Hi everyone! I've been a lurker for some time, and now my big trip is finally getting close and I need some advice. I'm going on the PG in Nov for my honeymoon of a lifetime! We are staying at the IC Moorea pre-cruise for 5 nights. I am a very frequent business traveller and have accumulated more than enough points to cover the pre-cruise stay (acutally, already have the award reservation booked). But here's my question, the award travel is booked in the lowest category room. Many premium (OWB) rooms are still available (per their website). Should I book a paid night in an OWB for the first night, in hopes that they let me keep the room for the remainder of the trip or should I stick with the reward reservation as is and hope for an upgrade? I am a Royal Ambassador, but I've heard that some properties are inconsistent at best in applying upgrades to reward reservations. Also, we want to fly over to Moorea and take the ferry back to the port. When should we book this, before we leave or once we get there? Any insight would be helpful and appreciated!

PS- I've already posted this on flyertalk.com and haven't had a lot of responses.

Thanks again!

Welcome Kit! I'm not familiar with Royal Ambassador status but I have read about members of "Six Continents" being upgraded to OWB's. Is this something similar?

Welcome Kit and congratulations on your upcoming marriage. I hope Denise sees your post and can weigh in.

I'd take my chances the property would do a complimentary upgrade if you're in their elite version of the frequent guest club. That said, I found intercontinental was less flexible with space available upgrades than hyatt or marriott when it came to stays at their hotels, but I don't travel enough to make it a blanket statement. Cheers, Anne

I stayed at the ICB Papeete and we got the upgrade to the Suite OWB automatically. Had I planned my stay properly, I would have been able to use my complimentary night there as well. They give you a free night's stay with their reward program (which is not a free program!)

You will have a great time - btw, Welcome to LCT!

Kit, welcome to LCT! I stayed at the Moorea Beachcomer maybe three years ago, and can't help with your elite status questions. The garden bungalows that are the lowest level are still very nice, and appeared to me walking by to have the same floor plan as our OWB. The next step up, the beach bungalows are scattered about the property along little man-made beaches, and then there are the OWB's, which in our case was not totally OW, as it was attached to the land in the rear, but it felt like it inside. We had great sunset views from our unit, but it was very hot on the balcony in the afternoon.

Since our air and pre-cruise package was arranged through Radisson, all our transfers were included. I had forgotten that Moorea even had an airport. We just got on the ferry with our vouchers for about a 40 minute ride, were met on the island and transferred to the hotel, and picked up at the end of the stay and delivered to the ferry, and were met by the Radisson bus and taken to the ship a short while away. You can buy ferry tickets right at the dock, and then you heave your luggage into these big metal bins that are rolled up onto the ferry. The hotel can arrange for taxi's to pick you up at an appointed time (once you know the ferry schedule) to get you back to Papeete. Since you are a savvy business traveler, I'm sure none of this is daunting to you. It will all work out, and I hope you have a great time!

The only thing I would recommend is finding out about restaurants in Moorea before you go. A great website is www.tahiti-explorer.com where you can browse the ever changing reviews of the restaurants, and get advice on what activities you might enjoy. The food at the hotel is not so great, and everywhere it is going to be expensive at the nicer restaurants. We did parasailing from the beach at the hotel, took a 4x4 ride (very bumpy, but fun)with InterIsland Safari for beautiful views, and visited a local market up the street. My son who was about 22 at the time spent hours snorkeling right from our balcony. There is also a dolphin-encounter excursion right on the property. I only watched this, and we did not partake. Hope this helps somewhat!

Thanks everyone for your kind words!

Petlover- Royal Ambassador is just a higher status. I paid the $150 "initiation fee", but was invited to "upgrade" to the Royal status. This is really only a benefit to me for the honeymoon, since I don't stay at a lot of ICs on business. My employer is too cheap!

Thanks to everyone for your input. Your stories and experiences have gotten me this far and I truly appreciate it.

For anyone that's been on the PG recently, are there any changes that I should be aware of? I've heard some not-so-great things on CC, implying there is a decrease in the level of service and quality of food. I certainly hope this is not the case. This has become my dream trip after reading all of your experiences this past year. Regardless, I'm sure this is will be the trip of a lifetime (that I will hopefully repeat many times in my lifetime!).

Thanks again!

Kit, you will just have to make your own mind up about this, but please, try to go with an open and positive mind about all of it. I think that is the key to any travel. If you expect the best, you will get most of it. If you are looking for problems, you will find them. Hope you will choose the former route!

Kit, even though I have yet to cruise the PG, I have read up on it extensively and am sure you will not be disappointed. My wife and I will be waiting with bated breath to hear all about your experience, as we are booked for a 2006 PG sailing.

Kit, the food is very good. It's just not as good, according to more frequent cruisers here, as the food on the other Radisson ships, at least not all the time.

Dinner in the main dining room, L'Etoile, is very nice, but just not the stellar experience it was 5 years ago. I found the lunch buffets very nice, but that opinion is not universally held.

You will have a great time, what a terrific trip for a honeymoon!

Wendy and all,
i am surprised to hear about the food issue..... only having been on 2 Radisson ships, i was afraid the diamond was not going to be the caliber of the Voyager, and it was excellent. it did not the restraunt choices obviously, and we did not care for Don Vito's , but we were generally pleased. Funny that Radisson would allow one of their ships to have sub par anything.
Cindy

Cindy, the lunches on the PG are certainly on a par with, or better than the lunches on the Diamond. I was not particularly impressed with this aspect of the Diamond, and on the PG you do have lots of fresh fish and seafood, which I love.

But as of this June, L'Etoile did not live up to the main dining room on the Diamond for dinner--the Grand Salon (is that what it was called?), was fabulous. I also disliked Don Vito's.

Thanks again to everyone. I'm sure that nothing service or food related could ruin this trip! I just can't wait!! Besides, I'm not all that picky. If I don't have to cook it or clean up after it, it'll be pretty darn good! I look forward to sharing my review with you all.

Kit, like you, if I dont have to cook it and clean up....it's good! But it should be better than that since you are paying good bucks for it. We are looking forward to your review!