616 I'm back!

[Past it]

Hi all, Had a good time,Ship was full with loads of kids and family groups,not what my daughter was after! ;) but she managed to have a good time and meet some young ones. It was a different cruise for me as well this time too.having an 8 yo to look after.We boarded quickly at about 12 ,had a lovely buffet lunch and got our room right away too.Room was cleaned throughly but never saw steward much.Didn't get towel animals this time :( room was quiet,put towel along door to keep out light and smell of smoke. I think they smoked next door as early in morning I could smell it. Good job I took the Febreeze! Ship is in good order and very clean.They were working on putting security cameras in the passageways and in some other spots.Fod was better this time round too,there is a new pastry chef on. The sweets were lovely. I had them all!!! We had late sitting which on hindsight wasn't a good move for me. I took grandson to kids dinner at 5 (which by the way was the same every night and it was all junk food and a bit of salad)he went to Club at 6 so from then till 8.30 had to find things to do.Daughter went to bar so I had to keep away!Dinner was good had some lovely and interesting tablemates,and we had a funny waiter called Agoes from Bali,he brought us anything we wanted,if I couldn't decide he brought them all :eek: we had a laugh!

With the late sditting I only went to 1 show G'day G'day well worth it,this new etertainment crew have only been on a while and they seemed very good. James Ibraham was CC but was finishing this time. Dimmo will be back. his sidekick Kevin was soooo good.He is on for a while as most of them are going on the new Dawn when it comes.They all got first offer,even my waiter was going.Everything else was much the same,did the horseracing,was a jockey several times. did the bingo,thats a lot of fun never won but its a laugh.I don't normally do these sort of things. Trivias good only got there twice.MarriageMatch was funny too.

Ask away if there is any questions you want to know,can't think of much else to say.

 

Weather was a bit cooler than I thought it would be ,water was too. I suppose it was better than being toooo hot and uncomfortable. The water was cold as soon as you stepped in but ok as you got used to it.

Isle of Pines was lovely,good snorkelling around the "rock" locals gave a good dance display. Had some yummy banana fritters there.they take aussie dollars

Vila, did underwater tour,booked this in case we didn't see anything at Isle of pines,but of course we had.It was ok for those that don't snorkel

After this we went on the Ekarup village one,this was very good ,the ship photographer came on this too so we are on the DVD. Which of course we bought along with a lot of pics of course!! :rolleyes:

 

Mystery Island, what can I say,I love Mystery it gets better every time. Great snorkelling on the far side from ship. I still never walked around it! Next time !!!!!The tide was out which made it different too.They must of had a storm since last year too as some of the huts had taken a battering.

 

Lifou was interesting,not a lot of english spoken mainly french,we took a tour to the far side to the Cliffs of Jokin. Very nice it was too. Good lookout over the sea. they gave us woven hats and coconuts. There are a few huts for rent too that look over the sea,very nice for a secluded holiday. There are 200 steps that go to beach,I never went down them though. We then went on to a Vannilla Plantation which was very interesting too.On the bus back a guide got on that could speak english and she was very informative about the culture and rituals on marriage and life there.

 

All in all a very good cruise,I never had built up hopes this time and knew what to expect so wasn't let down.Who knows whether I will sail on her again,I will see after my next trip on Voyager

 

Forgot to say,it was lovely meeting up with fellow CC,I also mentioned CC to a few people I met who had never heard of it,so hopefully will hear from them sometime in future.Also my cousins in England managed to "get" me a few times on the webcam and send me them so that was interesting.

My camera went bust the second day,so had to rely on daughter to take pics. Will put them on Webshots soon. I took a tablet every day just in case as I was very wobbly last time for ages and someone suggested I do this.I feel heaps better than last time but still a bit funny.

[howsthis]

Welcome back Past It, good review, full of info, glad you enjoyed it. I'm glad some of the crew are going to the Dawn as we have booked our next cruise for Nov next year, a long way off yet.

[suexxx]

welcome home pastit. Seems as though a great time was had. Look forward to photos. What did you take to keep feeling well? DH and I have late dinning on our cruise. Just the two of us. Do you think this will be ok? What deck and cabin no did you have? You must be excited to be going on an overseas ship. It will be very different to our ships here I guess. Do you have deck and cabin no yet as would love to look and see where you will be.:)

[robinsoncruisers]

Hi Brenda,

 

Welcome back! Glad to hear you had a great time too. It certainly exceeded my expectations.

