After a very comfortable flight at the pointy end of the plane from Los Angeles to Papeete on Air Tahiti Nui, we spent 3 nights in the Intercontinental Papeete in a Panorama room overlooking the sand bottomed swimming pool - We just could not justify the over $600 for an over-water bungalow as we were going on a cruise. This hotel was rated 4.5 - 5 stars. I would suggest after experiencing the hotel that some major work needs to be done on the resort, as it is very "tired" in appearance. Our room was in need of renovation and a few other people that we spoke to around the pool commented similarly. We ate breakfast in the hotel one day which was awful and extremely expensive at $50 a head! Our rating for this hotel = 3.5. Oh by the way, my wife was unhappy at having to pay over $50 in the spa for a nail varnish colour change, something that costs her at most $15 at home.

We ate dinner in the "gourmet" Le Lotus restaurant, we are foodies and were looking forward to this - This meal was a joke! Startlingly expensive for overly fussy, pretentious, reasonably presented but failed miserably to deliver in almost every aspect except the setting. My wife's meal was truly dreadful, mine slightly less dreadful - We didn't ask for dessert! You can dress up a dog to look good but in the end it is still a dog! The best food we had in Tahiti was in the Roulottes, downtown with a truly memorable introduction to Poisson Cru sampled at a simple food van followed by well prepared and very tasty Steak Frites! Other samplings were done during the trip but none came close to that one. The food at the Roulottes venue, whilst not cheap was certainly very affordable and enjoyable.

On to the main event - The MS Paul Gauguin - Our butler veranda stateroom was very nice indeed with a super comfortable bed. The cabin was meticulously maintained/serviced at least twice a day by Herlin (what an angel) every day. As far as the much vaunted butler service was concerned - I was disappointed with it, I have to say and suggest that it is not worth the extra expense. Room service would have been just as quick without the butler. Read more