Hi, my name is Melissa. My husband and I are getting ready for the march 11th PG sailing. I got the name of this forum from a nice guy on cruise critic. This is a great site and seems like alot of fun people. I hope to meet some of you on our vacation.

Is anyone else sailing with us???

Hi Melissa! Unfortunately, we are not cruising with you. I did want to take this opportunity to welcome you to LCT.

I hope you will go onto the Introductions area of this message board and tell us a little bit about yourself. Looking forward to you posting often and joining in on the lively and informative discussions on LCT!

Wishing you a great cruise!

Let's give Melissa a big welcome! Melissa, I'm the "guy" from cc who found you, and thought you might get help here as well. Melissa started a cc thread (under a different name) that actually turned quite funny re: packing for the PG! I know you have probably had most of your questions answered by now, but if not, fire away!

Hi Melissa, we're not cruising with you, although we certain wish we were! We've spent 4 weeks on the PG, and love that ship. If you have any questions, please ask, and welcome to LCT!

Welcome to LCT - have a wonderful trip.

Hi Melissa and welcome!!! We are not on PG but so many people can help you - this is a great board - enjoy!!!!! Joanna

Hi Melissa!! I am glad that Olivia directed you to us as we love new posters! If you have any unanswered questions, just ask!

You are going to LOVE the PG, it's a fantastic experience!

Yes, that thread did end up being quite hilarious! Welcome, Melissa. I WISH I was cruising with you! We're going to be on a Radisson cruise in the same area later this year, but it's going to be on the Mariner, not the PG. I'll look forward to hearing how your cruise went!

Welcome to LCT, Melissa. We did French Polynesia this past fall on the Mariner. It's a great area to be on a cruise ship. I guess I'll have to go back and look up your post and answers on CC.

M.

Yhe PG was the first RSSC ship that we sailed on. It goes to some fabulous places. If you like beautiful water and great beaches you will love it.Since that cruise we have been on 3 other RSSC cruises. You really get hooked.

Hi Melissa -I posted on that thread and my post disappeared. All I said is yes, bring a clock and an extension cord and poof! Oh well, Welcome to LCT. Let us know what questions you have. The PG is a wonderful experience.

If you see posts referring to PIP, that was the LCT Party in Polynesia last year. There will be a lot of helpful information in those threads. About 25 or so iof us did that as a group last May.

Thanks for such the warm welcome. I am obsessed with this upcoming trip. I can't stop thinking about it. Im on here reading at least twice a day!! It is addictive!!

Any excursion advice??

Uh huh. First you lurk - viewing every day or two, then you post once or twice. Then before you know it you can't help but keeping LCT open all day and just minimizing while you work - you know you are a full blown LCT Addict! Welcome to our website! Wait, pretty soon you are talking about Wine, Bliss and Wave and Pop (see the cruise acryonyms topic)

As for excursions, don't miss the Motu day on Tahaa. We enjoyed the Lagoonarium in Bora Bora which included a motorized kayak around the full Island, the Bora Bora Le Truck tour, The Aqua Safari and since photography is our hobby, we did the Photo tour on Moorea in a 4x4. We loved the time we spent snorkeling. I bought a Swimways spring floating raft (no blowing up for us!) which was terrific for floating. Ask away here.

hahaha...i know the feeling. I couldn't stop thinking about my trip before we went. And now I'm gearing up for our trip in Dec. and Welcome

Welcome to LCT Melissa. Know the addictive feeling! You will get lots of good, friendly advice and meet lots of truly wonderful fellow cruisers.

Hi Melissa,

I am a recent poster myself (although I've been lurking for a while). My wife, Jan, and I will be on the same PG cruise as you (3/11/06) to celebrate our 10th anniversary. We were also there in 2004 and couldn't think of a better place to celebrate. I know that another poster here - Luke - will also be on the cruise. I share your excitement for the trip!!!!

As for excursions, it partially depends on what you like to do. There is lots of great snorkeling to be had. I am not a diver, but people rave about the diving.

We went to the Lagoonarium in Bora Bora and thought it was a great excursion, especially for novice snorkelers (which we were). In Raiatea, we went on the Faaroa river expedition. It was a good excursion, and you get to see a lot of the island, but we will probably pick something a little more active this time. It was a truck ride through the island, followed by a canoe ride up the river.

On Moorea, we went on Dr. Poole's dolphin excursion. Dr. Poole is a great speaker and has such enthusiasm for his work. Unfortunately, the day we saw him the dolphins wren't very active so we didn't see a lot. Then it rained towards the end so they cancelled the planned snorkeling stop afterwards. I feel like we had a bit of bad luck with this excursion - Dr. Poole can't determine the behavior of the dolphins and he certainly can't affect the weather. However, we probably won't go on it again.

We also spent two days doing our own thing. On Bora Bora, we rented a car near the dock and cruised around the island. We had a cabriolet that had no doors and a removable vinyl roof. It was a blast and we will certainly do it again. We also spent one afternoon on the Bora Bora motu. Radisson has their own motu on Bora Bora that you can go to. It isn't like the Tahaa motu as there are no food, chairs, umbrellas, or toilets. However, it is a fun day of snorkeling, kayaking, and just hanging out on the beach.

As was mentioned above, the motu trip on Tahaa is one of the highights of the trip and not to be missed. It is also included as part of the cruise.

I hope to see you on the cruise. If you see a very tall woman (6+ foot) and a goofy bald guy with her, say 'hi'. That's my wife Jan and I.

Bill

Melissa,

Welcome aboard! You will have a fantastic time on the PG. We just went in December and loved it. We are going back this December for an 11-night sailing. The food is very good, the staff is friendly and will take very good care of you. Be sure to eat dinner in La Veranda one night - the food was outstanding. We liked the Grill for dinner too, though reviews from others have been somewhat mixed. We will do both again.

You have already been given lots of good advice. There is 1 US-style electrical outlet so the suggestion to bring a small power strip is a good one if you have several electrical items to recharge. I took a pair of sweat pants for lounging in the room and didn't use them. I think I would have except that I fell asleep upon returning to the room each night. All that sun and fresh air! Here's a quick rundown of our excursions:

Raiatea - we did the Faaroa River trip which is part canoe and part 4x4. We liked this because you got to see the interior of the island, the river, and the coastline. No problems with queasiness in the 4x4 but the canoe is uncovered so sun protection is needed.

Tahaa - enjoy the full day at the motu. Very relaxing. We were on the second tender over (tried for the first but there was a long line, I think our only line of the week!) and the last tender back.

Bora Bora - the first day we did the Shark & Ray feeding tour. This was a blast, we had so much fun playing with the rays. Here we also had our best snorkeling of the week (Bora Bora Coral Garden). Second day we did the 4x4 which was great - lots of outstanding views. No queasiness on this one either, but definitely bumpy. We shopped a little in the village and went to the Bora Bora motu. As mentioned, this motu has much less to offer in terms of facilities, but is worth going to if you like the beach.

In Moorea, I was glad to have sneakers on the Trails of the Ancients as it rained while we were walking and was pretty muddy, and we needed to cross some small streams along the way. River sandals would be OK too, maybe better considering how wet it was! We also took Dr. Poole's dolphin excursion as mentioned above by Bill. We were lucky enough to have the opposite experience - we saw over 60 dolphins and I think it was the highlight of the week for me. The snorkeling on this trip was so-so, but seeing all the dolphins was outstanding.

If you have any more questions, ask away!

Dena