Cruise Review W735

[Brushtail]

Trip report – Pacific Dawn W735 – 9 Nov 2007

14 days. Ports of call: Noumea, Dravuni Island, Suva, Yasawa-I-Rara, Vila, Mystery Island, Isle of Pines

This was our third cruise and definitely our best. We had a huge build up with our mammoth roll call thread that continued over 18 months, and we got to know a lot of the other CCers through that thread.

We had organised CC hats for our group and arranged a meeting at The Observer Hotel at The Rocks in Sydney before boarding. Thanks to Chez and Geri, there was a big party atmosphere at the pub with balloons, music, streamers and tooters.

We had some drinks and soaked up the atmosphere of a big party going on a cruise on a new ship. It was wonderful and big thanks go to all those who took part.

But to start at the beginning, we first arrived in Sydney at the Overseas Passenger Terminal and joined the chaos of hundreds of people with no clear direction of where to go and what to do. We joined a queue to offload our large luggage and, wearing my CC Brushtail hat, was greeted with enthusiasm by a lady a few metres in front of us wearing a CC hat with Icemaiden printed on it.

Jenny is a lovely lady and we hugged each other and walked to The Observer Hotel. When we walked in, the other CCers read our names on our hats and we were greeted with cheers and hugs. Does it get any better?

Once on board we tried to have a look around on the way to our cabin, B188, and were greeted by our cabin steward, Abigail. She looked after us for the whole cruise. We had 2 cabin stewards when we cruised on the Pacific Sun but just one on the Dawn.

Our cabin was a lot smaller than we thought but soon got used to the confined space. We immediately opened the glass door and stepped onto our balcony which had a fabulous view of Circular Quay and the Opera House.

We then opened our card, kindly given to us by Chez and Geri. In my excitement, I didn't notice the suspicious bulge in it and the cascade of glitter went all over the cabin. This ensured Abigail received a big tip at the end of the cruise. Thanks guys. :p

Sailaway was delayed by 3 hours because they hadn’t refuelled and we then had to wait until peak hour with the ferries on the harbour had died down. This was fortunate because it meant that we were up on deck to see the Pacific Sun sail out under the Harbour Bridge and past the stern of the Dawn. This was truly a wonderful experience as the two ships blew their whistles at each other and there was much waving on both ships. I am glad we got to see that after all.

We sailed out to a gale. The first few days were quite rough, the roughest we have experienced and a lot of people were seasick. Then suddenly the sun came out and so did the passengers. Things improved from then on.

Dinner: It was our first experience with Anytime Dining and we were not very keen on it. It is ok to sit with strangers for breakfast and for lunch (you get to meet a lot of nice people that way) but we liked the rapport with the same table companions and same waiters each night that you get with traditional dining.

We all felt the same so decided to book the same table each night at 6.30pm, so Icemaiden, Dogboy and Kerry-Anne, VicBlue, Charlie Girl and Jim and Phil and I met for dinner each night. This was heaps better and we enjoyed it.

A lot of staff had come over from the Pacific Sun and our waiters, Tom and Rimuel, were great. The Maitre D was Fabio and he informed us last night that there would no longer be the option to book a table for the whole cruise. A lot of people had done that and had not bothered to go to the restaurant but went to the buffet instead. They had not let the restaurant know and so the system did not work well. From today on, you have to book the table each morning for that night.

The buffet dinner was ok, much like breakfast and lunch on the Sun, and we didn’t go there much. When we went we tended to get a bit of everything they had and our plates looked like a dog’s breakfast. We liked the formality of the restaurant better.

The Grill on the Lido Deck was great. It was just like a fish and chip shop on board. You could order a huge plate of wedges or chips with sauce at any time for just $2.00 if you were a bit hungry before sailaway. Or a big burger with all the trimmings, or BBQ chicken drumsticks, or scampi and chips. These were $4.50. The servings were embarrassingly huge. Really huge. There was no way we could eat it all and there must’ve been a lot of waste.

The Steakhouse was also good, similar to the Sun, and there is a nominal charge of $20.00 each.

Our cabin was only 5 cabins down from the laundry and this proved to be a boon. We washed our clothes heaps. There were about 10 washing machines and 10 dryers, all brand new. They all took Australian $1.00 coins. So you needed $3.00 to do your washing. One for the wash, one to dry and one for the soap powder. There were ironing boards and irons, they were free. Our laundry was on deck 10 but there was another one on a lower deck. Laundry was open from 8am – 10pm daily.

