Live From PG (May 19 - June 3)

[mikenbob]

Well, we are about half way through the first PG cruise to Fiji. So far, so good! The ship is in great shape. The recent improvements are nice additions since our last time on PG about two years ago. Some of the differences and observations:

§ Addition of a few sun shades on pool deck. About doubles the shady areas, but they could probably use a little more shady area. The two areas have been dubbed the “geriatric corners” by the older cruisers, the predominate users.

§ Within the cabins (we are in a balcony “B” cabin on Deck 8) have new beds (much nicer - just like home), DVD players (in addition to the VCR players built in to the televisions, and iPOD players. No flat screen televisions so far. Wi-Fi is throughout the ship, but signal strength varies greatly (strongest near hallways and public rooms). Aveda toiletries (as always), nice terry cloths robes (as always), and great service (as always).

§ The all-inclusive liquor policy seems to be working. They have added extra staff at all bars and passengers are definitely drinking more. Lots of wine drinkers at lunch, cocktails by the pool, and lounges are quite livelier. On past cruise the loungers were completely quite after dinner, now people are hanging out more before and after dinner. There is still a bar set-up in the room and they are very flexible in offering just about anything you want (after dinner drinks, name brand liquors, different wines with meals).

§ Don’t miss the Connoisseurs’ Club (now aft cabins) and the re-arrangement of the casino (addition of piano bar and fewer slot machines) is nice.

§ There are definitely more shipboard activities…almost to the point of overkill. Bridge groups, island lectures, ping pong tournaments, trivia games, and just about anything one could possibly do with a pareo (dying, tying, flying, buying, etc.).

§ Entertainment has never been one of PG’s strong suits, so don’t come expecting Broadway performances. The good news is that Siglo is back and still wonderful. They have an amazing ability to play everything from ballroom dancing music to hard rock. The other acts are hit or miss. I will comment more once I am off the ship!

§ Food is good…not a lot of change from prior cruise. It is not on par with the best restaurants in major cities, but they do a very good job with satisfying a large group of tastes in a short time window. The service is a little spotty (I think most can be chalked up to language differences and the fact that waiters seem to work in different restaurants throughout the day…hard to develop fine dining skills when you are also serving drinks at the pool and working the lunch buffet). The sommelier is a little silly (he is also a lunch waiter), but probably adds a bit of elegance for some.

§ Dress is all over the board, but no one seems to care much. As a general rule, the older folks tend to dress up a little more in the evening than younger (still middle age) folks. I would suspect that the trend toward more casual attire will continue for island cruisers.

§ New locations are great! So far we have been in Aitutaki and Rorotonga in the Cook Islands. Both have a British and New Zealand influence. People on both of the islands could not be friendlier. So far we have had one sea day (two more to come). The shallow draft allows for more pitch and roll, but we have noticed anyone that is sea sick. Since we left Motu Mahana there has been an ever present since of movement, but we are on a ship on the ocean after all! Sailing out of Aitutaki last night was amazing!

§ The crew is still the best! They do not have “no” in their vocabulary. The department heads are always present and asking if everything is okay. Ask for something once and you can count on it happening. They have a great attitude and seem truly glad to be of service.

I will probably check in a couple of more times before we disembark in another week, so if you have a specific question please post it and I will try to answer. For those of you on the June 3 cruise back to Papeete…you are in for a treat! :)

[Iamboatman]

Thanks for the great update.

[Texed]

Mikenbob,

Thanks for posting on. It makes us even more anxious abut our June 3rd, reverse itinerary cruise.

If you don't mind, what activities did y'all do/would do on the "new" stops? :)

[micked10@earthlink.net]

Thanks Mikenbob for your great review. We are cruising in Sept. for our first time on the PG. We have done 24 other cruises on mostly Holland America and Celebrity and I know we are in for a treat. Can't wait for this cruise.

