Review: Society Island and Tuamotus, Oct 2-12

I forgot to mention two additional super yachts that we sighted during this cruise. I have an interest in these things, so I photographed each and noted their names so I could look them up once I got home.

In addition to the mega sailing sloop "Encore" spotted in Huahine and mentioned above, we saw the motorized super yacht "Latitude" at anchor in Rangiroa. She can be yours for just $145,000 per WEEK, plus fuel and provisions! http://www.boatbookings.com/yacht_search/yacht_view.php?pid=3442

And in Bora Bora, we saw the "Arctic P" at anchor, with a huge inflatable waterslide that extended from the pilot house to the water ... about 3-4 deck's worth! This boat turns out to be a converted salvage tug that now operates part-time as an expedition yacht for EYOS Expedition Yacht Charters. When not doing ice tours in Antarctica on polar tours, she does super-luxury diving expeditions in French Polynesia. http://www.yachtspotter.com/ysp2_ycard.php?foo=20060926

Desertskies:

Outstanding review so far! You've provided an accurate and comprehensive analysis of our voyage and many of our experiences and thoughts as well. I look forward to reading the remainder. My DH will be very happy with the links you provided wrt those beautiful yachts we saw - still dreaming about having happy hour on The Encore ;-).

One correction though: you have given me far too much credit. WhenCanWeGo (Beverly) organized the tours with Marc (and several others), I just coordinated the meeting place on the first day. Thanks Beverly for all your efforts!

Desertskies, I agree. Thank you for the detailed review. I am generally a quiet person, though I enjoy other's company, so it will be interesting to see how the small ship experience goes for my wife and I. Hopefully it will be similar to yours. She's the talkative one between us. :) I prefer to go off the beaten path when on vacation and be adventurous. It sounds like Dr. Poole's trip would suit my tastes. How did you schedule the trip with him? I've done a little searching, but the threads 've found so far haven't indicated how people get in contact with him since his website doesn't have contact info.

I am also a diver, though relatively new to the activity. I am very much looking forward to your review. I got my OW certification in June and my AOW certification in August. I've been on a few dives in the Gulf off of Tampa and in the Bahamas so far and expect to dive in Grand Cayman or Cozumel in January. The Bahamas dives were amazing!

Thrilled for you, DesertSkies!

What an excellent and keynote review!

I think Family's review is of the 7 day cruise and yours of the 10 should be stored in a special folder for reference of both repeaters and newbies. It will be a great resource in years to come.

Its great to hear about the Moorea event with local families coming on board. The 7 day trip has the lovely children of Raiatea performing and locals have performed for us in Fiji and Tonga on those trips as well. This is what makes the PG special and I am so pleased that these things are continued and extended. When we were on the PG in february we really enjoyed the Polynesian night with the lovely flowers. After dinner at L'Etoile there was an impromptu dancing contest just outside the piano bar between Mr Tahiti ( cannot recall his name) and one of the guests. The guest gave him a real run for his money!

The PG brings the spirit of Polynesia on board so you are brought into their homes and culture and I hope this spirit is not lost in their quest for other things.

We were just talking yesterday about our earlier trips on the PG and the lovely on deck parties we had sailing into Bora Bora and Moorea. We dont always attend these any more but next year when we are on the repeaters I will make it a point to do so. Of course we shall certainly miss Siglo singing Africa when we are exiting Tahaa but maybe we can ask Santa Rosa to start their own tradition.

Thanks, Chris, for the clarification. And thanks, Beverly, for your efforts in organizing independent tours.

RZ3, thank you for bringing up a good point regarding Dr Poole's Whale Watching Tour. The excursion is offered directly through PG and can be booked well in advance of sailing. HOWEVER, The PG website has some serious deficiencies, one of which is an inability to book excurions online. You will need to call PG AT THE TIME YOU MAKE FINAL PAYMENT, no later, and start bugging them about booking the excursion. Then they will begin taking reservations, beginning about 60 days before departure ... they were very sketchy about this prior to my trip. But if you are persistent, you will get on the list. If you wait until just before the cruise or until boarding, the excursion is almost certain to be sold out. It is hugely popular, and for good reason. So be early, be aggressive, and be persistent.

Diving Rangiroa and Fakarava makes diving in the Bahamas feel like merely glancing at an aquarium at PetCo! Rangiroa and Fakarava are both "National Geographic" experiences! Videos forthcoming after I write the dive review this afternoon.

Emdee, thank you for the compliments. I do enjoy writing my review.

RZ3

In case you are in a group you can book Dr Poole in advance though he will only give you an afternoon slot. I have booked him for the repeaters cruise already.

If you need his email let me know.

Miriam

When reading your review I noticed you brought up the "cousins" issue a few times. This is pretty standard on many tours and guess what ....... it probably really was their cousin as so many on the islands can go back to a common relative ;)

On Bora Bora you mentioned the Le Meriden Hotel as your favorite. The Le Meriden would be a 4 star property and some of the smallest rooms of the resorts on Bora Bora. I've been to them all, here is my list in no particular order.

5 Star

Four Seasons Resort - most Polynesian of the 5 star resorts

St Regis - #1 for luxury

Thalasso - Best spa, very large suites - easiest access to the main island

4 Star

Hilton Nui - Good snorkeling, easy access to main town

Pearl Beach - The "classic" view of the mountain (the ones you see on the post cards)

Le Meridian - recently renovated

Le Moana - great location for cafes, shops & close to snorkeling (Sofitel Motu)

Sofitel Motu - recently renovated, good views, good snorkeling on the backside and easy access to shops & cafes

On Moorea you said they had many high end resorts. Only 4 water front resorts on Moorea, much less than Bora bora.

