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Strange, our dinner in salt grill was the dining highlight of our cruise from Singapore to Brisbane. I guess some people may find the food good & others not so good, as they say, each to there own.

The visa to PNG is done by the staff on the ship if they know if your going ashore.

Princess is introducing a craft beer called 'sea witch' solely for princess cruises. Bring it on princess!

I should have also mentioned, we are both looking forward to cruising on one of new P&o ships, aria or Eden, in fact there is a cruise that appeals to us - it starts & finishes in singapore. It visits Krabi, Phuket, Langkawi, & Sabang.

Mobile100 - I agree about the pantry reducing the chance of getting the virus. We were taken by the fact cruisers were served the dish/food by someone 'behind the counter' & not passengers reaching through to get it.

Unfortunately, we still have the problem with people criss crossing to get food from different outlets, & almost colliding whilst holding their plate of of food.

Another issue I found at the pantry was there seemed to be a lack of seating, both table/ chairs as well as high stools. We didn't like sitting at high stools having breakfast/lunch. Next time we will give the feed trough the flick & have more meals(breakfast/lunch) in waterfront restaurant.

One place we did enjoy was 'oasis' at the rear of the ship, hardly used by anyone, friendly bar staff, & very enjoyable late afternoon having a cocktail.

I am at a loss to understand why some cruisers don't wash their hands at the doorway dispenser. My wife is a retired nurse, and she specialised in infection control. I guess we can hope that the noroviris doesn't show its ugly head on our next cruise.

for what it is worth - these are my tips:

1. Go with an open mind, people are different in many ways, culture, personality, expectations.

2. We live in a very diverse world with many cultures - have respect for other passengers, crew and the people you meet at various destinations.

3 I have always found if I treat people the way I would like to be treated, I get more respect from them, hence, friendship.

4 be polite to crew members, & listen to what they say, it is surprising what we can learn from others. It's nice when we can converse with ship crew by Christian names.

5. If there is a hiccup or delay either with meals, ship embarking or disembarking - be tolerent. As they say, life is too much fun, to hurry through

It.

Well, I had better get this chat board, things to do, have a nice day wherever you might be - as they say in Hawaii - "maholo"

we did the cruise with P&o jewel departing Singapore June this year, then semerang, Komodo Island, Bali, Timor Leste, then 2 stops in PNG.

We dined at the waterfront restaurant most nights, and food was good, no complaints from me. On night we dined at Luna restaurant- excellent dining, then another night we paid $49 each to dine at Luke mangan's restaurant called 'salt' - the food was excellent & worth the fee to dine there, in addition there are less people, hence a more ' intimate dining' experience for my wife & I.

I have a saying, " life is too short not to go out & enjoy oneself" - therefore we dined all over the jewel, did shore excursions at every port except doini Island, where everyone went swimming in beautiful aqua blue water.

Just a few comments before this post fizzles out. We enjoyed this cruise, met some lovely people, and a few whingers, as usual. One night in the main dining room we found ourselves sitting next Carrmillo, the professional dancer from 'dancing with the Stars' - what a nice guy.

As for the shore excursions - we took the following, Borobudur temple, historic sites in Bali (besika & klungkung) - I think that's the correct spelling, then Komodo island, Dili - East Timor Leste(lovely people in Timor, so polite), then Altoona in Milne bay, then lastly doini Island for a lovely swim in blue Aqua water. One night my wife & I woke up & looked out of our balcony cabin to see small island eg. Baku island off Cape York peninsular. Then before we arrived at Brisbane, we could see Fraser Island & later the Carlo sand dunes near rainbow beach. What a trip!

here we go again - just looked at a P&o brochure - cruise departing Singapore on 30/7/2016 - visiting Krabi, Langkawi, Phuket, then Sabah. The ports would most interesting, and it gives me a chance to see our son & his family in SIngapore before & after the cruise.

