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

Gorgeous photos...thanks for sharing!!!

FANTASTIC photos Andrea and Leonard! I haven't seen photos on Flicker in some time, they are doing a really nice job at presenting photos nowadays, I think it is the nicest of all the photo sites!
I guess it helps when the photos were as nice as yours ;)

Awesome photos! I think PG Cruises should secure Leonard's pictures for their next brochure :)

Andrea, did you by any chance hear who's staying on for the Fiji run? We're curious about Siglo, Hal Fraser, Mark Eddowes, Mark Bishop (exec chef) and Michael Shapiro (cruise director). We know them all from past trips. Just wondering if there was much of a crew/staff shift before the month-long swing to Fiji & back.

Dena

WOW!! Those photos were AWESOME! Boy howdy, that really makes me want to go back to French Polynesia and the PG!

Andrea, Leonard's photos are fabulous. Of all the places that we've sailed, when I think of a relaxing cruise, French Polynesia is the place I want to be. I never made it on the Paul Gaugin during it's Regent days, looks like I need to fix that.

Wow! :app: Paradise in pictures, Leonard has talent! He captured the beauty of FP for us all and who could resist a smile and sigh to be THERE right now!! Bravo

Absolutely amazing photos!!

Thank you.

Such wonderful pictures Andrea! Thanks for sharing with us, just gorgeous!

Great pictures. I like that website FLickr really easy to view the shots and SPEEDY.

Same beautiful place everything looks just the same as it was under RSSC. The motu and the floating bar and with the same basic crew, Hal Frasier as well as Michael Poole and Mark Eddowes might be hard to spot any changes. THat is good news and I hope they continue to do well, I really felt it would be better under this new ownership I think this was a great move for the PG to be purchased from Grand Circle.

I see you must have done Micheal Poole's spinner dolphin excursions and Mark Eddowe's walk in Moorea.

Tell Leonard he is definitely a super star photographer.

Thanks for posting, this brings back wonderful memories! For me, Tahiti is truly one of the special places on earth.