I am thinking of a 7 day Paul Gaughuin cruise for our 44th wedding anniversary. We have always wanted to visit French Polynesia but have NEVER cruised. The PG cruise sounds wonderful and we would plan to arrive in Tahiti a few days before the cruise and spend a few days after the cruise in Moorea and Bora Bora. What worries me is that we are not beach people. In fact I am a non-swimmer. My husband and I would love to see the beauty of the different islands. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Would we be bored if we aren't into water activities? Will we still enjoy the PG cruise and our time on the islands?

Yes, you would enjoy it, especially if the south seas have been a long-time dream. Spending time on the islands post- and pre-cruise would also give you a real taste of the island culture. On Moorea, you can rent a car and just poke around, go up the mountain to look at the scenery, go to the agricultural station, etc.

On board, you will be entertained frequently by the Gauguines, and can attend the lectures on board which cover the history of discovery of the islands, and the culture of Polynesia. The scenery from the ship is breathtaking as well. You can enjoy excursions around the islands by bus or 4x4, or take one of several boat trips. You might enjoy the Dolphin Watch on Moorea as well, since it's very educational.

You probably should give the motu day a try. It's very pretty, and sitting under a palm tree sipping a drink is a pleasant way to spend the day, even if you don't go in the water! You can people-watch as well.

That's my cut on it. I love the water, but my husband does not. He snorkels a bit, and really enjoys it, but otherwise doesn't go in the water. We've done the 7-day cruise 4 times.

ALB--
Welcome. Here are my thoughts. You say you have always wanted to visit French Polynesia but have never cruised. By combining pre- and post-cruise land stays with your cruise, I think you have a perfect combination and an opportunity to see if cruising appeals to you as a vacation choice.

There will be plenty to do and see on all of the islands you will visit that does not involve "beach" themes. For instance, on Bora Bora, you can tour the island by jeep or bus. We took a helicopter fight over the island on one of our trips. On Moorea you can rent a car (as we did) and drive around the island at your own pace and stop to shop/eat/take in the beauty of the island. Of course, there will be plenty of excursions offered by the ship for each island. The only day that you might find "challenging" would be the day at the Motu which is without a doubt a beach day! I'm definitely not a "water baby", but even I enjoyed wading into the beautiful water here, lounging on the beach, a fun and delicious barbeque and drinks in coconuts!

There are alot of folks on this board who will be able to provide more detailed info than I have. I think KathyZ (?) has cruised on the PG a number of times and I'm sure she will be able to give you alot of good advice. Also, alot of the folks who can help are heading off to Alaska this week for a cruise on the Mariner, so be patient, they will have alot to offer I'm sure when they return from that cruise!

Congratulations on your 44th anniversary! For what it's worth, I think a trip to French Polynesia and a cruise on the PG would be a wonderful way to celebrate this special occasion!!
Jacki

Welcome ALB
Glad to see you posted here on LCT
There is a lot to do in FP that does not require you to get wet if you don't want to.

You should beware! Wendy and I had never cruised and, as she said, I'm not a water afficianado. But for our 20th anniversary we did the 7-day PG cruise in 2000. This was supposed to be a "once in a lifetime" thing.

Now we have been on the PG two more times, the second time for a back-to-back. Back-to-back means that we did the 7-day cruise and when the passengers were frog-marched off the ship at the end we stayed on board with a cool drink in our hands and did the same cruise again. Plus we did the Diamond Black Sea cruise in 2004, Voyager Monte Carlo to Dover this summer, and will be on Navigator in the Caribbean this December.

So clearly this crusing thing can get totally out of hand. In addition to the dangers of being totally pampered on a top-class ship, there is an added danger for the PG commonly called the "Polynesian Flu". This is when people decide that French Polynesia is one of if not the most lovely spot on the planet and scheme ways to go back! We certainly have a severe case of it. And at least in Canada our health care system doesn't have a cure.

I'm not sure whether a 44th anniversary makes you two less or more susceptible to these awful and terrifying dangers than newbies like us, who were "only" married for 20 years.

-- David

We had been married 35 years before ever taking our first cruise. That first cruise was on a mass market cruise line and we only booked it about 5 or 6 weeks prior to embarkation when the prices dropped to fill up the ship. We found that we enjoyed cruising enough that shortly after we got home from that Western Caribbean cruise I began to look into Alaskan cruises as that was something we had always wanted to do. In June 2001 we were on the RSSC Mariner on her inaugural trip to Alaska. That trip was fantastic and we were so spoiled by RSSC that we no longer had an interest in cruising any other line. We started to look at my husband's life-long desire to travel to the South Pacific. We booked our 2004 PG cruise 13 months ahead. We booked 1 night pre-cruise on Tahiti and then the 7-day back to back followed by a 3-day post-cruise package at Manihi. Onboard we made a booking for 2005 that was for their 10 day itinerary (plus 2-nights on Tahiti pre-cruise and 3-nights post-cruise on Moorea.) We are water people and both love to snorkel but as the posts above have told you, the sheer beauty of the islands and the people there would make for a pleasant vacation even for those who do not go on just about every snorkeling related excursion as we did. For you I would recommend the 7 day itinerary with the pre and post cruise stays as you have been thinking of because the 10 and 11 day itineraries offer mostly water related activities on the additional islands they visit.

