for some charging stations for electronics.

 

The biggest plus of the room – the bed is high enough that all of our suitcases could be stored underneath without having to have them open.  Many cruiselines have low beds, so this was much appreciated.

 

The bathroom had some good storage spaces, though there was a quirk with the “shaver” outlet.  We usually use that for a very low-draw LED night light.  However on the PG, if you turn off the bathroom light, so goes the power to this outlet.  So no possible use of a night light in the bathroom.

 

Last bathroom comment:  The ship had just come out of dry dock in Singapore.  Yet the wall-mounted dispensers were empty of both shampoo and body wash.  Luckily, I always travel with some shampoo in my kit, so that covered the first day.  And there is no bar soap provided.  So those bars of Dial from home are coming in handy.  Consider that a tip for those who like to use a bar of soap in the shower.

[FlyerTalker]

Thanks for the posting.

Edited March 10, 2023 by FlyerTalker

[AveSaloon]

About the ship.  As this is our first time aboard PG, we have no past experiences to compare with.  This ship seems to be in fine shape for an older vessel.  Appointments are clean and bright, befitting a tropical environment. 

 

After spending the first night in port in Benoa, it was a day in port before departing around 6pm.   The ship ran a number of tours which we passed on as we had seen much of Bali already.  Then it was off to sea, with a pleasant night sailing.  Arrival at Komodo Island was the next day around noon.

 

We had been at Komodo Island a number of years back on a Seabourn cruise.  As normal, the weather was hot and humid.  PG ran the tenders well, and we were at the pier.  At which point, there were things to notice.  Because Komodo is a national park, only shorex groups can proceed to view the dragons.  It was quickly noticeable that there were a number of people who should not have participated in the excursion.  I tend to fault the shorex team of PG (or as they call themselves, the “travel concierges”) for not accurately describing to guests what was involved in the excursion.

 

Venturing in to see the dragons, you are on a 2.5 kilometer (1.55 mile) dirt path through the jungle.  There are NO places to sit along the way, though the guides do make regular stops as you walk along.  It was clear that there were guests who were struggling to do this trek, and many folks later said they had no idea what would be involved.  Plus, there were people who had difficulty with the steps at the tender landing, to even get to the island. All told, three dragons were spotted – less than our last visit, but at least there were some for folks to see.

 

After Komodo, it was a full sea day as we left Indonesia and set sail for Dili, Timor-Leste.

[Leejnd4]

Thanks for keeping us informed! I'm following. We've got a Tuomotu-Society Islands cruise booked for November. I've been on the PG twice, but it's been a number of years (and under different ownership) so I'm eager to see how the ship and cruise experience is holding up.

[Buffyr]

I hope your cruise continued and continued to be enjoyable.  I would love to know more about it!

[red4lisa]

Please keep posting! I'm very interested in your trip. 

[Leejnd4]

I was kinda hoping they'd come back and keep live-blogging, but I think that ship has sailed (literally). 😉 Their cruise ended weeks ago. Bummer! I was looking forward to hearing some details.