Review of Pacific Jewel christmas cruise 2011

[sagittarius]

With the disclaimer that these are my experiences and opinions and that others may have different views of the same cruise: 18th-28th Dec 2011

 

 

 

Christmas cruise 18-28th Dec 11

 

Last minute deal gave us a great price and an unexpected holiday. We have travelled with Princess and P&O UK but not P&O Aus previously, nor have we done a Christmas trip before preferring to go outside school holidays when possible. So we decided based on the range of reviews for this ship to go with an open mind and a determination to enjoy our break.

 

Embarkation was efficient and we were on board quite quickly.

 

We were pleasantly impressed with most things on board. Ship looked clean and fresh and well decorated with Christmas trees etc for lovely festive vibe.

 

Cabin: we were in an inside but had plenty of room, and it too looked clean and fresh. (although we smiled at the curtains trying to give the illusion of a window)

 

Dining: Waterfront Restaurant was well laid out and we like the more contemporary style. Loved the food both selection and quality. Liked the fact that there were always side dishes of veg on offer. Both the always offered and the daily specials were good. We dined here for most of our eve meals and several lunches. And I must add that my other half is a decent cook and so for him to be impressed says something for the food we ate. In fact to be honest on this trip we preferred the food in the main dining room to that on our recent Princess trips.

 

Buffet: Again food was fine here, with the normal hassles with any ship buffet i.e. long lines at peak times and sometimes difficult to locate space. But we always found a table and do like to share as it gives us chance to meet new people. Preferred this option for breakfast than main restaurant. While maybe less choice than on some other lines this is no bad thing as does reduce on waste and usually what was on offer “hit the mark”.

 

Entertainment: Shows etc were well done and we enjoyed all those we went to see as well as the guest performers.

Actually it was great that we did not get some rather tired re-cycled “guest artiste”. Two young comedians and a musical duo, String Fever, were on board for our cruise.

(unfortunately due to weather conditions the outdoor Cirque show could not take place, which was a shame..will have to book another cruise to see that!!) As good a selection as on any of our other trips.

 

Cruise Director: hard working American who really earned his keep on this trip at least, playing Santa in the humidity at Lifou, wearing that red suit and standing on the front of the tender whilst it arrived from the shore to the ship and still being able to yell “HO HO HO” was a sight to behold.

 

Captain: an Italian gentleman who kept us well informed regarding weather etc. He gave an interesting talk at beginning of trip which was very good. Anecdotal evidence that he does not tolerate bad behaviour and had off loaded one family for “aggressive behaviour” in Vila.

 

Staff/Crew: worked very hard and were pleasant and friendly. We did not experience any of the issues that were mentioned in other reviews with regard to crew. Occasionally there were “glitches” which we put down to them having to work to a very tight time frame which meant that they did not have time to chat etc when areas were full or busy. Some of it may have also been down to lack of some customer service training. But nothing which we would class as so bad it “ruined” our holiday.

 

Gym: quite a small one for the amount of people on board and for the duration of the trip there were machines out of order. Did get busy at various times during the day. I had the option of allowing this to upset me or accept it. Getting upset was not going to make the machines get fixed, people to disappear or help my exercise routine so decided to “not sweat the small stuff”. Loved the stretch classes each morning which are a great way to start the day. Personally I would prefer it if the company did not allow children to use the equipment as it can be frustrating if waiting for a machine if a child is “playing” on it. But then maybe I am a GOW (grumpy old woman). On the plus side other half was able to use “spin” bikes outside paid sessions which pleased him no end.

 

 

Extra charge areas: (we used)

 

La Luna: Asian Restaurant $20 pp for an 8 course degustation meal. We enjoyed the first visit so much that we booked again for when the menu changed. Beautiful food, great service and atmosphere. A great chance to try some dishes that are slightly different from those routinely offered in Asian restaurants.

 

Thermal Suite: $199 per couple. Works out at $10 pp per day on 10day cruise. Access to saunas/steam room/quiet lounging for adults only. Our treat to ourselves and we used it every day. Cheap bubbly daily and some body scrubs also part of the deal. Not normally a sauna person but this one had wonderful sea views! Another one was scented and very relaxing. The relaxation room also had great sea views and loungers with thick cushions which did tend to make one fall asleep as they were so comfy.

 

Chocolate Café: ice cream yummy but if you wanted two flavours only available in a cardboard cup not a cone, easily solved as we asked for the cone to come with the cup. Coffee quality depended on who made the coffee. Saw some of the desserts on offer and they looked large. Did not get chance to try one though.