The shops on board were ok, much the same as other ships and the prices were similar. We bought the usual t-shirts, mugs and lanyards. I also bought a container of Pringles for $5.00. Hey, I had to have something to munch on when I sipped my wine on my balcony. :)

The balcony. We used it as much as I thought we would. I often sat in the quiet of the afternoon and read Harry Potter 7 and we also sat out and had a glass of our favourite before bed looking at the stars. It was excellent and our next cruise will be the same.

Shows in the show lounge, bingo, trivia, horse racing, dance classes, ceramics at sea, card games, Australian survivor, art auctions………you'll have to ask someone else about these. We attended none of them. :o Honest.

But Phil did sign up for Scrapheap Challenge where he had to make a boat from scrap scavenged around the ship which will float a carton of beer across the pool.

Phil (Captain) organised his pirate crew: Icemaiden Jenny (deck wench), VicBlue Michelle (Powder Monkey), Charlie Girl's Jim (Arrr Jim Lad) and Dogboy Don (Bosun) and they made a boat out of 2 broomsticks, lots of empty 2Ltr drink bottles, beer cans and tape. They decorated it with a blow up parrot and armed it with two plastic buccaneer pistols, named it The Black Polly, and it was so good it easily floated the necessary carton of XXXX beer across the swimming pool.

We all took along Pirate gear in case there was a pirate night (there wasn’t) so they all dressed the part in the challenge with eye patches, plastic cutlasses etc. They all had a lot of fun but did not win.

Another team, WHO BLATANTLY CHEATED, won. They had strapped two suitcases together and had a kid sit in one and paddle it across the pool. :( They broke all the rules. We wuz robbed but comforted ourselves by the thought that the beer was only XXXX. :D

More later, time to sit at the table and wait for Tom and Rimuel to show up……..

[fishtaco]

Nice to see you back Jen:D I want to Know more about the cabins and balconies when you get time, is there enough room to sit outside without bumping the glass door or hand rail? Is it easy to fall overboard off the balcony? I like to give myself nightmares b4 going:D

Welcome back.

 

Den.

[AuzzieCruiser]

Thanks for the great review Jen.:) I am so pleased that you had a wonderful time. I'm glad you took the opportunity to use your little 'oasis' every now and then.;)

Looking forward to more and of course the photos!!:D

 

PS When is the next one???:eek:

[Brushtail]

The next one is W909. 17 day cruise to Samoa on the Pacific Dawn on 20 March 2009. I am booking it tomorrow, along with most of the CCers who were on the W735. :p

 

We tried to book our 6.30pm table for that cruise in 16 months time, but Fabio wouldn't be in it.

 

Den, there was ample cupboard space. About 10 easily accessible big drawers, plenty of hanging space with about 27 hangers, shelving above the hanging rail, shelving above the safe and fridge and 5 drawers at each side of the bed.

 

Much more space than on the Sun. We did not take our hanging shelves, and did not need them.

 

The balcony rail is the same as along the rest of the ship, the balcony is just big enough for two comfortable chairs and a small table, but not much more. 4' x 9'. It was very good though. We loved it. We had to breathe in if anyone else came on it, as it is small. But well worth while.

 

We will book the same cabin again as it is midships and close to the lifts and laundry and has cabins above and also below so is quiet from the Lido deck.

 

Because it has floor to ceiling windows, you can lie in bed and look at the sea. Very decadent. :p

 

Our cabin was identical to this, push the two beds together and you have a queen, even the pictures on the walls were the same. I swear they took the photo from our cabin. :)

 

The balcony looks small and is small, but is great to have your own piece of deck to sit on in privacy.

 

 

 

this is the balcony, but the chairs were the same as in the above photo.

 

 

I hope the photos work, I have a poor track record with photos. :o

 

Jen.

[AuzzieCruiser]

Jenny,

Did the balcony dividers open and close, providing a walkway, or was the balcony too small for that??

Many thanks.

JJ

[AuzzieCruiser]

Oooh... and the photos worked too!! Yay....:D

[DennisN]

Great report - sounds like you all had a good time.

 

Looking forward to more :)

 

I also bought a container of Pringles for $5.00. Hey, I had to have something to munch on when I sipped my wine on my balcony. :)

 

The balcony. We used it as much as I thought we would. I often sat in the quiet of the afternoon and read Harry Potter 7 and we also sat out and had a glass of our favourite before bed looking at the stars. It was excellent and our next cruise will be the same.

