Detailed Photo Review of Paul Gauguin 10-Night Cruise 9/6/17 Plus Moorea Pre-Cruise

[mitsugirly]

Insert gratuitous palm tree photos to break up all the text…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So knowing that you bought the TG5, what settings are you using for the above pictures? (Maybe I haven't explored mine enough to find them and I assume they might be in the art setting?)

 

Love the review and happy wedding/honeymoon. This vacation is amazing so far and makes me want to go there!

[mitsugirly]

 

They're coming right for me!

 

 

 

I really liked this little guy…

 

 

 

 

Amazing pictures and amazing fish! Maybe these fish aren't located in the Caribbean which is why I haven't been able to find any. That picasso trigger fish is so pretty and I have been wanting one for my saltwater tank (or either the clown trigger). The colors and markings are so amazing!

[deladane]

So knowing that you bought the TG5, what settings are you using for the above pictures? (Maybe I haven't explored mine enough to find them and I assume they might be in the art setting?)

 

Love the review and happy wedding/honeymoon. This vacation is amazing so far and makes me want to go there!

 

So I used to use the in-camera settings to take cool effect photos on my old cameras, but then I came home and wished I had a regular normal copy of that same photo. Either I didn't like the art effect I picked and wanted to try something different, or I just wanted a normal copy of it. This time around, I only took normal photos on the camera (I did not bother with the art settings, not even for tilt shift), and I used apps on my iPad after I got home so I could pick and choose whichever effects I liked best. The added plus was that I could do it at my leisure (not while I should be enjoying my precious minutes in port and DH was nudging me to come join him with whatever he was doing lol), and I can see the effects better on the bigger iPad screen than on the small camera screen. The effects in those photos are from an app called Sketch Master :)

 

And yes, you definitely should go there at some point in your life! It is a big trip (both in expense and in distance traveled), but well worth it for a special occasion. Plus, they do have a kids program in the summer months if you wanted to bring Sakari along!

 

Amazing pictures and amazing fish! Maybe these fish aren't located in the Caribbean which is why I haven't been able to find any. That picasso trigger fish is so pretty and I have been wanting one for my saltwater tank (or either the clown trigger). The colors and markings are so amazing!

 

Thank you! The yellow/black/white fish in that last photo is all over French Polynesia. The photos you are looking at now are from Moorea, but we also saw them on basically every island, including Fakarava which is in a different chain of islands than Moorea. Be careful around them though... one of them bit me when I was taking his photo in Fakarava! Maybe he's camera shy??

 

And yes, I loved the trigger fish!! Such interesting colors and markings, and definitely not something I have seen before!

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

OH EM GEE! I would probably faint, but such a cool experience. I have only worked up enough courage to swim with nurse sharks. (I believe I just read that a tourist on a diving excursion in Costa Rica that was killed by a tiger shark, which they say is not "normal" but still this is always in the back of my mind when snorkeling. yikes).

[albi]

I have enjoyed following along on your wonderful journey to paradise! Thanks for all the beautiful photos. I looked on the App Store and see several versions of Sketch Master. Can you share which one you use? Thanks again.

 

 

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[mitsugirly]

I downloaded the one that shows a sketched bird on it. (Hopefully that's the right one).

 

Also, can you share which settings you are using for the palm trees and the one with the boat in it? (For instance oil painting, pixel, and so on). I just love the way they turned out. I wonder if there's a download for the computer? I hate doing anything on my phone and especially messing with pictures because my eyesight isn't the greatest up close and it's hard for me to see the details of what its doing. lol

 

BTW awesome review!

[deladane]

I downloaded the one that shows a sketched bird on it. (Hopefully that's the right one).

 

Also, can you share which settings you are using for the palm trees and the one with the boat in it? (For instance oil painting, pixel, and so on). I just love the way they turned out. I wonder if there's a download for the computer? I hate doing anything on my phone and especially messing with pictures because my eyesight isn't the greatest up close and it's hard for me to see the details of what its doing. lol

 

BTW awesome review!

