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Year Built / Last Refurbished: 1998 / 2001 

Length / Tonnage: 513 / 18,800 

Number of Cabins / Passengers: 160 / 320 

Officers / Crew: French / International 

Operating Area: Southern Pacific from Papeete  

 Review by Christopher E. Smith 

I once visited the most beautiful chain of islands in the world- the lush and beautiful islands called French Polynesia. That was eighteen years ago and even now the siren song of Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora whispers to me daily. TravelPage.com Cruise Editor Mark Goldberg yearns for the icy cool beauty of the summer Arctic, but I want to go to back to Tahiti…Only time and money seem to separate me from these island enchantresses…they were expensive to visit when I went there in 1980 and they aren’t any bargain deal now….unless you are on a cruise. And now there is Radisson Seven Seas’s MS PAUL GAUGUIN waiting to take me away on one of her weekly circuits of French Polynesia…Run, I tell myself…don’t walk…BOOK this cruise…You should, too…and if you are a first time visitors, expect to begin a life long love affair with the South Pacific. Everything you have read about these islands is true..from the sweet smell of the air, the inviting ocean, the languid pace….the lush, tropical beauty of these islands…a sure fire tonic for the world weary. 

Not only does the allure of these islands tug at me…the PAUL GAUGUIN is one magnificent little ship. There isn’t a cabin in her I don’t like. Every one of them is outside, each of them measures at least 200 square feet and quite a few measure a lot more…Every cabin has a bathroom with bathtub…and amenities for each cabin include bathrobes for each passenger, a hair dryer, a TV complete with VCR, safe, phone and the ever important stocked refrigerator….ALL this on the ship AND French Polynesia too…This is MY idea of heaven on earth and honestly…it’s as close to heaven as I want to get for years to come!!! 

PAUL GAUGUIN has everything you’d expect a modern cruise ship to have…lounges, casino, gift shop, a gym and spa….but at 16,000 tons, she’s modest in size…yet she has quite a pedigree…Built in France, she is registered in France, too, and has European officers and staff trained in Europe….and so she will be casual in that upscale sort of way. Active vacationers will like her for her facilities…she has equipment for divers, snorkelers, windsurfers and so on…..but after an hour or so in Polynesia, my hat is off to anyone who has the energy for such sports…..I like to look at the islands from a deck chair on board ship and from a hammock ashore. 

The ports? From Papeete, the PAUL GAUGUIN takes in Raiatea, Tahaa, Bora Bora and Moorea….and trust me, there’s plenty of time spent on each island to really get to know them. And the locals? Some travelers don’t do well with the French Polynesians….and if you are a Francophile and insist on speaking the highest class of Parisian French, it’s just possible that your welcome in Tahiti may be slightly hostile….the French government has, over the years, made some questionable decisions regarding this paradise. And when you go ashore, do not expect to achieve any satisfaction from any inhabitants you may disagree with by threatening, bullying, and carrying on…service and attitudes in Polynesia are a world away from our frenzied ways…sometimes service in this paradise is lax or nonexistent. So don’t bark! Instead…do what I did when I was there…Smile and adopt the attitude that everything will attended to in time….and I’m in French Polynesia, so I’m in no rush…This .works like a charm. By the way, bribes won’t and don’t help…..tipping isn’t part of the culture. 

So if the travel gods are listening, I’ll soon have a seat on Air France to Papeete…..and the pessimistic side of me is already dreading the flight home, always a time for me to struggle with having to leave Shangri-la and having to come to grips with day to day reality.  http://www.cruiseserver.net/travelpage/dream/dream.asp 

Ed Lemmerman

Age: 56, Occupation: I & E Planner / Scheduler

Number of Cruises: 4

Sailing Date:  January 18th, 2007

My wife and I booked our cruise last year in order to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary at sea this year. We thoroughly enjoyed our 10-day cruise aboard the Coral Princess.

