Somewhat Live Brief Trip Report

Currently sitting in the airport after our 10 night cruise. Most passengers are still on the ship,and will depart tomorrow but our flight is tonight. This is our 4th PG cruise and I'll skip the typical information about the ship and the layout as that info is readily available.

First the good news. The crew is spectacular, they remember you by name, and they even remember what you drink. The ship is in very good shape but could use some new shower curtains and the small couch in the cabin was stained. Housekeeping is great. The food on the ship is simply spectacular. Tender operations were spot on and of course the location is gorgeous.

Now the bad news. We started in a deck 3 cabin. After unpacking the cabin was very hot and maintenance acknowledged it was about 78-80 degrees in the cabin and they could not fix it. We packed up and were moved to deck 4. Still mid ship which was great as the trip was a little rocky and some got seasick. Unfortunately on one afternoon water began to pour out of the toilet flooding the bathroom. They responded quickly, fixed the problem, and cleaned up the bathroom. A few hours later we went back to the cabin and the same issue was happening. This was a pain as we could not shower or prepare for dinner until it was fixed. Again it was fixed. At 4:30 am my wife woke met to say the carpet was wet. We had 2-3 inches of water on the carpet extending from the now flooded bathroom halfway under the bed. The concierge was 2 doors away and I summoned help. While maintenance was responding I asked the concierge to have the hotel manager respond. He told me that at 4:30 am he could not wake anybody up. Obviously that did not go a over too well and he did get the guest relations manager to responder. During this fiasco the toilet was being removed from the wall. Water was sloshing in the cabin, and the guest relations manager was mortified. At 5:00 am we were relocated to a new cabin but we left our belongings on the flooded cabin until later that morning.

That morning we then repacked and moved to the new cabin. This really did kill the day for us and left a bad taste in our mouth. Obviously bad things can happen at any time but the lack of the maintenance staff to repair the problem during the first or second episode should not,have happened.

Aside from this fiasco the other negative was the entertainment. The cruise director was not out and about to the same level that we had experienced on prior cruises. The band, Santa Anna, has a repertoire that focused on the Beach Boys and the Beatles, that is it. Prior bands used to play on the pool deck each evening but this group was rarely seen. The magician was a poor act, to put it mildly. We had a number of local groups that were brought on the ship which were good but seeing a demo on how to open a coconut and tie a pareo for the third time in as many nights was disappointing.

The region is simply spectacular and that may being us back again. If we return I hope that Michael Shapiro is back as cruise director (he was off during this cruise) and that perhaps he can work to enhance the entertainment,

It is too bad that Cruise Director Michael was not there. He is wonderful and is almost irreplaceable.

We will be on our 9th PG cruise in October to New Caledonia and know that the entertainment on the PG is not one of their high points. I have always felt that they "overkilled" on the Polynesian entertainment with the exception of the Gauguines who really enhance any cruise.

Did the ship's management respond to you in any fashion other than be "mortified" about the situation?

Yikes what a hassle for your and your DW Flight Meddic. As you said bad things can happen but it shouldn't of taken that long to fix the problem and you certainly did loose sleep and all the work involved with packing and unpacking. So sorry you both had to go through that experience.

We have only cruised once on the 10 day PG and will probably book the same itinerary possibly 2017 ish. Just curious did you leave the night prior to return home as you stated many are still on the ship , if so why ? Thx

Safe travels back to your home

The cruise gave us a box of chocolate and a note of apology after the second flood issue. After the flood that impacted the cabin they gave us a bottle of champagne (we don't drink) and a plate of chocolate covered chocolate. They gave us an onboard credit which we declined as we were only on the ship for two more days and could not spend it. At my request they changed that to a future cruise credit but IMHO their dollar offer is not sufficient.

We left the last evening as that will get us back to NY at about 10:00 pm today. We are currently at LAX. We have to be back at work on Monday.

Bummer, not good news for sure. Sorry you had such rough time!