 

Thanks Kim! Yes, I do use the app with the sketch of a bird (which is really ironic for you considering Sakari's talents haha), and to clarify, I did not upgrade to the paid version as the free one has tons of options. A few years ago, I looked for a version to use on my computer but could not find anything. Things may have changed since then, but since I upload all of my photos onto my iPad every night as a back up in case something happens to my SD card or camera, it is no big deal for me to use the app on my iPad. It sure does pass the time on the long flights home!

 

It's hard to know for sure which filter I used after the fact because the app doesn't seem to save the images, and once it's in my camera roll, I can't edit it to see the filter names. I usually just scroll through and apply every filter, making mental notes of the ones I liked best, and then I go back again and compare those favorites (the same way I use instagram, actually!). I have a feeling the one looking forward off the ship was 'color cartoon 1', and the palm tree photo was 'Gloom'. Hope that helps!

[deladane]

I have enjoyed following along on your wonderful journey to paradise! Thanks for all the beautiful photos. I looked on the App Store and see several versions of Sketch Master. Can you share which one you use? Thanks again.

 

 

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I use the version of sketch master where the icon is tan and brown with a sketch of a bird. The app is by Liming Zhang. Hope that helps!

[TracyESQ]

Just finished reading your review. Loved all the pictures and the details. I doubt that a FP cruise is happening for me in this lifetime, so it was nice to live vicariously. Maybe once my student loans are paid off and my kiddos are grown. Friday we leave for a cruise from NY to Florida and the Bahamas. It will be my kids' (4 and 2) first cruise.

 

My husband and I also got engaged on a hot air balloon. :)

[davwen81]

Dana I’m really missing your daily reviews, can you start again, lol!

 

 

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[dandee2]

I agree. Anyone who is considering a trip to Paradise, on Gaugin, Windstar or other cruise line should read your review. Maururu :-)

 

 

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[deladane]

Just finished reading your review. Loved all the pictures and the details. I doubt that a FP cruise is happening for me in this lifetime, so it was nice to live vicariously. Maybe once my student loans are paid off and my kiddos are grown. Friday we leave for a cruise from NY to Florida and the Bahamas. It will be my kids' (4 and 2) first cruise.

 

My husband and I also got engaged on a hot air balloon. :)

 

Thank you! Hope you have a wonderful cruise! Bon Voyage :)

[deladane]

Dana I’m really missing your daily reviews, can you start again, lol!

 

 

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hahaha I wish! But if you can hold off for 3 more months, I'll be writing another similar review when I return home from my Celebrity Eclipse cruise so you can check over on that forum if you are interested :)

[deladane]

I agree. Anyone who is considering a trip to Paradise, on Gaugin, Windstar or other cruise line should read your review. Maururu :-)

 

 

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aww, thank you (and you're welcome!) :hearteyes:

[sita]

Just a quick comment on paying $15 to have ship reserve taxi, if you are leaving early or late, the service is invaluable as taxis are not plentiful at this time (even at the taxi stand across from dock) PG provides a person to monitor and you sit on benches at the foot of the gangway until that person confirms it has arrived , then a very short walk to the beginning of dock.

Just returned from a fantastic Cooks cruise, will post some thoughts once have had a chance to adapt to life off board

[ucfalli]

Thank you so much for amazing review! I love reading reviews of different locations and so glad I stumbled upon this one. So hard to find reviews that aren’t eastern and western Caribbean...I think this is the first Polynesian and first Paul Gauguin cruise review I have ever read.

 

Never even thought of a Polynesian Cruise. We did Alaska after our European cruise got cancelled. Alaska was amazing and I want to go back for a land vacation.