Do you have any suggestions for snorkeling excursions on Aitutaki , Tubuai or Rangirea?? What would you suggest doing on these islands? We love to snorkel. do you suggest booking through the cruise line or do an independent excursion? Are there vendors when you get to the port? thanks for any help you can offer. These boards are terrific. I have gotten so much great information from them.

Darlene

[gdlamberth]

Thought I'd add our impressions. Generally agree with Mikenbob, but a few divergences:

 

 

 

1. Still really haven't figured out what to do with a Butler. He does bring canapes every evening (but as others have said you can really get that in any suite). He does have our "standing order" for two pots of Cafe Au Lait every morning at 0700 and that seems to work nice. Far and away the best thing about our upgrade is the Location. Being the tightwad I am I'd never pay for them but I sure do enjoy the proximity to the pool deck and no one above us. the bigger balcony is a real plus also but that is somewhat driven by the fact that there are three of us.

 

2. Pre-Cruise Hotel at Le Mandarin. We did a one night pre-cruise at Le Mandarine and the minisuite for three was VERY nice ($170 or so). the location was about a 3 minute walk from the PG berth. I walked over to the Roulettes Friday evening so eating was easy. Saturday AM we walked around the Marche and had breakfast at a little coffee shop near the hotel. Very nice (fruit, bread and butter and coffee). PG would not let us on until 2PM but we were able to drop off our bags and continue our shopping.

 

3. Moorea. We rented a car on the beach (no advance reservations). Went to a Catholic church service near where the tender docked. The singing was fantastic and everyone was very warm and welcoming to the "strangers" from the PG. Driving around Moorea was great for us. We stopped and had a picnic lunch at Tamae Beach (ordered sandwiches from room service before we went to breakfast). I got lost behind the golf course so we wound up on some little point by the end of the airfield with a great view of Tahiti. couldn't find it again in a million years. There was some sort of strike action taking place at the Sofetiel so we didn't go in there.

 

3. Taha'a. Gretchen and I did the Drift Snorkel in the AM and Cheryl did the Pearl Farm and Vanilla tour before meeting us at Motu Mahana. the drift snorkel is some of the best I've seen but there was a bit of a current and spots were very shallow (I really had to suck it in to float over).

 

4. Bora Bora. Went to Bloody Mary's for a drink and got Gretchen and Cheryl into the men's room to get their picture with the "flushing device" on the men's urinal. (not for the under 18 crowd). Spent the afternoon at the Motu and had a get time. More good snorkelling and drinks.

 

5. Speaking of drinks. The piano lounge and La Palette are 3/4 or better full every night. It is particularly nice to have a mai Tai by the pool and not have to sign for it.

 

6. We have met the Crusie Critic Folks who posted here (Paulmichael and Uriah, Barefoot Fantasy, Catmommy, Martha and Dave, as well as Mike and Bob and Russell.

 

7. First Sea Day. Had our first Sea Day after Bora Bora and Gretchen had a bad day. More or less recovered by dinner though and the drugs had thoroughly kicked in by today.

 

8. Aitutaki. Ladies and gentlemen, this island is quite possibly the prettiest we've seen. we hiked up to the highest point (about as high as Flagstaff hill at Bay of Islands for those of you who've been there) and the view was a 360 degree killer! We could see most of the motus at Aitutaki and all the colors in the lagoon. Hiked on down to the Pacific Resort (it's about 1.2 miles from where the tender comes in) had lunch and went snorkelling off their beach. Had my first close encounter (water was only 3-4 feet deep all the way to the barrier reef) with a Moray Eel. Scared the sweet bejeezus out of me. After the paramedics got my heart re-started we walked back (part way along the beach). Could see the ship the entire way.

