SWFLAOK

Thank you so very much for the detour. It will be our first time to the Cook Islands and I want to make the most of it. I'll definitely be watching those sunrises at sea. I'm an early riser. Staying awake for the shows after dinner are my problem.

I've been reading and hoping that you would get to the Cook Islands before we leave for our cruise this coming week. We spent a week on Bora Bora and a week on Moorea back in 1995, and took our first ever cruise on the Paul Gauguin to the Society Islands and the Marquesas last winter. It was a supposed to be a once in a lifetime cruise, but we booked onboard for next week's cruise because we loved it so much. This time we're staying at the Tahiti IC the night before the cruise, and 2 nights after so your info on that was very helpful. After arriving at 6 AM, we'll be there on Friday night and will try take a nap in the afternoon so we don't miss the show. The information on Huahine was also very helpful to us. Last winter we did the day at the beach. The hotel was very nice, and not crowded at all. It turned out that a couple we met at LAX and spent some time with on board were the only other people on that excursion so we had a great time, and the included lunch was delicious. This time we booked the 4x4 to Huahine Iti so we hope to see those beautiful views in your posts.

Please keep this going. I've read the other thread as well, and it has some very detailed info for a first timer, such as menus. But you have the experience that those of us who have been there once or twice before are looking for. We don't want to miss the best of any of these islands. Thank you so much for all your work. It is appreciated.

The sailing was fine in early February. We had large swells at our anchorage at Tahuata and the tender in to the dock was a challenge, but I didn't really feel it on the PG. And they had plenty of crew members to help us on to the tender. There were a few showers that passed by quickly when we were in the Marquesas, and on our 2 sea days on the way back. We could see them coming and take cover, and the wind only picked up 10 knots or so while they passed through. It cooled it off briefly like Florida in the summer.

We only spent one day in the Tuamotus, at Faka Rava. It's a great place for beaches and snorkeling. There were tours available at the dock when we tendered in, and a beach within walking distance. We did a tour with a local guide and he showed us some of the highlights. We had a ship excursion for snorkeling in the afternoon. It was a combination of deep water (with plenty of sharks) and a large coral head (with plenty of small colorful fish). If the Tuamotus were closer to Florida, I would fly to Faka Rava for a vacation. Living full time in South Florida, we can survive with just a ceiling fan, and the more fish meals, the better. And we love beaches and snorkeling.

I believe they normally go to Fatu Hiva, Hiva Oa, Tahuata and Nuku Hiva. We went at the end of January earlier this year and had the ordered changed since a very large cruise ship was scheduled to be in Nuku Hiva the same day that we were and PG wanted us to enjoy the port.

So our first port was Nuku Hiva. The town that you tender into is large enough to actually be called a town. The Cathedral is right in town, and there was some craft and tourist-oriented shopping available. A few people from the cruise just stayed and town, and I believe one couple mentioned that they had found a small beach, but after stopping at Faka Rava 2 days earlier, it wasn't worth the walk. We took the "Visit of Taipivai Valley" excursion offered by the cruise. I think we used almost all of the SUVs and extended cab pick-ups in town, with 4 per vehicle plus a driver. We stopped at a number of scenic lookouts, and some of them were quite crowded due to the size of our tour. The onboard expert, Mark Eddowes, was our guide for this tour and he told us interesting historical information at each of the stops. The scenery was fantastic. We eventually stopped at a park-like cultural center with restrooms, a dining pavillion with a large selection of local food for tasting, and another building with craft vendors. We were surprised at how reasonably priced many of the handmade items were. On the way back into town, we were dropped off at the Cathedral for a tour. We felt it was good way to see the Island.

Next we stopped at Fatu Hiva. We actually couldn't find an excursion that I was comfortable with. There was a Petroglyph Walk which was described a difficult uphill hike in hot, humid conditions. There was also a scenic drive to the other end of the island. I was tempted by this since it ended at the Bay of Virgins which I wanted to see. But it was described as not being for those with vertigo, and looking at the road from the boat, I knew I had made the right decision. We ended up not even going into shore since my husband's back was acting up after the bumpy ride the day before. But... after pulling up anchor, the PG gave us a nice tour of the Bay of Virgins as we headed to the next anchorage.

We anchored off of a tiny settlement called Hapatoni on the island of Tahuata. I took the "Hapatoni Discovery" ship's excursion. I think everyone in the settlement came to the dock to meet our tender and entertain us with music. My husband had cancelled his reservation the day before because of his back, and that was a good thing. The tour took us up and down and around switchbacks, and we were frequently bumped up out of our seats. Again, the views and scenery were spectacular. We stopped in a fishing village called Vaitahu where they had a small museum, a Cathedral, and market with local items and crafts for sale. There were restrooms. Mark Eddowes was the guide for this tour as well so he gave us all of the history. The school children were let of class so they and their teachers could talk to us and answer questions about local life. It was very interesting. There was a small beach near the dock, and a few people walked to it while we waited for the tender, but if I remember correctly, it was pretty rocky, and not very wide.