$200 for use at the IC Moorea? Seems high. Most often the price if booked direct is $75 - $125 depending on the resort and their is always a credit back for meals.

Loved the review, just wanted to add something so others don't get the wrong idea on a few items.

Thanks, TikiInTahiti. My review contains my impressions, and in some cases repeats rumors that went around. I did not attempt to verify the rumors, and impressions are quite subjective. For example, with regard to resorts, I never use spa facilities, so they do not factor in my impression. And the size of the room is, for me, as a solo traveler, seldom a concern (the size of the bathroom matters more). And assessment of "luxury" is dependent on where you are coming from. To me, ANY hotel in French Polynesia is "luxurious" simply by virtue of its location. And I have simple tastes. A firm bed, large firm pillows, a large TV for after dark, and a comfortable chair, and I am happy. I am often more impressed by simple rustic decor using native materials than I am by fru-fru imported silk or velvet upholsteries, hand-blown glass vases, and thousand-dollar bedside lamps. What impressed me about the Meridien was its location and the view from its bungalows. I don't know that I even saw the Sofitel (as I said, waverunners require a lot of straight-ahead concentration), but it does sound very good. Four resorts on Moorea is "many", at least to the extent that Taha'a, Rangiroa, and Fakarava have only one or two ... or none. Again, my review is very subjective and influenced by my own personal tastes and preferences, but I do appreciate the counterpoint of a Tahiti fan.

DINING AND FOOD ON THE M/S PAUL GAUGUIN

I am double-posting this topic in a thread separate from this more-general review, in part because I am a bit of a “foodie”, and in part because food was one of my main concerns as I approached the planning of a cruise with PG. Food on cruise ships can run the gamut from very good to very, very bad, and once on board there are not a lot of alternatives if the food is bad. My own previous cruise experience has been with Cunard, mostly transatlantic (more than a dozen times), and the food has usually been very, very good. But we all know that excellent food starts with excellent ingredients, and Cunard has ready access to the best provisioning resources at its New York and Southampton ports. Paul Gauguin, on the other hand, has some serious logistical challenges for provisioning, since their home port is Papeete, Tahiti, well removed from any major landmass.

For example: There is no fresh milk available in French Polynesia. My tour through the local grocery store confirmed that you simply cannot buy a bottle of cold, fresh milk. That may sound like “no biggie”, since many adults do not drink milk by the glass. But what about milk for your morning bowl of cereal? For cooking? Cream for your coffee? Whipped cream for desserts? The only liquid dairy products (milk, cream) available in French Polynesia are all “Ultra Heat Treated”, or “UHT”. The treatment process destroys all of the micro-organisms normally found in fresh milk, so that the product can be packaged in flat-sided boxes (like juice and wine boxes) and stored at room temperature for up to 18 months. This allows for time-consuming shipment by ocean-going vessels from the nearest land mass (US, New Zealand, Australia) to FP. The drawback is that UHT milk is utterly unpalatable as a straight drinking beverage. It even tastes bad over cereal. Whipped cream made with UHT cream is likewise ... well, just plain nasty.

Similarly, there is no commercial-scale meat production in French Polynesia. So how do they get fresh red meat (beef, lamb)? They do not. Instead, meat is shipped in by sea, frozen solid and vacuum packed, with the beef coming from the US and the lamb from New Zealand. So the steak or lamb chop you have on board may have been heavily processed and frozen solid for 2 or 3 weeks, minimum, before it reaches the table in L’Etoile or La Verandah. And that is perhaps the reason way I heard a number of complaints about the non-fish main dishes in the evenings ... the meat is not of the freshest and best quality owing to restrictions imposed by the logistics of provisioning.

On the “plus side”, PG has ready access to some of the tastiest tropical fruits imaginable, all grown locally and most of it truly “vine ripened”. You have not tasted a banana until you have tasted one that went yellow while still on the tree! Likewise, the fish is all locally sourced and is about as fresh as you can get, short of cooking it while still on the boat that caught it!

There are three evening dining options on board. The main dining room, L’Etoile, is “open seating” and does not require reservations for dinner. The menu in L’Etoile changes daily, though there are two main course options that remain constant. More below on the individual dishes.

La Verandah is intended to be more elegant, and the menu is unchanging for each of two halves of the cruise. The menu itself is divided into two halves, both consisting of French cuisine: one replicates dishes served in Chef Jean-Pierre Vigato’s very exclusive Michelin-starred Paris restaurant, Apicius; the other is adapted to French Polynesia (though it is still very French). The descriptive text on the menus stipulates that the two versions were carefully selected to create a total dining experience and absolutely no substitutions are allowed. This led to considerable confusion, since it implied that you had to choose one of the two menus and stick only to the dishes offered on that specific menu. In fact, you can pick and choose dishes from BOTH menus, having a starter from one, a salad from the other, etc. But this is not clear from the menu, and my waiters did not volunteer the information (those at neighboring tables sometimes did, however). Unfortunately, I was not feeling well on the one night I ate in La Verandah (see Incidents and Accidents in the main review), so I cannot fairly comment on the food, other than to say that the Vanilla Crème Brûlée was the best I’ve ever had ... and it was a huge portion.