Well we enjoyed this cruise out of Singapore & also the shore excursions - borbudar temple near semerang, Java, Bali, Komodo island , Dili, East Timor then last - Papua New Guinea, both alotau & doini Island ( beautiful blue water & white sand)

We have cruised with celebrity millennium, pride of America, & sun princess on previous cruises & although I would rate p&0 below these other cruise liners, I did enjoy the cruise & facilities on board, & strangely enough I would cruise with P&o again, depending on the destinations.

Someone mentioned norovirus - well I couldn't help notice how little number of passengers on p&o pacific jewell, actually, put the hands under the hand sanitiser, before actually entering the dining areas, oh well, some people have little personal hygiene. When we first sailed on pride of America around the hawiian Islands some years ago, a member of the staff was at each dining room entrance & squirted your hands, saying ' washy, washy' - hence we never had one incident of norovirus on that cruise.

That should read doini island - it's a little gem, white sand & lovely aqua blue water & white sand.

Knit wits - just finished a p&o cruise from Singapore to Brisbane - en-route calling into semerang, Bali, Komodo island, Dili - East Timor, alotau at Milne bay Papua New Guinea, then doing island ( swim) - very interesting locations.

Of course, we stayed with our son & family in Singapore for 4 days before the cruise. We even got some stand up paddle boarding in at Tanjung beach, Sentosa Island, peaceful beach away from the other beaches which get loved to death. Also had a nice meal at Keith's cafe, Sentosa cove.

just finished my first cruise with p&o pacific jewel from Singapore to Brisbane, which we enjoyed, great ports etc.

The pantry was fine, except for the following observations. 1. A lot of people Criss crossing from one outlet to another, 2. Not enough seating available or stools. 3. The staff at each outlet serves the food on a plate to you, hence it prevents people leaning over & filling their plate with too much food. (Some people we saw were obese & definitely had too much food stacked on their plate.

Our favourite afternoon cocktail & beer was at the oasis. Sometimes we had it to ourselves, a real gem, but don't tell anyone

We just completed the j522 cruise from Singapore to Brisbane, via semerang, Bali, Dili, Komodo island, alotau & doing island in PNG. Great cruise. We ate at all the restaurants on p&o jewel, and dinner at salt was the highlight, well worth the extra fee, the meals at salt restaurant just blew us away. Also do try Luna, it's nice too.

Chris - I forgot to mention p&o telephoned my travel agent & offered my wife & I a balcony cabin upgrade at a small fee. Thank you p&o.

Christ- I book all my cruises & air fares through cruise about - they do an excellent job on my behalf , best airfare prices,

I might be able to tell you all about 'the pantry' - my wife & I fly to Singapore this June (4 days at our son's place) then cruising back to Australia, via semerang, Komodo, Bali, East Timor, then png Islands alotau & doini, then finishing in Brisbane.

We did the pride of America cruise some years ago, and the only port which had a beach near it was Narwilli on Kauai. Just walk off the ship along the pathway to a very nice hotel, lovely soft grass to sit on. The beach does have a drop off just out from the shore, so take care. There is a dukes restaurant close by, & the local Hawaiians will take you for an outrigger ride.

We visited Koh Samui on sapphire princess. The ship berths on one side of the island - if you want to swim in nice aqua blue water, go to the other side of the island.

J522 cruise out of Singapore on 5/6/15 - yes we are booked. Staying with our in Singapore ( he works & lives there in a condo along Bukit timah road) just checked my booking & it appears we have been upgraded in our oceanview cabin. Never cruised with p&o before, so it will be interesting? - looking forward to the various ports & shore excursions, already booked - one tour in the following ports - semerang, Komodo, Bali, Timor & Papua New Guinea.

Good to see changes happening on cruise ships, eg like the pantry on p&o pacific jewel. What a boring world if nothing changed, bring it on p&o.

What place isn't a tourist trap? We just returned from sapphire princess South East cruise - visiting Penang, kl, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Bangkok, Ko Samui, etc

There are parts of singapore other than orchard road. On our first trip to Singapore some 10 years ago we stayed near East coast p ark way in a hotel called Mercure grand Roxy, a lovely hotel. What you have remember that everything in Singapore is in close probity.