A few questions for the PG

[baf10]

I am going next week and have a few questions:

 

1. Is ther cell phone service onboard? If so when it it on? I thought it did not have then I received a brochure from Regent with my ticket.

 

2. How much is the internet onboard?

 

3. Has anyone made skype calls onboard using a laptop and the wifi onbaord?

 

4. Is it possible I will be able to board at around 12pm?

 

5. Can men wear golf shirts to dinner?

 

Thanks for your help.

[Jim B]

1. Sorry don't know

2. Don't remember

3. Sorry have not

4. You probably will be able to, but won't be able to go to cabin until 2:30/3pm

5. Yes. (Take a look at PG packing list thread) It may be on page 2 already.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

You probably really can't get on board early--a little early maybe, but they really prefer you wait until 2:30.

 

Internet has a starter package for $60 I believe, can't remember how many minutes. I can't imagine the bandwidth typically being great for Skype.

 

Golf shirts have, in my experience, been entirely acceptable on board for dinner.

[Bearnaise]

Internet has a starter package for $60 I believe, can't remember how many minutes. I can't imagine the bandwidth typically being great for Skype.

Likely they would block Skype access. It's not only a bandwidth issue, but a revenue one as well. Since they don't blatantly nickel and dime the passengers and have to make money in more subtle ways, there's no reason why they would give up the lucrative telephone charges or the cut they get from hosting cell phone service. I'd be surprised, in fact, if blocking Skype et al. was not a term of their cell phone contract.

[Bearnaise]

Golf shirts have, in my experience, been entirely acceptable on board for dinner.

Or maybe things have changed?

 

My PG docs arrived today. From page 16 of the included "Ship Information Guide", I quote:

 

"Evenings on board Paul Gauguin are elegant, yet they are not formal. Country Club Casual or elegant resort wear are appropriate for all evenings. Country Club Casual consists of skirt or slacks with a blouse or sweater for women, and slacks and collared shirts for men (no golf shirts)."

[baf10]

That why I asked about the golf shirts. I very much doubt they won't let me in if I am wearing a golf shirt.

 

My plan is to hopefully connect my Blackberry 8900 to the wifi on the ship and make calls for free that way and get my e-mails. If that does not work then skype would be my backup.

[baf10]

Likely they would block Skype access. It's not only a bandwidth issue, but a revenue one as well. Since they don't blatantly nickel and dime the passengers and have to make money in more subtle ways, there's no reason why they would give up the lucrative telephone charges or the cut they get from hosting cell phone service. I'd be surprised, in fact, if blocking Skype et al. was not a term of their cell phone contract.

 

 

I dont believe there is cell phone service onboard the PG when it is in FP. I very much doubt many people use the phones onboard much as you are usually docked when a cell phone would be cheaper.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Or maybe things have changed?

 

My PG docs arrived today. From page 16 of the included "Ship Information Guide", I quote:

 

"Evenings on board Paul Gauguin are elegant, yet they are not formal. Country Club Casual or elegant resort wear are appropriate for all evenings. Country Club Casual consists of skirt or slacks with a blouse or sweater for women, and slacks and collared shirts for men (no golf shirts)."

 

The PG is far less formal than the other ships. It's only been six months since I was on the ship.

[Bearnaise]

I dont believe there is cell phone service onboard the PG when it is in FP. I very much doubt many people use the phones onboard much as you are usually docked when a cell phone would be cheaper.

That depends on the itineraries, of course. We have three full sea days on my itinerary, and I'm not too sure there are cell towers in the Marquesas. My cruise docs included a leaflet about cell phone usage on the ship and it's the same system as all the other cruiseships. Cell phone roaming onboard is definitely cheaper than using the stateroom telephone. Even in the ports which definitely have cell phone towers (Papeete, Moorea, Bora Bora for starters), I believe it's purely GSM and therefore not accessible for Americans with CDMA-only phones.

 

If your Blackberry has IP phone capabilities, i.e. digitizing your voice to send the bits over the wifi network rather than utilizing the cell network, you might have some success. However, the satellite bandwidth is shared by the ship's voice communications, fax transmissions, and obviously all the other passengers utilizing the internet, so service might be too slow and/or intermittent for phone usage. Please let us know how it turns out. I'm leaving in three weeks and am definitely curious about the best way to keep in touch.

[Bearnaise]

The PG is far less formal than the other ships. It's only been six months since I was on the ship.

I understand. Yet they now have the same "no golf shirts" wording as the other ships, so the confusion still stands. Six months ago, were there any golf shirt prohibitions on any of the ships?