Le Grille is an open-air restaurant created each evening by re-decorating the buffet area on the pool deck. It too has a menu that does not change for half of the cruise. The fare is lighter and in some ways more adventurous, with lots of local dishes. I tried the seared scallops appetizer, but I am sorry to report that the scallops were grossly undercooked. In fact, I am a little suspicious that they were the source of my little stomach bug, since it began the following day. Despite that one flaw, the Caesar’s Salad was superb, if a bit tiny, and the duck was amazing. For dessert, a banana split, appropriately undersized and made with those incredible tree-ripened local bananas (and the nasty UHT whipped cream ... easy enough to remove). The service in Le Grille was simply outstanding, both at dinner and during the day.

On the whole and beyond my two evening meals in the specialty restaurants, the food on the PG was very good. There were some real standouts and pleasant surprises, but also one or two real misses. Let’s tackle this topic in the order of breakfast, lunch, then dinner......

How can you not do well with breakfast? Short of the above-mentioned fresh milk issue, it’s almost foolproof. I did have breakfast via room service on three mornings, as noted elsewhere in the general review, and it was very good every time. When I ate breakfast in a dining area, I opted for Le Grille every time. No better way to start the day than out on deck looking at the blue waters and green mountains! The breakfast buffet in Le Grille is extensive, with a wide range of choices in juices (the orange juice is tastier than anything I’ve had in the US), cereals, fruits, cheeses, and cold-cut meats. There is an omelet station, but the one omelet I had tasted so bad that I had to ask the waiter if the eggs were real or powdered (they are real). Odd, since the fried eggs tasted great. And there are lots of fresh pastries that change daily. PG has an excellent bread and pastry maker! The chocolate croissants were amazing.

Lunch was, for me, likewise always in Le Grille. I quickly came to look forward to lunch each day, since the menu is done to a theme. For our first day, the theme was English Pub Lunch. Odd as that may sound for a ship in French Polynesia, I must say I was very impressed. I’ve been eating pub lunches in the UK regularly for 25 years, and the PG pub lunch was as good as or better than many of those! The fish and chips were very authentic, and came complete with Heinz-brand dark malt vinegar for the chips. Mushie peas (a very “English” dish), Cornish pasties (best I’ve ever had!), and trifle for dessert. The only “miss” on this menu was the “vegetarian shepherd’s pie”. Just a bunch of sliced veggies in a heavy cream sauce with a very thin layer of mashed potatoes on top. Even with this one first-day miss, I was already hooked on Le Grille for lunch.

Other lunch themes included Indian, Italian, Greek, Polynesian, Asian, and American-ish. I am a HUGE fan of Indian food, to the extent that I have a set round of restaurants that I have to visit on each trip to London in order to fulfill my quota for authentic Indian dishes. Still, the chicken tandoori and lamb curry on PG were the best examples of those two dishes that I have ever had! Many other passengers shared my assessment, and we were all marveling at the tandoori for the remainder of the day. I was thrilled when the lamb curry made a second appearance later in the cruise on Asian day. The Italian and Greek menus were good, though Greek food is usually too heavy for my taste. The moussaka was excellent, as were the lamb kabobs, the spanakopita, and chicken in yogurt. And you could build your own pita pocket sandwich! A made-to-order pasta station (available on many other days as well) turned out simple but very tasty pasta dishes, and the pasta was never overcooked. The bow-tie pasta with creamy gorgonzola sauce was “to die for”! The Italian pizza had a crust that was perhaps too bread-like for my taste. For American food, we had BBQ ribs that were outstanding, especially considering that we were on a small ship in the remote South Pacific! The guacamole and chips were also outstanding. Sadly, the onion rings were doughy and very undercooked. And for some very odd reason, the chef chose to serve New England Clam Chowder as the soup of the day that day! I think of chowder as a winter dish, for warming up by the fire after a day out in the snow. Yet there we were, in 85 degree heat, melting in 75% humidity, and baking under an equatorial sun! I asked the Executive Sous Chef why they did not serve a cold soup, perhaps a refreshing gazpacho. He simply looked puzzled. But to PG’s credit, many of the subsequent soups of the day turned out to be cold fruit soups ... ever had banana soup? It’s delicious! And don’t miss the Tahitian Chicken with Pineapple and Peppercorns over rice on the Asian day! Another simple but amazing dish!

Dinner in L’Etoile – No reservations required, but the earlier you go, the less likely you are to have to wait for a table. It *does* fill up on some nights, and people had to wait in the Piano Bar until a table became available.

There were some real standouts in L’Etoile. As noted above under breakfast, PG has an excellent bread and pastry chef, and all of the dinner breads are made fresh on-board daily. The bread basket had at least 5 choices each evening, ranging from the standard baguette slice to fancy cheese rolls (amazing!), rye breads, barley breads, croissants, and others too numerous to remember. And thankfully, the butter is *not* UHT, since it can survive shipping without pre-treatment.

There are two pasta choices on the menu in L’Etoile each evening, and they can be ordered as either an appetizer portion or a main. There is also always one chicken breast and one New Zealand salmon main option, either of which can be served grilled, sauteed, or poached using any of the several sauces available elsewhere on that night’s menu. So if none of the mains appeal, you can create your own made-to-order chicken or fish! The menu also has excellent vegetarian options, something that is often difficult to find in land-based restaurants in the US. And for the health-conscious, there is a suggested “Light and Healthy” meal adapted from the rest of the menu, as well as a “No Salt Added” meal option.

Outstanding dishes:

· Spanakopita appetizer – one of the best spanakopitas I’ve ever had

· Cream of cauliflower soup – in general, the soups are all outstanding

· Cold banana soup – sounds bizarre, but very tasty

· Vegetable spring rolls – served with a tiny watermelon salad, a nice contrast

· Shrimp escabeche with onion and coriander – amazing!

