Feb 15 - Paul Gauguin Cruise Ship

We had breakfast again in the resort open air restaurant because it was just too far and too bumpy in a shuttle driven by a speed demon to go into town to chase down a decent meal. And again, the service was shoddy. The toast was barely toasted and the dirty dishes weren’t cleared for a long time so our table got swarmed by flies. The only good thing about breakfast was watching two birds pecking away at the baked goods the couple seated next to us had left unattended while they waited and waited for their hot breakfast. And then it rained, just to complete the scenario. Sigh….here’s hoping breakfast on the cruise ship is more refined.

Our transfer to the ship is at 2:00 p.m. I wheedled a noon check out, rather than 11:00 a.m., so we bunked out in a little area off the lobby that overlooks the pool two hours. It rained again which actually helped to drop the humidity level. We watched Aqua Cycle Fit taking place in the pool - an activity neither of us has seen before. The participants wheel huge stationary bikes into the water and then they do bicycle moves on them - up out of the seat pedalling, down on the seat and doing motions in the water with their arms, up and down, up and down. I think they were happy when the rain came - they needed to cool off a bit.

Our driver showed up promptly at 2:00 p.m. He is an ex-Californian high school teacher who married a Tahitian girl and has been here ever since - taught school here, and now, is driving a shuttle as his retirement gig. Fascinating guy.

We got to the ship about 2:20 p.m. but couldn’t board until 3:00 p.m. We set off for an afternoon smoothie to pass the time. The gates were open when we returned. We are all checked in now and legal to be on board. Our cabin stewardess is Jo-Fe - her father’s name is Felipe, hence the Fe part of her name. Our room is snug but comfortable with a little couch in front of the TV and a good-sized balcony. I’ve now got the internet figured out - I’m going to nominate the lady at Reception as Employee of the Cruise for her patience. We have found the well-equipped gym, the spa (going to skip that), the on-board boutique and the afternoon ice cream station. Doug checked out the quality of the ice cream - all good.

Safety drill is at 5:30 p.m. Port talk about tomorrow’s destinations of the islands of Moorea and Huahine is at 6:00 p.m. Dinner is at 6:30 p.m. Of the three dining venues, we are just going to the main stream one - no reservations required. There is a welcome aboard party at 9:30 p.m., but I don’t think we will last that long. We aren’t the young travel chickens that we used to be.

Dinner was lovely - we had a table to ourselves by a window. The service was superb. All the weird vegetables were banished from Doug’s order - only carrots and French fries were allowed to accompany his steak. Our waiter even swept the crumbs off the table before presenting us with the dessert menu. We are definitely not in Kansas anymore, Toto.

When we got back from dinner. our bed had been turned down and there were chocolates awaiting us. Yep, this is all going well. Famous last words - read on.Read more