French Polynesia Aboard The Paul Gauguin

Cruise: 14 Days aboard Radisson Seven Seas Paul Gauguin.

Traveltruth Correspondent: R. Bunting Arizona

This will summarize our experience and opinions related to a two-week cruise on the Paul Gauguin 9-16 to 10-01, 2005.

-Pre-cruise: 
Overnight in LAX Hilton, transfer to LAX, and flight to Papeete all went smoothly.  There were some hiccups related to getting to bus at FA’AA, bus  going to ship, and the process of getting the bus, then us, to pier and us through a rather herky-jerky registration process on-board.  Luggage showed up at room promptly.  It was surprising that Radisson did not have the embarkation procedure down pat since they repeat it 30-40 times per year.

-Itinerary:
It met or exceeded all expectations.  This particular run was done the first time and will be repeated only in fall 2006.  First time the ship went to two or three islands.  We selected this cruise for the itinerary and it did not disappoint.

-Ship: 
It is a very good fit for what it does.  Small, shallow draft, public rooms very spacious, cabin (outside window) mid-ship was excellent.  The tiki, a 2-foot high stone statue in the room added considerably to the atmosphere.  We kept him adorned with surplus leis since blessing your tiki properly assures good weather.  Ship did have a pronounced vibration at rear that will be discussed later.  Main dining room often became noisy from both vibration and conversation.  It could be impossible to converse across table in normal tones.  (And don’t say I am just getting old and deaf!)

-Service: 
Room steward perfect.  Shore excursion dept., reception desk, cruise director service functions could not have been better.  Dining service at breakfast, lunch was almost too good.  Somebody seemed to always be at your shoulder and merely sitting fork down would cause plate to disappear.  Dinner service was likewise superb in the two reservation only restaurants, but main dining room was anything but smooth.  We almost always had table for two that could have been a contributing factor, but coordination between waiter/assistantwaiter/ headwaiter seemed to be lacking.  Sometimes you would be “forgotten” mid-meal, two loaded trays were dropped; both times while ship was at anchor.  Once somebody picked up the bread basket as main course was served.  There was occasionally a language problem if you did not use precise description of menu item when ordering.  We ate all over the dining room and the general problem was universal.  A couple of times  were served someone else’s food and/or they would serve our orders to wrong person.  All this was more interesting than aggravating to us, but the Radisson folks should be ashamed.  On last 3 cruises; Mariner, Zaandam, Infiniti dining room dinner service was clearly superior.

-Food: 
We consider it very good overall.  Excepting for service issues, there seems little reason to leave the dining room and make reservations at the French restaurant or the Pacific Grill on 8 deck.  Soups occasionally too salty and Judy had some complaints about excessive spiciness.  When the menu says Cajun or Thai, they mean it.

-Entertainment:
A variety duo, classical pianist, male vocalist, pianist/classical guitarist and the Gauguins were acceptable to impressive.  The ship’s band left us cold.  Volume over boosted, singing in falsetto, a circular breathing harmonica player, Elvis impersonator, etc.  In fairness there were folks who seemed to really enjoy them and we might just be too old.

-Cruise Director:
Rani Chavez a 30 something Polynesian woman took over at beginning from Michael ? who has been the regular.  Do not know whether this was temporary or permanent.  Rani did a very good job both personally and administratively.  No rah rah stuff, no jokes, and no shilling for Radisson.  Rani was our kind of Cruise Director and she and Judy actually got to be bonded!

-Captain: 
A Croatian who replaced the long time captain a few months ago.  He was a fine man, but would not have been cast as the Love Boat captain.  He had an afternoon program describing his “life at sea” which was informative and triggered a further personal discussion.  He began on cruise ships in the 70’s with Costa (as did we), was staff captain on the Ocean Princess when it sank off Belen (we were on that ship around British Isles a few months previous.) He described the cause of sinking and the aftermath in great detail.  The captain developed a “nervous breakdown” so he was in charge of beaching the ship, getting passengers and gear off, etc.) Then he did the first 10 Marco Polo Antarctic circumnavigations. (We did that on the next to last, a year or two after he was off that ship).  He captained the Norwegian Crown and was chased by a typhoon for 6 days across the Pacific. Most of the time passengers were confined to staterooms. (We were on that ship as the Crown Odyssey in the Mediterranean)

-Shore excursions: 
We generally did one per port; either an island tour or some sort of a water tour (snorkeling, glass bottom boat, trip to motu).  With an exception of one or two later described, all that went well.  Lots of tendering since the ship only docked at Papeete and anchored or held position inside or outside lagoons as conditions permitted.