Looking forward to doing the same in 3 weeks time.

 

We are on the same deck as you but on the stbd side.

 

Just wondering on the source of supply for your wine and "drinks"

 

Room service - or did you pop up to your cabin's nearest bar and bring back a bottle or two??

[Brushtail]

Hi Jarrod,

 

The dividers were fixed in place. You could see through them around the edges for a centimetre or two, but they were fairly private.

 

The fridge worked, the tv was flat screen but was screwed to the table so was difficult to see when lying in bed. If they put it on a high shelf, you could see it in bed and have the use of the small table too.

 

There was no daily news printed out on board. There was awful CNN instead of Skynews and Josh the Canadian cruise director did the morning show.

 

Josh was ok, but I felt he didn't really understand Australians. He did say that he was surprised and pleased that Aussies were more speedy in participating in things, we said please and thank you and always had a smile. He liked that and so did the crew.

 

You could see where the money was spent when the ship was in Singapore. The dome was totally brand new and looked fabulous. Carpets, furniture, dance floor, bar, decorations, everything. All the outdoor furniture on the Lido deck was new as were the chairs and tables in the buffet.

 

There was a problem with leakage from the pool modifications. Some of the Aloha cabins sprung a leak and had inches of water on the floor from the pool above. The staff were upset about their ship leaking, but it was from the removal of the pool bar. They have fixed it.

 

These were the hiccups that made a lot of people complain. I was embarrassed about the complaints, once some people started they didn't stop. They seemed to enjoy it but it pulled down our holiday and I told them so. :D

 

The marriage game was on at 10.30 at night because it was too risque for the kids. People didn't like that.

 

Lots of small things, but life is mostly about attitude. Nothing is perfect and we had a wonderful 2 weeks on a great ship. Amazing to think it was the same cruise as some who said it was horrendous. Like I said, it is attitude. We had no complaints at all. It was all great. :)

[Brushtail]

Great report - sounds like you all had a good time.

 

 

 

Just wondering on the source of supply for your wine and "drinks"

 

Room service - or did you pop up to your cabin's nearest bar and bring back a bottle or two??

 

 

We went up to the bar and bought a bottle (or two). :p

 

A bottle of Seahorse Chardonnay was $18.00. It was nice, even if it was bottled in North Wollongong. That info on the bottle broke my Hunter Valley heart. :D

[Guest012]

Hi Jarrod,

 

Lots of small things, but life is mostly about attitude. Nothing is perfect and we had a wonderful 2 weeks on a great ship. Amazing to think it was the same cruise as some who said it was horrendous. Like I said, it is attitude. We had no complaints at all. It was all great. :)

 

Great review Jen.... you are spot on with attitude....i read someone elses review of our last cruise and am still asking " What Ship Were They On":confused:

cheers shiona

[aussiedisneyfan]

Great so far. I too agree about the hiccups and negativity. We were on the 2nd Star cruise and still lots of problems, plus rain nearly the whole trip. Could have ruined it if you were that frame of mind. I remember people complaining about what a crap time they were having!

[livingstone]

thanks jen for the information about the laundry. Our cabin is about 2 doors away from the laundry on Plaza, you did'nt find it noisy or lots of people standing around outside in the halls waiting for a turn to wash? It will be convenient with the clothes of two young children.

[Skyrules]

Great review Jenny - really looking forward to September now!!

 

A couple of familiar names there - Remul was doing Ice carving on my first cruise on Pacific Sky, and Fabio was the Maitre D' on our cruise on Pacific Sun.

 

 

Kym

[fishtaco]

The next one is W909. 17 day cruise to Samoa on the Pacific Dawn on 20 March 2009. I am booking it tomorrow, along with most of the CCers who were on the W735. :p

 

We tried to book our 6.30pm table for that cruise in 16 months time, but Fabio wouldn't be in it.

 

Den, there was ample cupboard space. About 10 easily accessible big drawers, plenty of hanging space with about 27 hangers, shelving above the hanging rail, shelving above the safe and fridge and 5 drawers at each side of the bed.

 

Much more space than on the Sun. We did not take our hanging shelves, and did not need them.