 

9. Some thoughts on the entertainment. The Gauguines are, of course, wonderful. However, they no longer sing and dance during dinner. Hina, one of the Gauguines, has played for tea a couple of times and that's quite nice. There is also a lady piano player/singer named Manon who plays in either the Piano Bar or La Palette before and after dinner. Maybe not great but definitely a pleasure to listen to ('cuse the crappy grammar). Karen (missed the last name) does a show where she imitates a variety of female singers (Cher, Reba McIntyre, and such). That was also entertaining. Siglo is good but seems to have lost something since last time. Still good and fun but just not WOW! anymore.

 

10. Guest Lecturers. So far we've had Estelle Davies from the Ocean Futures Society, Mark Eddowes (Polynesian anthropologist) and a Normand Casse( I think that is his name) who's an astronomer and does star shows from the 9th deck on sea nights. All in all, I'm pretty impressed and have found all these guys quite good and entertaining.

 

11. Special events. We've had a dance troupe come on in Bora Bora the evening we left; A dance show on shore when we arrived at Aitutaki; and a Dance troup come on as we left Rarotonga tonight. Our "Gold" event was an invitation for Champagne and canapes on the bridge as we sailed out of Taha'a. There were about 8 of us and we all thought it was very nice. Cheryl and a couple of other guests got to steer for a few minutes; Gretchen got to turn on the running lights. Very nice.

 

12 Dining (part 1). I said part 1 because I suspect I'll add to this as we go along. Overall food as been very good. Asian day sashimi was particularly good. The Salmon of all things was wonderful. A bit like eating butter. The tuna and smoked Marlin were also very good. Only real negative on food was Cheryl had a piece of string in her Udon that day at lunch. Only thing I can think of is that's how bundles of dried Udon are tied together and a piece wound up in the pot! Ngaire, I had lamb chops this AM and there were wonderful.

 

13. Service. Gretchen broke a guitar string on the first day and didn't have a replacement. Hina ( the lead guitarist in the Gauguines) tried to fix with one of her strings but her only spare broke also. She cut herself on the wire in the string when it broke and said, "S**t!" I asked why of all the habits we Americans have she picked up that vulgarity. She calmly explained to me that "s**t" was a French word too! Imagine my surprise to discover that I've known a bit of French all these years! Overall though I agree the service is spotty.

 

14. Dining Part 2. I realize I did a bit of a diservice to the dining here when I didn't mention a couple of items. First, I had the Lamb Chops in La Veranda the night we ate there and they were fantastic. Second, we've had two (so far) truly excellent fish dishes: a grilled moonfish and last night we had the Halibut baked with an herb and sun dried tomato crust. Two nights ago we dined at Le Grille and the I thought the menu was far better than four years ago. I had the fish with Tahitian spices and it was very nice; chunks of moonfish, scallops and shrimp cooked in a coconut/lime/vanilla/ginger sauce. I thought it was very tasty.

 

15. Rarotonga. We had arranged a tour to the Cook Island Cultural Center over the internet. The car they sent met us at the wharf and took us to the Center (Brian joined us for the outing) where we had a very interesting 3 hour tour/lunch and show. The lunch and show were good but not quite PG; but the tour was excellent. We went though several huts or (long houses) each focused on a different aspect of Cook Island culture (one on clothing and how to make it; one on fishing; one on medicine; one on farming; etc.). As we left Raro a dance group came out and performed on the ship. They brought their small children so we had a show similar to the Children of Raitea show on most 7 day cruises.

 

16. Trivia! Brian and his team won the first triva contest and Gretchen, Cheryl and I (with a lot of help from "Bill") won the second one. No more little white chips. Winners received their choice of a nice Regent Visor (suitable for golf outings), a nice suede looking tote bag, or a really nice framed (4'x6") photo album.

 

17. Available selections:

- Sugar, Sweet 'N' Low, Equal, and Splenda

- Coke, Pepsi, regular, diet and caffine free

- lamb Chops, minute steak and eggs Benedict every morning along with made to order omelets

- Orange Pekoe, Dajarleing, Earl Grey, English Breakfast (all regular and de-caffinated) and a variety of herbal.

