Live from Pacific Explorer - 31st May - Australia is Cruising Again

[arxcards]

There are many of the new menus on the P&O site.

 

Let's see if the shortcut also works.

 

[arxcards]

Heads-up. Tomorrow's theme.

 

[JohnGc]

I am really interested to hear what you guys think about the new Brisbane terminal when you arrive tomorrow  I must admit I am a bit concerned about first impressions of luggage point and the sewage works after leaving  the beautiful Sydney harbour  plus shuttle arrangements into Brisbane city. 

Edited June 1, 2022 by JohnGc

[Hogbay]

6 hours ago, arxcards said:

Heads-up. Tomorrow's theme.

 

Sorry, didn't see boarding theme.

[arxcards]

7 hours ago, JohnGc said:

I am really interested to hear what you guys think about the new Brisbane terminal when you arrive tomorrow  I must admit I am a bit concerned about first impressions of luggage point and the sewage works after leaving  the beautiful Sydney harbour  plus shuttle arrangements into Brisbane city. 

As a pre-conceived impression, some of that does apply. In the past day visits to Brisbane, we have been to Fisherman Island a couple of times. That gave the impression of a temporary terminal, followed by a relatively expensive bus trip into the city.

 

We have cruised out and back many times for Portside. Great complex, but a hectic space in the terminal on turnaround day. Our impression on arrival is that several companies along the river aren't easy on the eye, but they are interesting all the same. Once docked, our thoughts are dominated by getting a cab to the airport.

 

For this morning I will pretend I know nothing of the treatment plant, and will go by what I see and smell. We have cruised to Brisbane with minimal plans, and the daily delivered last night says we have a free shuttle into the city running all day. That is already a great 1st impression, and a nice new terminal is but an hour away. P&O is making a fair deal out of this morning, and I think the QLD government is doing the same.

[NSWP]

Enjoy the day in Brisvegas Geoff. I have called in there on a couple of ships, Princess and Cunard, they both operated complimentary shuttles from and to the ship. The Qld Govt might be subsidising the bus operations into the cbd.

🍌🍍

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, Hogbay said:

Sorry, didn't see boarding theme.

Nice shirts, sorry I haven't seen them. There are few people I have been hoping to catch-up with. It is interesting how you can bump into some people 20 times and others not at all. Everything from embarkation time, dining room or buffet, early or late dining etc all adds to different rhythms getting around the ship.

 

Among the sea of white tonight, I might be the black sheep.

[arxcards]

5 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Enjoy the day in Brisvegas Geoff. I have called in there on a couple of ships, Princess and Cunard, they both operated complimentary shuttles from and to the ship. The Qld Govt might be subsidising the bus operations into the cbd.

🍌🍍

Royal has charged us both times we have been at F.I. I don't know what the arrangement is, or if Royal would rather we all booked a tour.

 

I think some shore tours were cancelled because of a lack of interest. This isn't the typical holiday cruise, so I don't know if that has played a part in the free shuttles either.

[MMDown Under]

Is ship in Brisbane yet?  8-19c!!  Extra cold for Brisbane.  Wear your winter woolies if you are going in to the CBD.

[Porky55]

10 hours ago, arxcards said:

There are many of the new menus on the P&O site.

 

Let's see if the shortcut also works.

 

Naaa - it opened the QCode but couldn’t find the P&O server - 😟 

[JohnGc]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

As a pre-conceived impression, some of that does apply. In the past day visits to Brisbane, we have been to Fisherman Island a couple of times. That gave the impression of a temporary terminal, followed by a relatively expensive bus trip into the city.

 

We have cruised out and back many times for Portside. Great complex, but a hectic space in the terminal on turnaround day. Our impression on arrival is that several companies along the river aren't easy on the eye, but they are interesting all the same. Once docked, our thoughts are dominated by getting a cab to the airport.

 

For this morning I will pretend I know nothing of the treatment plant, and will go by what I see and smell. We have cruised to Brisbane with minimal plans, and the daily delivered last night says we have a free shuttle into the city running all day. That is already a great 1st impression, and a nice new terminal is but an hour away. P&O is making a fair deal out of this morning, and I think the QLD government is doing the same.

Thanks Geoff,  It would be asking a lot to compare it to Sydney Harbour. Thank you for taking the time to provide all your updates. Great they have free shuttles. Last time I cruised with Sea princess we were supposed to embark at Portside but they changed it to Fishermans Island  and  having no car parking there we parked at Portside and had to pay for five adults to use a shuttle to embark and disembark. Enjoy your day, the  sun is shining so should warm up a bit later.  Sharing your excitement with you and cant wait to get cruising ourselves.

 

Cheers John.

[Aus Traveller]

We can see the ship from our house. Great to see a cruise ship docked in Brisbane.🙂

[Aus Traveller]

6 minutes ago, JohnGc said:

Thanks Geoff,  It would be asking a lot to compare it to Sydney Harbour. Thank you for taking the time to provide all your updates. Great they have free shuttles. Last time I cruised with Sea princess we were supposed to embark at Portside but they changed it to Fishermans Island  and  having no car parking there we parked at Portside and had to pay for five adults to use a shuttle to embark and disembark. Enjoy your day, the  sun is shining so should warm up a bit later.  Sharing your excitement with you and cant wait to get cruising ourselves.