The crew and staff were the friendliest people we have ever encountered aboard a cruise line before. They did everything imaginable to make you feel at home and comfortable aboard the ship. We opted for the anytime seating for dinner, which was much more relaxed. We met many more people aboard the ship that way. The food choices were varied, well prepared, and delicious. The buffet was open 24 hours for those who could afford to eat to their heart’s content and offered a wide menu of food choices. The Cruise Director, Brett Sibord, and his entertainment team did an excellent job of scheduling activities aboard the ship. Liam, Melissa, Rebekkah, Patrik, and the rest of the gang did a great job with the activities. The bands were super. The singers and dancers who put on the revues were outstanding. These performers did a fabulous job throughout the cruise, staging Vegas-style revue shows. The comedians, Billy Vader, and Carl Strong were hilarious. Juggler/Comedian Nick Pike was great. The other headline talents were equally great.

The excursions were well planned and organized. They also had plenty to choose from. The tours got back in time to allow plenty of time for shopping at the port of call. One bad side note: Jamaica, the constant demand for tipping and harassing by the merchants. Be advised. Watch out for scamming tactics by merchants. They will definitely try to scam you out of money. Be aware: do not allow them to carve your name into anything prior to agreeing to a price, etc.
Panama, Costa Rica, and Grand Caymen are beautiful with a lot to see and do. On Grand Caymen be sure to visit HELL and say Hi to Hurricane Ivan. What a Character. Also enjoy the Tortuga Rum cake samples and rum samples. Very nice. The Tulum ruins in Playa del Carmen Mexico were beautiful, but the 40 minute water taxi ride from the ship left a lot of passengers seasick from a very rough passage from the ship to the shore. This was a rough ride on a water taxi going 25 MPH in 25 ft swells. The crew did pass out distress bags to passengers who wanted/needed them. Definitely not a highlight of the tour.

Disembarkation was well planned and organized by the crew of the ship. Tours were planned for people who had later flights from Ft. Lauderdale, to help fill in some of the time.

All in all it was a great cruise, on a great ship, with a great crew. On board we booked another cruise to Alaska for next year, on board the Coral Princess. We would heartily recommend Princess Lines, and the Coral Princess to family and friends who are looking to plan a cruise.

http://reviews2.securesites.net/

royal caribbean cruise line vacation film. visions of the seas. what mexico has to offer. swimming with the dolphins rock climbing para sailing …

Norwegian Cruise line Freestyle Cruising with NCL’s 10 Big Ships Available through Red Tag Vacations

A review by chrissie-anne on Thomson Travel - Mediterranean Cruise 

May 27th, 2007 

Advantages: Great food, great ports of call, excellent customer service 

Disadvantages: Having to come home again  I was away on my first ever cruise in the first week in May - Mediterranean Renaissance on the Thomson Spirit. It was a 50th birthday surprise for my mum. Booked it online through the Thomson website and got a free all inclusive upgrade. We had an outside cabin on deck one and flights from Glasgow - came in at around £1500. We were both quite excited but a little nervous about it. We had been on a mini cruise previously and had heard good things about Thomson cruises. 

You get your tickets around two weeks before travel as part of an information booklet which gives you examples of excursions and tells you a bit about life on board. You can opt for requesting a particular cabin, or champagne on arrival as well as other things. You get luggage labels also.  Itinerary 

Palma, Villefranche (Nice and Monte Carlo), Livorno (Florence and Pisa), Civitavecchia (Rome), Alghero, Palamos (Barcelona), Palma 

Day two was a full day at sea but each other day you arrived at a new place first thing. The Med was rather choppy on day two and on the evening heading into Alghero – some people were seasick and the lifts were put off. It makes for great amusement trying to walk around when you are getting moved about with the waves! Luckily, we felt alright although a bit nervous when an engineer came to our cabin at 1am on the bad weather night to lock our porthole! Luckily, the weather during the days was lovely. It can get very windy on deck though. 

Travel to and boarding the Ship 

Unfortunately, the flight times to Palma from Glasgow are pretty early (6.25am, which doesn’t sound too bad until you factor in check in time and travel to airport). Our flight landed in Palma at 10.20am local time. Having collected our luggage, we were greeted in the foyer by a member of Thomson staff with a Thomson Cruises clipboard. She directed us to a particular door of the airport where another member of staff gave us some papers with information about travel to the ship. We were then directed to a particular coach. A member of staff came on the coach with us for the short trip to where the ship was berthed. 

