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room around 6pm; breakfast in bed at no extra cost.


And speaking of food…for just over 300 passengers, Paul Gauguin has three restaurants and caters for every taste. But, for gourmets, this is a real treat because the ship has a special relationship with Jean-Pierre Vigato, Chef Proprietaire of the Michelin two-star Paris restaurant, Apicius. His signature menu degustation is the centrepiece of the Verandah, the ship’s fine dining restaurant, and features the bounty of the South Pacific with real culinary inspiration – dishes such as Seared foie gras and tuna sashimi or Steamed mahi- mahi bell pepper Napoleon with green onion. Chef Vigato also comes on board regularly to invent new signature dishes


78 WORLD OF CRUISING I Winter 2012-13


and give master classes to passengers. But, while the food has a distinct


French accent, the atmosphere is definitely Polynesian, typified by les Gauguines, the ship’s Tahitian hostesses. You first meet them as you check in – and they’re easy to spot. They’re the ones wearing brightly coloured pareos (sarongs), flowers in their hair and generous smiles.


paintings of Paul Gauguin brought vividly to life by the Gauguines recreating them as tableaux.


Y


It is the Gauguines who introduce the passengers to Polynesian life, from teaching a dozen ways to wear a pareo


ou get the point on the very first night when part of the entertainment is a series of the


and telling stories of ancient Tahitian legends to singing, playing that unlikely but ubiquitous instrument of the South Pacific – the ukulele – and, of course, dancing. The dances of Polynesia – grass


skirts, swaying hips, garlands of flowers, fast hypnotic drums and lyrical stories – are magical and you are very much encouraged to give it a try yourself. The islands themselves, though, are the most magical things of all. Raiatea, Captain Cook’s favourite island, is sacred throughout the South Pacific as the place from which, in legend, all Polynesians came. Bora Bora’s lagoon shimmers from turquoise to aquamarine to deepest blue against a backdrop of wild, jagged


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