- If anyone has any particular questions post right up!

 

Greg

[mikenbob]

We are on one of the sea days today and it is VERY windy! Had a quick rain shower mid-day, but otherwise sunny. Agree with the additional posts...most of the experiences are very subjective, so the enjoyment is in the eyes of the beholder. All in all, we are having a terrific time!

 

As for excursions, we had arranged for bicycles to be on board for us. As such, we have biked on each of the islands so far. Unfortunately, we have had flat tires on the last two islands which have been a bit of a hassle. We may rent mopeds on the remaining stops. Ironically, the good simaritan on Aiutaki to rescue us was also the leader of the dance troup to come on board in Rorotonga (she called two from our group up to make them dance in front of the audience....very funny!). Did the Waverunners in Bora Bora (love this excursion, have done it before and will do it again). The sunset sail in Moorea was canceled, so cannot comment. We are working with the cruise concierge to try to arrange a sailing trip in Fiji. Will probably also do the rain forest hike in Fiji. We have scheduled five different spa days and all of the treatments have been great...especially the aroma therapy and stone massages.

 

Agree with the sentiments about the butlers (we have had one both trips), however he has been very quick to respond to requests for coffee, mixers and garnishes (one of our cabins is the front of the boat suites and a great place to watch sunrise/sunset) and handles some other small details (laundry/dry cleaning, extra towels, etc.). All of these things could be handled by someone else, but it is nice to establish a relationship with one person versus a group of people. Is it worth it? That is based on your perception of value...he is to us.

 

Time to get ready for cocktails. Happy Memorial Day to all!

[Texed]

Greg,

Thanks for the review. We have most of our excursions picked out for our June 3rd cruise, but if anything really sticks out on any of the islands, let us know. :)

[Texed]

We are on one of the sea days today and it is VERY windy! Had a quick rain shower mid-day, but otherwise sunny.

 

Did the Waverunners in Bora Bora (love this excursion, have done it before and will do it again).

 

We hope you made it through the very windy day OK.

We are going to do the jet boat in Bora Bora, and the wave runner in Moorea. I hope they work out well for us. :)

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I'm glad you are having a great cruise. Sorry to hear that the Gauguines no longer sing during dinner.

[canadagal]

Has the itinerary changed any?? I was looking on Regent's website and Friday June 1 is listed as Suva.......I thought it used to be listed as Yasawa. It's still listed as Yasawa on the other cruise dates to follow. I find this confusing. Also, under Yasawa it only lists scuba diving for that day. Can you let us know what and where you are going on Friday June 1st and what's offered as a shore excursion.

Enjoying reading all of the reviews so far.

Thanks, Pat

[Ladybugdm]

So what is the exchange rate they currently have on board? I'm wondering if I'm better off getting some XFPs here in the US or waiting until I'm on board.

[minxtabb]

Could you find out what the water temperature is/has been for me as we'll be diving alot (hopefully) and need to know what to bring with us.

 

also, any "not to be missed" moments, on board or ashore.

 

thanks so much,

 

Roz

[micked10@earthlink.net]

We are going on the 14 day cruise in Sept. on the PG. Would you recommend making dinner reservations ahead of time for La Veranda or just waiting until we board? If we made them ahead of time are there any nights better than any other ones? Also, what shore excursions would you do in Aitutaki and Tubuai?

The trip reports are great and give us a good picture of what to expect.

Thanks,

Darlene

[Texed]

Has the itinerary changed any?? I was looking on Regent's website and Friday June 1 is listed as Suva.......I thought it used to be listed as Yasawa. It's still listed as Yasawa on the other cruise dates to follow.

Thanks, Pat

 

Canadagal,

That was very observant of you. Also, their map is still listed with Yasawa. :confused:

[canadagal]

Yes Texed, it is a little puzzling isn't it? I know new itineraries are sometimes rejigged closer in and that's why I was asking. When Yasawa was first listed last year it had several other excursions listed and now it just has diving so I'm wondering if it's an itinerary change or just that the website is not reflecting the true excursions, area etc. Hoping someone onboard can clear it up.