 

Cheers John.

I thought when Princess used Portside for the embarkation procedures while the ship was at FI, the shuttles were free.

 

It's great P&O have free shuttles to the CBD. In the past when the ships were at FI, people posted on here that the charge was $20. I think that was one-way.

[JohnGc]

3 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

We can see the ship from our house. Great to see a cruise ship docked in Brisbane.🙂

Wow how great to be that close to the Terminal for your cruises. I thought we were lucky to be only an hour away at the Gold coast  but to be able to see the ships is magic. 👍

[Aus Traveller]

Just now, JohnGc said:

Wow how great to be that close to the Terminal for your cruises. I thought we were lucky to be only an hour away at the Gold coast  but to be able to see the ships is magic. 👍

We aren't close to the terminal😁 but have a clear line of sight to the Bay. We are 45 minutes' drive away. We weren't able to see ships at either Portside or even cruise ships where they docked at FI because of an intervening hill, but this morning we can see the Pacific Explorer. 🙂

[JohnGc]

7 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

We aren't close to the terminal😁 but have a clear line of sight to the Bay. We are 45 minutes' drive away. We weren't able to see ships at either Portside or even cruise ships where they docked at FI because of an intervening hill, but this morning we can see the Pacific Explorer. 🙂

Oh okay but great you can see the ships now. 🙂

[Aus Traveller]

13 minutes ago, JohnGc said:

Oh okay but great you can see the ships now. 🙂

Yes. I will be looking out for the Coral Princess when she arrives in a few days' time.

[MMDown Under]

37 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

We aren't close to the terminal😁 but have a clear line of sight to the Bay. We are 45 minutes' drive away. We weren't able to see ships at either Portside or even cruise ships where they docked at FI because of an intervening hill, but this morning we can see the Pacific Explorer. 🙂

Must be exciting to see the first cruise ship after such a long period.  I used to enjoy watching the ships cruising down to Brisbane past Caloundra. 

[MMDown Under]

46 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I thought when Princess used Portside for the embarkation procedures while the ship was at FI, the shuttles were free.

 

It's great P&O have free shuttles to the CBD. In the past when the ships were at FI, people posted on here that the charge was $20. I think that was one-way.

Yes.  They dropped passengers at Anzac Square opposite Central Station.  They had tourist people there with information on Brisbane for passengers.

[JohnGc]

3 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Yes.  They dropped passengers at Anzac Square opposite Central Station.  They had tourist people there with information on Brisbane for passengers.

 

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

I thought when Princess used Portside for the embarkation procedures while the ship was at FI, the shuttles were free.

 

It's great P&O have free shuttles to the CBD. In the past when the ships were at FI, people posted on here that the charge was $20. I think that was one-way.

When they swapped from Portside to FI a month before our cruise we had to carry out embarkation procedures from Fishermans Island. I did approach princess about a shuttle and they said you have to make your own way there and back.  

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 hours ago, NSWP said:

Enjoy the day in Brisvegas Geoff. I have called in there on a couple of ships, Princess and Cunard, they both operated complimentary shuttles from and to the ship. The Qld Govt might be subsidising the bus operations into the cbd.

🍌🍍

Princess charged us the one time we docked at the grain terminal. I'm not sure whether the shuttles at Portside were free on the times we stopped there as we took the ferry into the city.

[possum52]

8 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Princess charged us the one time we docked at the grain terminal. I'm not sure whether the shuttles at Portside were free on the times we stopped there as we took the ferry into the city.

We were charged for the shuttle from the grain terminal back in 2015 and also took the ferry from Portside. Love that cruise up the river to the CBD.

[possum52]

13 hours ago, arxcards said:

There are many of the new menus on the P&O site.

 

Let's see if the shortcut also works.

 

Thank you but it appears you need the app to open the menu but I downloaded the sample menu from the website. We dined at Luke's on our first cruise (Pacific Dawn) for our wedding anniversary. We were given a bottle of champers and shared it with a young couple sitting at the next table. I see my favourite dessert, the licorice parfait is still on the menu. Enjoy your return voyage to Sydney.

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, Porky55 said:

Naaa - it opened the QCode but couldn’t find the P&O server - 😟 

OK, that must be an internal one. This is the DL'd one.

luke_s_dinner_px_apr22_print.pdf

[arxcards]

9 minutes ago, possum52 said:

Thank you but it appears you need the app to open the menu but I downloaded the sample menu from the website. We dined at Luke's on our first cruise (Pacific Dawn) for our wedding anniversary. We were given a bottle of champers and shared it with a young couple sitting at the next table. I see my favourite dessert, the licorice parfait is still on the menu. Enjoy your return voyage to Sydney.

Still on the menu, but redesigned. Barb loved it, but I had a perfect creme brule instead.