-Shipmates: 
A varied lot with folks like us in the majority.  Some single men or women traveling together, a few honeymooners, a small number of canes or walkers, and no wheel chairs.  There were perhaps 30 French speakers, French, Tahitian, and otherwise.  Also a scattering of other Europeans, UK, Australia, Canada. 

Overall this was one of our better cruise experiences, a delightful part of the world, good facility, and good operation.

Travel is supposed to be about experiences and this trip brought more than the typical number of them.  Also included are some personal perceptions that are no more or less than that.

-The ship has made a lot of changes in personnel in the last few months in addition to having been sold.  There is a new captain, new executive chef, transition to predominately Filipino service staff, new cruise director, and perhaps others.  That must be an administrative nightmare for somebody.  There was reported to be a Radisson VP on board, and a man not in uniform was spending a lot of time talking to the captain and his staff.  On board it was announced that Radisson has just agreed with Grand Circle/Advantage to run the ship through 2008.  I think it is remarkable that all works as well as it does.

Les Gauguins were a marvelous component on the ship.  In addition to a floorshow, they individually conducted talks and programs, sang/danced nightly in restaurants, and functioned as guides, etc.

The Virtuoso tour was island trip at Bora Bora followed by lunch at a high-class resort on a Motu, Pacific Pearl if I remember correctly.

We were invited to a cocktail party up in 802, one of the two priciest cabins on the ship.  It was certainly bigger than our cabin with veranda on side and window forward.  Décor identical and roll much more pronounced.  The man is a retired U of I geology professor so you IL tax payers must be most generous!

The glass bottom boat captain on Rangiroa was probably drunk.  Immediately after leaving the dock he turned back and nearly collided with it. The only other crew person, a diver on front of the boat became quite riled.

On the Aituktaki snorkel boat was a girl of 5 or 6 who must have been daughter of one of the crew.  Wearing a green print dress she would dive off the side of the boat and swim on and below the surface with wonderful abandon. 

Two tour guides were Americans who had found their way to Polynesia, married many years ago and determined to live out their lives there.  My DeAR wife expressed some doubt about their patriotism.  I rather considered them as venturesome and visionaries.

A highlight of the cruise was a church service in Huahine, entirely in Tahitian.  There was a large a capella choir at back of sanctuary that participated throughout the service with stunning effect.

Radisson has a “private motu” in the reef around Taha’a.  The land, water, dining experience was little short of fantastic.  We never saw the beach on a motu at Bora Bora due to Virtuoso event.

Vibration was a problem on this ship, and was likely exacerbated by our itinerary with days at see moving along at or near top speed.  What I have learned, surmised and speculated on is the following:  The ship is designed with shallow draft which means props are near the surface and can cavitate with only slight pitch or roll.  The condition is much more severe at 16-18 knots than at the 11 knots which the ship cruises at on it’s normal 7 day cruises.  There is too much open space with restaurants at stern on 5 and 6 deck and too little steel in the construction.  In the dining room there was rumble, the sound of china rattling, and Judy was quite distressed by vibration in the floor.  This is worse on port side.  Lots of passenger complaints from the cabins on 7 deck at the rear of the ship.  My advice to you is to not put customers on rear 1/3 or 7 deck on any Paul Gauguin cruise with days at sea.

Ship will go to Australia in a couple of months for scheduled maintenance/repair.  Per captain, there will be some new carpet and a lounge are stern of 7 deck will be converted to cabins.  My guess it that that will be some costly and vibrant space!  Nothing can/will be done to machinery or ship structure to address the problem.