perthjay85

47 minutes ago, The_Big_M said:

So a couple of brands are out of stock, and one passenger complained.

 

Nice News Ltd beat up as usual.

When a P&O staff member concedes 

"full selection of drinks were not available" 

&

"We are disappointed that the usual drink selection is not available for our loyal guests, and our crew are working hard to fix this as soon as possible" 

You know something is wrong. 

The cruise still has another 5 days to go. 

1/3 if the cruise still to go. 

2 hours ago, DDG 41 said:

Smart really,  it will cost a lot to get alcohol back from her.

Anyway Alcohol is bad for you, so good for their health.

Yeah cool. 

https://thewest.com.au/news/travel/sos-as-beer-runs-low-on-pacific-jewels-final-cruise-ng-b881129989z.amp

The poor people of the jewel are almost completely out of alcohol with 5 days to go. 

Quite poor from P&O really. 

On other ships and lines, the MDR (or at least one restaurant or buffet) is generally open on embarkation day, and wondering if the Aria is similar.

 

That is, after getting onboard can I head straight away and eat or does everything stay closed until departure?

The two times we've been in the Aria the pantry has been open and the waterfront for short lunch periods.

The other speciality restaurants weren't however.

I'm pretty sure you will be fine at Cairns. I'd suggest emailing P&O but they are pretty inconsistent with information.

I'm sure you'll have a lovely time.

Thanks for the advice.

 

I had read somewhere that Cairns can't handle some of this bigger ships . I'm on the Pacific Jewel and have no idea whether it was classified as big or not.I m 162cm tall. They are all big lol

Anytime at all. I wish I could be of more help

I couldn't say regarding the ship sizes. I do however know that the P&O Pacific Aria and the Pacific Explorer were at Cairns at the exact same time on the 26th of August 2018 and we both fit in the wharf.

Hi Nelie, I'll try and give you the little information I know.

1)

Cairns is not a tender port

Airlie Beach is a tender port

Port Douglas I couldn't tell you

2)

Airlie Beach is quite a distance and I couldn't tell you where it arrives as the seas were too rough and our tenders were cancelled.

Cairns terminal is great with a pub built right at the wharf.

3, 4&5)

I can only convent for Cairns, there are certainly toilets there and plenty of public transport options. Or you can simply walk around the wharf and town

As for Airlie Beach and Port Douglas unfortunately I do not know.

No you cannot hire from the ship.

If you book a shore tour a lot of them have snorkelling equipment you can use.

In most cases the tenders run about every 15-20 minutes depending on how smooth the water is and how far the ship is from the tender drop off point.

What an odd article.

 

We were on this cruise also and people are being overly dramatic...especially about the one out at sea. The one on land was mainly for those on the north of the Island and those on the elephant tour that felt it most said it was over quickly. The one at sea we felt and it lasted a few seconds and didn't feel scraping at all....we were in our cabin on deck 5 at the time.

 

No grey haired nomad or whatever 'survived' because they weren't in any danger in the first place. It's a bit in bad taste to say you survived a tremor /distance earthquake when people in Lombok are really going through the aftermath hell right now.

This is spot on.

We were up on deck ten when the earthquake struck and the ship vibrated a bit for about 15 seconds.

Nothing serious at all.

I can't wait to see how they describe the sickness But I'll leave that to you velvetwater in your review

Hi Perthjay85

 

We are travelling in October and are quite concerned re the comments made about the suites on the Pacific Aria - we have splashed out for a suite on this trip for the extra space and luxuries and from the comments made it seems that maybe we should have booked a balcony cabin instead of a suite due to the Aircon problems etc - do you know if all the Suites have had the problems with sewage and the Aircon - we are in Suite 10002

Thanks Diane and Don ( we are from Perth )

Hi Diane,

I know our suite 10055 has not had sewage issues, only the air con issues.

