Paul Gauguin Cruise Discount And Cruise Review

Overview
Tahitian Princess, the newest ship to join the Princess Cruises' fleet, is,
in fact, the reincarnated version of Renaissance Cruises R4. What's
interesting about Tahitian Princess -- not to mention largely identical
sister ship Pacific Princess which splits the year wearing both the P&O and Princess Cruises flags -- is twofold: the strong sense of deja vu it gives former Renaissance cruisers and the utterly unusual experience it offers those who are Princess stalwarts.

In a nutshell: Tahitian Princess is a gorgeous vessel. The ship features elegant cherry-colored wood finishes, lush window treatments, and cozy upholstered furnishings in a design scheme that literally runs from stem to stern. Every room, from the casino bar to the spa's salon to individual
cabins evokes that British country house hotel feeling. Princess has
tampered little with the Renaissance formula, so little in fact that,
despite a welcome revamp of the former sports bar into a Polynesian-esque
night club, this experienced Renaissance cruiser could find little had been
changed (when Princess changed the name of the Sports Bar to The Nightclub
it simply stripped the new name into existing signs at elevator banks and
some of the crew carried key cards with the Renaissance logo).

Some of the elements for which Renaissance had become synonymous -- the
sense of staying in a floating hotel and the intimate feel of a midsize ship
which creates a passenger and even staff camaraderie unmatched by today's
mega ships -- are high points of a Tahitian Princess experience. But if the
Princess "style" has made itself unfelt, by and large, in the ship's
appointments, it has most definitely communicated its onboard experience
elements, from dining traditions to entertainment programs, on a
comprehensive basis, so cruise line regulars will feel right at home. One
note, however, to travelers more accustomed to 2,000-plus traveler mega
ships: at 680 passengers, what you give up in breadth and depth of onboard
options (tiny casino, one showroom, one pool) you more than get back in a
sense of being pampered and, pervasive on this vessel, absolute relaxation.

For passengers, the most unique challenge facing a trip on Tahitian
Princess, which, at a 677-passenger capacity (and which sails mostly full
every cruise) is getting there. The biggest conundrum: Tahiti, home of the
region's major international airport, has limited (and often overbooked) air
service -- and yet now it has three cruise lines (Radisson's Paul Gauguin
and Windstar's Windstar) sailing there year-round. Los Angeles is the
jumping off point for U.S. travelers-- and only three airlines (Air France,
Air Tahiti Nui and Air New Zealand) offer flights from there. These airlines
fly only a handful of times each week and missing a connection from a
domestic flight to the Tahiti flight can result in a delay of days so plan
accordingly.

Another option is to book the cruise line's air and Princess, while using
Air Tahiti Nui, mostly depends on a charter operator called Omni; comments
we heard were that the service was fine but the seats cramped.

Public Rooms
Probably the most dramatic area of the ship, first impression-wise, is the
purser's lounge area on deck four and that's because Tahitian Princess has a
Titanic-look-a-like staircase winding its way up to the next deck (and a
player piano that more less constantly plunks out pleasant tunes). The
extremely versatile Cabaret Lounge is the main theater and hosts everything
from evening production shows to movies to bingo. There are two very small
gift shops, one selling the usual cruise essentials and logo-wear, the other
an array of pearls, perfumes and other trinkets.
There is a handsome Internet room with six terminals but oft-excruciatingly
slow connections (this is French Polynesia, after all!) and a serious lack
of communication between passengers needing assistance and a ship contact
drove a lot of potential users away. There is also a nice card room.

The ship has one laundromat and aside from the usual "rush hour" periods,
there was plenty of room. In addition to the four washers and dryers, there
are two ironing boards. Passengers buy tokens at the purser's desk ($1 per
wash, $1 per dry); the soap is funneled into the machine automatically and
at no charge.

The ship's highlight? Has to be its library which is easily one of the most
gorgeous at sea. Featuring a faux fireplace and ceilings-with-painted murals
(not to mention overstuffed couches and chairs and walls lined with
cherry-finished bookshelves), this is the most pleasant room onboard for
moments of utter peace and quiet. The unlocked bookshelves featured a
selection that must have been current when Renaissance operated the ship
(could do with a little updating) but was still interesting and eclectic.

Dining
Princess has, at least for now, modified its "personal choice" dining
program to suit this much-smaller ship. Meals are available 24 hours a day
but the choices vary (and it's helpful to pay attention to the "quick
reference" card left in your stateroom). The Panorama Buffet, the usual lido
scenario, offers a smaller-than-usual selection of hot and cold dishes
throughout the day (starting with continental breakfast fare at 4 a.m. and
winding up with a pizzeria that closes at 11 p.m.). Night owls can get a hot
dinner at the "Bistro," housed in one of the alternative restaurants, from
11 p.m. - 4 a.m. A limited room service menu is an around-the-clock
operation.

Traditional in nature, "The Club" dining room is open seating for breakfast
and lunch. At dinner, there are two seatings: 6 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. and
passengers are assigned tables and tablemates. There are a smattering of
tables for two though these seemed in high demand. For casual breakfast and
lunch the Panorama buffet features the usual hot and cold options -- though
limited in variety (breakfast seemed to get repetitive but the ship's themed
lunch buffets were worth catching). There's an omelet station out by the
pool (and the cook there will cook eggs in other styles). Another lunch
option is the basic barbecue, with grilled hot dogs, hamburgers and the
like. One underused curiosity was the transformation of The Panorama into a
pizzeria for casual dinner-seekers. It's a great idea but the only item
available is pizza (no salads or other possible additions) so it didn't seem
to attract too many patrons.

