Paul Gauguin, reviewed honestly

Who Paul Gauguin genuinely suits

Guests who want the definitive French Polynesia holiday and are willing to fly a long way to get it. The m/s Paul Gauguin was purpose-built in 1997 for year-round Tahiti, Bora Bora and Moorea service, with a shallow draft that reaches lagoons larger ships simply cannot enter, and the line owns its own private islet, Motu Mahana in Taha'a, used exclusively for an all-inclusive beach day.

When you'd be better off elsewhere

Anyone wary of single-ship risk. There is one ship, so an unplanned maintenance issue has nowhere to move you to, and flexibility on your dates matters more here than on a line with a fleet to fall back on.

What the ships are actually like

One ship, deeply specialised rather than broad. Onboard Polynesian hosts, Les Gauguines and Les Gauguins, teach Tahitian dance, music and language throughout the sailing, a genuine cultural feature rather than a token gesture.

It's a destination specialist first, a cruise line second

You have probably not heard of this line, and that says nothing about it. Paul Gauguin is barely marketed in Britain because it does one thing in one place, and the people who go there already know.

What that one thing buys you is a ship purpose-built in 1997 for exactly these waters, with a shallow enough draft to enter lagoons the larger ships have to admire from outside, and a private islet at Taha'a that only its own guests ever set foot on. The Gauguines and Gauguins, Polynesian hosts who sail with the ship, teach the dance, the music and the language all week. None of that is a themed evening; it is the crew.

The cost is the obvious one. It is a very long way to Papeete, and there is exactly one ship. Go anyway, if French Polynesia is the thing you have been picturing for years. Nothing generalist gets close.

Where Paul Gauguin sits

Class

Luxury, on our ladder from Mass Market through Ultra-Luxury.

A sample sailing

m/s Paul Gauguin, 7 nights: Tahiti & the Society Islands, round trip from Papeete, guide price from £4,800pp.

Ready to sail?

See what Paul Gauguin actually has available

Answer in plain English and we'll show you real sailings, judged on fit, never on who pays us more.

Find my Paul Gauguin cruise