 

 

 

Obviously not perfection but a really good holiday and we were so pleased that we had the opportunity to get away.

 

The most irritating thing for me was really caused by P&O’s misleading advertising over Anytime Dining, which should be renamed!! I thought that it would mean I could book a day ahead for whatever time suited me, if available, when in reality it meant that I could choose between early or late sitting and was not locked in to one time for the whole cruise. I feel that the powers that be should be careful about creating expectations that cannot be met onboard as passengers take it out on the poor crew. However on this sailing it was possible to book for the following day after an evening meal which is not always the case apparently. And with it being the Christmas cruise bookings for 25th Dec opened several days ahead, I think in response to previous years more shambolic system.

 

 

Whether we were really lucky with everything, or our determination to enjoy ourselves or something else I am unsure, but for what it is worth, based on this experience we would not hesitate to go again on this ship.

[Aus Traveller]

Great review.:) Thank you.

[thied]

great review thank you for doing it, :D even though you did not have to.:D

[Sandielle]

Really enjoyed your review Sagittarius and love the fact you were not going to let a few glitches spoil your holiday. We are the same - we don't go looking for something to whinge about, as things happen wherever you are.

 

I agree that Anytime Dining is a misnomer, however we like to have the same waiters and same tablemates each night so it works for us. :)

[thied]

any time dinning may be a mistake by P&O, but it works for some , as we all ways dine at the same table with the same waiters and at the time we like which about 6 - 6.30 and some times earler or later depending we are going to the Captain and senior officers cocktail party or dinner with the Captain.

[CPlum]

With the disclaimer that these are my experiences and opinions and that others may have different views of the same cruise: 18th-28th Dec 2011

 

The most irritating thing for me was really caused by P&O’s misleading advertising over Anytime Dining, which should be renamed!! I thought that it would mean I could book a day ahead for whatever time suited me, if available, when in reality it meant that I could choose between early or late sitting and was not locked in to one time for the whole cruise. I feel that the powers that be should be careful about creating expectations that cannot be met onboard as passengers take it out on the poor crew.

 

Hi Sagittarius,

Great review!! It's made me even more excited for our cruise, can't wait til August! Can you just clarify something for me, if you want to book dinner ahead of time (say the night before) you can only choose either an early or late sitting, you can't specify the time, say 7:30pm. However, you can just show up at the dining room at anytime and wait for a table to become available? Thanks! :D

[cjm66]

any time dinning may be a mistake by P&O, but it works for some , as we all ways dine at the same table with the same waiters and at the time we like which about 6 - 6.30 and some times earler or later depending we are going to the Captain and senior officers cocktail party or dinner with the Captain.

 

Thied - How do you do it - get invited to dinner with the Captain? I once danced with the Captain of the Statendam. It was a ladies excuse me.

 

Colleen

[sagittarius]

CPlum:when we were on the Jewel it appeared that the staff were really pushing people to book an early sitting or a late sitting rather than a system which allowed you to turn up at whatever time you liked. So that if you turned up at 7 to 7.30pm you may or may not be given a table. it seemed that the staff were still working to a two sitting system. maybe another maite'd will allow a different way of working. we did try to push them one night but it did seem to upset the routine.

 

we did not sit at the same table at all during the whole trip, sometimes at a large table and at other times on a table for two. so once we realised how it worked we went with the flow.

 

as a couple it could be difficult if we were on a table for 6 with 4 other people who knew each other/family group sometimes we felt a little like spare parts and so sometimes we went for a meal just for the two of us. because of the time of year there were several large groups who did seem to sit at the same place each day.

[Royalty X]

we did not sit at the same table at all during the whole trip, sometimes at a large table and at other times on a table for two. so once we realised how it worked we went with the flow.

 

as a couple it could be difficult if we were on a table for 6 with 4 other people who knew each other/family group sometimes we felt a little like spare parts and so sometimes we went for a meal just for the two of us. because of the time of year there were several large groups who did seem to sit at the same place each day.

I think that's almost why it's called "Anytime Dining". If you want to sit at the same table, the same table and waitstaff (and same time), you can. Otherwise you can show up and sit with other people or you can sit by yourselves (at different tables every night if you wish). It's the freedom of being able to do it whenever you like. We've not had a drama with "Anytime Dining" but we also enjoy sitting at the same table each night and usually eat at the same time (so it probably works for the dining room staff with us doing it that way).

