We had a great time on P Jewel @ Xmas

[sagittarius]

Last minute booking on a 10night trip on Pacific Jewel, with some trepidation as some of the reviews were very negative. Took the view that a holiday would be better than cooking and cleaning and at the price we paid we had not lost a lot.

 

However we had a wonderful time! Great food, lovely atmosphere, good shows and met some super people. So glad that we were not put off by what others had experienced as our cruise was nothing like that. Such a shame that everyone could not have had as good a time as we did.

 

I plan to post review soon but that may be a rather long one as am having trouble being brief.

[Sandielle]

Last minute booking on a 10night trip on Pacific Jewel, with some trepidation as some of the reviews were very negative. Took the view that a holiday would be better than cooking and cleaning and at the price we paid we had not lost a lot.

 

However we had a wonderful time! Great food, lovely atmosphere, good shows and met some super people. So glad that we were not put off by what others had experienced as our cruise was nothing like that. Such a shame that everyone could not have had as good a time as we did.

 

I plan to post review soon but that may be a rather long one as am having trouble being brief.

 

That's wonderful! Yes, it definitely pays to take everything you read and hear with a grain (or two) of salt - we all react differently. Looking forward to your review. :)

[thied]

Last minute booking on a 10night trip on Pacific Jewel, with some trepidation as some of the reviews were very negative. Took the view that a holiday would be better than cooking and cleaning and at the price we paid we had not lost a lot.

 

However we had a wonderful time! Great food, lovely atmosphere, good shows and met some super people. So glad that we were not put off by what others had experienced as our cruise was nothing like that. Such a shame that everyone could not have had as good a time as we did.

 

I plan to post review soon but that may be a rather long one as am having trouble being brief.

 

Glad too some else have a great xmas cruise as did

[MISHELL1968]

Fantastic! Looking forward to your review, if you have time :)

 

We are cruising on her in March - 2 weeks of no housework = heaven :)

[fayfam]

Glad too some else have a great xmas cruise as did

 

How did you spend Christmas Day on the ship? Did they have some special activities/meals/celebrations?

 

Kerry :)

[thied]

How did you spend Christmas Day on the ship? Did they have some special activities/meals/celebrations?

 

Kerry :)

how did you spend you xmas? our was great as we never spent xmas on a ship before our last cruise and is was great. you should try it some and find out for your self.

[CPlum]

That's great to hear! Look forward to reading your review, we are going on her in August :D

[rkmw]

glad some one enjoyed the Jewel........just an ordinary cruise

 

as i posted before their duty free prices are way too dear

[rkmw]

That's great to hear! Look forward to reading your review, we are going on her in August :D

 

hope they fix up the lifts by then

[CPlum]

hope they fix up the lifts by then

Haha, our cabin is on deck 11, so I was planning on taking the stairs as much as possible anyway to save time and work off some of the food!!:D

[Sandielle]

Haha, our cabin is on deck 11, so I was planning on taking the stairs as much as possible anyway to save time and work off some of the food!!:D

 

Don't worry about them CPlum. "Broken" lifts occur on all ships and they are repaired as soon as possible. A lot of the problems, I think, are caused by unsupervised children thinking it is fun to press all the buttons. :(

[thied]

WE have found that the longer the cruise the longer the wait for lifts, but less children.

 

They do fix the lift pretty fast

[rkmw]

we cruised on the Jewel last Jan,June and at xmas time and they are not still fixed properly....on the xmas cruise there didnt seem a lot of kids onboard so i dont think they were the problem

[Sandielle]

we cruised on the Jewel last Jan,June and at xmas time and they are not still fixed properly....on the xmas cruise there didnt seem a lot of kids onboard so i dont think they were the problem

 

Unfortunately, it takes only one small child, which was the case on one of our cruises! I think they are more easily bored when there are not many children on board to play with. Also some don't like the Kids' Clubs.

 

Maybe the Jewel needs replacements! Lifts, I mean, not kids. :D

[thied]

Unfortunately, it takes only one small child, which was the case on one of our cruises! I think they are more easily bored when there are not many children on board to play with. Also some don't like the Kids' Clubs.

 

Maybe the Jewel needs replacements! Lifts, I mean, not kids. :D

one small child and nine lifts.

[sagittarius]

Fayfam: christmas day was spent part of it at lifou but there was a special lunch menu in the restaurant which was lovely and another special menu at night, also good. santa arrived by tender from the island just before we left and then sat in the atrium and handed out presents to the children. admired the fact that all the staff wore santa hats for most of the cruise since they must have had really warm heads under there.

 

rkmw: we did not use the lifts once so had no idea they were out of order. did notice they were quite slow as we were able to walk up a floor in the time it took the lift to ascend.

i think it is a common misconception that duty free=cheap when in reality it merely means there is no tax component in the price. it is not compulsory to buy onboard. like in any retail outlet the price is set at what the market will pay, but as we are not great drinkers and do not smoke did not really take much notice of prices.

 

luckily we are active enough not to have broken/slow lifts adversely affect our holiday. did not even go into port vila as cheap drink etc was not enough of an incentive to move from the ship and our comfy loungers in the thermal suite, where the only irritant maybe the snoring from other snoozing passengers!

 

we would have appreciated the gym machines being repaired as quickly as some were out of action for the entire trip. however my new philosophy is: to accept what is. what I could not change I was not going to worry about. we were pleased that we could access "spin bikes" outside the extra charge times so that we could attempt to work off some of the calories we were eating in the form of desserts.

[Aus Traveller]

I have been speaking to friends who were on the Christmas cruise on the Pacific Sun. They have cruised a lot and said this cruise was really great. Santa arrived by tender, the Christmas food etc. was great. The cruise director David Pepper was superb (as usual) and put on many activities. They even had an early New Year's Eve party so people wouldn't miss out because the cruise ended before New Years.

[fayfam]

Fayfam: christmas day was spent part of it at lifou but there was a special lunch menu in the restaurant which was lovely and another special menu at night, also good. santa arrived by tender from the island just before we left and then sat in the atrium and handed out presents to the children. admired the fact that all the staff wore santa hats for most of the cruise since they must have had really warm heads under there.

 

rkmw: we did not use the lifts once so had no idea they were out of order. did notice they were quite slow as we were able to walk up a floor in the time it took the lift to ascend.

i think it is a common misconception that duty free=cheap when in reality it merely means there is no tax component in the price. it is not compulsory to buy onboard. like in any retail outlet the price is set at what the market will pay, but as we are not great drinkers and do not smoke did not really take much notice of prices.

 

luckily we are active enough not to have broken/slow lifts adversely affect our holiday. did not even go into port vila as cheap drink etc was not enough of an incentive to move from the ship and our comfy loungers in the thermal suite, where the only irritant maybe the snoring from other snoozing passengers!

 

we would have appreciated the gym machines being repaired as quickly as some were out of action for the entire trip. however my new philosophy is: to accept what is. what I could not change I was not going to worry about. we were pleased that we could access "spin bikes" outside the extra charge times so that we could attempt to work off some of the calories we were eating in the form of desserts.

 

Thanks Sagittarius. It sounds wonderful. Your family will have such lasting memories of the day. What a great way to spend Christmas.

 

Kerry :)