As an itinerary cruiser this trip has been amazing! All the ports of call have been new to me and have provided so many days of wonderful sights. The ship, however, is past due for a face lift. "Tired" is putting it mildly. Carpet is worn and dirty, a lot of the furniture is "old" and needs to be replaced. The library, where I had hoped to find some peace and quiet reeks of cigarette smoke; cannot stand to go in there. No smoking is allowed in the library, but, smoking is allowed at the outside bar located near the library. On a more positive note, the officers, staff and crew are very professional, courteous and generous. All the servers have smiles on their faces, officers are attentive and staff are willing to help in any way possible. Despite the "tiredness" of the ship we are booked on another cruise on this ship in April of 2018. The itinerary that is offered is our main reason for booking again on this same ship. The entertainment on the ship has been superb! Read Less

Very nice ship, fitted out well, plenty of eateries and bars, but the allowable dress code, was appalling. I understand people like to relax and unwind, but there is a time and place, where you need to make an effort and night time dining, is that time. Far too many people, rocking up in board shorts, singlets and thongs and expecting to be allowed entry to the Dining Rooms. We are not snobs by any means, but we do like to make an effort and dress appropriately, when we enter and are served a meal, in the ships main dining room. You want to dress and act like rednecks, then go to the Buffett. We did notice that waiter service, in the bars and dining areas, appeared to be cut back a little, compared to other ships. The food on board was very good, but we have experienced better on other Cruise Lines. Staff were very good, as we have found on other ships, but lacking in numbers on this ship. All the on board venues, both dining and entertainment, could have used some additional staff also, but on the whole, our cruise was good. The main theatre entertainment on this ship was exceptional and probably the best we have seen throughout our 15 cruises so far. The smaller bars provided reasonable music, but nothing you would write home about. Cruise Director and staff were always mingling with the passengers and available to answer questions. The Captain and ship's officers were seen to be walking around the ship daily and always speaking with the passengers. We joined the ship in Papeete and the whole process of getting on board, seemed to take forever, but this may have been the first time, a ship has embarked hundreds of passengers here and the facilities were just not up to task. Disembarking in Sydney was fine without any problems. As stated above with minor grievances set aside, I would recommend this ship for future cruises, if your happy to hang out in your shorts and thongs all day, then this is the cruise line for you. Read Less

This being our first cruise, we just didn't know what to expect. I had visions of lots of people and no room to move but it was the opposite even though it was a full cruise so we were very pleased. we had a mid ship balcony which was quite spacious and had plenty of storage. Suitcases slid under bed which was great. Ample shelves and full size wardrobe. Toilet little cramped but fine. Big shower. Room attendant was wonderful. Bed very comfy. Staff in general super helpful and friendly. Very up to date in regards to health and hygiene. Good medical centre and hand sanitizing everywhere. 'happy happy, washy washy staff at all eating places.... Free style dinning means eat where you like any time. Booking required for a couple of the specialized eateries but there was always the garden buffet which was fantastic and had a huge range of food for breakfast , lunch & dinner. The ship is not huge which is nice. Aproximately 1.40 kms to walk around on the walking track. Lovely art deco style bars and furnishings. Great duty free shop. All the usual things you would expect. Plenty to keep amused with activities etc. We loved it. An older style ship in our opinion but that was what made it charming. Not too over the top like i imagined some cruises might be. I think great for couples and older people but also families as well. 2 pools and kid minding. Well done norwegian cruise line. You got us hooked. Read Less

Unless you have the dinning package and drinks package, having to eat in the complimentary dinning rooms can be very hit and miss, mostly miss. The food overall their was not good. Drinks for Aussies extremely expensive. If you wanted good food you had to dine in the extra pay dinning rooms, this should not be the case, why should the buffet be of such poor standard, cold, plastic sliced into salami not cut off, all bland. The inside cabins we all just called them kennels as they were so small. (have cruised in many inside before). On a bright note, the nightime production numbers by "Burn the Floor" were fantastic, first class. The ports we visited were fantastic, the tendering service worked okay. If you are unstable on your feet, don't cruise tendering ports, we saw too many people hurt and who could not handle the heat. The ambulance was at very port. Read Less

