sweetp12

Check out big fish games, they have pc and ipad games that download and then don't require any internet. The files are not that big and they have lots of variety to there is sure to be something you like.

My only word of caution is that most games suck your battery dry so for me I carry a battery pack to keep me going.

These games were a big part of my last cruise and work great when the ipad is on airplane mode.

Not having been in a Mini-suite I can only make comment based on what we had in a cabin. But the MS is just a balcony room that is slightly larger and has a couch. Many people aren't impressed with what they get for the extra money.

However if you spend a lot of time in your room it could be very good. Although try to get one that is well placed - we had a number of complaints from MS people who could hear the deck chairs being put out at 5am, people on the running track etc.

As for the check in - on cruise control you can pick what time you want to check in. The queues aren't too bad, so this benifit can be nominal (The pearl isn't that big really).

3 hours is highly highly unlikely. At most 30min would be the longest you would wait.

The robe & slippers is a waffle robe and flat slip on slippers.

The pillow concierge is a pillow menu - you can request from your cabin steward different types of pillows.

Not sure on the glass of bubbly - maybe in your room but anything on deck expect to pay for.

Not matter what you will love the cruise. The Pearl is a great girl :)

The soft drink package is ok - many bookings have this so check (you can get P&O to send you a summary sheet of everything booked to your account). With the package it is only soft drinks in a glass they the a full of ice. You get about half a can with each drink but you can have as many as you want.

Next time if I had to pay the $7 a day I worked out this is about 3 cans of drink - so depending on how much soda you get through it may or may not be worth it. We ended up mainly drinking water during the day and just soda at meals and the show.

what ever you decide you need to think about the last day. Packing most of your stuff and putting the suitcases out the night before is fine in a big suitcase but what will you put your last day stuff in?

On our last cruise I thought we would just go for backpacks and ended up having too many small bags and ended up leaving one in the lounge while waiting to disembark...

So we have decided one big and one small is the way to go from here out. That way we only have to have just one bag to look out for on the last day.

There are a number of free activities but most of the ones that involve sampling had a cost. From memory they were under $20 each. But they sold out very quickly so you need to be on the ball and book as soon as you can when you are on board.

There is no time frame in which to access cruise control, but having never been in the situation when I don't know the other cabin mates I can't provide an answer to the second part of your question.

I love packing cubes. I pack a couple of ways - e.g. by type of clothes and a days worth of clothes.

What I really like about them is that when we stay in the hotel the day before I just have to pull out one cube and it has the socks, underwear, shirt etc needed for both of us for the day.

Then when we get on board I just pull the cubes out, partially unzip them and the clothes are unpacked without needing much unpacking.

The other advantages I see is a really tidy suitcase that is easily reorganised or if you need to open it up (eg at security) then you can pull things out and easily put them back in.

On our last trip we had a bit of an issue - the car broke down. We couldn't drive it home and needed our son to pick us up. We couldn't take all of our luggage so it was easy just to go through the suitcases and pull out the essential items to take home.

I understand that compression bags means you have more space, but I have always found them unwieldy. I bought cheap cubes off ebay in a range of sizes and love love love them!

My tip is a practical one - take glowsticks! We used them for two purposes - at the parties and in the cabin. We got the small ones that had a joiner to make a bracelet and they fitted really well on door handles.

They lasted all night, and bright enough to help us see into (and use) the bathroom, without needing a light. Much lighter and easier to pack than a torch or nightlight.

We always over pack and refine our list more and more each time. So don't feel like you have to follow every bit of advice or list on here. I took magnets and never used them. I took highlighters, never used them either. Did take air freshener - used that (make sure if you take one that it is a subtle sent - as the cabins aren't that big and it can be overwhelming - I took an adjustable one).

Just do what you want and don't feel like you have to do everything. Have fun, keep an eye on your account each day and just enjoy being away from the rush rush of life.

So the Gatorade powder was great - not a problem at all. While the glasses in the room are small we did bring on travel mugs or you can just bring back a glass from the bar. One thing we forgot was a spoon to stir with! On the packing list for next time....

Yes the PP does have fridges in each room - although ours was more "storage" than cooling.... The water deal they have running is 6 1.5L bottles for $15. You can order through cruise control prior or on the ship.

They have 2 bottles in your room & when the room steward comes around they let you know of the deal. We just filled in the form and left it on the bed and 4 more bottles appeared at turn down.

You can't bring bottled water on board at embarkation - they only allow you to take 12 cans. You may be able to buy a bottle at a port and bring it on but security scan your bags so you would be pressing it to bring on more than one bottle.

They had one onboard, i just left a note for the steward and he put it on at evening turn down.

Ben kitchen is on the pearl now

We found the bed hard but got a topper pad and it made it much better. No roll together, and we slept very well. I travel a lot and I would say this was an average bed - not top of the line comfy but not prison cell hard either

We just off from an 8 night cruise and there was no she's on Pandora during this time

I am off on Monday on my second P & O cruise (on the pearl) on the Fijian Adventure, so can give you more info once I return. However what I can tell you is

If you want to buy the beverage package it is $79 per day.

For drink prices check out the links in this thread

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2287390

We got the mystery shore excursion, now while I don't actually know what it is (they wont tell us until we are onboard) I can tell from what I have worked out is we got the cheapest tour they offer - a scenic drive and farmers market stop.

This seems to be the tour given to a number of people who got this promo - it just appeared in our daily planner in cruise control 5 days prior to the trip. Many people already had tours planned and the mystery tour clashes for a number of people so it seems like there isn't any thought given to this.

