Wendy--yes Les Gauguines were as sweet and beautiful as on our first cruise. I think most of the ship-board parties were the same. One change was the O Tahiti E show and the Pacific farewell with Les Gauguines and Hal Fraser times were reversed from 2 years ago. O Tahiti E was the late entertainment (10pm) this time. I missed it again!!!!!!! Two years ago it was at 6 or 6:30 and I was packing. Rats.

Richard--I believe we had a full ship. I'm sure that has to have an impact on the staff. The ship itself looked great to me. I started to really look at the carpet and stuff to see if things looked worn, and I suppose you could say there were signs of wear, but it was only because I was actively looking for it. I've only been on the PG and Navigator so I can't really compare to other RSSC ships. My opinion is that the ship is very well maintained.

We disembarked on Friday evening--and boy am I glad we did that deviation. We never waited more than 15 minutes for our next connection from the time we were met at the Reception desk to be escorted to the airport in Papeete to the last leg of our trip home from Chicago. It's a long haul for us no matter how we do it, but 2 years ago we had to wait at LAX for over 6 hours to make our connection home. We didn't arrive until well after 1AM. This time we were home by 9:30 Saturday night and had Sunday to just relax before the realities of Monday morning hit us. If not doing a post cruise stay in FP, I would recommend this deviation for anyone facing several connecting flights once back in the US. We really only missed sleeping on the ship Friday night (and O Tahiti E) and having to wake up early to vacate our cabin. Even with the new disembarkation procedure for Saturday, I liked doing it this way. Something for future cruisers to consider if given the option.

Jacki