Once we arrived at the ship, a member of the Spirit staff came on the bus and explained that we had to get off the bus, collect an envelope from the staff which contained stickers to put on our luggage so that it would be delivered to our cabin later on. The Spirit staff got everyone’s suitcase from the coach and put it through a security scanner before we put our stickers on it (we would next see it brought to our cabin). We then proceeded up some stairs into a building where we registered a card for the cabin account, had our photographs taken for our swipe cards and showed our passports for checking. We then proceeded to a photo opportunity (there are many of these on the cruise) with a picture of the Spirit behind us and some boat paraphernalia round about us. (We did not buy this photo as the early start did us no good whatsoever!) We then were greeted by a member of staff who instructed us to sanitise our hands before going onto the ship. We presented our swipe cards to be scanned onto the boat and then a member of staff showed us to our cabin. 

The Cabin 

As I said, our cabin was a deck one outside cabin. It was fairly roomy and could have slept four. There was plenty of wardrobe and drawer space (with hairdryer), a good sized dressing table with a mirror, a TV and a full length mirror on the back of the cabin door. The bathroom was compact with shower, toilet and sink area. There was a decent amount of storage space in the bathroom in the form of a cabinet. It was very clean and stayed this way for the entire week due to the hard work of our maid, Naty. The room was serviced in the morning and in the evening. The evening service involved turning back the beds, putting a chocolate on the pillows, and making the bath towels into shapes (sandcastles and dogs!). Towels were changed as often as you wanted. My only gripe about the cabin was that the only plug socket in the room was right on the level with the dressing table and so I couldn’t get my phone charger in when fitted to my European adaptor. Luckily, reception staff were happy to charge your phone for you and you signed it in and out with them as you needed to. The TV in the room had questionable picture, but had news channels, a couple of film channels, a ‘view from the front of the boat’ channel and a channel which showed the trip DVD. 

Food and drink on board 

There were several bars on board: 

Horizons – relaxed, coffee-style bar on deck nine with views out over the front of the ship. 

Raffles – piano bar with casino table and fruit machines at one end 

Explorers lounge – quiet lounge with live music 

Broadway Show Lounge – where the shows were in the evening 

High Sprits – the smokers bar where there was daily bingo and quizzes 

The Lido Bar – outdoor bar at the back of the ship 

Drinks are also served out on deck when you are lying out in the sun. 

As I mentioned, we had All Inclusive package which entitled us to pretty much unlimited drink throughout the trip. A few items were excluded such as Baileys, Jack Daniels, Liqueur Coffees and bottled water. Everything was well known brands and soft drinks were served as cans. There was a decent cocktail menu and a good range of coffees and lovely hot chocolate. Glasses of wine were included, but not a full bottle so the drink servers at dinner just topped you up as you went. When you ordered something, you showed your swipe card and then signed a slip. Everything came in an itemised bill at the end of the week (price £0 showed for items which were included). We bought bottled water on the boat to take with us out on excursions, 60p for a standard bottle. There was an ice bucket in the cabin which the maid filled if you had juice in your room. 

There were three restaurants on board: Compass Rose which had waiter service, the Lido, which was a self service buffet, and Sirocco’s which was an a la carte with a service charge payable (Around £18). There is sanitizer at the entrance to each restaurant which a member of staff reminds you to use. 

We didn’t feel the need to use Sirocco’s as the food otherwise was so good. The Compass Rose was our most frequented restaurant on board. The food was absolutely great. There was a choice of six courses at dinner and similar at lunch, including a sandwich of the day. You could have one or all of the courses if you liked. The service was really friendly and you were made to feel very welcome. Iced water was served with lunch and dinner and you could order a drink served to your table. The breakfast was very comprehensive with a range of breads, pastries, juices, cereals and hot dishes. Would thoroughly recommend the Spanish omelette! 

