Hi Everyone,

Leonard and I just got back from our French Polynesian cruise aboard the m/s Paul Gauguin. We fell in love with the islands and were really impressed with Paul Gauguin Cruises.

The ship seemed to be in excellent condition (with the exception of a section of carpeting in front of La Veranda on Deck 6; looked like water damage).

Leonard liked the selection of complimentary wines and we both thought the food was very good. Lunches were the weakest of the three meals but we found we enjoyed the choices more at La Veranda than at Le Grill. There was a German lunch one day that was excellent. The Italian lunch was good also but I wasn't so crazy about the days they featured Asian food and Tex-Mex.

There was a Tahitian dinner one night that was a lot of fun.

Siglo (the new incarnation) and Les Gauguines were both onboard and very entertaining. Hal Fraser was also playing piano during the cruise.

Guest lecturers included Mark Eddowes and Dr. Michael Poole.

Service was generally very good and the crew was friendly and seemed genuinely happy. I would suggest a few service improvements though. For example, we ordered room service twice and it is simply dropped off on a tray. The server did not set the table for us (although he did leave a table cloth).

The shore excursions were done well and seemed to be a good value.

Richard Bailey, president of Paul Gauguin Cruises, was on board during this cruise and we were able to talk with him about a lot of things. He said that over 85% of the crew remained after the switchover from Regent to PGC. He also said that they are spending more per person on food costs than had been the case in Regent days.

I posted at my blog during the cruise and plan to add a full review this week.

In the meantime, here's a slideshow of some of Leonard's photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39974584@N02/sets/72157624029413666/show/with/4593681989/

Enjoy!

Andrea