 

Yes Kevin and James were really good they worked so well together bouncing jokes off each other. Loved them!

 

Bugger about the smoke coming in your cabin. We were fine over our side, we were surrounded by oldies who obviously didn't smoke as we never smelt it at all. Only one drunk guy being quite loud at some ungodly hour of the morning was saying a very drunken "Hi matey" to my 14 year old as he was coming in our cabin at yes some ungodly hour of the morning (as he did most nights). Other than that didn't hear or smell a thing.

 

I agree the bingo was fantastic (everyone must do this it is a great laugh) shame we didn't win though. We went to every show at night as we had early dinner and they were very professionally done. :)

 

Are you madly trying to loose weight like me? I haven't tried my work uniform on yet but am hoping it fits, I have till next week to lose so as I can squeeze into it. The food was far better than i ever imagined and the cocktails went down well (even at 10am in the morning). And what about the coffee and cake shop at the back of the boat.....the cheesecake is to die for, and hot chocolate was just devine.......oh i miss the ship already.

 

Thank goodness my head feels much better today than yesterday. I was all over the place yesterday with the wobblies.

 

Have a great day!!

 

Annette :) :)

[Past it]

Hi Annette,sorry I missed you,Glad you had a fab time so we have another cruise junkie converted! :) I was ok yesterday but woke up today with a migraine and not 100%.I think I did too much yesterday, I am still taking the Avomine for a few days.I am heaps better than last time.

Suexx, I am on Deck 10 1370 on Voyager of the Seas. Its toward the Aft on the right outside.I didn't pick this location my cousins booked it in UK.If you want to see some pics of this ship,have a look at voyagerclass.com but be warned if you do you will never be content on P&O again! :eek:

[suexxx]

thanks for the reply. Will have a look soon. Can you tell me what it cost to play bingo and the other activaties you did? Also what is the name of coffee and cake shop at back of ship and which deck is it on. suexxx

[lolliepollie81]

thanks for the reply. Will have a look soon. Can you tell me what it cost to play bingo and the other activaties you did? Also what is the name of coffee and cake shop at back of ship and which deck is it on. suexxx

 

Bingo is $10.00 per card & $2.95 per dabber. no cost for other activities like trivia but you can do craft classes etc which is a minimal charge. cant remember the name of the coffee nd cake place but it is on lido deck (10) right at the back just before you go outside to pool.

[suexxx]

Lolliepollie81. Thanks for your reply. Ive not played bingo so (1)how many games for $10 (2) what is a dabber and do you keep it or pay for it each time you go. Someone said there was a horse racing game. Do you know if you pay for it. Thanks again suexxx

[howsthis]

There are 5 games with each bingo book which cost $10. So that's $2 per game which is pretty good.

[suexxx]

Thanks for the reply Howsit. You dont get much for $2 these days but that sounds good to me.

[lolliepollie81]

Lolliepollie81. Thanks for your reply. Ive not played bingo so (1)how many games for $10 (2) what is a dabber and do you keep it or pay for it each time you go. Someone said there was a horse racing game. Do you know if you pay for it. Thanks again suexxx

 

you get to keep the dabber once you buy it. you do have to pay for horse racing- just bets. they have fixed and unfixed amounts you have to bet for races. it was pretty fun

[Past it]

for the bingo ,each game costs $2 and that was paying sometimes $600.The final game on the last day was over $7,000 was that lady lucky!The prizes depend how many books they sell. The Racing was sold in $10 or $20 books or $2 a bet. You can bet as much as you want or more than 1 horse. They also had an auction to buy a horse,these went for several hundred and on the last day had a special race and the betting was $4 the owners got over a thousand and the payout was a lot more for the bets too.

[karmac]

If you can get a dabber before you go it might be a good idea. We tried to buy on the 2nd day & they had none left.

 

Karen

[howsthis]

I ended up using a highlighter for my dabber as the 'dabber' I had was a bit dark over the number for my eyesight. The highlighter made it easier to see the number after you 'dab' it. I like to be able to see the number because when someone gets 'bongo' they read the numbers out again and then I check to see that I have 'dabbed' the correct ones. Bongo is usually one line and that prize is a cap or shirt etc then the next prize, say two lines, in the same game is bingo. Long explanation but I will take a highlighter next time.