 

Unfortunately I will be living in the world reading cruise reviews for quite some time... I have 20 month old. Our last cruise was a quick babymoon so the next one isn’t until she can stay with grandma and grandpa :halo:

 

Thanks again! Can’t wait to read your next cruise review <3

[deladane]

Thank you so much for amazing review! I love reading reviews of different locations and so glad I stumbled upon this one. So hard to find reviews that aren’t eastern and western Caribbean...I think this is the first Polynesian and first Paul Gauguin cruise review I have ever read.

 

Never even thought of a Polynesian Cruise. We did Alaska after our European cruise got cancelled. Alaska was amazing and I want to go back for a land vacation.

 

Unfortunately I will be living in the world reading cruise reviews for quite some time... I have 20 month old. Our last cruise was a quick babymoon so the next one isn’t until she can stay with grandma and grandpa :halo:

 

Thanks again! Can’t wait to read your next cruise review <3

 

Hi Alli! So funny that you were one of the Sunshine Castaways- I cruised the Med on the Sunshine in September 2013 and there were a bunch of people from your roll call who joined our sailing. I'm so glad you enjoyed my review... maybe you can plan a cruise to French Polynesia for your 10 year anniversary :)

 

ps: my brother went to UCF :)

[CAC104]

Before I start writing about our time in French Polynesia, I wanted to give a little background information. Back in September of 2015, DH proposed to me on a romantic sunrise hot air balloon ride. We immediately began planning our wedding for September of 2016, and talking about where we wanted to take our honeymoon. We already had our Celebrity Equinox cruise booked for 2 weeks in March 2016, so that used up most of our 2016 vacation days (Many people suggested we just call that cruise our honeymoon, but we definitely did not want to take our honeymoon 6 months before we were married!). We knew we wanted to take a fairly substantial vacation for our honeymoon, so we decided to delay it until 2017 when we would have more vacation days available. We both love cruising, so I looked into some itineraries in Europe, Asia, and Australia,but DH said he wanted a more romantic, low key, beachy honeymoon as opposed to the city-based touring that those cruises offered. My next thought was to go to Hawaii as many of my friends from the East Coast have done for their honeymoons. While I have never been there and definitelywant to go sometime soon, it is a very easy flight from where we live in California, so it just didn't seem honeymoon-worthy (unlike my friends on the East Coast who can get to Europe faster than Hawaii! haha)

 

That's when I started to investigate French Polynesia. My friends on the East Coast would never even consider this, being that the flight would take up half of their vacation time lol Living in the Bay Area meant DH and I could get to LAX in a quick one-hour flight to connect to our flight to Tahiti. This seemed doable so I started to look into our options. At first, I assumed we would fly out there for about 2 weeks for a land-trip and spend a few days on the 3 main islands: Tahiti, Bora Bora,and Moorea. I started to look into hotel options and some logistics when I stumbled upon something I never knew existed... a cruise line that sails year-round around French Polynesia! This was so perfect for us as it combined our love for cruising with our desire to visit some of the most unique tropical islands in the world! It didn't take much convincing before DH agreed that we should book this as our honeymoon!! By now, it was December of 2015 and PG had not yet released their itineraries for 2017. My research told me that September was a great month to visit French Polynesia as it tends to be less rainy and humid, and there would be fewer children on board as they had just started their school year, so when PG finally released their 2017 dates in January 2016, we booked this 10-night cruise for early September. An added bonus was that we would be away over Labor Day weekend and could use one less vacation day.

 

With our honeymoon cruise booked a year and 9 months in advance, we had plenty of time to iron out the rest of the details. Luckily, it was too far in advance to do too much planning for the honeymoon, so that gave us plenty of time to focus on the details of planning our wedding. Our year-long engagement flew by, and before we knew it, it was September of 2016 and time for our wedding! I know this is a cruising forum so I won't talk too much about our wedding, but I just wanted to post a few of my favorite photos (if for no other reason than to break up all this text! haha)

 

 

 

 

 

 

With our wedding being nearly a year before our realhoneymoon, and since our wedding was on Long Island (where I grew up), we spenta few days out east in the Hamptons as a minimoon to hold us over. It was a great way to relax after the bigwedding, and it was exciting to spend our first few days together as husbandand wife!

