beachmimi

The Paul Gauguin is a wonderful ship with an amazing crew of friendly wait staff. We've cruised with them twice and we highly recommend their line. Snorkeling is amazing in most of the ports. We especially loved the pure snorkeling tour in Bora Bora. There are others who cruise on the PG every year who can answer your question about itineraries. The PG only cruises in this area all year long so they have the most experience and best connections for excursions. 

We stayed at the Hilton in Papeete for a few days before our 8/27/22 sailing. It is a gorgeous hotel and much closer to the airport and the ship than where PG puts a lot of their guests (InterContinental Tahiti) which is crowded and old. Just my two cents.

Book it! You will love it!

We are on the August 27th sailing also. I called 60 days out and was able to book all of the excursions that I was hoping to get. Call 1-800-848-6172 and you should get Patty. She's very helpful.

You will be able to call customer service 60 days ahead to book your excursions. I looked at the options ahead of time and wrote down the codes and it was very easy. If you want to swim with whales then you need to book that excursion on that first day which you can book!

We are booked on the 9/25 Society Islands cruise also. We hope it will sail! We were on the March 2020 cruise that was interrupted and had a wonderful time seeing a lot of Moorea. We have a pre-package in Bora Bora and a post package in Moorea. We'll be watching what happens on Sept 6th! 

Beautiful! Thank you for posting the news and photos! 

ok, thanks for mentioning that I should post it on TA also! I hope there will be others heading to Moorea after their cruise on the PG.

We have tentatively  booked a whale watching trip with Dr. Poole in Moorea! The date is October 6. He is willing to do a tour if he gets enough customers. So, anyone who will be in Moorea and is interested in going out with Dr. Poole please call him and get on the list! He plans to pick us up at the Hilton at 12:30pm. His phone number is +689 87 77 50 07  Some of the tour agencies are not taking online reservations right now but they will book over the phone. 

Whale watching: Moorea vs Bora Bora

Thank you @TBK for telling us about both of the other trusted opinions. I've booked tours on both islands so, I'll let you know what I think! I wondered if your opinion had something to do with the deeper water that is close to Moorea. @Peytoona I plan to call Dr. Poole tomorrow since he isn't booking online at this time.

I love all of the information both of you have posted for us! Thank you!

Thank you Petoonya! We will have two days in Bora Bora on the cruise so I might want to book a swimming with whales  trip there too. I've been thinking of asking TBK what his reasoning is for his "no brainer" reply. 

TBK, Thank you so much! I knew you would be able to tell me! I'll have more questions in the next months. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge with us! 

We are booked on the Paul Gauguin for September 25, 2021. This is our second cruise with them. We were on the final one in March 2020 which was sent back to Papeete for half of the cruise. We loved going to Moorea by ferry during those days in Papeete. We were fortunate that we booked a pre-cruise package to Bora Bora. I'm so sorry for those who missed that port! 

We booked this one in September/October to see whales. Which island should we go to for our pre-cruise package? Bora Bora or Moorea? Or is there a better spot to go to for whale watching? Please give me any insight you have! Thank you! We stayed at the InterContinental Le Moana and loved it. Right now we are  thinking of going there again.

Also, any thoughts on if I should I book the package through my local cruise agent or through the cruise line? Last time I contacted the cruise line and ended up with an agent in Miami who I mistakenly thought had been on the cruise and would be very familiar with FP. But, figured out months later that he's never been. He just books a lot of packages for the cruise line. 

Thank you for your suggestions!