[Tropicalshowers]

Welcome back Past it & robinsoncruisers!

Sounds like you both had a great holiday.Annette, did you and your family end up doing the Ekasup tour and if so, did your children enjoy it? Sounds like your 14yr. old had a good time anyway!

 

I'm also relieved to have a bit more info on the game of 'Bingo'...there's obviously more to it than I originally thought...gotta save for that too now...ho hum...:D

Cheers.

[robinsoncruisers]

Welcome back Past it & robinsoncruisers!

Sounds like you both had a great holiday.Annette, did you and your family end up doing the Ekasup tour and if so, did your children enjoy it? Sounds like your 14yr. old had a good time anyway!

 

I'm also relieved to have a bit more info on the game of 'Bingo'...there's obviously more to it than I originally thought...gotta save for that too now...ho hum...:D

Cheers.

 

Yes we did do the Ekasup tour and it was fantastic. Great for the kids too as they learn how these people live now and also years ago. The islanders come charging at you with spears dressed in their native gear and give you a good scare then stop just before they get to you. It is very informative and great for any age. One tip though....don't wear good shoes (wear thongs) as its quite muddy. I seen many poeple's jogger type shoes very dirty at least with thongs they can be washed easily. I took refreasher towellettes and used them to clean my feet and legs.

 

Yes my 14 year old had a great time and met some really nice friends. He now chats to them on MSN and wants to meet up with some of them in the near future.

 

Bingo is great. Mind you we ended up spending $100 for it as it was on 5 days on our cruise and hubby and I both bought a book each. Sounds cheap but it added up. Would have been nice to win though as the prize money is fantastic.

 

Annette :) :) :)

[Tropicalshowers]

Yes we did do the Ekasup tour and it was fantastic. Great for the kids too as they learn how these people live now and also years ago. The islanders come charging at you with spears dressed in their native gear and give you a good scare then stop just before they get to you. It is very informative and great for any age. One tip though....don't wear good shoes (wear thongs) as its quite muddy. I seen many poeple's jogger type shoes very dirty at least with thongs they can be washed easily. I took refreasher towellettes and used them to clean my feet and legs.

 

Hi Annette!

Sorry for the delayed response...I've had trouble getting CC to take my replies, & my computer is once again sounding off colour.

The tour sounds great..my boys are going to love it! Thanks for the 'mud' tip. We are planning to take 'reefers' with us, so I hope they'll be ok:confused:

Did your kids spend very much on 'extras' while on board? I keep thinking we all should practice up on Quoits so that we have a chance of a few free soft drinks...and beer for the hubby!:D

Cheers

[robinsoncruisers]

 

Hi Annette!

Sorry for the delayed response...I've had trouble getting CC to take my replies, & my computer is once again sounding off colour.

The tour sounds great..my boys are going to love it! Thanks for the 'mud' tip. We are planning to take 'reefers' with us, so I hope they'll be ok:confused:

Did your kids spend very much on 'extras' while on board? I keep thinking we all should practice up on Quoits so that we have a chance of a few free soft drinks...and beer for the hubby!:D

Cheers

 

Hi Nerissa,

 

Yes I'm sure your boys will love it as did mine. Reefer shoes will be fine as they can be easily washed out. Truly we had mud up our ankles and on our toes (we wore thongs) and also used refreasher towellettes to clean it off which was fine.

 

We put $50.00 on each of our kids cards and they ended up spending it all. It did last the whole time though. They came to dinner with us on the adult table as they are 12 and 14 (we requested this for the 12 year old and were glad we did...much better food than the kids setting) so with dinner and also lunch if they were with us we paid for their drinks. I was very surprised as i thought they would have spent at least one hundered dollars each or more. The cans of coke are only $2.50 each so that was mainly what they bought and an ice cream here and there. Otherwise they didn't need it.

 

Anyway have a great time and ENJOY!

 

Annette :)

[Tropicalshowers]

Thanks for that Annette.It's good to try and get some idea of what kids spend their money on, and ours too enjoy a coke & icecream. They are eating with us at dinner & I expect at lunch too..where we can all catch up.

We will enjoy ourselves! Sent our passport applications in last week (other passports expired unfortuneately...now there's an expense!), so it feels like we're inching now.:)

Cheers