You can book the tours through cruise control from about 90 days prior, but most people say that the locals on the wharf are great. Again will let you know once we get back.

The roll call CC wasn't very active in my cruise but P&O Aussie have a face book page and every cruise is loaded as an event. This is a very popular medium for people to communicate.

As for clothes P & O is known for its informality - in the sense that not even the crew were ties. Smart casual is the main theme - they don't have "formal nights" as such, but most men wear pants and a collared shirt to dinner. You wont feel out of place in a suit but you wont need one either.

We are on P & O to fiji leaving on Monday, due to get there Thursday. We got an email today to say they are keeping an eye on the situation and may change our port etc depending on how things develop.

I am curious as to where they will take us if we do get diverted and happy we have the sea legs already packed!

Does anyone know if P & O change currency? We are going to fiji on the cruise so was going to take Fijian Dollars with us but then thought that any we had left over could be put on our account. I know P & O would have to exchange the FJD to AUD first.

We are struggling to decide how much money to take - only 3 ports of call and will be doing a tour on one and are very unlikely to buy any souvenirs. If P & O did exchange currency then it would make this decision much easier!

Being a Kiwi we too are pretty much stuck with P&O unless we fly to Aussie. This doesn't bother me too much but I would appreciate some form of recognition for loyalty (not that I have many cruises under my belt but great plans now the kids have grown up).

You always read about the benefits that the other lines offer and while I understand P&O position themselves at the budget end of the market and are very much pay pay pay a programme could be offered that is low or no cost.

Things like

Priority Boarding / Tendering

Priority meal bookings

Ability to book specialty restaurants prior to the cruise

1/2 price coffees

reduced deposits

You won't need to organise a tour to do what you want to see. Te Papa could be considered within walking distance of the ship if you are fit. Certainly a short taxi ride.

Consider doing this then going up to the National War Museum on Tarinaki Street and doing the guided tour ($10pp). This is well worth it.

The cable car is nothing special but the gardens at the top are lovely if you are into that type of thing.

Parliament is also within walking distance and the tour is great.

In reality I would allocate 2 hours for Te Papa (maybe more if you like to linger). 1.5 for the war museum and and hour for parliament.

If you are going to walk then I would

- walk along the water front to Te Papa

- head up taranaki St to war memorial

- walk from there to St Peters

- walk down the hill, through the main part of town to Parliament

- head back to the ship

This route will get you through the main shopping areas of Wellington (Willis St / Lampton Quay). It is also lovely around the water front etc.

It will also take you past a number of bars that sell micro brewery beer - check out http://craftbeercapital.com/ for details.

Not sure if the prices are the same as only ever sailed on the one ship. But you would assume that they would be and that the wine / beer would be the same as they would buy in bulk.

Here is a thread that has the drink menus from December

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2287390

There are mixed reviews on The Pantry on P & O Aussie.

Most complaints are around the lack of variety of food, the lack of trays and the reconfiguration of the tables.

However the lack of variety is an interesting complaint - there are 10 themed food areas (e.g. Indian, Roast, Asian, Pastry, The Grill etc) and each has a variety of dishes that change each meal. So not sure how people can say lack of variety.

The removal of trays has been panned severely - especially those who are disabled or have kids or want to visit multiple stations.

The seating issue is due to removing some table space to make the concept work and also to put different seat configurations in - e.g. bar stools at high tables, couches etc.

No idea if this is cutting down on illness or food consumption but it seems to be the way P & O is going across their line.

There doesn't seem to be any complaints about wait times to be served or freshness of the food.

Oh my, talk about opening up a can of worms. The vegemite discussion could be even more controversial than tipping!

Vegemite is a staple here so you won't be out of place - however you need to be prepared for the Vegemite or Marmite debate.

They are very similar but are distinct and relationships have ended based on the answer to "Are you are vegemite or marmite person?"

In NZ the marmite factory was damaged and took almost a year to be fixed. We had marmagedon and it was virtually a national emergency. The news reported on ways to conserve supplies and campaigns were run to help people get through the time.

So long story short we take our spreads very seriously and you should have no trouble finding some to try.

Of course the next question is how do you eat it - there are lots of thoughts on this. My preference is a thin spread on hot toast. yum yum

We are off on the 22nd of Feb so if there are any issues I will make a post. Countdown (and some new worlds) sell the powder for both powerade and Gatorade.

They just say 12 cans loose to be packed in hand luggage and non alcoholic so I don't see why not.

What we are doing is taking powdered Gatorade and will mix it onboard in our drink bottle.

Go here: https://www.taxi.co.nz/

You can book and pay in advance so it is a fixed rate and it gives you the option of taxi, shuttle or private car. This has been brilliant when traffic would normally raise the rate!

If you provide your flight number (it doesn't have to be through air new zealand) they will monitor the flight so if you are delayed it doesn't matter - they will be there waiting.

They wait for you at baggage claim and don't charge the airport tariff that getting a taxi from the stand does.

You can also cancel prior if your plans change.

I use this service all the time and rave about it.

That is really interesting that you both know what port it is from. We don't, although there is only two so it is 50/50! We booked in earlier this year the first time they ran the promotion so maybe they are doing something different this time round?

Anyway I can't find where I know this from but I am sure we get assigned the tour about 10 days before it departs. I think the P & O agent told me this as I can't find it on their website. I will keep checking cruise control and let you know if this is the case.