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

[arxcards]

30 minutes ago, CCC's said:

Where can you make dining bookings as soon as you arrive on the ship.   Is there a specific place to go to?

You need to go to your cabin to get your cruise card. Before you go off to lunch, ring the reservations number from your phone. Otherwise, join the queue outside Dragon Lady on deck 6, or book via the app.

[NSWP]

13 minutes ago, arxcards said:

You need to go to your cabin to get your cruise card. Before you go off to lunch, ring the reservations number from your phone. Otherwise, join the queue outside Dragon Lady on deck 6, or book via the app.

Don't P&O issue the cruise card at checkin @ the terminal, Geoff? 

[SinbadThePorter]

1 hour ago, Chiliburn said:

Angelo’s for the first night was good,not fantastic but enjoyable.

 

I always thought Angelo's was the best dining option on P&O.

 

The food is the main reason I moved on from P&O. I had no real problem with anything else they did.

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

The buffet has those pressed metal trays  ,like being in gaol and the dining rooms can’t handle the ships capacity so They are booked out .

We have a full suite but that means nothing ,dining room is full go to the buffet.

Most of the ship has Nescafé instant coffee machines .

I got a pot of coffee from room service that was supposed to be from a machine . I couldn’t drink it it was just a vial instant coffee.

There’s one place to get a upcharge coffee but there’s always a long line.

No more P&O for me.

It sounds horrid, Chili. 

 

If you do ever go on P&O again take one of these. All you need is some hot water and ground coffee, for a reasonable espresso. No power required!

https://www.wacaco.com/pages/nanopresso

 

Rolf just bought one for travel. Here's a photo of a (slightly too long) espresso he just made using it. 

 

 

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, Rassa said:

I have never had decent coffee on a cruise ship and they also use long life milk which is yuk.  So it's just tea for me from the buffet and I often took them down to the cabin.   Even RCCL buffet coffee or Starbucks coffee (on board) is yuk BUT coffee we can make for ourselves in the Diamond Lounge is very, very nice and I always had a few of them a day.   

 

 

I've had some decent espressos on various cruise ships but I never drink lattes as the long life milk tastes foul when heated.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Chiliburn said:

The lounge coffee is good on RC .They have those lavazza coffee machines.

We do have a coffee pod machine in this suite we are in but it’s not working. When we put water in it ,the water just runs out on the floor.

 

Ask your cabin steward to replace the machine.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, NSWP said:

Don't P&O issue the cruise card at checkin @ the terminal, Geoff? 

Not any more. The idea of doing everything online is that you can pretty much prove who you are and bar code onto the ship. Pity it doesn't work that way yet though. The only other manual part of check-in was having someone grab your cards, so they are now in an envelope outside your cabin.

[Hogbay]

Anyway i was happy to be o a ship.😉

Back to Sydney on14 th .

[NSWP]

Sounds like a night mare on P and O, food and booze wise.

[Chiliburn]

2 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It sounds horrid, Chili. 

 

If you do ever go on P&O again take one of these. All you need is some hot water and ground coffee, for a reasonable espresso. No power required!

https://www.wacaco.com/pages/nanopresso

 

Rolf just bought one for travel. Here's a photo of a (slightly too long) espresso he just made using it. 

 

 

 

Julie I think Marlon Brando put it right in the movie apocalypse now.

 

 

 

 

 

[Chiliburn]

4 hours ago, NSWP said:

Don't P&O issue the cruise card at checkin @ the terminal, Geoff? 

Uncle Les I’m bunged up on corn flour and MSG .

 I can’t go to the toilet because they haven’t any paper and I’m having nightmares from the MSG that I’m on a P&O cruise.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, Chiliburn said:

Uncle Les I’m bunged up on corn flour and MSG .

 I can’t go to the toilet because they haven’t any paper and I’m having nightmares from the MSG that I’m on a P&O cruise.

Oh well, you got what you paid for 😂

[NSWP]

17 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

Uncle Les I’m bunged up on corn flour and MSG .

 I can’t go to the toilet because they haven’t any paper and I’m having nightmares from the MSG that I’m on a P&O cruise.

Don't they do a nice hot Indian Vindaloo in the Buffet or MDR? That will get you moving..