The Lido restaurant is opened pretty much 24hrs. Breakfast consisted of the usual breads, pastries, juices and hot dishes and my favourite – hot pancakes and waffles with maple syrup. Lunch was varied, you could always get a burger or chips, pizza, baked potato in the outside section and a range of hot and cold foods inside. The most exciting part of this restaurant for me was afternoon tea where there were nice filled sandwiches and croissants and hot fruit scones with jam and cream. A lovely treat. This restaurant was open until the early hours, serving chips, hot dogs and even cheese on toast to those heading back from the bars. 

On the second night (at the end of the day at sea) there was the Captain’s Dinner and Cocktail Party. This is the only dressy occasion onboard. You get introduced to the Captain individually and your photograph taken with him. Once everyone is seated in the Broadway Show Lounge, he introduces his crew and welcomes you onboard. Following this, you go through to the Compass Rose for your dinner. 

Later in the week there is a Buffet Magnifique where the Compass Rose is decked out with an array of artistic cooking and baking. Pineapples designed into penguins, ice carvings, chocolate handbags and so on form this amazing display. Everyone gets a chance to go in and take pictures and then to go back in and dig in. It was such a shame to break it all to eat it, but it was delicious – especially the chocolate cakes and pastries. 

You would not go hungry or thirsty on this ship. The service was excellent, the food lovely – no complaints whatsoever (apart from putting on 5lbs!) 

Entertainment 

Late each evening, a copy of Cruise News was delivered to the cabin which gave details about the port we would be visiting the next day and what would be going on onboard in the way of entertainment and events. You could put an announcement in the Cruise News for a small fee. 

There was loads going on throughout the day and evening. There was a cinema on board, a casino, a gym, two pools, a sports area, a library and an internet café. During the day there was live music and quizzes on the Lido Deck. There were three shops on board – perfume, jewellery and a general shop selling clothes, chocolate, handbags and Thomson branded things. They were only open when the ship was at sea. 

My favourite part of the entertainment was the shows in the Broadway Show Lounge at night. Headed up by cruise director Richard Sykes and his great team there were remakes of Singin’ in the Rain and a Queen musical. One night there was a show which took in a variety of West End shows, from Cabaret to Wicked. There was a guest act of two comedians (a man and his son) who were incredibly funny. All shows were on twice so that no one missed out although it becomes hard to get a seat with a good view if you aren’t in there early. 

There was bingo every night in high spirits, followed by games and each night ended with a Disco. This was the only bar on deck that allowed smoking so I didn’t spend a great deal of time in it. It seemed to always be busy. 

Horizons and Raffles Bar also had live music in the evenings – more chilled out than the other bars. 

Ports and Excursions 

There is a destinations service onboard where you can book organised excursions or get information about the ports of call. A leaflet on each port and an excursions brochure is in your cabin on arrival. On the second day (day at sea), there are Port Showcases, where the staff go through the excursions on offer. Excursions are quite pricey for what you get – around £50 for a full day, apart from Rome which is £75/89 for a full day (Inc, lunch). We did a few excursions but found that others made their own way for much less and enjoyed it so it is a learning point for next time. All the places we stopped were lovely, we didn’t go to Barcelona as we had been there before but went to other places. Rome and Pisa are terribly tourist oriented and people are trying to sell you things constantly. 

All ports had a means of transport nearby which you could use to travel independently. At Villefranche and Alghero, tender boats were used to get to shore. You had a full day in each place (7am to 7pm generally, Alghero was the shortest at 9am to 5pm) so you could do a half day trip and spend the afternoon on the boat or whatever. The excursions can be tiring with all the walking (especially Rome, not for the faint hearted) and you need to be ready to go around 8am, so they can mean an early start. It is nice to wander yourself so that you aren’t marching to someone else’s tune although the local guides used were very informative. 

Other things 

When you join the ship you have to register a card to your cabin or leave a deposit as it is a cashless ship. Everything is then charged to your cabin (including excursions) and billed at the end of the week. They put an account under your door on the second last night and then a final bill on the last night. Your registered card is billed automatically both times and comes on your statement ‘Thomson Spirit, London’. 