 

 

 

 

I found this link on another cruise reviewer's site so wanted to see photos of FP. Just wanted to mention that back in 1966 we got married and my husband had to leave for the service so we went out to the Hamptons for a mini honeymoon as well. Funny think about the Hamptons, it still looks pretty much the same as it did 51 years ago.

[kkelley]

Your review is amazing!

I have spent the last 5 days reading through your review of FP. My DH and I are RETURNING to the PG cruise for our 40th anniversary and my 60th BD next summer. We did the 7 day cruise for our 25th anniversay (when we really could not afford it :)). This time we are doing the same cruise you did for the 10 days and we stepped out and did get a balcony cabin on the BACK of the ship. What I remember the most was the beautiful water and awesome snorkeling. I can't wait to return!

Not sure what your career is but you should consider being in the travel industry. Your reviews and photos were superb.

( My goal is to return as Christina Cindrich in the after life!! jk of course).

Seriously, thank you for the time you took to with details and also details of your excursions. Each time I would pop over to Travel Advisor and save your recommendations. We also have used the Olympus Waterproof cameras that you are using. We are on our 4th one as we are beach and water people totally and enjoy the flexibility of the water proof camera. Ours have been the previous models but now I am going to look for the newest model so DH and I both have a camera to tote around. We have NICE Cannon digital cameras and still us this one most exclusively when we travel. Last summer we chartered a 62 foot catamaran in the BVI (Bless those people right now.. with the devastation they have suffered) with 3 other couples and it was THE BEST trip ever in a lifetime. Wanted to do another one for our 40th anniversary and for some odd reason ended up booking PG again. Booked it on Sept 2nd last year... two weeks before IRMA obliterated BVI.

Hope you don't mind, but I may pick your brain for other tips!

Thanks again... I enjoyed my holiday time reading your review!

P.S... love Southern Caribbean cruise that is how we found Aruba and Barbados and Tortola all three that we have returned to many times as a land trip..

 

Happy New Year!

[deladane]

I found this link on another cruise reviewer's site so wanted to see photos of FP. Just wanted to mention that back in 1966 we got married and my husband had to leave for the service so we went out to the Hamptons for a mini honeymoon as well. Funny think about the Hamptons, it still looks pretty much the same as it did 51 years ago.

 

Despite growing up on Long Island, that was my first trip out to the Hamptons. I'm glad we had an excuse to go and that I finally got to check it out after all these years :)

[deladane]

Your review is amazing!

I have spent the last 5 days reading through your review of FP. My DH and I are RETURNING to the PG cruise for our 40th anniversary and my 60th BD next summer. We did the 7 day cruise for our 25th anniversay (when we really could not afford it :)). This time we are doing the same cruise you did for the 10 days and we stepped out and did get a balcony cabin on the BACK of the ship. What I remember the most was the beautiful water and awesome snorkeling. I can't wait to return!

Not sure what your career is but you should consider being in the travel industry. Your reviews and photos were superb.

( My goal is to return as Christina Cindrich in the after life!! jk of course).

Seriously, thank you for the time you took to with details and also details of your excursions. Each time I would pop over to Travel Advisor and save your recommendations. We also have used the Olympus Waterproof cameras that you are using. We are on our 4th one as we are beach and water people totally and enjoy the flexibility of the water proof camera. Ours have been the previous models but now I am going to look for the newest model so DH and I both have a camera to tote around. We have NICE Cannon digital cameras and still us this one most exclusively when we travel. Last summer we chartered a 62 foot catamaran in the BVI (Bless those people right now.. with the devastation they have suffered) with 3 other couples and it was THE BEST trip ever in a lifetime. Wanted to do another one for our 40th anniversary and for some odd reason ended up booking PG again. Booked it on Sept 2nd last year... two weeks before IRMA obliterated BVI.

