A review of the Dawn W735 part 1

[dogboy53]

Hi All,

 

A quick update from the Pacific Dawn…

 

Flight from Melbourne uneventful until Kerry-Anne got attacked by an automatic door at Sydney airport, ripped quite a chunk of skin from her arm, not a good start but things did improve.

 

The sight when the bus arrived at the ship was amazing, the Dawn looked magnificent and so much bigger than I expected, could not wait to board, took about 40 minutes after we visited a local chemist to get KA arm dressed and looked at. Once onboard got up to our cabin and went for a wander around, met up with Jenny and Phil, Karen (Karmac) and hubby and had that first cold beer, so so good. Unfortunately when we had arrived at our cabin we had no power, workers were busy working on a power line that happened to go to our cabin so no lights, very dark in an inside cabin. All was fixed later that afternoon including the power point that we couldn’t plug the power board into. These were treated by us as minor hiccups but our steward Rogerio made sure all was fixed promptly, nothing is too much trouble for him.

 

Sail away was delayed until 7.00 pm and we nearly missed it as we were having dinner with Brushtail and Phil, our fault but we all managed to get up on deck on time. Managed to get a photo with the Captain, who was eating behind us in the steakhouse. So at least we knew she wasn’t leaving straight away. He is a very nice guy and goes out of his way to talk to any passengers. Had a great piece of steak at a cost of $20 for 3 courses, cooked to perfection and tasted great. We ended up having to rush out because we started to sail out of Sydney; they let us come back an hour later to have our sweets after sail away. Sail away was a great experience; I hope she looked as good from the shore as Sydney did from the ship.

 

The first sea day was overcast all day and fairly choppy, not many people were out on the decks, pools and spas empty. It is hard to believe there are so many people onboard; it is so easy to find a quiet spot to just chill out. Breakfast in the dining room very nice, food is great. Went to the shore tour briefing in the morning, Phil (Brushtail’s other half) won the $200 prize for anagram competition. This was the only time I have felt a bit queasy, sitting and looking at the curtains moving. Watched a movie in the afternoon.

 

Day 2.

 

Fairly quiet day at sea, overcast again. Went to the remembrance day service, very well done and moving as usual. Watched part of the art auction, learnt to keep hands still and not to scratch nose or ear..lol. First formal night and we all dolled up for that it was a good night. Spent some time in the dome before going to the show lounge for “Boogie Shoes”, the first show of the cruise, a good show.

 

Day 3. Noumea.

 

Ship docked about 6.30 am, spectacular entrance with water cannon from tug boats on either side of the ship as we sailed in, looked great. We went on the City and Country tour with aquarium, unfortunately they had trouble with pumps and aquarium was cancelled, refunded $20 each to cruise card. After the tour went back onboard for lunch and then back to Noumea for some shopping (Chocolate shop) and just walked around, unfortunately we encountered one of the worst smells I have ever experienced back nearer the ship, we had to leave. It was a great day with only a few spots of rain. Our first time ever in another country, it was a good experience and makes you appreciate home and family even more. Celebrated our 30th anniversary, not a bad place to be. Jenny and Phil organized a permanent booking for 10 in the dining room so we had them, Kerry-Anne and me, Jenny (Ice Maiden), Gail (Charlie Girl) and Jim, Michelle (Vic Blue), we are all there every night, and Karen (Karmac) and Jim have been with us a few times as well. It has been good to catch up nightly with what everyone has been up to during the day. We have also managed to get the same waiter, Tommy and drink waiter Rimuel they have been very good and a lot of fun. Because Kerry-Anne has a special diet they give her the menus for the next day so that she can choose her meal and they have time to prepare it for her.

 

Day 4 at Sea.

 

Fairly quiet day went to trivia and didn’t win, went to bingo and didn’t win. Generally a good day just looking around the ship, its amazing how big she is, before you know it the day is over and back to dinner and the show in the show lounge. The show was the “Magic of Mask and Mime” which was by a guy from Queensland, quite a good show.

 

Day 5 Dravuni Island.

 

Woke up to grey skies and gloomy forecast, by the time we got ashore it had started to rain and was quite miserable. Visited the school and met the children they were so cute and sang us some songs. It really made a bad weather morning very enjoyable, watched some local villagers perform and then back to the ship for lunch, it then decided to fine up but stayed onboard around the pool.

 

To be continued.....Sorry this took so long...lol :D

[bawn2cruz]

Can't wait for next installment, well done!

 

Roy

[Legs11]

Well I did say Don didn't I!!:p Ok it might not have been 12.30 but damn close!!!:D

Thanks for the review Don - Loving the way you all met up for dinner, fantastic idea. Have a safe trip home.

