Just Back from 17 Night Australia-Tahiti on the Newly Refurbished Ship

I will try and write a trip report but here is a brief synopsis:

The ship looks great with new carpeting throughout, newly upholstered furniture, etc. Staff are great, as always. The trip was challenging due to a one day delay in getting out of drydock coupled with some nasty weather. Our trip was changed a lot to include some different ports in order to avoid the worst of tropical storms and a cyclone.

Food, drink, service, etc. was first class. They changed the head of the diving service since our last cruise and the new dive master did not communicate well with us about diving options which were complicated due to constant changes in our itenerary. This is not important to many but to a diver this was a significant issue. More concerning was despite requesting both the concierge manager and the cruise director to schedule a discussion with the dive master and intersted divers (they verbally agreed that this would be a good idea) they never held the meeting. At one island some got to dive but the excursion was never listed or advertised.

The end of the trip in French Polynesia was spectacular as the weather cooperated and Bora Bora, Taha'a and Moorea were fabulous.

Any questions, feel free to ask.

Looking forward to your sailing review....

Chuck

Welcome back! Also waiting for the full review.

Likewise, looking forward to the review. There are 4 of us - 1st time PG cruisers - leaving on the 10 day Mar. 14 sailing. We've been booked since early May, so really anxious now to get there.

Will eagerly await your review of this unique itinerary, FlightMedic.

Would also welcome any tidbits that you may have gleaned about their new ship Moana.

We did receive their schedule for their new ship but without pricing or any details. They will be sailing the Carribean and Central/South America during the winter season here and then shift to the Med for our summer.

Where can we view the schedule?

Thanks!

Any Amazon cruises on the Moana?

Is Mark still the anthropologist lecturerer? He was so good last year.

Mark was on board and was a guest spearker on a number of occasions.

I am not sure if the new ships schedule is on their web site yet but I do have a copy of it. No amazon cruises that I see.

I will try and write a trip report but here is a brief synopsis:

 

The ship looks great with new carpeting throughout, newly upholstered furniture, etc. Staff are great, as always. The trip was challenging due to a one day delay in getting out of drydock coupled with some nasty weather. Our trip was changed a lot to include some different ports in order to avoid the worst of tropical storms and a cyclone.

 

Food, drink, service, etc. was first class. They changed the head of the diving service since our last cruise and the new dive master did not communicate well with us about diving options which were complicated due to constant changes in our itenerary. This is not important to many but to a diver this was a significant issue. More concerning was despite requesting both the concierge manager and the cruise director to schedule a discussion with the dive master and intersted divers (they verbally agreed that this would be a good idea) they never held the meeting. At one island some got to dive but the excursion was never listed or advertised.

 

The end of the trip in French Polynesia was spectacular as the weather cooperated and Bora Bora, Taha'a and Moorea were fabulous.

 

Any questions, feel free to ask.

Flight Medic,

This is very upsetting, as divers we have planned this as the focus of our July 11 trip to Society and Tuamotu Islands. It is one of the trips with Jean Michel Cousteau aboard. I hope the problem was the unreliability of the weather and itinerary on your unique trip. If you have any recommendations I'd appreciate it. Hopefully they will have

this ironed out by July.

I am not sure if the new ships schedule is on their web site yet but I do have a copy of it. No amazon cruises that I see.

Went to the web site and they now show the Moana as a second ship under the drop down "Our Ships". They ask you to fill out a simple form for more information. But as a curious soul, did the schedule have the number of days and the locations???

Thanks!

Let me know what months you are interested in as I do have the schedule without pricing. Some examples

12/29/2012 Carribean Roundtrip St. Martin 7 nights

1/19/2012 Panama Canal from St. Martin ending in Costa Rica 14 nights

1/25, 1/31, 2/6, 2/12 and 2/18 6 night Panama Canal cruises to or from Ouerto Caldera ending in Calon Panama, or the reverse

I was also on the just finished cruise. Interesting to say the least but all in all a great time and met great new friends and a few WACKOS. More soon.

Larry

Let me know what months you are interested in as I do have the schedule without pricing. Some examples

 

12/29/2012 Carribean Roundtrip St. Martin 7 nights

1/19/2012 Panama Canal from St. Martin ending in Costa Rica 14 nights

1/25, 1/31, 2/6, 2/12 and 2/18 6 night Panama Canal cruises to or from Ouerto Caldera ending in Calon Panama, or the reverse

Interested in anything they may be scheduling in the March/April time frame.

Thanks for your help.