The ship has two alternative restaurants and they're open on, um,
alternative nights. The Sterling Steakhouse Grill, unique to this ship, was
early-on a passenger favorite (book in advance), featuring
carved-at-the-table prime rib and all manner of steaks, from filet mignon to
porterhouse. Sabatini's is an extension of an existing Princess concept and
features a multi-course northern Italian-style feast. Cover charge for
Sterling was $8 per person and for Sabatini's was $15.

Afternoon tea was held daily in The Club and featured delicious scones and
pleasant musical accompaniment.

One don't miss event: one of the few late-night eating events is the
Polynesian buffet, held poolside (see also under entertainment).

Entertainment
While they were plenty of activities, both during the day (particularly sea
days) and in the evening, they were geared to the more traditional members
of the ship's mostly over-60 crowd. During daytime, there were organized
golf putting, shuffleboard and ping pong contests. There were craft
workshops, a chef-maitre'd cooking demo that was as hilarious as it was
informational, and occasional afternoon movies in the Cabaret Lounge. Art
auctions and bingo were daily mainstays.

Evenings, most of the ship's bars -- particularly the Casino and the Club
bar, featured a pre-dinner guitarist or pianist. Post-dinner the ship swings
into full gear. The Cabaret Lounge features a range of options, from
production shows that are definitely scaled down to fit the smaller venue to
a magician and a comedian. The Nightclub is the spot for pre- and
post-dinner dancing and transforms itself into a disco for the late night
revelers (of which we spotted few).

The poolside entertainment consisted of a rather lackluster duo who
performed during lunch hour and at sailaway time but didn't seem to inspire
passengers.

Tahitian Princess' ultimate entertainment highlight -- and this is
definitely a don't miss event -- is a dance and musical performance, while
the ship is docked in Raiatea, of locals, from toddlers to adults, that
gives passengers a real sense of the art and culture of this part of the
world. Afterward they hold a quite entertaining "workshop" on pareo tying
that involves men and women. A second, and different musical show, featuring
an adult troupe, takes place that same evening on the pool deck, during the
Polynesian buffet event.

Cabins
Stateroom categories range from inside cabins (158 square feet) to owners'
suites (962 square ft.) but what's distinctive about this ship is its high
percentage of standard outsides with verandah (73 percent of the ship's
outside cabins have balconies). Staterooms are cozy and colorful with a gold
and blue color scheme on soft furnishings, set against the ship's signature
cherry finish. Bathrooms in mini-suite categories and above have tubs; all
others have showers. There's a (terrible) hairdryer. Mini-suites and above
have mini-fridges and receive an initial supply of mini liquor bottles.

In-cabin television options are quite varied and almost too intriguing!
Channels featured relatively new flicks (some not yet out on video), CNN and
the Discovery Channel.

The nice thing about Tahitian Princess' balconies is that they're simply
wrought iron (no fancy glass coming between you and the view). On the down
side, however, all of the verandahs are outfitted with the same pair of $5
plastic straight-back chairs (might be time for Tahitian Princess to upgrade
the veranda furniture). Also: these verandahs aren't as private as some of
those found on more recent ships -- there are huge gaps on each side of the
white painted doors.

Family
There are no dedicated childrens' facilities (and this is not really a
cruise for young kids, between the distance from the U.S. to Tahiti and the
ports themselves which don't have a lot of kid-oriented attractions). At the
same time, the activities staff works really hard to entertain the children it does get -- and they plan games and diversions for junior passengers that
use numerous rooms all over the ship. If the ship does have more than 20
kids registered to sail Princess assigns a dedicated children's counselor.

Fitness and Recreation
The pool area features one smallish pool that's flanked by two whirlpools
(in this hot climate they weren't necessarily all that crowded). We didn't
see too many blatant signs of chair-saving though lounges around the pool
area seemed limited on sea days at noon-time. The pool deck also has a
well-used ping pong table. A small walking-running promenade deck rings the
pool area and was usually quite busy early in the morning and late in the
afternoon. Two decks above there's also an extra sunbathing area.

The spa is simply gorgeous and offers the usual Steiner services, both
traditional (full body massage) to nouvelle (they were pushing the Chakra
hot stone treatment). There are four treatment rooms (and we never had
trouble getting appointments) and men's and women's locker rooms (which
included, ironically, steam rooms; this destination is so naturally humid
and, well, steamy that they seemed redundant). Outside is a private
thalassotherapy pool and sundeck that requires a $15 per day charge; we
never saw anyone using it. The salon, also elegant and peaceful, offers the
usual hair and nail treatments.

The fitness facility was small but entirely adequate and pleasantly fronted
a wall of windows which made it feel larger than it really was. There are
numerous classes, from aerobics (no charge) to Pilates and yoga ($10 per
class); the spa is experimenting with packages for the for-charge workouts
(for instance, unlimited yoga and Pilates for $75) though options change
with each cruise.

Gratuity
The ship automatically tacks on a $10 per person per day charge, which
covers dining room and stateroom service though passengers can opt to pay
tips personally.

Dress Code
There are two formal nights per ten day cruise (though passengers left
tuxedos and spangled gowns at home -- think "resort casual formal" with lots
of flowing pants ensembles); the rest of the cruise was resort casual.