If you have always wanted to go to French Polynesia I can't think of a better way than to include the Paul Gauguin as part of your vacation planning.

I was hoping you would see this Kathy and post.
I told ALB to sign up on LCT while on Tahiti Explorer web site.

Karen and I took our first cruise for our 40th wedding aniversary a few year ago. It was on the PG.

Pictures

Nice pictures! Thanks for sharing...

ALB:
Do it!! We just returned from the 7/12 PG with our friends....we celebrated our 42nd and they their 41st. We loved it. I think the 7 day with pre and post is a great idea as the longer one those islands are mostly for water activities. The ship is wonderful...we've cruised before but this was the best food and service. AND they have a wonderful anniversary party not to miss!!
Enjoy and welcome.
Carol

Wow!! Thanks, everyone, for your prompt response to my question!

To ua549, your pictures were beautiful. It sure seems like everyone enjoyed cruising on the PG. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions but am thrilled with the feedback I've already received.

dmh, I thought this cruise would be a "once in a lifetime" thing for us, but after reading your message, I'm beginning to worry. I'm getting excited and we haven't even made any firm plans yet.

Jim B, thanks for recommending this website. Such helpful people!

Jack: What helicopter tour did you take and was it worth the cost? We did the helicopter tour out of Juneau to the ice fields several years ago and it was wonderful, but that trip included a short dog sled trip on the glacier. I assume this helicopter trip is just a flight over one of the islands.

AlB,
We were fortunate to have done the crossing on the PG from Brisbane last January. Nearly 3 weeks on the PG, and we were still sick to have to leave. Like David, we have been on the Diamond and the Voyager, and will be on Voyager again next year for what we are calling Fjords. You will have the time of your life, and your trip of a lifetime will be one of many!!! It was our second time in FP, and I would go again in a second.....Jack, the helicopter trip is a trip over the islands, I think any of them would be fabulous. Bora Bora seems to be really popular.

Not mentioned in all the wonderful and informative posts in reply to ALB's original question is one other thing.

For all cruises to some degree, but especially perhaps the PG, essentially the ship is a floating hotel. You spend a couple of days at an island, then the ship goes to another island for yet another adventure. The advantage over land-locked hotels is that you never have to pack and go to the airport to travel to another destination: the hotel moves instead. So to get a taste of French Polynesia, this cruise is a perfect way to do it.

This is obvious to some, but took me a while to figure out. But I'm pretty slow on the uptake sometimes.

Finally, adding a pre-cruise is an excellent idea, if only so that you are mostly over the jet-lag by the time you board.

Adding a post-cruise delays the awful time when you have to leave and go home. But in our case delaying doesn't seem to lessen my tendency to want to shout at somebody: "What? You're making me go home? Just who do you think you are, you dirty rats? Phooey!"

-- David

David,
You are absolutely correct about the ship being your floating hotel and allowing you to experience so many different islands without having the hassle of packing/unpacking and wasting time with tedious tasks like that! Excellent point.

Billybob--
The helicopter trip we took was over Bora Bora. It was pricey and we enjoyed it, but. . . . .
it was not very long, maybe 20 minutes from take off to touch down and it was not a real "polished" experience. We were with friends who had been to Hawaii the year before and had done a helicopter tour on one of the islands. They compared the experiences and were disappointed in the Bora Bora trip. No narration, our pilot spoke clipped English with a heavy French accent (difficult to understand with the loudness of the 'copter.) So you have two couples who took the same trip and had completely different views on whether or not it was worth it. My husband and I had never done a heli tour before and we enjoyed it, but would not do this one again. Our friends had experienced a much better tour in Hawaii and were NOT happy with this tour. If the price doesn't turn you off, I would say go for it, it might not be the same as what you experienced in Alaska, but the beauty of the island and the ocean from that vantage point is really spectacular. Don't know if that was much help or not!! haha
Jacki

We will be celebrating our 42nd anniversary in 2007,BUT not while we are on the PG in March. Would it be possible to do the anniversary vowel renewal/island ceremony anyway?

As one entertainer said on one of our cruises " i love cruising,you board,unpack and the WORLD come to you". So true.

Did I really say vowel renewal? duh! Vow renewal of course. <img border="0" alt="[bang]" title="" src="graemlins/banghead.gif" />

Great slip of the tongue!! Of course you can, all you have to do is say it's your anniversary, they don't really care exactly when it is. That way, you get an invite to the party. If you want a private ceremony as well, I think you have to arrange that ahead of time.

Several times we've said it was our anniversary when it wasn't exactly when we were on the cruise.

RPM:
Have your TA notify of the anniversary. Ours was a few weeks after the cruise but it doesn't matter. The group party was fun and we have some fun pictures of us from it!
Enjoy.....We can't wait to go again!
Carol

OK then it's definitely a go for us .Will notify them its ours . The ceremony/party looks like a a great time can be had by all. Now the only question is;"do I have to wear coconuts and a grass skirt"? Or will a sarong be acceptable?
(just joking). Thank you for the help

I promise, you will get to take a picture some night during your cruise with some lovely ladies in the coconuts and grass skirts! You don't even need to bring a sarong....in FP they are called Pareaus (? spelling) and they are for sale at every port!!

Enjoy!
Carol