There is a leaving party at the back of the boat when it sails from Palma at 11pm on the first night. The entertainment team count down to leaving and then there is lots of singing and dancing well into the night. It is a dead exciting feeling to know that it is all starting and I wouldn’t miss this part of it. 

There is a photography service on board who will catch you at every opportunity and a DVD of the week is made and sold at the end. The photo’s are displayed each evening but are £12 each which is quite pricey. I am not sure of the cost of the DVD because I wasn’t that interested in buying it. (Although I did wonder who was filming us in Pisa!) 

Smoking is only allowed in the High Spirits bar inside and in outside areas. As a non smoker, I avoided this bar which was a shame as it had entertainment going on. There was a letter in the welcome pack about how they had to take this step to come in line with law and customer feedback. 

You have to have your suitcase outside your cabin for 1am on the final night for sorting by the staff when putting it ashore for you on arrival. This is a bit of a nuisance as you still need jammies, toiletries etc but you can put these things back in your case at the airport when queuing to check in. When you get off the boat, you locate your case (from rows and rows of them) and take it to the coach for travel back to the airport. Each flight back has a different coloured tag for identification and you get a security seal for your zips. 

Conclusion 

I realise this is a bit of an essay, am sure I could write a book on how great the trip was. I had an amazing time and I would recommend this holiday to anyone. I am looking into booking another one already (although need to do a bit of saving first). 

Nothing is too much trouble for the staff on board. They are really helpful and cheery despite working really long hours and although it says tips are included, we tipped some of the people who served us regularly as they really made the trip even better. 

If you haven’t tried it, try it – I am 26 and didn’t feel particularly out of place with the older crowd. Met some really nice people and had an amazing time. Seven days just isn’t long enough – it’s so sad when you have to leave the boat!

http://travel.ciao.co.uk/

By Robert W. Bone

 Aboard SeaDream II, in the Caribbean—When is a cruise ship not a cruise ship? The answer: when it is a “megayacht.”

That’s the term loyalists apply to this small but snazzy ship. It’s one of a set of twins that make up not your average cruise line. This is the SeaDream Yacht Club, if you please. Each of these vessels boasts a modest maximum of only 50 staterooms. Ergo, those of us who might be listed as merely passengers elsewhere are automatically enrolled as club members at SeaDream.
Seated in one of the ship’s two – count ’em – restaurants (one indoor; one outdoor), I mentioned to my wife that I thought I might miss the lectures, classes, and large choice of programs we have experienced on some of the grand leviathans sailing the world’s oceans.
“Not me,” Sara said. “I really like getting to know everybody!”

She was right. On our one-week voyage in March, we become closely acquainted with most of the 82 passengers aboard – what they did, where they lived, and something about the lives of their parents, children, and grandchildren. We also came to know many of the crew, who numbered more than the passengers, eventually promising them to write and, of course, exchange pictures. This was also a crew that seemed happy to serve, even though they are not supposed to be tipped at the end of the voyage. Most memorized our names from day one.
In the most important ways, our megayacht measured up in luxury amenities to its larger cousins, plus adding a few special touches of its own. The cabin included a shower with three nozzles, and on the first night at sea we received pajamas with our names embroidered on the breast.

The ship has a handsome library, stocked with popular best-sellers and DVD movies for the more sedentary guests. There is internet access in the library, which is a service also available for laptops in the individual staterooms.

 But the SeaDream II is an especially active ship for folks who want to be active. For those who go ashore on port calls, there is usually a new town to explore every day. The organized shore excursions mostly emphasize vigorous adventure. When the passengers are not riding ATVs on dirt roads and sand dunes, they’re sliding along zip lines, diving, snorkeling, or swimming off pristine deserted beaches.

On days when you don’t leave the ship, you can check out the on-board water sports opportunities. When ocean conditions allow, the special marina down at the deck just above sea level is opened up to all members for aquatic fun, including riding water skis, jet skis, or the hilariously unstable banana boat. Falling off the banana seems to be the standard way of disembarking from it.