· Caramelized onion and gruyere cheese tart garnished with leek fondue – OMG, as the kids say! Though served by the small triangular slice, I could easily have eaten the entire tart! Superb!

· Indian tomato rasam broth – another simply stellar dish that was both an excellent soup and an Indian dish!

· Roast rack of lamb (really two lamb chops) with herb crust, ratatouille, green beans poached in a bacon sleeve, and gratinated potatoes. The lamb was perfectly cooked. I could have eaten three servings of the ratatouille.

· Moon fish filet with rosemary-onion sauce – no idea what a moon fish looks like, but it sure tasted good!

· Grilled mahi mahi with citrus butter, button and portobello mushrooms, snow peas, and shallots

In general, all of the fish dishes were superb. I have no idea what some of the fish actually *are*, such as wahoo/wahooi and moon fish, but they were all perfectly cooked and paired with sauces that complemented them very well indeed. And given the difficulties in sourcing beef, I found that it too was surprisingly good, despite the occasional complaints from others. There was the customary beef wellington and prime rib, as well as rib-eye steaks, roast beef, and veal osso buco. Pork was somewhat less evident, but did make appearances on a few nights as loin medallions with chanterelle and cappuccino sauce or honey dijon mustard cream sauce, and as Asian sweet and sour pork.

Misses:

· Cream of mushroom soup – almost black, tasted more like straight-up pureed portabellos, much too “earthy”

· Calamari fritti – this one should be a no-brainer since we were in FP, but the calamari rings were HUGE and rubbery

· Hush Puppies – the menu said “Corn Fritters(Hush Puppies)”. But those are two very different dishes. What was served was a corn fritter. Had the menu said simply “corn fritter”, this would have appeared on the “Outstanding” list. They were made mostly of flour with corn kernels added, varied in shape, and perfectly fried to a light golden brown. But true Southern Hush Puppies are not a fritter. Made from yellow corn meal and (ideally) buttermilk, they are properly egg-shaped and deep-fried to create a thick, crunchy, deep-brown exterior. No corn kernels are added, though Cajuns in southern Louisiana will sometimes add jalapeno bits. Hush puppies are traditionally served with fried catfish and accompanied by tartar sauce, while these corn fritters had an Asian sweet and sour cucumber dipping sauce. I later had a friendly discussion with Executive Chef and showed him how to make a proper Southern Hush Puppy!

Desserts – If there was any one area in which the food on PG suffered a “global failure”, this would have to be it. I was severely disappointed with the desserts, not only from the standpoint of execution, but also variety and creativity. Fruit compositions (tarts, pies, cakes) pre-dominated, as one would expect. But the pie and tart pastries were thick and heavy, not light and flaky. The nasty-tasting whipped cream ruined a number of desserts that might have otherwise been very good, especially anything with a cream filling (e.g.: Napoleons, trifles, eclairs, even mousse). Additionally, the portions were quite small, at least by US standards. It took three PG scoops of ice cream to equal a single scoop from Baskin Robbins. And when served from the buffet in Le Grille, everything tended to wilt or melt very quickly in the heat and humidity.

On a more positive note, the dinner menu in L’Etoile always included a clever ice cream dish, called a “coupe”. Though tiny in size (served in a half-sized martini glass), they included the “Amadeus Mozart” (vanilla ice cream with chocolate rum sauce and whipped cream), the “Bora Bora” (vanilla with pineapple compote, whipped cream, and toasted coconut), the “Denmark” (vanilla with chocolate sauce and almonds), the “Charlie Brown” (Rocky Road ice cream with caramel sauce and “lots of peanuts”), and the “Banana Boat” (vanilla ice cream with caramelized banana, pineapple compote, whipped cream, and toasted almonds), among others. And the visual presentation of the plated desserts was always outstanding, with lots of dribbles and swipes and dots of colorful fruit purees in artistic patterns.

Wines – a few past reviewers have been critical of the wines served on PG. I am not myself a wine drinker (never developed a taste for it), but I have to marvel at complaints when the wine is “free” (no extra charge for the basic service). I have lived in California for a total of 20 years, so I am at least passingly familiar with the California labels. And I recognized many on the PG, all of which are (I thought) considered reasonably good wines, though perhaps not true premium wines. In L’Etoile, the wines seemed to be almost evenly divided between Californian and French, with a generous dollop of Australian tossed in as well. Labels that I can actually remember include Huntington, Jacob’s Creek, Grgich, Puligny Montrachet, plus a lot of “Chateau” this-that-and-the-other. I tasted a few, and they were all good, at least to my uneducated and inexperienced palette. And the wine servers, though clearly (even to me) not true sommeliers, were at least able to offer an accurate basic description of the character of whatever they were serving. Maybe a true oenophile will offer a good review of the wines?

One last food-related observation, this one neutral : There was absolutely no fresh ground pepper to be had in any dining room on PG. All that was available was the powdered pepper in the ceramic shakers, something akin to serving Parkay with a fresh-baked brioche! On most cruise ships, including both Cunard and Princess, the waiters make a nuisance of themselves waving the 18-inch peppermill around the table. I asked about this, and was told by the Maitre-d’ that all but one of the PG’s peppermills had been broken over time, and they were awaiting replacements (“They’re on back order”). Rather than try to make due with just one, they opted to withdraw fresh-ground pepper until the new mills arrive. But I never really missed it.