[egret]

I always wore "golf" shirts at dinner on the PG and Mariner. The concept of "no golf shirts" and "country club casual" in the same sentence is baffling to me.

[miss lily]

We were on the PG for 17 nights in January 2009 for the fourth time sailing. We used SKYPE every day in our room.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Our friend Jim was with us on the PG last December, and I mentioned the golf shirt partial interdiction, so he mostly wore long-sleeved shirts. But he had a couple of very nice polo shirts, and he wore them too, after feeling out the situation. Jim's a very natty dresser so everything he wore looked great, but he wasn't the only one, by far, wearing a polo shirt. Lots of flowered shirts, of course, as well.

[vaitape]

What's up with the "no golf shirts"? We were on the same cruise as Wendy and there were plenty of men wearing them...and as Wendy said, flowered shirts as well. Polo shirts look nice.....they have collars and are NOT tee shirt looking. My Best Friend doesn't bring many when we're on the PG because they're heavy and there's a weight limit issue if you are flying to the other island but geesh! Change the term Country Club Casual if men can't wear golf-like, polo-like shirts....more like "Casual Business Attire" or "Dress Shirts without Ties" or something more descriptive.

[Bearnaise]

We were on the PG for 17 nights in January 2009 for the fourth time sailing. We used SKYPE every day in our room.

Awesome! I'm very pleased to be proven wrong. I had already budgeted $10-15/day just to call in and check messages, but if Skype works, I'll even be able to return any important calls.

[Bearnaise]

Our friend Jim was with us on the PG last December, and I mentioned the golf shirt partial interdiction, so he mostly wore long-sleeved shirts. But he had a couple of very nice polo shirts, and he wore them too, after feeling out the situation. Jim's a very natty dresser so everything he wore looked great, but he wasn't the only one, by far, wearing a polo shirt. Lots of flowered shirts, of course, as well.

My best understanding is that polo shirts are not golf shirts. I have a couple shirts made by Dockers that are labeled "Golf Polo" to make things even more confusing, but they are made of a lighter T-shirt like material - basically they're T-shirts with a collar and a couple buttons sewn on and I believe that's the type of "golf" shirt that Regent is apparently trying to keep out of their dining rooms, while a nice knit polo would be more acceptable. But I agree that it's splitting hairs and that Regent should be a lot less ambiguous if they really wanted to enforce their dress code to the letter. I have enough "flower" shirts to get me by on our cruise (with a little help from the ship's laundry) so I won't push the envelope, but I will report on my observations of other passengers' dress when I return.

[PainMD]

I sure hope Skype works! I am planning to bring my MacBook along and to use Skype as my preferred form of communication with the outside world (especially with my two children back home). As long as there is WiFi access on board, I don't see how they could selectively block access to Skype if you are using your own computer. Also, bandwidth shouldn't be too much of a problem as long as you aren't sending or receiving video. Voice streaming on Skype is compressed such that it requires relatively small bandwidth.

 

BTW, does anyone know if there is WiFi access throughout the ship, including in the staterooms? We are booked in cabin 606 (one of the upgraded balcony cabins) and it would be very cool to be able to sit out on the verandah with my computer, talking with friends and family back home on Skype and sending photos.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

The sending photos might be a problem, since this does require bandwidth and response is often slow. Can't comment on connectivity in deck 6 staterooms.

[MtnDriver]

Actually, they do block many services (TCP ports). You can only be sure of HTTP (your web browser). Skype uses other TCP port numbers for communication. No idea if they will be open or not. See: http://www.skype.com/help/guides/firewalls/technical.html

 

I cannot remember their name at this point, but a year ago (when we were last on the PG) I called the company that provides the satelite services and verified that I would be able to connect to my VPN at home to maintain my servers. If I can remember their name I will post it should you want to contact them

[mikeIam]

On our recent cruise (May 26) lots of floral shirts and short-sleeve shirts and some golf shirts - very few long-sleeve shirs. Some passengers were wearing shorts in "Le Grill" at night with seemingly no problems. Internet access was VERY SLOW during the day -- so slow as to be almost useless at times. One time I could not even logon to the account site. My solution since I was an early riser was to use the onboard computers at 5:30AM - no problem then. Onboard information stated that wireless access was available midships on deck 5 and aft on deck 8 (La Pallette). I tried from our cabin midships deck 7 and the signal strength was very low but was OK in the piano lounge on deck 5. Rates were $35 for 100 minutes, $62.50 for 250 minutes plus a one-time account activation charge of $3.95.