Pat

[mikenbob]

Deleting duplicate message.

[mikenbob]

We docked in Tonga today (no tenders) and it is not the best port in the world. This area is not really set up for tourists and the shipped warned us to not eat the local food due to poor hygene on the island. We rode bikes this morning (until yet another flat tire ended the excursion) and got to see quite a bit of the island. A lot of poverty, but everyone was very friendly. We came back to the harbor and contracted with a taxi to take us to the local sites (an area with a lot of bats and a beach "resort" known as Good Samaritan). I use the term resort VERY loosely! :)

 

The sea days have been fun with a lot of planned activities. Yesterday we had a Tahitian County Fair on the pool deck with each of the ship's departments hosting fun games like a US country fair (i.e. ring toss, ball toss to knock down cans, and such). The passengers voted for the department with the best game and the best decorations...silly, but a lot of fun. The bar staff won hands down! Tonight they are having a Pacific Idol contest (think American Idol) with the crew singing to be the prize winner...should be fun, too!

 

Yesterday at sea was quite a rock and roll experience! The ship was all over the place, but not especially trecherous. We leave at 4:30 this evening (in a couple of hours) and hopefully the seas will have settled down a bit as we head to Fiji.

 

There has been a minor change in schedule to accomodate a refuleing stop. I would not imagine that it will affect those of you in the return cruise to Papeete and it not big deal for anyone on this cruise, either.

 

As for the water temperature, it has varied based on where we are, but have not heard any complaints from the scuba divers.

 

We are going on the rainforest hike in Fiji (not sure which island) and also on a private sailing excursion in a day or so, so will let you know about these. I think that answers all the questions so far.

 

Oh, regarding the exchange rate....there is very little to spend money on off the ship and everyone takes U.S. currency or credit cards. I would not worry about bringing any local currency from home. There are ATM machines everywhere if you must have some local currency.

[Texed]

Mikenbob,

Thanks for the update. :)

[gdlamberth]

Until today in Tonga water has been running 25-27 degrees C. InTonga RSSC set up a free shuttle from the pier to the town. We were dropped at the Post Office. The main market is an easy walk and there will be Taxi drivers willing to take you around the island to see everything the ship's Circle the Island tour sees. Agree with Mikenbob about poverty and currency. However I would say seeing the "Blowholes" is worth the trip. It isn't a single blowhole like in Hawaii; it's several miles of coastline with hundreds of separate blowholes. Pretty phenomonal, we thought. Our taxi driver took us to an ongoing archeological dig being conducted by Dr. Jeff Clark of the National University of Austrailia. Seems our driver had driven Jeff and some of his crew around so he knew them and they let us into their site and Dr. Clark took time to give us a 10-15 minute overview of their project. Basically, they're trying to get this site named a World Heritage site. Anyway, it was quite interesting and Dr. Clark and Mark Eddowes (the antropologist on the ship) know each others work so I think Mark is going to try to get linked up with Jeff on the return trip.

 

Greg

[catmommy]

Has the itinerary changed any?? I was looking on Regent's website and Friday June 1 is listed as Suva.......I thought it used to be listed as Yasawa. It's still listed as Yasawa on the other cruise dates to follow. I find this confusing. Also, under Yasawa it only lists scuba diving for that day. Can you let us know what and where you are going on Friday June 1st and what's offered as a shore excursion.

Enjoying reading all of the reviews so far.

Thanks, Pat

 

Ports had to change due to obtaining fuel for the ship. We are now going to Savusavu, Suva and Malolo (sp on that last one.)

 

So far I would have to agree with everything Mike and Bob have said.