A word about evening dining attire: I enjoy dressing up. We do not do that where I live (Palm Springs, CA) because the desert temperatures require keeping it light and simple. Suits on men and long dresses on women are just not comfortable when it is 105 degrees at midnight, as it often is during summer! So while some people “relax” on vacation and wear “comfortable” clothing, I do enjoy dressing up instead. Cunard transatlantic means tuxedos and evening gowns 3 or 4 nights out of 6, with suits and cocktail dresses on the other nights. PG is, quite rightly, considerably more relaxed in its dress code for evenings in the main dining rooms. No shorts allowed, though, and shirts with a collar are supposedly required for men. I was pleasantly surprised that 99% of the passengers on my cruise *did* put in the effort and dressed smartly every evening. True, I saw only one jacket and one tie on any man, but at least there were no flip-flops or Harley-Davidson t-shirts in the dining room (as on Princess cruises)! I did see one man turned away from the dining room for wearing shorts, and one man in a solid-colored collarless t-shirt inside L’Etoile, but they were rare exceptions. Of course, Hawaiian-style shirts were everywhere, almost like a quasi-official uniform for the cruise. But pair them with some nice trousers and a pair of good leather loafers and you look great. Women seem to do much better at dressing appropriately than most men, so I did not see any ladies who were under-dressed. Most looked quite elegant. So put forth a little effort, even if you are on vacation and do not want to dress up!

One other non-food issue deserves attention here: noise in L’Etoile. Because L’Etoile is at the stern and relatively low in the ship, it can get quite noisy from the propulsion system if the ship is underway. This is especially true when in the open straits between the Society Islands and the Tuamotus Archipelago. The ship’s propellers seem to generate cavitation that makes the entire stern of the ship vibrate, so much so that glasses tinkle together at the waiter’s stations. A few passengers found it mildly disturbing, but it is really nothing to worry about.

"What impressed me about the Meridien was its location and the view from its bungalows."

Here is a link to all the views from the major resorts.

Views

I'm enjoying your review. :)

DIVING WITH PAUL GAUGUIN

I am double-posting this topic in a thread separate from this more-general review, in part because diving is a specialized activity in which only a minority of PG passengers participate, and in part because the PG website is so sketchy on this particular subject.

I am a novice diver, having gotten my PADI certification in June 2013. I have had several dives in the Grenadines (Bequia, Tobago Cays, Union Island), as well as some diving 40 years ago when I lived in the Virgin Islands as a teenager. And those early years in the Caribbean definitely shaped how I see the underwater world. I remember Buck Island and St John’s Island (especially Trunk Bay) 40 yeara ago when the reefs were still healthy and colorful, and the fish abundant. But I did not know what to expect of French Polynesia. What I found there was amazing. And the diving offered through PG is probably the best way to dive in FP.

PG has a really first class setup, as far as I am concerned. It is true “concierge diving”, with almost everything handled for you. Laurent, Clement, Alexandre, and Thomas do all the equipment assembly and checks, the heavy lifting, and the post-dive disassembly. When you arrive at the ship’s drop-down marina for your dive, you will find a pre-loaded weight belt and the BCD with the full tank already attached. A tape label on top of the tank identifies the correct user. When it is time to head off to the dive site, PG personnel load everything in the dive boat. Nothing could be easier. They even rinse your wetsuit post-dive and store it for you throughout the cruise. In Rangiroa and Fakarava, we utilized a local provider, TopDive, and they were just as good as the PG staff, in every respect. I could not have been happier with the dive personnel.

And they are amazingly patient. No small thing when you consider the vast variety of skill levels, attitudes, personalities, and languages that they have to deal with every day. We had three people who were doing the open water portion of their PADI certification, as well as a couple of guys who had logged literally hundreds of dives each. Some folks borrowed everything from PG, while others arrived with their personal BCDs, regulators, and dive computers in hand. Most of the passenger-divers spoke English, though a handful were French-only. Most of the divers were very humble about their vast experience and went out of their way to make us novices feel comfortable, but one or two seemed to feel the need to showboat. Try that, and see what happens! One elderly lady (75-ish?) from California separated from the group immediately upon hitting the water and disappeared. She clearly wanted to go off on her own and do her own thing, solo. When we returned to the dive boat at the end of the dive, Laurent tore her a new one. And quite rightly so! With the reduced visibility at that particular site, no one could see her for at least half the dive. Had she gotten into trouble, she would have been toast. Interestingly, I never saw her dive again. I had to wonder whether it was her choice or PG’s?

But first things first: You can pretty much ignore the PG website when it comes to the topic of diving. The website is woefully inadequate in this respect, and sometimes even inaccurate. Instead, take the first opportunity you have after boarding to obtain a copy of the Diving Booking Form specific to your itinerary. For my trip, Society Islands and Tuamotus, the form offered many more dives than did the website. And the onboard PG dive personnel are able to provide far more detail ... ACCURATE detail ... about the various dives than does the PG website.

For example, for Bora Bora, the website lists Scuba Toopua and describes it in very general terms appropriate to a standard reef dive. Only one sentence, all but lost in the larger paragraph, mentions eagle rays. Yet the primary goal of this dive was specifically to look for eagle rays. Visibility at the site was poor compared to other sites, and small reef life was minimal. Unfortunately, on my dive we spotted only one ray, and that in the last 5 minutes of the dive. I came out of the water feeling let down, not because we had seen only one ray, but because the reef was so totally underwhelming. This was my first dive of the trip, and I became worried that diving in FP had been vastly overrated.