 

The balcony rail is the same as along the rest of the ship, the balcony is just big enough for two comfortable chairs and a small table, but not much more. 4' x 9'. It was very good though. We loved it. We had to breathe in if anyone else came on it, as it is small. But well worth while.

 

We will book the same cabin again as it is midships and close to the lifts and laundry and has cabins above and also below so is quiet from the Lido deck.

 

Because it has floor to ceiling windows, you can lie in bed and look at the sea. Very decadent. :p

 

Our cabin was identical to this, push the two beds together and you have a queen, even the pictures on the walls were the same. I swear they took the photo from our cabin. :)

 

The balcony looks small and is small, but is great to have your own piece of deck to sit on in privacy.

 

 

 

this is the balcony, but the chairs were the same as in the above photo.

 

 

I hope the photos work, I have a poor track record with photos. :o

 

Jen.

Wow ,Glad I booked a balcony it looks so light and spacious. Thanks for the quick picks,Hows Phil ?tired I bet

[arxcards]

Lots of small things, but life is mostly about attitude. Nothing is perfect and we had a wonderful 2 weeks on a great ship. Amazing to think it was the same cruise as some who said it was horrendous. Like I said, it is attitude. We had no complaints at all. It was all great. :)

 

Hi Jen & Phil,

Loving your review.

 

While I agree about attitude and some people will complain about anything, my positive attitude would be sorely tested if I had two inches of water in my cabin. I do not consider anyone who was subjected to that (after all the dearest cabins are on Aloha) to be a whinger for speaking up about it.

 

On the other hand, if somebody at my table complained about water being too cold, they would be sarcastically told to warm it up where the sun doesn't shine.

 

I guess these glitches are always a possibility on a maiden cruise. I am glad you made the most of your cruise, won nearly everything on offer and had a great time.

 

Cheers

Geoff

[Guest012]

Hi Jen & Phil,

Loving your review.

 

While I agree about attitude and some people will complain about anything, my positive attitude would be sorely tested if I had two inches of water in my cabin. I do not consider anyone who was subjected to that (after all the dearest cabins are on Aloha) to be a whinger for speaking up about it.

 

On the other hand, if somebody at my table complained about water being too cold, they would be sarcastically told to warm it up where the sun doesn't shine.

 

I guess these glitches are always a possibility on a maiden cruise. I am glad you made the most of your cruise, won nearly everything on offer and had a great time.

 

Cheers

Geoff

 

I would be asking very nicely for a refund if i needed my wellies in my cabin:mad:......mostly you have to look past the niggly things and just enjoy the experience....gives you something to look back on and laugh at.....cheers shiona

[SouthAussie100]

Loving your review Jen :D

I think if my cabin was flooded, and the explanation was leaking from ABOVE, I'd actually be relieved !!

 

When we were in Thailand a few years ago, our room got flooded because of a huge downpour and the balcony drain was blocked so the rainwater flooded in through the sliding doors. We woke up in the middle of the night with about 2 inches of water flowing through the room. While the staff were cleaning it up, we made jokes about there not being enough life boats haha (alar Titanic) :eek:

 

I guess it just depends on whether you see the glass half full or half empty.

 

Some people are born to complain and some are on a mission to just take it as it comes and get on with it !!

cheers

ness

[sailawaysally]

Just letting you know that there was still leakage problems on Deck 10 as I took a photo of the huge plastic funnel they rigged up into a big bin to catch the water. I took that as we were leaving. Hopefully they got it fixed by now. We were talking to the ONE plumber they have onboard and he was hugely stressed trying to fix the troubles.

[Brushtail]

More cruise review.....

 

There are no blankets in the cabin, but the white linen doona and cover instead of sheets is very good. I imagine it takes much less time to make the bed. That and the bedspread was ample for warmth, even with the air conditioning full on.

The air con switch is on the wall, much to the relief of those of us who are vertically challenged but there were no hooks anywhere to hang up your lanyards etc. We missed that from the Sun.

There are shelves behind the mirrors in the bathroom and make sure you take your own shampoo and conditioner. There are no sachets any more. There is a hotel type container with body wash in the shower, but that is all.

I bought some hair products in Suva at half the price for the same stuff in Noumea. The showers were great. Plenty of pressure and hot water with the usual extendable clothes line if required.

Our suitcases did not fit under the bed, (standard sturdy cloth covered variety that won't collapse) we had to stack them in the hanging part of the wardrobe. It is better to take collapsible sports bags which will fit under the bed.