💩

[aussielil]

I was on this cruise and we enjoyed the food especially Angelo's.  We did the Luke Mangan Degustation meal one night which was fabulous.  We found the coffee at Charlies ( Level 5) very good, but if you wanted a large size,  you had to have it in a takeaway cup.  Waterfront Restaurant for lunch was nice, the dinner menu was OK but that may have been what I chose.  We enjoyed our time on the ship, first P&O cruise for hubby since P&O Canberra... a long while ago

[CCC's]

Do the menus in the main dining rooms on Pacific Explorer change every night or remain the same for the entire cruise?

[arxcards]

5 minutes ago, CCC's said:

Do the menus in the main dining rooms on Pacific Explorer change every night or remain the same for the entire cruise?

For our recent 4 nighter, all menus were the same every day.

 

I thought the food was overall pretty good, but I am critical that the same menu was rolled out each day for lunch & dinner. I guess P&O's response would be to rotate your restaurant to get a different menu, which only works for dinner. There could have been some different dinner menus in the dining room, as I wasn't watching closely, considering we chose other options.

 

Angelos looks like the same menu as 2015, Dragon Lady is the same as 2015, Shell & Bones is the same as 2018. I think the dining room breakfast and lunch menus were identical in 2020 as well. I had limited options to suit my taste for lunch, but I can't complain about Eggs Benedict for breakfast every morning.

[Hogbay]

All short cruises will have the same menu and was told they will change on the 7 night + cruises also its been 2 plus years without guests and they want to get it perfect. 

[Aus Traveller]

2 hours ago, Hogbay said:

All short cruises will have the same menu and was told they will change on the 7 night + cruises also its been 2 plus years without guests and they want to get it perfect. 

Going from memory, on a seven-night cruise P&O change the breakfast and lunch menus half way through, but the dinner menu is different every evening.

[NSWP]

Has Chilli jumped overboard from Pacific Explorer or died from P&O food poisoning, lol.

Edited June 10, 2022 by NSWP

[Aus Traveller]

4 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Has Chilli jumped overboard from Pacific Explorer or died from P&O food poisoning, lol.

No. He has come back complaining about his suite on the Pacific Explorer and vowing "never again".😁

[Hammer61]

Juts off the Explorer this morning and a few notes as it were!

 

Embarkation was nightmare and took over 2 hours but seems this was due to a system crash so although frustrating understand at times these things happen.

 

The Room was small and basic (Balcony) but clean, quiet and in good condition, TV programming and the guide was waste of time though!

 

The Food, The Pantry, won’t mince my words…its pretty dire unless you like curry which was actually ok, everything else forget it! Angelos was ok, the Antipasto entrée was best forgotten though, Ossu Bucco was nice though and the venue and service was good, the Waterfront for lunch was passable, although don’t go if your in hurry, it took nearly and hour and a half! Dinner was better and service again is good, Dragon Lady was very good though, lovely Salmon Tataki and Duck Curry and five spice pudding and great service and atmosphere.

 

On the last night we went to the speciality dinning venue Shell and Bones and had the ‘Seafood Extravaganza’ this was truly awful, what you might get at a local fish and chip shop in a seafood basket with a small de frosted Lobster with next to no meat and tough tasteless salty freezer burnt flesh, we complained, staff very apologetic and actually looked embarrassed, we were not the only ones to complain!!! Luke’s by all accounts was good, but we never got their

 

Entertainment, overall its poor with 1 exception, the shows in the theatre are actually very good, normally I shy away from the production shows on other lines but my wife likes going and with not much else going on we went every night and to their credit they outshone most cruises we have been on, top marks from me, they also have paid performers in the black circus but we didn’t go.

 

The itinerary, well only the one stop, the tenders worked well and Tangalooma was a pleasant island, we didn’t do a tour, walked along the beach to the wrecks and back again and enjoyed it.

 

Overall it’s a basic cruise experience, cheap and cheerful I would maybe call it without disrespecting those who cruise with P&O regularly, but for $450 each for 4 nights you cant really complain, that said im not sure I will be back onboard in a hurry……..

Edited June 11, 2022 by Hammer61

[NSWP]

21 minutes ago, Hammer61 said:

Juts off the Explorer this morning and a few notes as it were!