[suexxx]

Hi Dodgboy53. Thanks for your 1st part of review. Have a good flight home and when you settle look forward to more review.Sounds like youall enjoyed your cruise. Suexxx

[dogboy53]

Well I did say Don didn't I!!:p Ok it might not have been 12.30 but damn close!!!:D

Thanks for the review Don - Loving the way you all met up for dinner, fantastic idea. Have a safe trip home.

 

Hi Mandy,

 

We were told at our last supper (dinner lol) that from todays cruise on they will only book day to day in the Palm Court as too many that had a permanent booking didn't show up. So now you have to re book every day. It was good to catch up each night and not only find out what we all did during the day but we also avoided getting stuck with the complainers on other tables. We all got on so well, our get together on the middle saturday had about 26 people attend in the Bengal Bar. The attached photo is of one of our dinners in the Palm Court.

 

Don

[kaseyoz]

fantastic don.

well done. loved every bit of it. glad you got on with writing the review and not reading all the threads you missed out on.

i gave the prize to you becuase i felt sorry for kerryann, i thought she had hurt her arm on the way back to the airport.

hope it didnt spoil your cruise

[Legs11]

Hey Don,

Can understand them not wanting to take bookings in advance - as we all know things can happen! Glad to see you all kept away from the wingers!! who needs them bringing your holiday down!! I hope Kerryanne will be ok!

[dogboy53]

fantastic don.

well done. loved every bit of it. glad you got on with writing the review and not reading all the threads you missed out on.

i gave the prize to you becuase i felt sorry for kerryann, i thought she had hurt her arm on the way back to the airport.

hope it didnt spoil your cruise

 

Thanks for that, it happened an hour before we got on board, had to rush onto the bus and then went to a chemist for some bandages and so on, made her go to the medical centre on the ship by about Druvini, they were mad she waited so long. The worst part was that she couldn't go for a swim at all on the cruise so it did effect her enjoyment but we still had a good time. Will be interesting to see what qantas does, a refund of her cruise ticket would be nice...:rolleyes:

 

Don

[kaseyoz]

if you were in america they would probably give you a full refund and a free cruise.

hope you at least get some money back.

will she have any permanent damage or scar, poor thing

[i_love_cruising]

Hi Don,

 

Thank you for being so prompt in starting your review!! I loved reading it. Sorry to read about your wife but as you said, at least you still had a great time on your cruise!!

 

Sarah

[staceymrow]

Welcome home to you and everyone else!!

We are all hanging out for more review/s

AND HEAPS OF PHOTOS!!!!!!

 

So glad everyone had a ball.

 

Cant wait to do it myself!!!

[NSWP]

These whingers on PD what were their complaints, need to know these things for future cruise planning.

[MsMinx]

Hi Don! Thanks for the review. Looking forward to part 2 :D

 

Sorry Kerri Anne hurt her arm. Hope she's feeling ok now.

[livingstone]

great work Don thanks for the post, read it with great delight. good to see that a good time was had by all. we look forward to the next instalment. if it is anything like the Pacific Sun then it would have been a great holiday

 

who was the cruise director?

[SouthAussie100]

wow that was fast !

well done Don and like everyone else am looking forward to part 2

Yes, I thought KA got hurt on the way out not in. Bugger ! I'm sure Qantas will do the right thing. When we had a delayed flight out of Cairns we couldn't get the connecting out of Melbourne in time to get into Adelaide before the curfew...(apparently the air traffic controllers aren't allowed to stay up after Fat Cat goes to bed at 9pm). Anyway, Qantas put us up at the Hilton in fantastic rooms (family of 5 in 3 rooms !), free evening meal, free breakfast and a drinks voucher to have in the bar. We thought excellent, a mini holiday in Melbourne Hilton on our way home from the holiday was fine :D

 

cheers

ness

[sailawaysally]

These whingers on PD what were their complaints, need to know these things for future cruise planning.

 

I will list the complaints I heard which were many,

 

1. No electricity for 2 days in some cabins,

2. Toilet overflowed into cabin, carpet ripped out and new carpet put in but glue fumes for the rest of the cruise giving headaches

3. Ceiling leaking on Decks 9, 10, and forget which other one and having buckets to catch drips in rooms

4. 4 days without food labels in buffet, so constantly asking what it was

5. No TV for 2 days then given programme guide which was wrong

6. Queues, everyone whinges about queues anyway

7. No top sheet anymore, its just the doona

8. Lifts stopping about a foot above the floor so a few people got scraped shins

9. Black water coming up out of shower floor and also in laundry

10. 'R' rated movies in the afternoon in the Showroom

11. No 75th Anniversary celebrations until half the ship complained and still then not what they were told to expect

 

You will hear whingers on any holiday but my only real complaint was that there wasn't anything about the 75th Anniversary until they flew in a historian to give lectures which were great. We got a plate, well each booking number got a plate, bit hard to share with 4. We had a 75th Anniversary Dinner which turned out to be just another dinner. No special decorations etc. All the 75th 'stuff' like cake etc was put out at the front of the Palm Court Dining Room on the last night and we were told by the staff it was for the next cruise.