Hope you don't mind, but I may pick your brain for other tips!

Thanks again... I enjoyed my holiday time reading your review!

P.S... love Southern Caribbean cruise that is how we found Aruba and Barbados and Tortola all three that we have returned to many times as a land trip..

 

Happy New Year!

 

Thanks for your kind words! You will love the Tuamotus, and how wonderful that you have another opportunity to vacation with PG! Definitely let me know if you have any planning questions and I will do my best to answer (or if not, I am sure someone else on these boards can help out!)

[kayakbob]

I thoroughly enjoyed your detailed review and great photos. My wife and I are scheduled for the same itinerary in early March.

 

Like you, I am a compulsive trip planner. I am sure that by reading your review I have saved myself several days of planning and the result will be a much better trip!

 

I was struggling with what to do with a few days pre-cruise. After reading your review I decided that a few days in Moorea would be the best approach. And “what to do with the suitcases”post-cruise? I even considered the overpriced PG Dayroom option. But your solution makes the most sense. Your SW flight delay recap convinced me to fly down to LAX the day ahead to avoid any flight drama with a SW to ATN connection.

 

You mentioned that you enjoy dressing for dinner. You should consider booking a Cunard Queen Mary 2 transatlantic voyage, preferably westbound. You could combine it with a visit to London. You would be among the youngest passengers onboard but you would find lots of things to keep you occupied during the six sea days. It is a very civilized way to return from Europe.

 

If you have any spare time in February we would love to buy you guys lunch or dinner some day. We travel a lot and it would be fun to exchange tips. You can reach me at kayakbob at Comcast dot net. Meanwhile, thanks again for your great efforts.

Edited January 6, 2018 by kayakbob
fix formatting

[SWFLAOK]

For those of us who use the Air Tahiti Nui flights from LAX booked through Paul Gauguin, the transfers to the IC, and the day room at the IC are free so you don't have to worry about where to leave your baggage, or transfers there or back. You also don't have to leave the ship until 12:30 so you have lunch on the ship. We don't consider the day room to be overpriced, since it's included. If it's more convenient to fly to Tahiti from somewhere other than LAX, then take the air credit. But if you're going to fly from LAX, Paul Gauguin gives you the best deal with the easiest transfers and add-on stays. They own the IC hotels so they have the best rates for the hotels they own, as well as already having transfers to and from their hotels. Paying for taxis and baggage storage and hanging around in Papeete doesn't sound like a bargain if you're flying to LAX on Air Tahiti Nui anyway.

[ScotsLady]

For those of us who use the Air Tahiti Nui flights from LAX booked through Paul Gauguin, the transfers to the IC, and the day room at the IC are free so you don't have to worry about where to leave your baggage, or transfers there or back. You also don't have to leave the ship until 12:30 so you have lunch on the ship. We don't consider the day room to be overpriced, since it's included. If it's more convenient to fly to Tahiti from somewhere other than LAX, then take the air credit. But if you're going to fly from LAX, Paul Gauguin gives you the best deal with the easiest transfers and add-on stays. They own the IC hotels so they have the best rates for the hotels they own, as well as already having transfers to and from their hotels. Paying for taxis and baggage storage and hanging around in Papeete doesn't sound like a bargain if you're flying to LAX on Air Tahiti Nui anyway.

 

Looking to book a PG cruise for my big birthday in 2020. We live in Scotland so it will be a long journey , planning to fly to Vegas, visit friends in Arizona then head to LA.

Looking at flights we would prefer Air France as they gave premium economy section. Has anyone had experience of flying with Air France? How does it compare to Air Tahiti Nui?

 

Thanks Irene

[dandee2]

I don't know your birthdate but if weather is a concern I would check the weather pattern until then. Right now it's raining bucket and flood is some place, mostly in Tahiti and Moorea, less so in the smaller Athol. Same as in Jan. 2017.

 

 

 

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