 

Embarkation was nightmare and took over 2 hours but seems this was due to a system crash so although frustrating understand at times these things happen.

 

The Room was small and basic (Balcony) but clean, quiet and in good condition, TV programming and the guide was waste of time though!

 

The Food, The Pantry, won’t mince my words…its pretty dire unless you like curry which was actually ok, everything else forget it! Angelos was ok, the Antipasto entrée was best forgotten though, Ossu Bucco was nice though and the venue and service was good, the Waterfront for lunch was passable, although don’t go if your in hurry, it took nearly and hour and a half! Dinner was better and service again is good, Dragon Lady was very good though, lovely Salmon Tataki and Duck Curry and five spice pudding and great service and atmosphere.

 

On the last night we went to the speciality dinning venue Shell and Bones and had the ‘Seafood Extravaganza’ this was truly awful, what you might get at a local fish and chip shop in a seafood basket with a small de frosted Lobster with next to no meat and tough tasteless salty freezer burnt flesh, we complained, staff very apologetic and actually looked embarrassed, we were not the only ones to complain!!! Luke’s by all accounts was good, but we never got their

 

Entertainment, overall its poor with 1 exception, the shows in the theatre are actually very good, normally I shy away from the production shows on other lines but my wife likes going and with not much else going on we went every night and to their credit they outshone most cruises we have been on, top marks from me, they also have paid performers in the black circus but we didn’t go.

 

The itinerary, well only the one stop, the tenders worked well and Tangalooma was a pleasant island, we didn’t do a tour, walked along the beach to the wrecks and back again and enjoyed it.

 

Overall it’s a basic cruise experience, cheap and cheerful I would maybe call it without disrespecting those who cruise with P&O regularly, but for $450 each for 4 nights you cant really complain, that said im not sure I will be back onboard in a hurry……..

Many thanks for your review, hot off the press!  Sounds like the tucker is the main issue, quite poor.

I am sure we will get more reviews like yours from the 'Cruiselings.' I am waiting for Chilliburn's review, it could be X rated, lol.

[SinbadThePorter]

35 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Sounds like the tucker is the main issue, quite poor.

 

It really holds back P&O in my opinion. If they would just spend a little more on provender and take a little more care in the galley, they would be far less like a budget cruise line.

[NSWP]

18 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

It really holds back P&O in my opinion. If they would just spend a little more on provender and take a little more care in the galley, they would be far less like a budget cruise line.

I will explain why I am not a P&O Australia fan, back in 2007 we were on last cruise of ye olde Regal Princess from LA to Sydney, before she went off to Singapore to be changed over to Pacific Dawn.  As Regal Princess she was fine, usual Princess standard, however !! Six months or so later, early 2008 we went up to Brisvegas and with my sister and her husband from Currumbin  (their first cruise) boarded the the newly christened Pacific Dawn, on a trip to the 'Pacific Islands.

 

Well it was a shocker, drunks everywhere, zillions of kids, food and entertainment sub par. Plus they had put extra bunks on board, like more 4 berth cabins to increase capacity, actually they were working on those before Regal got to Sydney. That increased capacity put pressure on public areas i.e. buffet, theatre, lounges etc. That put me off P&O Straya.

Edited June 11, 2022 by NSWP

[Chiliburn]

Well I will give my honest review.

In the short ,I did enjoy it but if there’s something better I will take it.

 

The good things 

The crew was fantastic and also the Passengers,all very friendly not the rowdy bogans as portrayed.

The passengers where a mix but they seemed to be more mature and a lot of groups .Not a lot of kids but It could be different in school holidays and Christmas.
The entertainment was very good ,the drinks where good and reasonably priced. I loved the pints of draught beer for $10 !!!.
 

The bad 

As said by just about everyone was the food, repetitive  and poor quality.
The main restaurants just can’t handle the amount of people onboard.

The only coffee I could drink was the upcharge coffee.

If they had a 24 hour cafe where you could get a free snack and a decent cup .it would make a big difference.

 

The ship was very tired,in places where there was supposed to be steel. They had put fabric tape and plastic and painted it to make it look the part.

Last night in the storm I was hoping all those rusty welds where going to hold.

If they could pick up their game on a few services they would have a good product as you can look past the old ship.