 

Anyway I am sure there were people who booked just to go on the new Pacific Dawn. We booked to celebrate our anniversary, 35 years, with P & O's 75th Anniversary which the T/A told us would be really special.

 

We still had a good time and the ship is lovely but I am somewhat disappointed as this was the only cruise I could talk my hubby into going on because of the 'Anniversary' thing. My hubby is not able because of health reasons to 'join in' with the physical activities like Survivor etc. He enjoyed it but got sick of the same cricket story in the Legends bar everyday. Because I had travelled on the Sun and Star I guess I had told him about all the stuff they have for the men in the Mens bar. Well no motor racing, rugby league, playstation races, etc etc so I feel I misled him. Anyway, if you like to drink and stay up until most of the activities which start after 10pm you will have a great time.

[livingstone]

hey sailawaysally

I think many of those complaints are valid. if passengers never complained there would be no reason to address issues and keep up the high standards at the staff level. anyway is is not complaining it is just pointing out the short comings of the crusie and hopfully they will be rectified before the next cruise departs.

[sailawaysally]

hey sailawaysally

I think many of those complaints are valid. if passengers never complained there would be no reason to address issues and keep up the high standards at the staff level. anyway is is not complaining it is just pointing out the short comings of the crusie and hopfully they will be rectified before the next cruise departs.

 

No doubt it will be sorted out by the time you cruise. You are right that some complaints are valid for those effected. It's amazing how some can have a fabulous time and others have a mediocre time. I felt really bad for those that had problems with their cabins because ours was great. I hope those that did have trouble will let P & O know that they aren't happy.

[samushy]

A few more complaints

- There was no Captains Welcome Aboard Party.

- Only 2 Formal Nights - I was told 3 so bought 3 dresses.

- Smoking section in the Icecream bar. Kids had to queue up with the smokers.

- No labels on the food so people with allergies had no idea what it was.

- Floor on tenders worn down so many falls getting back on the tender when wet.

- Seemed to be only half the staff on the ship compared to other ships.

- Bought a necklace from Jewelry shop and it was rusty. Took it back and they were going to replace it and the replacement was discoloured. So got a refund.

- Items charged to shipboard account 9 days after purchasing so account was never accurate and hard to keep track of.

- Seemed to be no activies the first week.

- Ceramics at see for 4 hrs a day everyday.

- Legends of cricket (greg chapel) repeated allday everyday in the legends bar.

 

But other than that it was good. I'll give it a few months before I book another one with P&O.

[livingstone]

Again all valid complaints, but the message needs to be passed on to P&O IN writing if anything is to be done about specific incidents. I am sure that P&O would love to hear the complaints so they can rectify the problems, thanks for the info........... I guess if you liked ceramics it would just be the best cruise ever LOL.

[icemaiden2310]

Dont forget the lady who sent her glass of water back..... It was too cold.. true story just ask brushie and there were many more just as valid. Hmmm I wonder if they want a discount on their next cruise:confused:

[Skyrules]

A lot of these things sound like first cruise teething problems. Some legitimate complaints there, but also some tedious ones too.

[fishtaco]

Teething problems or any problems should not be at the cruisers expense!

If I had a problem in my cabin like some of the fore mentioned I would have kicked up a fuss non stop,. If it wasn't ready it should not have sailed with paying passengers.

[i_love_cruising]

Again all valid complaints, but the message needs to be passed on to P&O IN writing if anything is to be done about specific incidents. I am sure that P&O would love to hear the complaints so they can rectify the problems, thanks for the info........... I guess if you liked ceramics it would just be the best cruise ever LOL.

 

I couldn't agree more livingstone. With the complaints I have read so far, I wonder how many of these have been or will be passed on to P & O. As you say, it is hard for them to rectify any problems if they aren't made aware of them.

[i_love_cruising]

Dont forget the lady who sent her glass of water back..... It was too cold.. true story just ask brushie and there were many more just as valid. Hmmm I wonder if they want a discount on their next cruise:confused:

 

If I was sitting at her table, I would be SO embarrassed and wouldn't be able to keep a straight face. Who on earth would complain about water being too cold for heavens sake!! By the sounds of it, she was ready to complain about anything. I wonder how her cruise was? :rolleyes: