My husband and I just returned from the October 2, 2010 Paul Gauguin 11 day cruise to Tahiti and 6 six other islands. Honey, let me just tell you a little story about our experience with the Paul Gauguin. Having been on seven cruises this was not my first rodeo. The Paul Gauguin experience was the best cruise I have been on. Since I am a foo foo girl and enjoy being pampered and spoiled this was the cruise for me! I am from the South and with that being said, you might imagine I am a little picky, having experienced southern hospitality my whole life. In the South we like to go above and beyond what is expected and do just a little something extra just for fun. Paul Gauguin does all that. I'm not a travel agent and my husband and I still work so I am not going to sugar coat anything. This is how it happened and you can decide if it works for you.

The Paul Gauguin was wonderful in so many ways and I really believe it is the only way to see Tahiti and her islands. Food and drinks are extremely high so if you do a land package you better consider yourself warned. To follow are more details about our experiences with our trip. I shall include the good, the bad and the ugly (well really, there was no ugly, just costly!). I am a realist and I am just telling you what really happened. Perception is reality. I threw away my rose colored glasses years ago.

Let's just start with the food. UMMMMM Yummy GOOD! French pastries, bread, deserts were to die for. All bread products were just delicious! I started out by trying the yellow fin tuna dish and it was a bit fishy for my taste. I tried several different fish dishes and even the sushi but I do not like raw meat or fish so I can only say those who like raw things will probably like it. I'm a texture girly and it just made me nauseated. I tried the poison cru that other Cruise Critic posts raved about. This was served on the private beach barbeque. Well now, that was just raw tuna salad and I do not do raw tuna salad! All beef dishes were great and cooked to the perfect medium I ordered. So tender it just melted in my mouth! ( could not eat the beef or tuna tar tar for the above reasons. Yuck!) The vanilla crème Brule with the vanilla powder grown in Polynesia was my very, very favorite dessert. I got that whenever and wherever I could find it available. The afternoon teas I found just before the cruise ended and regretted that I missed those because they had an almond nut pudding in a tiny glass cylinder that was just about as close to oral heaven as there is! Read more