What the PG website does *not* list for Bora Bora is a dive called Scuba Anau, which I did as my second dive in Bora Bora. This dive has the specific goal of observing giant manta rays. The reef is a V-shaped one, and you enter the water near the apex. After going up and over the reef (again, not quite as lively as I expected, but better than Toopua), you descend to a white sand bottom. The object is to hover just above the bottom and watch for mantas entering the open end of the V. Apparently this specific reef formation is a favorite “cleaning station” for mantas, who swim in a circle within the V and close to the reef, allowing smaller fish to come up and nibble at the detritus on the manta’s skin. Within minutes, we began seeing mantas. The largest had about a 12-foot “wingspan”, the smallest about 9 feet. In total, we saw about half a dozen, some of which circled back for a second pass. And if you hide behind the coral, they cannot see you and may “fly” directly over your head at very close range. For my amateur video of this dive, see:

Our next stop was Rangiroa. Three dives were offered: one for the PADI-OW students (“Motu NuhiNuhi”), and two for “experienced” certified divers. No intermediate-level dives were offered. The first “experienced” dive was a single-tank dive outside the lagoon on the open-ocean side of the reef. The second was a 2-tank dive, also outside the reef, but with a drift in through the Passe de Tipatu, where the current is *very* swift. Both dives were supervised by TopDive rather than PG. The PG website describes these dives as “only for active, advanced divers who have a minimum of 50 dives and advanced certification”. Yet despite my lack of 50 dives and no advanced certification, Clement spontaneously suggested at our first meeting that I sign up for the 2-tank drift dive. I am definitely not one to take unnecessary risks, so I was *very* hesitant, especially since there were so many divers who *did* have the necessary certification and experience. I was deeply fearful of becoming what one earlier reviewer called “that guy”, the one who spoils it for everyone else by over-reaching his abilities and bringing an early halt to the dive. Both Laurent and Clement were very sensitive to my concerns. Clement suggested that he monitor me closely on the two dives in Bora Bora (Toopua and Anau) and offer an honest assessment of whether or not I could handle the 2-tank in Rangiroa. I must have been okay in Bora Bora, despite some hesitation in acclimatizing to the underwater experience, since they both said I was capable of doing the 2-tank at Rangiroa. Despite their vote of confidence, I was deeply anxious throughout the day before, and dang-near petrified on the day of, so much so that I almost canceled. (I should qualify this by saying that I am *not* timid by nature. I have rafted through the Grand Canyon over a 7-day period, gone up in hot air balloons and gliders, skied downhill in Colorado, and done all kinds of other risky things. My fear was not in regard to the dive itself as much as it was about being “that guy” and embarrassing myself.)

The dive itself was AMAZING! My particular TopDive dive leader, a local Polynesian, spoke almost no English but was very eloquent with hand gestures and grunts (and I speak a limited amount of French). He did a great job of pointing out the larger fish (black-tipped reef sharks, tuna, barracuda, one hawkbilled sea turtle, a couple of Napoleon wrasses, huge moray eels) by striking a metal rod on his tank to get our attention, then using various hand signals. The reef was very much alive, with some stunning coral formations. And the fish were straight out of a National Geographic documentary! The beginning of the dive was quite leisurely. The reef is really a steeply inclined wall of coral that drops away into an abyss with no visible bottom. Smaller fish populate the wall, and larger ones approach it from the deep. We saw a large number of huge schools of various fish, almost like solid walls of color moving through the water. But as we swam along, we could feel the current beginning to grab at us and to pull us forward ... and sometimes up or down. Then, before we knew it, we were at the mouth of the pass and well into the swift current. With absolutely no effort whatsoever, we were skimming over the reef faster than most adults can sprint. The dive leader kept striking a “Superman in flight” pose for our amusement. We covered several hundred yards in what seemed like mere seconds. It was a huge thrill ride! And Clement was correct: I completed the dive without a single hiccup (more on that later!). I did manage to video almost the entire dive, and it gives you a very good idea of how swift the current really was:

The surface interval was spent on shore at TopDive’s small facility. Hot outdoor showers to rinse off, proper toilets, hot tea and cold water, cookies, and lots of shade. Very nice.

The second dive was much like the first, except we did not repeat the drift (I seem to remember that the tide had changed direction by then).

All in all, Rangiroa was precisely what I had hoped for when imagining diving in French Polynesia.

Next up: Fakarava. This was another instance in which PG personnel more or less pushed some people to test their limits. Only Nitrox was offered, and many of us were not Nitrox certified. No matter, it seemed. Do it anyway, they said. So we did, and I did not notice any real difference. No special briefing was offered, though the experienced divers toting their own dive computers made quite a show before diving of measuring the O2 percentage coming out of the regulator. One of the TopDive dive masters said that TopDive is considering changing to Nitrox-only, since it is safer and reduces the risk of nitrogen-related issues. And again, the TopDive personnel were superb. My dive leader was a French woman in her late 20s who spoke excellent English.

Fakarava was very different from Rangiroa. To being with, we had spinner dolphins all around us before we got in the water, though they shied away once we got wet. And we did the surface interval on the dive boat in the open ocean rather than on shore. The swell was only 1-2 feet, but a couple of the divers still got seasick. Once underwater, it was still different from Rangiroa. The coral in Fakarava is more colorful and far more intricately shaped than in Rangiroa. And the fish-life! Exponentially more abundant and colorful! Far more large fish, too. Lots of black-tipped reef sharks that came much closer than those in Rangiroa, one large manta ray, more Napoleons.

