N617 Review (changed my mind)

[pkwessel]

I wasn't going to do a review, but i have changed my mind.

It's been 8 long years since our last cruise, (had kids and got married!) and now was the time to go again. We booked over 11 months for this criuse after weeks and swapping and changing our minds before we settled on this one. (as most of us do)

The main reason we did another criuse was because of the kids and the kids club. Absolutly fantastic! Our childeren are 3 and 5 and went to Turtle Cove. The timing of our childerns ages was perfect ( don't allow kids under 3 in the childrens clubs and must be toilet trained) and we couldn't have gone on a cruise any earlier. The main reason we haven't cruised since.

 

My expectations although of the cruise was a lettle mixed. Drinks far to expensive $4.50 standard beer in can, Spirits @ $5.50. The biggest gripe my wife had was at the wine prices @ $6 for a small glass of wine to $8 for a large glass.

 

My prevoius cruises' was by as much Alcohol duty free as possible, (back then you got it ASAP) have a few drinks in your room and then go out and have a great time!

 

I couldn't believe how many old people (60 plus) were on the ship. Some were very rude to us, made us feel as we should't have been there. Pushed in queues all the time, (While waiting at the purses desk to be served in a line that took almost an hour, 3 eardly people just walk up to the front of the queue and pushed in. Some people lining up then had a HUGE argument that nearly ended up in a fight! with the ones pushing in!)

With the bufet closed, due to the outbreak, we had no choice but to eat at the restaurants for breakfast and lunch and most of the time we sat with old people. They just ignored us on the table as though we wern't there. Some even told off our kids! We ended up requesting a booth from then on.

When we sat at the Atlantis lounge with the kids to watch or do an activity, any older peole near us would get up and leave!

I felt in general that we had to wait and queue in line for everything. Food, tenders, not nearly enough public toilets, pursers desk, shore tours etc. Yes the ship was full, I felt it was overcrowded compared to other cruises.

Shore tours were a rip off. We book 3 tours and it wasn't until or second tour waiting in a queue at the venue we discovered on the price list that kids under 4 were free! Getting back on board, we challenged the shore tour desk an the lady told me to read the front of the shore tour booking form stating they charge kids over 2. So we paid them money for nothing. We cancelled the rest of our tours and did them ourselves. One lesson we learn't was don't book with the ship tours, do them yourselves if possible. They are very expensive and of poor value. Someone is getting very rich and it is a big scam. We can give lots of advise if you want it. Geting to Brisbane CBD and back to the ship is also a scam.

We found a lot of people complained about everything. People do need to understand you get what you pay for. People want 5 star service/ship and only want to pay a 3 star price. We found the criuse great value. Yes, the ship is getting old but it is clean and well maintained. Some people need to understand if they want a newer ship, better sevice etc P & O's Australian ships arn't for them. I dought anyone offers better value for money, if so please tell me with who. I think is a big reason we keep going back to P & O.

On a positive note, make sure you play BINGO, Kevin is great and you not only have fun but can win lots of $$$$$ My wife won $511, she now has won bingo twice on her 2 cruises!

 

Food is great as usual, when did they get rid of the late night supper? Rooms were good. Beds are a king single. We got upgraded to Main deck. I suspect that was due to the kids. They group all the Families together and incase anything would happen, they are off the ship first. Staff are friendly, duty free shopping great prices although I found not much variety in items and especially electrical items.

All in all, I had a great time. I think my expectations were a little to high. I cant wait to go on another cruise, and with Dawn coming plan to go again.

Thats all I can think off for now.

Regards,

Peter

Fairstar Cruise 47 1994

Fair Princess Criuse 23 1997

Pacific Sun N617 2006

[Skyrules]

Peter, thanks for your honest review. Sounds like it was definetly an "extraordinary" cruise, with angry old people and illness abounding.

 

Some cc posters had mentioned previously that the shore tours on the Queensland Coastal cruises were a bit expensive, which seems strange - as the shore tours at the Island ports seem very reasonably priced. I'm also curious to know what arrangements they put on for transfer to/from the Brisbane CBD from the ship - because I guess it's a different situation to what they normally do with ships that are turning around in Brisbane.

 

On the cruise we did in March we had a very high proportion of older passengers, I would say 50-60% of passengers were over 60, but I have to say we didn't experience anything like what you are describing. The again maybe Brisbane based older people are more relaxed than Sydney based ones:) !

 

I think the queing you experienced was probably made worse by the illness, etc experienced on the cruise. With the closure of the buffet for breakfast and lunch (which by the way was probably a good thing given the poor design of the buffet on Pacific Sun) did they open up both restaurants for these meals? On our cruise on Sun last year - they only opened one of the two restaurants for Breakfast and Lunch. If they were only using one restaurant this would have caused quite a lot of queing.

 

 

Kym

[howsthis]

We were obviously lucky with the oldies on our cruise. Real goers. One lady I think she was 68 regularly displayed her incredibly fit body in her white bikini believe it or not. She was great. We came across some fantastic oldies who gave us a good giggle with their antics. Sorry you seemed to get a 'bad' lot!

[southseasvoyagers]

Sorry to hear about your time on the ship. One thing I've learn't is thast everyone on a cruise is their for a good time and sometimes, people with children adopt the attitude that " well, the kids can't run away so go have fun ". I'm not saying that is you however it is noticed occurance on cruise ships, so perhaps the older set weren't angry at you, just indignant about the children?

[karmac]

Obviously it just comes down to luck as to what sort of people you have on board. There were lots of kids of all ages (including about 90 teenagers) on our cruise and lots of old people and I was amazed at how many times I heard the old folks comment on the wonderful behaviour of all the kids on board.

 

Karen

[sue2539]

I agree with what Karen says, it's the luck of the draw with who you get onboard.

I went on the Sun in Feb 05 on the same trip Peter did and we also had majorty of older passengers.. 90% were over the age of 65. We still had a good time and most of the passenegers were interesting and great to chat to, though half way through my husband said he felt like he was trapped in an old age home. It was a bit offputting sometimes, with even the entire entertainment decked out for that age group.

My last trip on the Star was totally opposite with all ages onboard, it was definitely a much better atmosphere.

What Jim and Lynne said was true too, our Star cruise had just some of those kinds of kids onboard, we watched them sit in the pizza part at around 11pm and pour pepper and salt all over the tables, then they gave cheek to the poor waiter who told them to stop and started tipping over chairs. What was dad doing? Drinking up big time with other boozers just over the other side of the deck totally ingnoring what his kids were doing. Most of the kids however were very well behaved.

It will be interesting to see what the age group of the passengers will be when I go again on the Sun in a week's time. Old or young it won't matter as I'm just after a nice relaxing break.