The Pacific Daily was not put under the door each evening, it was put in a purpose built rack at the side of our door in the corridor. This will obviously save some poor person from bending over to put them under the doors of all those cabins.

There is a huge floor length mirror near the bathroom, very useful to check to see if your clothes look as tight as they feel as you near the end of the cruise. ;)

As usual, only one power point, so take that power board.

Even though we were close to the laundry, we didn’t notice any noise. The laundrys are much bigger than on the Sun and were quite social places. People didn’t hang around in the corridors, just chatted near the machines.

Ports of Call

On the sea day the day before we got to Noumea, the Pacific Sun stayed in sight of us all day, from early morning to late that night. They were going to Isle of Pines. It was nice to see us sailing along together and she was still there in the distance the next morning when we sailed into Noumea. Little did we know we would see the Pacific Star later that day.

We attended the shore tours ports of call lecture in the Show Lounge and entered our tickets, which were at the back of the shore tours booklet, to try to win the two prizes. $100.00 and $200.00 off the shore tours. We were lucky enough to win the $200.00 one. Fabulous, instead of our tours costing $288.00 they only cost $88.00. A great start to the cruise.

Noumea. We were welcomed by tugs and their water cannons as we cruised into Noumea. It looked very welcoming and made us feel we were on the QEII.

We did the Le Petite Train which was really good. There was champagne and pastries served at the lookout but we were so busy chatting to Karmac and Dogboy that we didn’t really look around. Typical.

Back in town we had lunch on the ship and went for a look around town. Noumea was much the same as last time we were there. A bit seedy, very grubby and smelly – it was garbage day and the amount of rubbish lying around was incredible.

We looked for the chocolate shop, found it but bought nothing. The chocolates were $13.00 for 100g. :eek:

We did however buy a huge wooden turtle carving from the great souvenir shop in Rue Du General. The shop is called Ocean Distribution and was packed with souvenirs. Our turtle is so lifelike that we took it to dinner that night so everyone could admire it. He was $110.00. We have called him Newie. He is from Noumea, New Caledonia and took him home to near Newcastle, New South Wales.

We had no problems getting him back through quarantine, even the quarantine bloke admired him. He is going to live on our coffee table, the turtle not the quarantine man. :p

We had had enough of Noumea by this stage and headed back to the ship. There were a lot of stalls in the terminal building and the traditional dancers were very energetic and colourful.

We had a treat in store when we sailed out of the beautiful harbour, the Captain announced that the Pacific Star was just outside the heads waiting patiently for us to depart.

The whole shipload of passengers moved over to the one side with their cameras flashing. We could see the cameras of the Star’s passengers flashing as they took photos of us.

The Dawn sounded her whistle 3 times in greeting but we couldn’t hear any response from the Star, perhaps the wind was in the wrong direction.

What a buzz, to have all 3 ships in the same area on the same day was very, very special. Those who were on their first cruise didn’t think this was unusual, but we knew it was exceptional. Apart from buying the turtle, this was the best bit of Noumea.

I hope the passengers on the Sun and the Star got as much out of this as we did.

Gotta go and unpack. More a bit later.

[qld cruiser]

Hi Jen, glad you had a wonderful cruise, I look forward to going on her sometime next year. just hope she has not changed too much from when we cruised Alaska .

 

The shampoo etc has gone from all the P&O ships now. shame, it means carrying extra from home..

 

and we WERE excited onboard the Star, just to see the beautiful Pacific Dawn glide out of the harbour. the Captain was as excited as we were... she looked so Regal (pun)

 

kind regards, Lorraine:) :)

[sailawaysally]

Just goes to show that different things can happen for people on the same cruise. We DID have shampoo sachets in our cabin, maybe we were spoiled. We had liquid soap in the shower, small soaps in the washbasin and shampoo and conditioner sachets in a shell shaped dish in the bathroom.

[Brushtail]

We had a sea day between Noumea and Dravuni Island which is nice. Dravuni Island was lovely. Phil looked at the school (he works in one) and then we just lazed on the beach and snorkelled.

 

Suva was next day and we had a shore tour booked. They picked us up at the wharf at 8.30am so we had an early breakfast. We chose the Rewa Delta Naililili village tour and enjoyed it very much.

 

We piled into a bus (ours was an upmarket one, it had windows) and drove about an hour out of Suva to the river bank where we all wore lifejackets and got into shallow wooden long boats with outboard motors. :eek: Phil baulked at the boat that had a 10 year old boy as the driver. We hooned up the river until we got to the village.

 

The school children were singing in the large church when we arrived and we received lots of shy smiles and cheeky grins from them. They had been looking forward to our visit for weeks and had entertainment organised for us.

 

There was a Kava ceremony and much singing and dancing. We enjoyed it all. We had refreshments of bottled water, cans of Fanta Orange and Fanta Pineapple (which I had never seen before) and chocolate biscuits.

 

Our bus tour guide's name was George Hicks and he was Fijian. He said he had an English name because he had an English ancestor but his mother came down the line from a Fijian princess. He said we could call him King George if we wanted. "but if you call me Boy George, I kick you off the bus' :D

 

He was wonderfully funny and apologised about a road block by saying that the weather had caused it, 'we had a lot of snow in the night'.

 

There was a running joke on the bus because we had some Kiwis with us. George was delighted as Fiji had beat the Kiwis in the rugby. He gave them heaps. We overtook another bus and George said that is must've been full of Kiwis, 'because we beat them'. :D He was great.

 

I really recommend this tour. The bus took us back to the ship a different way so we saw more of Fiji.

 

We had lunch on board and then took a deep breath for courage and walked into town. :p It was similar to Noumea but was a bit friendlier. The traders were very 'in your face' and tried their hardest to get you to look at their wares.

 

We saw a lot of passengers walking back to the ship with Jacks bags so we thought we would go there too. (yeah, I know. Just like sheep) :rolleyes:

 

Jacks of Fiji was a great shop and had heaps of souvenirs, clothing, toiletries, jewellery etc at good prices. You have to go there. Well worth while.

 

We walked around a bit, fighting off people who regularly approached us and wanted us to visit their cousins shop around the corner, and we finally had enough and went back to the ship.

 

We enjoyed Suva, the shore tour and George definitely made the day, but the shopping was good too. Phil had a big chat with a police officer wearing the traditional skirt and he kindly posed for photos.

 

The next morning we anchored off Yasawa I Rara. Paradise on earth. This is such a beautiful place, we swam, snorkelled and generally soaked up the beauty. We were late leaving Yasawa because one of the tenders had trouble being winched up. We were watching the drama from our balcony and there was much shouting and arm waving from the crew. We eventually got underway around 8pm.

 

Another sea day before we sailed into everyone's favourite - Port Vila.

 

We had no shore tour booked as we had been there twice before. The Prime Minister of Vanuatu was expected on the ship later that afternoon to welcome us to Vila. Nice.

 

As arranged, we decided to spend the morning on Iririki Island. We - Gail and Jim (Charlie Girl), Don and Kerry-Anne (Dogboy53) and me and Phil -got a minibus into town and got the driver to drop us off at the Iririki Island wharf.

 

We pressed the button and the free ferry came across to get us. We had heard that they welcomed day trippers and it is true. As we walked up the jetty on the island an Iririki man approached us and asked if we would like to get into the stretch golf cart for a tour of the island. We were very surprised at the welcome and got in for the tour. He took us around and showed us where we could snorkel, where we could have lunch if we wanted etc.

 

We thanked him and set off to the snorkel cove. After happily swimming and snorkelling for a while - directly near where Neptune II was anchored with P&Oers paying $59.00 each - we set off to the buffet restaurant for lunch.

 

It was a bit pricey, $30.00 each, but it was quality food and we could eat as much as we wanted and then use their resort pool and swim up bar. So for a total of $75.00, we got 2 ferry trips, a guided tour, got to snorkel, swim in the resort pool, have a lovely lunch and drinks in beautiful surroundings. Well worth it. Heavily recommended.

 

We then did our shopping. Time was ticking on and we wanted to buy our duty free from Feng Kweis and we knew that if you bought after 3.00pm, you had to take your booze back to the ship yourself. Before 3.00 they delivered it for you. Unfortunately the cut off time is now 2.30 and we missed it by 10 minutes. Despite begging and pleading, they wouldn't add our stuff to all the bags lined up on the floor.

 

By this time we were hot, tired and sweaty. :eek: But finished all our shopping and got a minibus back to the ship.

 

An excellent day.

[sayaguru]

Thanks Briushtail, Now I feel terrible as my half written report is somewhere on my computer. I'm supposed to be writing reports but everytime I sit at he computer I have to have a quick look here first. LOL

 

It's a shame the thoughtlessness of others (not turning up for a booked table) spoil it for everyone else.

 

I thought Josh was fantastic (he was CD on our Alaskan cruise- there were 410 Aussies- unusually high) then he went to Pacific Sun for a while releiving Dan Styne.

I was wondering how he would be with a ship full of Aussies. He's not boisterous like some of the cruise directors but I liked his style.

It sounds like a wonderful trip.

I have to agree with all the comments about attitude when things go wrong.

If you travel a lot things will invariably go wrong. Some things of course are unforgivable but you just have to go with the flow. Some of the worst things are things that you look back on and have a great laugh. Things always look better after a good nights sleep (or a few good cocktails).

[Brushtail]

We were looking forward to Mystery Island the next day but unfortunately we couldn't go ashore as the seas were too rough. We sailed around the island for a while but the Captain said that it would be too dangerous and the weather was deteriorating.

 

So the visit was aborted and we sailed around for the whole day. We were disappointed, but could clearly see that it would be too dangerous for us to get in and out of the tenders and what if we all got stuck on the island? As we know, that has happened before at Lamen Bay.

 

It would've been too rough for the islanders to go ashore too to sell their wares.

 

Oh well. After yesterday, it was nice to veg out on deck. The entertainment staff quickly printed out an updated Pacific Daily and we had a good day.

 

The last port day was Isle of Pines. Luckily the weather came good. Isle of Pines was unbelievably fantastic. Not because of the shopping, village, welcome or anything like that - there was practically none. Simply for the snorkelling.

 

Fishtaco (Den) had mentioned on his last cruise that he had taken a packet of Smiths chips out when he was snorkelling and fed the fish. This gave us an idea and we took along with us commercially packaged Premium crackers. The ones individually packaged with 4 to a packet. We crushed up the bag and tore a small hole in the corner. Water entered the bag and we squeezed gently to puff out some food for the fish.

 

This was more successful than our wildest dreams. There were plenty of fish to start with, but when they found the food they came in their hundreds.

 

It was a bit scary having so many fish around you but soon we had a lot of P&O snorkellers all around us too. I will post some of the photos for you to see, and try to put some footage on Youtube too, because you won't believe it.

 

Hundreds of fish swimming between our outstretched hands and our masks. All different sizes and colours, some nipped our fingers and one big one scared the life out of me with his bucky beaver teeth. :eek: We shared around the packet with others so they could have a go and it was simply the best snorkelling we have ever had.

 

Commercial packets of crackers are ok to take ashore. It is the fresh food off the ship they are worried about, so we were ok.

 

Add them to your packing list. It was cold and windy around the rock, but we packed up our stuff and moved around the bay towards the resort. We set up our chairs there out of the wind. Yes, I did take them and they were great. :D I got lots of comments. All comments were favourable. We got beer and soft drink from the resort. $6.00 for beer, $6.00 for a can of coke. :eek:

 

We veged and soaked up the sunshine and the stunning view.

 

After a great day, we had to hurry back to the ship to get ready for the Scrapheap challenge.

 

After much laughter and drinks all round, we remembered that the next port was Sydney. :(

 

Over the next few days, there was the usual cooking demonstration and galley tour, which we enjoyed and the big discount shopping on board. I bought some jewellery watches and some bags. Everything was $14.00.

 

They sold heaps of Regal Princess stuff and Princess Cruises stuff - key rings, playing cards, clocks etc going really cheap but I didn't buy any of that.

 

The CCers we cruised with are now good friends. We had an official meet and greet on board that was advertised in the Pacific Daily and had an official photo taken. I will let Dogboy53 Don tell about this in his review as he organised it. But it was great.

 

I'm sure I've missed out on heaps of stuff, but I can't think of much more. The whole cruise was so good that it will be a while before we come down from it.

 

One last thing, we all agreed to book this week on the Dawn for 20 March 2009 for 17 nights to Samoa. Then we will post another roll call thread and start the whole thing all over again.

 

Bring it on.

 

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.

 

Jen

[sailawaysally]

Jen, thank goodness for people like you who remember so well. Can I just say DITTO to your review. I meant to say before that I am surprised that they had the marriage match on late because of people supposedly objecting to some of the comments, when they twice put 'R' rated movies on in the afternoon full of foul language and violence. Very strange!