lagoon380

It's not just rust, the areas have no metal left so just plugged up with some type of filler and painted over, it's ugly and in plain sight in public areas, not a good look.

The cabins weren't too bad but what really needs attention is all the corrosion around windows and open deck areas, just painting over it just isn't good enough, really makes the ship look old.

She needs a lot of work, hopefully they do a good job on the refurb.

That's a shame, really enjoyed our 3 day cruise on her recently and really liked the smaller ship.

Sydney to Adelaide, 06 February 2018,3 Nights, Pacific Eden

Just booked this $119 p/p Balcony twin, $150 p/p Balcony triple :D

If your cruise includes The Conflict Islands then I would choose PNG, Conflict Islands has the best snorkeling, far better than New Caledonia.

Here's some footage from our last visit there.

It's the best snorkeling spot that you'll find out of any of the islands, swim out to the drop off, lots of life out there.

I think the ranking is from the post cruise survey they email you after your cruise, I know the staff are rated by this, the highest score at the end of the year gets 24 or 48hrs off and if I remember correctly $5000 bonus too.

We did experience sewage problems during july and August but it appears in general to be fixed on this september cruise. There is the odd smell of sewage in a couple of places on the ship particularly the public toilet on level 5 where they have a van going most of the time. But there is no smell in the cabin corridors

Good to see their sorting it out.

Looks like her sister ship the Sun Princess has sprung a leak https://www.facebook.com/100006480438956/videos/2402320896660568/

Yes it's a nice spot, food. drinks, beach.

It's a bit of a drive, you'll have to get one of the taxi drivers to take you there, negotiate a price for the trip at the beginning.

We used Madmax tours in Vila, highly recommended, we had a great day, Blue Lagoon, Turtle cove and the Waterfalls inc BBQ lunch and duty free shopping. You can find him on Facebook.

Master Island is Escapade Island.

On our last trip to Noumea we charted a water taxi ( DalOcean ) to Escapade Island spent 4 hours there, had great weather and the snorkelling was great, they picked us up from the cruise terminal and dropped us back there as well.

Talking to the boat driver on our return trip, he mentioned that Signal Island would be a good place to go to next time we were there and looking at images of it, it looks to be a great snorkelling spot too.

We have cruised Carnival and P & O, 6 cruises, each 10 nights or more and no toilet issues and haven't heard of any while on a cruise so there might be the odd one here or there, on the Explorer there seems to be a bigger than normal issue.

Cruising on a ship with sewage odour in some areas or non functioning toilet or worse toilet overflow in cabin would not be my idea of a nice cruise, short cruise I could put up with it I suppose but not for a longer cruise.

I have read some very balanced reviews where they had a great cruise but with the only negative being the sewage smell or having to deal without using the toilet in your cabin.

Reading many posts online regarding plumbing issues - toilets blocked, overflowing etc on the Pacific Explorer, I seem to recall the ship as the Dawn Princess having plumbing issues and it looks like they weren't repaired when she went into dry dock for the makeover. For those that sailed on the Dawn Princess, are these the same issues which are happening now?

We were considering a cruise on the pacific Explorer but I doubt we would now considering these issues.

On the Explorer you still have 4 dining options included, The Waterfront, Dragon Lady, Angelo's and The Pantry, is that not enough free options. If they choose to add other options at a price great as long as the included options don't change.

I only cruise P & 0 when the the price is right usually around $60 a night for Oceanview or better, as long as I continue to find some good bargains I'll continue.

They did last time we were on the Spirit.

Great review and yes P & O works when the price is right.

I found the water ok not cold but not too warm either, lots of people swimming.

Air temps were great 25 - 27 degrees during the day shorts & t-shirt weather.

First day a bit on the cool side and also the last day but all the rest were great.

We just got back from a P & O cruise ex Sydney and check-in times were enforced.

They were running a little early so boarding went smoothly and we were on board the ship by our check in time, so turn up a bit earlier and hopefully they are running early.

We were at Mare on Sunday all is good, Lifou had some damage to the tender wharf but should be operational now.

We have done 4 Carnival cruises and all my kids had a great time on all of them, there main focus is family cruising, they do it better than P & O, haven't sailed RCI or Celebrity so can't comment on them.

Just got back from our cruise on the Pacific Jewel which left on the 8th of May, not sure what to expect with Cyclone Donna in the area but we had great weather and seas the whole cruise with only a slight change to the itinerary, we went to Mare instead of Lifou due to damage to the wharf.

I've seen RCI discount their fares, almost booked Hawaii to Sydney on Radiance in 2015 at $298 per person, 3 weeks to sailing. They don't have 5 ships here and are not here year round either so that would make a difference.

Just booked a 10 night cruise on the Pacific Explorer for March 2018 with the new fare structure, $360 per person quad mini suite with the lot package.

I'm sure I will be informed by the online TA that there was a website glitch with the pricing but worth a try.:D