 

Service can be a bit odd at dinner since I think the waiters are very busy and rushed. Also they seem to be having a problem with turnover; we have been eating later and later because when we get to the dining room there is a wait for a table for two. So far the waits have not been long but yesterday I actually heard the Maiter 'd ('scuse my spellin') tell two folks that La Veranda had open tables.

 

I'm not sure if the problem is that folks are lingering at dinner, something Bill and I don't do, or they expected more folks to eat in groups, or if they are having groups that eliminate their two tops.

 

But this is all really minor. So far the cruise has been great. We had one bad weather day and that was yesterday at Tonga. It was very cloudy and "cool" with spotty rain.

 

Btw, Tonga is my least favorite part so far; the people are very poor and I don't think the capital has recovered from the riots of last year. But the people are very friendly and are very willing to bargain when buying which you don't see elsewhere.

 

I'll do a more detailed review later.

 

Bye!

Caroline/catmommy

[catmommy]

We are going on the 14 day cruise in Sept. on the PG. Would you recommend making dinner reservations ahead of time for La Veranda or just waiting until we board? If we made them ahead of time are there any nights better than any other ones? Also, what shore excursions would you do in Aitutaki and Tubuai?

The trip reports are great and give us a good picture of what to expect.

Thanks,

Darlene

 

I would make some before because you can always change them onboard. I actually thought that the food was better in the main dining room that La Veranda but that was just my taste. I'd say any day would be good. As for reservations at Le Grill I would pick a day when you are anchored. I choose a sea day and it way very windy in Le Grill. Because of the way the tables are set up they try and have them behind the "wind break" of the windows but stuff was still flapping around.

 

Good luck!

Caroline

[gdlamberth]

Some additional random thoughts on our Last Sea Day.

 

18. Itinerary Change. Some of you noticed that we had to change the itinerary a bit on this cruise. Due the the inability to reliably get fuel in Lautoka, we are now stopping in Suva and will substitute Malalo for Yasawa. Bottom line we loose an overnight in Lautoka and add a stop in Suva; and swap one outer island for another.

 

19. County Fair. The ship staged a "county Fair" on our sea day prior to Tonga with games put on by al of the ship's departments (very similar to what we had on the Auckland to LA trip on Mariner two years ago. Lots of fun and we won another bag full of goodies.

 

20. Had an impromptu lunch with Claudia the Cruise Director at Le Grill our day in Tonga. She explained that the reason the Les Gauguines don't dance in the dining rooms any more has to do with the revamping of the ship that added a lounge (the Piano Bar) that required entertainment. At the same time the number of entertainers and musicians has remained the same. The results in some of the Gaugines supporting lunge shows and therefore they've eliminated the dining room dancing. Turns out Claudia's husband in the Hotel Director on Voyager right now.

 

21. Last night we had dinner with Estelle Davies (the Ocean Futures Society lecturer), Karen (the hostess/singer who runs all the Trivia and other games), and Vivian Guzman the Flutess from Chile who is on board. Very nice. At the SSS reception Claudia recognized by name all of the Gold members on board. There weren't as many as I might have guessed (or maybe they just didn't attend).

 

22. The Les Gauguines did a show night before last and as it came to pass I got to dance with Repeta. She's been on the PG for 6 years so some of you may know her. After she took off my glasses and shirt we did the "push the apple, push the pear, push the banana, grind the coffee" routine. Mercifully, neither Gretchen, nor Cheryl brought their cameras.

 

Tomorrow we dock in Savusavu. I'll try to post once more prior to getting off the ship and will be happy to answer any questions upon our return.

 

Greg

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Yes, I remember Claudia, her husband and she were both on Pip. Presumably the move by the Gauguines means you can go to a lounge around dinner time and see them perform--that's not too shabby!

 

Glad you are having a good time, and I hope the itinerary changes work out well.

[Texed]

Greg and Caroline,

Thanks for the info. :)

[canadagal]

Thanks Caroline and Greg! Enjoy the rest of your cruise and wishing you sunny, warm days.

Pat