Over the past 40 years I have traveled on a wide range of cruise ships....this being the worst cruise ship experience of my life...and for the money, most of my fellow passengers felt as though we had been "had" or cleverly duped by Paul Gauguin Cruises. I love to meet new people on cruises so I would try to sit at different people during meal times. By the end of the cruise all of the people I traveled with and met on the cruise (around 30) either wrote letters of complaint or returned ship surveys complaining. In return we received cookie-cutter letters telling us that there were only three letters of complaint and that most of the people on the cruise sent letters praising the cruise. From the first day, we felt there was something terribly wrong. Two of the staff even hinted that they were not entirely prepared to sail.

The cruise director, officers, and staff were not professionally trained as seen in their social interactions communications, and dress. The two people I had knew on board and I felt uncertain and a bit uncomfortable at times especially when we saw some staff maintenance members rushing about at sea, as if there was an emergency.

The food was awful! If it didn't taste like it came out of a can, it was stale or improperly cooked. A few years a go I was forced to eat at Denny's because I was stuck in a small town. Read more