Donna,

Last year my DD also left Friday night. She had Sunday to relax before work on Monday.

Flight medic, sorry to hear about the problem. The ship is aging not but hopefully without TM

PG management will look to upgrading the PG.

Dare I ask which cabin you were in? We are on deck 4 next week also near to the concierge desk...:eek:

We were in 420 which flooded. The cabin next door, 422, had water on the carpet during our first flood which was limited to our bathroom. They were. Over from 422 that ebpvening. We were moved at about 4:30 am.

Holy crap! That's all I have to say. Hey Eric, how is the new International terminal at LAX?

Hope it didnt spoil your vacation too much. We had friends staying in Vegas at the Bellagio with a similar flooding issue from the bathroom on two nights. Not great but I always think ultimately it's about how well these issues are handled by the management that counts.

One word: Wonderful!!! It was so much better than what it was in previous years. Lots of restaurants and shops, etc. (no, McDonalds in the international terminal or like kind though).The gate that was assigned to us was the lassssssssssssssst gate in the terminal which is far away from all of the shop and restaurant vendors. If you intend purchase anything do it prior to getting to the gate since it is a bit of walk back. Be sure to ask when checking in where exactly the gate is located so you don't have to hike back. It would a long hike from the first class lounge too.

Cool, be there in 3 weeks. Have always hated that terminal!

Flight Medic,

So not liking what I'm hearing about the third deck! We are booked for stateroom 324 in October. Was the entire deck three ac malfunctioning?

The issue on deck 3 was only specific to our cabin. I also would hope that it has been fixed. I did not hear anyone else having an issue and the corridor was very cool. It was only our cabin which was hot. I would reserve on deck 3 again without any concerns.

Wow!!

One word: Wonderful!!! It was so much better than what it was in previous years. Lots of restaurants and shops, etc. (no, McDonalds in the international terminal or like kind though).The gate that was assigned to us was the lassssssssssssssst gate in the terminal which is far away from all of the shop and restaurant vendors. If you intend purchase anything do it prior to getting to the gate since it is a bit of walk back. Be sure to ask when checking in where exactly the gate is located so you don't have to hike back. It would a long hike from the first class lounge too.

That sounds like the one used in January. The very last as far out as you can walk. Which is actually a bus terminal that loads you up and drives to the remote individual loading points where the jet awaits.

Thanks, that's a relief!

Eric,

Can you tell me how the new chef is?

Thanks.

I believe his name is Paul Ellis. We thought the food was exceptional but I am not a foodie. Our one dinner in the restaurant on Deck 6 was one of the best meals that I have ever had.

As you probably know the lunch buffet on the pool deck has a theme each day such as Italian, Indian, etc. They also have a menu that you can order off of and in all honesty there is so much to choose from that everyone seemed happy.

The wait staff was terrific.

Paul Ellis is the executive chef for Paul Gauguin. That means that he is in charge of all the restaurants in the company. That does not include the Brando and of course will not include the Moana for very much longer.

Thanks for the review....hmm, that's quite a run of bad luck and not particularly responsive first line management (I can't wake anyone up?!:eek:)

I'm also quite surprised to see a repeat customer (and some might say "booster;)) like yourself not get more responsive treatment after the fact.

I am glad to hear about LAX- that old international terminal was an embarrassment!:o

The issues on the ship were the first day (cabin too hot and moved to another cabin) and the issue with the flood in the cabin towards the end of the cruise. The initial response from the staff was unacceptable to put it mildly.

Once we arrived home we were contacted by the PG Company and they did offer some compensation. While I do not feel it is adequate they are reviewing my issue. I would say that in this day and age it is nice to call a company, leave a message, and actually get a return call. The issue was known to them and they are bumping it up to the company president for their resolution.

I would not be deterred from taking the PG cruise again. Had this been our first cruise on the PG I think it would have been much worse as we wasted a full day in Moorea and having been up at 4:30 am it sort of screwed up our schedule the next day as well.