Our last stop was Hiva Oa. I had originally booked "Atuona to Taaoa", but had cancelled that due to my husband's back problem. An open air type bus was provided to take PG passengers from the dock to the cemetery and on into town where there was a museum, stores and restaurants. I got off with quite a few other people at the road to the cemetery. It was all uphill, and we made the mistake of going all the way up. The view was great, but Paul Gauguin is buried near the entrance to the cemetery (enter at the bottom of the hill and walk straight across to the opposite side). By the time I got back on the bus, I was drenched with sweat and exhausted. In town, people were standing in line outside of the few businesses with AC, and there were more people who wanted to get on the bus than would fit, so they had to wait another 30 minutes. I decided to stay on the bus and head back to the ship.

Wendy is pretty spot on with her comments. We didn't see rental cars or taxis available. There were a few non-ship tours picking up passengers in Nuku Hiva and Hiva Oa. We didn't see any boat tours, and all of the diving is for advance certified divers with recent dive experience. There's not much in the Marquesas, but they are beautiful, and the lack of people is part of their charm. The people who live there were very welcoming. Their history is interesting but quite sad.

Sorry to be long-winded, but I also struggled to find information on the Marquesas. I read the TripAdvisor reviews of hotels looking for information, but there aren't many of those either.

When we took our first cruise last February aboard the Paul Gaughin, there were 67 passengers from Canada, 69 from France, 169 from the US, and only 2 or 4 from any other country. Your "Welcome Aboard" Ia Orana (I saved them all from the entire cruise) lists passenger breakdown for your cruise. It doesn't list the ages, but we definitely had more in the 60's to 70's age group. There was a French couple with a well behaved child, and several women well into their 80's that we didn't see until the last morning when we had to vacate their cabin and moved to the pool bar. They were on deck 8 as we were, but we never saw them during our 14 day cruise. We had a great time and had good weather, and made reservations on board for the early December cruise to the Cook Islands. After having read that the Cook Islands are often not accessible, I hope we have better luck getting there in December. I think most of the Cook Island visitors on Trip Advisor take cheap vacations there through Costco. While this originally made me skeptical about going there on the Paul Gaughin, it does make it cheaper and easier to get there by air from the US if the weather prevents the cruise from getting there.

Once you get on board, you'll have a listing of events and lectures for the next day. One of the lectures is a run down of the next port. They will tell you where the tender will drop you off, and what you can do on your own from there, as well as what excursions are available. We found the ship's excursions to be reasonably priced for what we got, and enjoyed Mark Eddowes lectures as well as having him as a guide on several of our excursions. If you want to avoid the ship's excursions, you can check the roll call for your cruise, or ask around once you get on board. We found almost everyone to be friendly on board. We've been to the Caribbean many times, and have spent a lot of time in the Bahamas. We decided to go back to FP after 20 years to see if it had become as overcrowded with tourists as the Bahamas and Caribbean, and we weren't disappointed.

I always wash or dry clean everything that's in our suitcases when we get home from a trip. Even if we didn't wear it, it still seems to need refreshing after being carried around in a suitcase for an extended period of time. If you're unlucky enough to have the little TSA note inside that says they searched your checked bag, remember that they used to same gloves on everyone's dirty clothes. Since I'm retired, I have plenty of time to do laundry when I get home. I drop the suitcases in the laundry room when we get home.

We were almost convinced to buy the laundry package, but for our 14 day cruise, it was too much money. As it turned out we only spent 23 dollars instead of the 249 dollars were were quoted. We had 2 carry on size bags (we checked one) and one large bag. We traveled from Florida to LA, stayed overnight, traveled to PPT and took the 14 night PG cruise to the Marquesas. On return, we did the red eye back to LA after a day room at the IC Tahiti, and a red eye back to Florida. Even though it was late Jan. and the first half of Feb, we didn't need clothes for cold weather. I had a sweater and a wind breaker and only used the sweater on the plane and the wind breaker in LA. So my clothes didn't weigh much or take up a lot of room. I washed a few undies and hung them in the shower along with my swimsuit, but otherwise had enough to last the 2 1/2 weeks. And I'm afraid of shrinkage as well. His clothes were bigger and weighed more so the laundry bill was for his shorts and T-shirts,, some undies and a pair of gym socks (that he wore on the flight over). Shorts were 3.50, T-shirts 3.00, undershorts and socks 1.50. We brought no jeans or coats, no sneakers or hiking boats (we wear socks and Teva sandals for the air travel and land excursions), no wet suits, no very dressy clothing, and didn't need any of them. We still had a carry on of clean clothes when we arrived back home in Florida.

What kind of seating did you get when you ate in the main restaurant on show night? Did you make reservations ahead of time and ask for a specific seat? Are there a lot of seats at the bar? We were also told we could sit at the bar during the show also...Now confused as to keeping reservation at Le Lotus or change to main restaurant??????

There are quite a few tables in the bar area so you don't need to actually sit on bar stools. The bar menu mentioned that some of the food items aren't available on show nights, but they still have some food available.