 

Great review though. Thank you so much for that. I'd love to see some pics of the ship if you have any? :)

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

any time dinning may be a mistake by P&O, but it works for some , as we all ways dine at the same table with the same waiters and at the time we like which about 6 - 6.30 and some times earler or later depending we are going to the Captain and senior officers cocktail party or dinner with the Captain.

 

It must be because you always book a suite eh?

[rkmw]

Thied - How do you do it - get invited to dinner with the Captain? I once danced with the Captain of the Statendam. It was a ladies excuse me.

 

Colleen

 

with princess if you are in the top 20 cruisers on the cruise you get to have lunch with the captain and the senior officers and you dont have to be in a suite either

[sagittarius]

Finetuneit: unfortunately on our trip, and we did not let it spoil our enjoyment, the Anytime Dining was more along the lines of the old Henry Ford quote regarding cars and the colour: "they can have any colour they like as long as it is black!"

 

In other words we could dine at Anytime we liked provided it was 5.45pm or 8.15pm!!

 

Once we realised that their interpretation of Anytime did not match what we expected then fine. It may be on other P&O ships or under another maitre d' that the whole thing works more like a land restaurant when one just turns up and hopes there will be a table available.

 

The food in there was delicious but there were times when we felt that the staff trying to take bookings etc did not seem to be talking to each other. One eve we decided that we would like a table for 2 on the following eve and booked it. Much discussion as to whether we could arrive at 8pm (or earlier) and told we would have to wait as tables would being relaid etc. Turned up at 815pm as requested to find that we were to be seated at table of 6 which had party of 4 already about to order. Asked for and was shown to table for 2 of which there were plenty available, so not sure why we did not get that initially.

 

Best tho was to go to booking table to ask for table for 2 for next night, both of us there as we had just left our meal for that eve, asked for our name/cabin number and then asked how many diners?? afterwards we said that we should have said "on table for 2.. how about 5?"

 

We actually found that sort of thing more amusing and gave us something to talk about when chatting with fellow passengers.

 

I feel that the crew are probably under a lot of pressure to get a lot done in a very short space of time and possibly with fewer numbers than in the past. much like the rest of life. and it seems unfair, that people get onboard with expectations based on advertising, that the crew cannot provide as then are the ones who then face the passenger backlash, not the people at head office.

[dougo in oz]

Thanks for your review - how were the meals on Christmas Day?

 

Re the staff pushing for a couple of dinner timeslots, I think it's because :

 

(1) they all have to do more with less (wait more tables / covers but same number of wait staff)

 

(2) the kitchen gets into a rythym so most of the entrees / mains / desserts go out around the same time

 

(3) the (ship's) preferred dining times are based around dinner service taking 2 hours and therefore being able to get the "dinner seatings" out in time for the show etc

 

.... on our last couple of cruises, I had a number of wait staff tell me that people come in for dinner at 7pm and state that they want to / have to be out by 8pm and they say it really upsets the way the dinner service is prepared (time wise) by the kitchen staff and the wait staff are the ones who have to bear the brunt of the passenger's unhappiness if they can't meet their timeframe

[MISHELL1968]

Thank you for a wonderful review.

 

I never let the small stuff cloud the pleasure of cruising, am eagerly anticipating my time on the Jewel.

[karmac]

Great review. You certainly have the right attitude and anyone with the right attitude will have a good time regardless of what might go wrong.

 

As for the "anytime dining", yes it it very misleading.

We have done 6 cruises with P&O and all but the first was anytime dining. We were on Pacific Dawn's maiden voyage which means we were on P&O Autralia's very first cruise with anytime dining. And it WAS anytime dining. We turned up anytime we wanted, more often than not in a group of about 10-16 and never had a problem getting tables. The 4 cruises we have done since that one was basically you book for 6ish or 8ish but if you didn't book and turned up anytime, if there was a table free then great, otherwise they give you a pager so you can go off to one of the bars and have a drink while waiting to be paged.

[thied]

Thied - How do you do it - get invited to dinner with the Captain? I once danced with the Captain of the Statendam. It was a ladies excuse me.

 

Colleen

To get invited who know why we get invited , may be Im such very nice lovable person that cruise affair bit, and is in the know.

[thied]

[/b]

 

It must be because you always book a suite eh?

yes it is one of the things that go with a suite, we have stayed in a mini suite and still got invited.