Unfortunately, I had two issues on this dive. My Sony HDR AS-10 video camera, supposedly waterproof to 200 feet, leaked at some point, causing the lithium battery to swiftly corrode and destroy the camera’s electronics (never buy Sony products!). Fortunately, the data card survived, so I was able to save the recordings of the previous dives. But nothing from Fakarava. Just as bad, I suffered a baro-trauma to my right ear while descending on the first dive of the day. Relocating from the 10% humidity of the desert to the 75% of FP had messed up my sinuses (other divers beware!), making it difficult to clear my ears as I descended. Not wanting to be “that guy”, and finding a small ascent unhelpful, I literally forced the issue. Ended up with blood behind my eardrum and a visit to the ship’s doctor that evening. I wisely skipped the second tank and instead stayed on the dive boat and watched the spinner dolphins doing their characteristic spinning breaches.

The next available dives were in Moorea. I had planned to dive “The Ledges”, but obviously had to cancel (full refund given since I saw the ship’s doc). Several of the more experienced divers also canceled, some saying that the reef in Moorea was not very healthy and wanting Fakarava to be the last, best memory. I know of only one of the more enthusiastic divers who dove at Moorea. He apparently enjoyed it well enough, though he has limited dive experience. I believe they saw more turtles on this dive.

Diving with PG, as with probably any dive operator, is limited by the abilities of the individual members of your assigned dive group. PG does an excellent job of grouping divers, putting those of similar experience and ability in the same group and under an appropriate dive leader. Fearful as I was of being “that guy” who set the limit on everyone else’s experience, my fears proved misplaced. Others took up the burden. Obviously, there was the Disappearing Grandma in Bora Bora. But a surprising (to me) number of supposedly experienced divers gulped through their air in record time. In two separate instances, the dive leader struggled to maintain the planned bottom time by putting divers nearly out of air onto the leader’s octopus for as much as ten minutes. For the Fakarava Nitrox dive in particular, we had a bottom time of just 35 minutes. I came up with between 900 and 1000 psi still in my tank, but at least one person was below 500 and another close to it. The first was profusely apologetic, which helped, but still .... Given my earlier anxieties, I had honestly expected that *I* would be the one to run out of air first! Instead, I was pretty consistently among the “slow breathers”.

A few people also had buoyancy issues. You can see some of that in the videos I have posted on YouTube. Some kept bobbing upward, while others crashed into the bottom (you will see Clement use some very vigorous hand signals towards me on the Anau dive after I got so entranced by the mantas that I allowed myself to crash into the reef). The leaders did carry extra weight for parceling out, and were not the least bit hesitant about grabbing people and pulling them back down or adjusting the air in their BCD if the diver could not do that himself. Happily, Anau was my only issue with buoyancy, and that was just pure failure to pay attention on my part.

Quite a few people had equalization issues as well, another thing that appears clearly in the videos. Do not hesitate to ascend slightly at the beginning of the dive to equalize. All of the dive leaders were pretty patient with this. Had I not been in such a hurry myself, I probably could have avoided my own ear problem.

At the end of the cruise, the dive staff hosts a cocktail hour during which everyone receives the dive profiles for their log books and gets the necessary signatures and stamps. Laurent also ran a nice slideshow of photos from previous cruises and dives, pointing out and naming some of the coral and fish that we had seen on our own dives.

One last observation: Diving is a strenuous sport, and will wear you out quickly. Experienced divers know this, but novices may be less aware of the impact daily diving can have on your overall vacation experience. If you dive often during a PG cruise, drink less alcohol and get plenty of rest. Last thing you want is to wear yourself out underwater and be too tired to enjoy the things above water!

"The most unique entertainment was a pre-dinner “Block Party” event held early in the cruise. We were all invited to prop our cabin doors open at 6PM, gather in the hallway, and meet our neighbors." We did this on a Mediterranean cruise we took with Regent--lots of fun where we got to meet our wild and crazy neighbors from Australia. :D

Have enjoyed your detailed reports! Thanks for sharing.

Hi fellow 10/2 cruisers. It's good to be home, but better to be aboard the PG (where I didn't do the cooking or the cleaning up)!

We very much enjoyed the food and wine aboard, especially because we got to know Kelly, the sommelier, and Elmo, bartender extraordinaire. Both were always accommodating and helpful, and seemed to enjoy making us happy! We have a small wine cellar at home, a wine group that gathers for dinner each month, and a decent amount of knowledge about wine and food pairings.

If we occasionally didn't like or want the wine being served at dinner, we asked for their suggestions or inquired about other available varietals (that were among the complimentary wines). There was one especially memorable one, where I asked for a specific varietal to go with my foie gras appetizer. No, says Kelly, let me bring you something you will like better. Which he did - Semillon - and it made for a great pairing. And sometimes Elmo was in L'Etoile, and would come by our table and ask how we liked the wine or if we wanted something different.

None of the wines served were high-end, which we were not expecting. But they were generally good, and there were always sufficient choices among the complimentary wines.

We like our Mai-Tais layered, not mixed! So after getting a mixed one, my DH trys to tell the bartender how to make it. He doesn't understand, so goes and gets Elmo, who immediately makes us the best Mai Tais we've ever had (well, maybe in Maui was a close second)!

We aren't demanding or hard to please. We enjoyed talking with and learning about many of the PG service people. All the above is simply to say that if you want something in particular, ask nicely and you are likely to be pleasantly surprised.

I agree that the best dishes were the fish; especially the wahoo and New Zealand salmon. I had more fat than meat on my rack of lamb, so Stephan must have gotten all the lean! Probably should have asked for another, but I was always too full at the end of a meal, anyway. I also had excellent beef tenderloin one evening, though on another the beef dish was a bit tough. I thought the desserts were beautifully presented - like works of art with leaves and tendrils swirled around on the plate, and enjoyed everything I tried. My DH asked for shrimp cocktail one evening, but was told that it would be an extra charge. We had shrimp in a few dishes, but they were sparse. They must be hard to come by and/or very expensive in the South Pacific. We did see a farmed shrimp pond on one of our island tours.