I will admit I am a person who loves cold rooms however

I would still advise taking the suite for the extra space, the room is amazing

Maybe contact p&o and tell them you're very concerned and they might give you some free stuff

I hope this helps

Jay

Hi, we are currently on the Aria sailing from Singapore to Brisbane .. Be careful .. All of the passengers are calling this the "Cruise of Deception"

 

A lot of the rooms have no AC, including ours. The spa is broken yet they continue to sell spa packages and then provide only 15%...when nothing can be used. The Edge activities staff lie about what can be done just to sign you up on the gold package to then tell the truth but state no refunds...

 

The main issue with the Suites is raw sewage come up the toilet and poring into the rooms. A few stated that the sewage comes up through the night, each night. :(

 

About half of the passengers have spend most of their first four days standing in line at the reception trying to get some compensation or get their cabins fixed. Most are not.

 

My wife and I have been on dozens of cruises and we have never come across a boat or crew like this. What a nightmare... And it continues ..

I have to say that I agree with Ray.

Our suite aircon is pathetic at best. We've been charged for things that were included in a package.

We paid for the thermal suites but they are useless.

We had a pretty bad cruise last year on the Aria and we got a very very generous future credit and discount on this cruise so we thought we'd do it for our honeymoon

But after this one we've decided we're going to try everyone except for P&O for our next cruise

Aha, I think I understand now :) thanks so much for your help

Awesome 👍

I found this on this cruise critic website:

For cruises four days and under:

Platinum Unlimited $29 per cruise;

Gold Unlimited $20 per day;

Silver Social Unlimited $19 per cruise;

Bronze Social Unlimited $10 per day.

For cruises longer than four days:

Platinum Unlimited $99 per cruise or pay $20 per day;

Gold 500MB $69 per cruise;

Silver 250MB $39 per cruise;

Bronze 100MB $19 per cruise;

Social Media Unlimited $10 per day.

That's the P&O Australia cruises internet prices.

Ah ok, thanks :) Is that the same as texting and if yes do we to get a roaming package from telstra.? Thank you, I remember last cruise getting a bill for 400 or 4 days and I dont know what we did wrong!

Sorry I should have been clearer You still want to buy the internet pack on board. For cruises over 4 nights I think it's about $100 I'm not sure on cruises under 4 nights.

But if you and your daughter want to stay in touch buy the internet and use an internet based messaging app. Whatsapp is very simple to download and setup.

And most importantly turn off your mobile phone data completely so it won't try to use it on the cruise.

It's highly unlikely she will be able to facetime, some times it's hard to make a clear call.

She is better off using an app like Whatsapp to message her friends, that's how we stay in touch on cruises.

That's interesting.

We were on the Aria last year and we booked a few reservations the first day, granted it was a 14 night cruise I think.

Either way it doesn't hurt to get in early to try and make a booking.

Thanks Jay for your reply. Will make a point of going directly to Deck 8 to make our bookings.

Anytime at all.

Enjoy your cruise.

Sailing on a four nighter in October and new to the Aria. Can anyone tell me the best way to secure our choice of dining rooms? Do we just rock up or prebook the whole four nights when we board? Where would we do this?

 

Also I think this cruise is in school hols so can imagine it being very busy, any hidden corners where we might escape to catch the sun or read a book?

 

Many thanks :D

Hi Jillibean,

I am by no means an expert, I've only sailed in the Aria once and the sister ship pacific Eden.

As soon as you board the ship and even before you head to your room head to the rear of the ship on deck 8 (where angelos and the dragon lady restaurants are) and you can prebook your dinners there for the entire cruise.

As for your quiet time, the oasis rear deck is adults only so you can relax there. There is also a nice quiet lounge on deck 8 next to the salt grill caked the salt grill bar I think now.

Also the times we have been on board the dome at the front of the ship is usually fairly quiet also.

I hope this helps.

Jay.

Hi there,

We haven't been in the suites, only the balcony rooms. We do however have a cruise booked in august in a suite on the Aria so I've done a bit of research.

Check out these videos that might help

I hope this helps.