One day, we saw a grinning Captain Erik Anderssen, 58, hot-dogging around his ship astride a jet ski and generally having a good time along with the passengers. Some members of the crew also participated. That fellow we saw on a speedboat towing the water skiers turned out to be “Bobby,” who entertains at the piano bar or in the lounge during the evening.

Captain Anderssen, like many of his fellow cruise ship masters, is a good-natured Norwegian sailor. He has never commanded a large ship, and says he has no desire to do so. There was also a time he never intended to do anything but crew on freighters.

“I wouldn’t have anything to do with cruise ships. I was a Popeye the sailor man!” he laughed. He likes to tell the story that when he was first given a job on a cruise ship, in 1985, he was embarrassed because he couldn’t read the menu – a document that typically described foods in rather exalted terms.

Captain Erik Anderssen, master of SeaDream II, on the bridge.

“I knew what soup was, but I had never heard of a consommé,” he said. “I knew what pancakes were, but not crêpes.” Now he heads one of the most luxurious vessels afloat, whose meals are generally acknowledged to be of gourmet quality and the evening’s selected wines are included for no extra charge. Now the captain often dines with the passengers, entertaining his table with tales of his sea experiences.

Anderssen says he likes captaining the SeaDream II because he often runs into the same cruisers. SeaDream claims that 28 percent of its passengers… er, members… are repeaters.
Experienced cruisers also may have known Anderssen when he captained ships of the Seabourn Cruise line, a fleet of vessels that are somewhat larger than the two SeaDream craft. We discovered that we had traveled together on the Seabourn Spirit back in 1992, and agreed that we probably didn’t recognize each other because in the interim I had grown a beard and he had shaved one off.

Anderssen is proud of his small ship and has every confidence she can weather everything a larger one can. Pressed for an example, he recalled sailing through a hurricane off Nova Scotia in 1996. The ship was headed at full speed for Halifax. But then Halifax suddenly radioed that the port was closed. So there was nothing to do but to ride it out at sea.

During the worst of the wind and waves, throughout an evening and most of the early morning, no food was served – only soft drinks, he said. The pitching and rolling was so strong, that he spoke to the passengers every five minutes assuring them that the ship was doing fine, and giving them the latest information on the storm. Many had donned life jackets – not because they were ordered to do so, but just because they felt more secure for it. In any case, both ship and all on board came through the experience unscathed.

SeaDream megayachts, SeaDream I & SeaDream II sail seasonally both in the Caribbean and in the Mediterranean/Aegean. Fares for one-week cruises on either of the two ships usually begin at around $3,000 and run up to around $7,000 per person, depending on dates and itineraries. More information, including detailed itineraries, is available from the company’s web site at www.seadreamyachtclub.com. We had no such difficult experience on our own week-long Caribbean voyage, although normal winds and waves sometimes forced a change in where the ship could anchor. Partly for this reason our itinerary along the Yucatan peninsula is being changed next winter for a different one in the Caribbean, sailing mainly out of St. Thomas to other islands of the Lower Antilles. Anderssen explained that when the ship travels through the islands, instead of along a coastline, it is much easier to find a shoreline providing a comfortable anchorage.

There remains a certain amount of adventure in sailing on a smaller ship. Anderssen recalls that on another Caribbean voyage he joked during his introductory talk to the passengers that he just might call in at the island of St. Maarten, which was not on the itinerary. “Just to get a smile out of the passengers, I told them that I had a girlfriend there,” he said.

But as luck would have it, indeed the ship did need to stop at St. Maarten, but only because of some unusual sea conditions. Most passengers were happy with the unexpected stop. But later, when the captain read the end-of-cruise comment cards, he saw one from a passenger criticizing him for including the island “just so he could see his girl friend!”

Anderssen, who is a long-time married man, with two sons, and two grandchildren, said he loved that comment.

“I had the card framed and now it’s up on my wall!” he said.
http://cruisediva.com/seadream_II_1.htm

Here’s where you describe why this video will be useful and what people will learn. Feel free to use some of these words when you do: This is a wonderful cruise line. The ship was immaculate. The food and entertainment was great. It is very inexpensive. It was an amazing experienceCarnival Cruise Line, Destinations, Travel