Our day room at the end of the cruise was in the Intercontinental Tahiti. We are both platinum IHG members, and I emailed the hotel manager prior to our leaving home that we wished to be upgraded to a panoramic view room, if available, also mentioning that our trip was to celebrate our 40th anniversary. I didn't ask for an overwater bungalow, because I knew we wanted to snorkel in the natural aquarium and enjoy the infinity pool during our short stay, and some of the overwater bungalows are a LONG walk to one or the other.

When we checked in, we were greeted with a "happy anniversary" by the staff person and taken by shuttle with our bags to top floor room 379 a couple of buildings down from the reception area. The large room and bath were beautiful, with a full unobstructed view of Moorea from both the room and the full balcony. There was a card on the desk, with a box of chocolates, that welcomed us and wished us a happy anniversary. And on the bed was a package with a pareo inside, compliments of the hotel. I almost wished we hadn't taken the included PG excursion of Tahiti, and had come straight here instead! We immediately changed into our swim suits and went down to enjoy the aquarium and pool. After taking pictures of a gorgeous sunset with Moorea in the background, we came back to the room, and saw that a wedding was about to begin on the lawn out front. So we took quick showers, then sat out on our balcony with drinks and the complimentary chocolates, and listened to the live band playing for the wedding party. What a way to end our trip! The airport transfer came at a reasonable time of 9:15 PM for our 11:15 PM departure flight.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the end, for as Stephan has explained, the Papeete airport processing was a nightmare, with almost an hr's wait to check in, then another 30 minutes to go through security. As an aside, the Air Tahiti Nui seats are the MOST uncomfortable coach seats that I have ever experienced (and I've been in a lot). Rock hard seats and hard neck rests that actually pushed my head forward. No sleep until I got on the Delta plane the next morning in LAX for the last leg home.

Love-love-love your review! Been trying to view the Rangiroa sail-in on the YouTube but am not seeing it. When do you think you will upload it?

Great review! I really enjoyed reading it and reliving the experience.

Happy travels and it was nice to meet you! :)

That seems correct - the flight schedule is out for early Sept and it does appear that the Tuesday flights leave late and arrive very early Wed morning. We booked our flight out on Sunday and that day still has the 15:30 option so we don't have to fly on the red-eye. Yes, we will get to the IC a little late but can sleep in on Monday.

Repeater's cruise====Did you book your return trip also---- did you book independently? Our agent said that the return flights are not out yet and that P.G. does not have the contract for departure and returning flights at this time, so she can't book.

Just getting to your review today...wonderful job! This 10 day is my next PG cruise (7 was just not long enough;))

A few thoughts:

I am absolutely stunned that you were the only (identifiable) gay man on board! You should have cruised with us last year. There were several gay and lesbian couples including several celebrating double digit anniversaries:D As a matter of fact one couple held court nearly every night and the newlyweds were all vying for attention at their table;) We more oldy-weds also enjoyed their company, but have outgrown the need to sit at the "cool" table:p I jest- really everyone was delightful and had such a good time, I'm just sorry you weren't on our cruise which had such a lively scene for plus ones, sisters, mothers and daughters, gays etc!

Quote: "It means we tourists are his guests, invited into his laboratory. Unfortunately, too many tourists do not behave as invited guests and instead become self-absorbed interlopers."

I simply could not agree with you more here! I felt that Dr Poole takes his work seriously and absolutely wanted to avoid even the appearance of "exploiting" the whales for entertainment. Thus his demeanor is very workman like and the experience would be (had be able to go :() exactly as you had described. I'm so glad you got to have this experience and completely understood the nature of this experience as an educational observation, rather than an entertaining tour.

I just had a conversation yesterday with a program director for a major NGO in Western Africa and he was explaining that they had to stop offering "educational tours" of their program areas because people became so demanding of a "perfect tour" (as opposed to being guests and supporters of people in very desperate circumstances) He said it took too much staff time and people arrived expecting to be entertained and given creature comforts rather than experience the true nature of his projects. I fear this is a nasty side effect of an entitlement culture:(

Sounds like you had an amazing time, and I'm so glad given your early concerns. Thanks for the terrific review!

Repeater's cruise====Did you book your return trip also---- did you book independently? Our agent said that the return flights are not out yet and that P.G. does not have the contract for departure and returning flights at this time, so she can't book.

I have booked the return to LAX but am waiting for AA to open the domestic routes home from there. We decided to leave early Sat. morning to avoid the redeye flights since I sleep so poorly and take days to recover. Overnighting in LA gives us time to break up the trip and avoid major jet lag.

Oh, and yes, I booked independently using our miles.

Liz

Wow. What outstanding review by DesertSkies123. Just phenomenal. I thought I'd comment on it in order to bring it to the first page since it's two and a half years old and it might get missed.

What a great review, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it! :)

Thank you so much for posting this review! My husband and I are doing this itinerary next year in September for the first time on PG. Your incredibly detailed review was so compelling to read and so helpful for newbies like us!

Wow. What outstanding review by DesertSkies123. Just phenomenal. I thought I'd comment on it in order to bring it to the first page since it's two and a half years old and it might get missed.

Thanks Atamira for bumping this thread. What a thorough and informative review! We are doing Marc's Motu Picnic and the whale watching with Dr. Poole, so the discussion of both of those tours was really helpful. I have considered buying some pearls for a souvenir so the detailed info about shopping for pearls was very useful. Thanks to the OP for taking the time to pass on such detailed information. :)