We ate at the bar restaurant downstairs while staying at our IC day room on our return from our PG cruise on 2/11.Le Lotus was still closed. We had a pizza which was very good and loaded with toppings for just under 30 dollars. We were both totally full. The drinks were at happy hour prices. They were better than the drinks at the main floor bar, but still expensive.

Tea was at Le Grill everyday on the 1/28/17 to 2/11/17 cruise. As Emdee mentioned La Palette often hosted activities in the afternoon.

We were on the 1/28 to 2/11 cruise, Marquesas, Tuamotus and Society Islands. The forecast showed high chance of storms most days. At Hapatoni on Tahuata in the Marquesas, we had 3 separate 5 minute downpours within an hour time frame. Since there were places to get out of the rain, it wasn't a problem. And the sun came out in between. We had a shower that lasted about 30 minutes just after lunch at Bora Bora. It looked threatening for about an hour before, so we had some warning. We also saw thunderstorms all around us on a sea day, but they never went over the ship. At the end of the cruise, the captain said that the weather was exceptional for that time of year. We spent 2 weeks in Bora Bora and Moorea the first 2 weeks of March a while back. We had only passing showers, and no day long rain events.

Very rare other ships are in the lagoon at the same time. Would agree Vitape does not have the infrastructure to handle larger ships or multi ships. To really see the lagoon one must take an excursion private/ship that circumnavigates the lagoon. You then will see all the incredible different hues of blue and green. The PG has a contract with Patrick so even if there are large ships there at the same time a good way to go is the ships excursion with Patrick. IC Resorts have day use excursions for the PG cruisers, a great way to get away from the crowds if there are other ships (especially large ones) on Bora Bora at the same time.

 

Did you ask questions from the seasoned PG cruisers on this forum? Did you check to see if other ships would be on Bora Bora at the time you were there? Yes there are ways to find out on the internet. Many cruise lines hit the South Pacific in the Northern Hemisphere winter clearing out of the Alaska market. Weather if a bit more tricky in January ......... guess I'm trying to say there are better times of the year to visit FP, of course you pay more.

One of the other ships was the Aranui 5. I think it stops at Bora Bora every other Thursday. Our 1/28 to 2/11 PG cruise also stopped at Bora Bora on Thursday. Looking at other sailing dates for the PG cruises, it looks like they don't normally stop at Bora Bora on Thursday. The other Marquesas sailings stop there on Wednesday and at Taha'a on Thursday. For some reason, our itinerary was in the opposite order. PG had rearranged the order of our ports in the Marquesas due to a large cruise ship coming through. They notified us a month or so ahead of time about that. The other ship in port was the CMV Magellan, which is on an around the world cruise.

We prefer to vacation during the winter to avoid the congestion caused by snowbirds here in south Florida. And we don't need to worry about tropical systems in Florida preventing us from getting to our destination. We wanted to do the Marquesas cruise, and because of the relocation of the ship this spring, we would have had to wait until November for the next sailing.

I did a lot of reading on the forum during our planning process and it was helpful. We had a great time on the cruise. While we were disappointed by the anchorage at Bora Bora, watching the full moon rise over Mount Otemanu, while enjoying perfectly cooked lobster at L'Etoile, is something I'll never forget.

I think you may have had bad luck when you went to the Motu. We were on board for the last two weeks in January and visited the Motu three times for a very different experience. I always recommend that people take the half day circumnavigation trip to see the entire island and the other side of the lagoon. Anyone whom I have recommended loved that excursion. I am sure the Thalasso will also be great!

We had taken a circumnavigation of Bora Bora when we stayed there previously so we thought we would try something different this time. What we didn't think about was that the ship needs deep water to anchor in, and the only place to do that is an area that doesn't look like the view from the Sofitel. I think we have 2 days in Bora Bora on our next cruise so maybe we'll give the motu another try.

Can anyone tell me... is there a bathroom on the Bora Bora motu?

There's no bathroom on the Bora Bora motu.

We were booked by PG on an ATN flight scheduled to land at 10:50 PM when our cruise was scheduled to depart at 11:55 PM. Once we found out that 82 passengers on our flight were heading for the PG, we no longer worried that they would leave without us. There were 2 buses waiting for us at the airport and boarding of the ship went very quickly and smoothly.

We asked for a vest when we picked up our snorkel gear on board at then end of January. They appeared to be relatively new, and were the flat, blow up kind.

We were there last week, on our first PG cruise. It was our first cruise ever, but we had spent a week at an OWB at the Sofitel on Bora Bora 20 years ago. After the PG motu off Taha'a (which was a fantastic day), we were looking forward to the motu beach off of Bora Bora. We were, however, very disappointed that it was right in the harbour entrance, and while snorkeling we had to watch out for small boats and SUPs trying to come ashore on the private beach. We only stayed an hour, and enjoyed the boat ride from the ship to the motu more than the beach since much of the water was crystal clear and there were fish, rays and sharks swimming close to the boat. We were hoping to see the beautiful waters of Bora Bora's lagoon, but we didn't see it from our anchorage. We also had a cruise ship anchored on each side of us, and cruisemates that went into town said it was the most crowded they had ever seen. Next time (which we booked on board) we'll go to the IC for the day.