As the title suggests we were not overly impressed by the ship as far as first impressions goes it was a fail for Norwegian. The ship looked very nice at the docks we viewed it the night before boarding but alas that was to our only good impression. The boarding experience was abysmal we lined up for and hour and a half in hot conditions imaging that it must be slow as they were checking people in but no that was just getting them on after finally making it on board we were told to climb two flights of stairs to finally do check-in. Disembarkation went a bit better at least we were never in weather conditions. I'm afraid my review is not going to be positive but here goes anyhow. The first onboard shock came with the size of the cabin the smallest I have ever been in the design was user unfriendly the cabin was supposed to be suitable for 4 fat chance. The upper bunk slid down from the side wall it protruded out making it a hazard getting in and out of bed the other side had a useless table almost against the bottom of the bed meaning you had to crawl in and out of bed. We met another couple experiencing the same difficulties who suggested we make it into twins (so romantic NOT) it made it a lot more workable but this was a special holiday we would have liked to share the same bed. The bathroom although compact did have a proper shower screen a first for us and much appreciated. BTW never did figure out where the fourth bunk would have gone if the were 4. Thinking it must be going to get better we headed to O'Sheehans for our first drink with a view only to be scolded by the waiter for sitting down without asking and going to the bar ourselves it took some days to return. This bar although situated in a good position seemed unable to handle crowds their service lacked each time we did return. On a positive note about O'Sheehans for those who wish to send a picture and short message home who do not have WiFi you can send from a machine just outside the bar on a daily basis. Other free food outlets were good enough if a bit repetitive the buffet sometimes suffered what many buffets suffer and that is not overly hot food. The main dining was usually pleasant if a little noisy I think maybe the ceilings are a little low. No one could have left the ship starving the washy washy girls were just delightful they made our days. The ship itself is well in need of its upcoming refurb old carpets seating and the Italian restaurant is so old hat its just not funny. I was told by other passengers that other ships are a lot nicer so I would recommend using one of them until after the refit. The outside deck space was very exposed during sunny weather some umbrellas would help greatly as shady spots were near impossible especially with the usual deck chair hogs who appear to rise before 5am. I was thinking post cruise some of the staff may be very tired and stressed as service was lacking in many area. We did find some staff very pleasant and friendly and interested to have conversation we enjoy talking to staff to find out about their home countries and to show interest in them personally. The entertainment was a bit of a fizzer the house bands were mostly boring except Temperature. The best attribute they had was the dance troupe Burn the Floor they were fabulous but were under utilized over the 18 nights they could have done double the shows. If that had happened I would have overlooked other disappointments they were so exciting highly talented and together with the acrobats just amazing. Black Tie were also very talented and we enjoyed both shows they made a change of pace and not the usual package comedy classical music and opera. I am not into magicians illusionist mediocre comedians or cover bands/artists and that made up the rest. As this cruise was on its way to Australia it would also have been helpful to have one chanel on the TV that had Australian news so damned sick of the Trump show and a better selection of movies then repeating the same over and over. The reason for our selecting this cruise was the ports and we were not let down. We began our holiday in Moorea several nights pre cruise loved it. Our first cruise port Raitea was lovely although we went of a private excursion to Tahaa to do ray and shark as well as drift snorkeling. Our second the much anticipated Bora Bora it lived up to all the hype same kind of excursion but added a coral garden and 2 to 3 mt lemon shark experience. Next American Samoa should have explored further but was not well that day I think it could have been interesting on the places further from the port. Unfortunately the choices in Fiji not the best but we still did go to and outer island from Lautoka but just looked around Suva on our own. Vila is always nice great duty free we spent the day on Erakor island just snorkeling and sunning hardly and guest so very relaxing. Noumea turned out to be a surprise went to Duck island first impression not great but once we found the snorkeling chanel it was supurb fabulous variety of fish and quality coral. Last of all and all time favorite Ilse of Pines such a sweet place even with all the ship on shore it still never gets overcrowded as there is both beach and lagoon. I can truly say I wish I could have loved the ship but just couldn't have never been able to find anything to compare with the smaller RC Radiance of the Sea design food and entertainment. Read Less

My husband and I have just returned from a fabulous 7 night cruise on the Paul Gauguin from Papeete to Bora Bora and return. We have been on over 30 cruises including river cruises and I have concluded that the crew and staff on the Paul Gauguin are the best! After the first day, everyone knew our names and they were TOPS at caring for us, whether in the dining room or up at the Grill or in the Theater. I felt like a princess. We stayed in cabin # 765 and really enjoyed it, especially the large shower. It was at the back of the ship which made sailing away spectacular with the sunset views. I do wish to comment that at 5:30 am each morning, chairs were moved on the deck above us, but that was always finished by 6:00 and did not amount to much disturbance. I am a very light sleeper, but the cabin itself was worth the little noise each morning. The food in all three restaurants was really well prepared with wonderful seafood and fabulous beef tenderloin. We made reservations (at no additional charge) at Le Grill and La Veranda. Both were delicious and the service was outstanding. The main restaurant was Le Etoille and it was very nice. For a very quite evening, I would choose Le Grill or La Veranda, but the food and service were amazing in all restaurants. You are allowed to make reservations in each of the speciality restaurants (Le Grille and La Veranda) for one night each only. Paul Gauguin does this to let everyone have the opportunity of enjoying the specialty restaurants. Be sure and make these reservations as soon as you get on the ship. They were making them all in La Veranda location when we got on around 3:30 PM. The Cruise Director, Michael Shapiro did an outstanding job as host each evening. Do not miss the last night's performance of the dancers. They bring them on the ship from Papeete and they are amazing!! Michael has a wonderful voice and one evening he entertained us which was a real treat. We had delicious wine offerings each evening. I had thought that the selection of the complimentary wines might be very limited, but they were paired really well with each evening's dinner. We took the pretour to Moorea before our cruise and we are so happy that we did. We had a standard lanai room and it was so very very roomy and comfortable with a beautiful view to the beach and ocean. Our friends had a beach bungaloo cabin and it was very beautiful! I would have enjoyed that but at the end I concluded that I liked being in the main hotel for the convenience of the restaurants and the pool location. I could go on and on about this cruise and the Paul Gauguin. It all was truly a fairytale in every way! Read Less