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Cruise Review W735

Brushtail

By Brushtail,
in P&O Cruises ( Australia )

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Skyrules

Skyrules

Posted
Posted
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!

 

Strange, on every cruise I've done, marriage match has been done in the afternoon.

 

Sounds like they still think they've got sensitve American's on board.

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streaka

streaka

Posted
Posted

i was sick of hearing the complainers u could listen to it all day we had a few things go wrong sink blocking toilet blocking every 2nd day. as soon as we rang about it they were their to fix things. we certainly didn't let these things ruin our cruise we were there to have fun and fun we did. Can't believe the amount of people complaining were still complaing at the end of cruise what a boring lot

streaka

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fishtaco

fishtaco

Posted
Posted

"Ah the old crisp and cracker trick cheif" I told you how well it works Jen,Mystery Island was also good for feeding the fish as P&O had a drink and chip stand on the beach,They thought I was a bit mad keep sending Tracey back to the stand for crisps and treading on the slipery rocks to hand them to me in the sea! But how worth it is it! Great pics by the way.

 

Den.

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Pist'n Broke

Pist'n Broke

Posted
Posted
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

 

Jen,

 

Great review, you have covered everything and very well. By the way do you remember your neighbours in cabin B186? That was Brocky and myself, oh and we were also on the same tour in Suva. We had a great cruise and loved having the balcony, it was great to get the fresh air and some quiet time.

 

Kris

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jig

jig

Posted
Posted

Thank you for the review. We are on the 28 day cruise on June 3. It will be my first time on PO Australia. I am an Captians Circle Elite member and we are treated like Royality on Princess. Not sure if that will mean anything but PO did take our CC numbers.

We are no keen at all about anytime dining. We have always had a table for 8 at our time, second seating. Hope it works out well. As our cruise sold out in a moment we are waitlisted for either a mini suite or balcony. We cleared the balcony but by the time we answered it was gone. We were in Malta at the time on a PO UK ship.

As for whatever you call the Newlywed Game, everyship I have been on has it at night. Usually as filler between the early show and the late show. I don't understand the "American" thing. We have been on ships the have 0 children and it is still at night.Who wants to be sailing through the South Pacific and spend time in a show lounge in the afternoon. I think the one thing I will have to get used to is paying for Burgers or fries. Never did that before. We were hoping with the upscaling of PO that the would join the world standered and not charge for those things.Might change.

Again, great review. Glad we are making the trip. We saw the pictures of the inside and it looks great.

 

Jeffrey

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arxcards "Live from...." Rare

arxcards

Posted
Posted
Thank you for the review. We are on the 28 day cruise on June 3. It will be my first time on PO Australia. I am an Captians Circle Elite member and we are treated like Royality on Princess. Not sure if that will mean anything but PO did take our CC numbers.

We are no keen at all about anytime dining. We have always had a table for 8 at our time, second seating. Hope it works out well. As our cruise sold out in a moment we are waitlisted for either a mini suite or balcony. We cleared the balcony but by the time we answered it was gone. We were in Malta at the time on a PO UK ship.

As for whatever you call the Newlywed Game, everyship I have been on has it at night. Usually as filler between the early show and the late show. I don't understand the "American" thing. We have been on ships the have 0 children and it is still at night.Who wants to be sailing through the South Pacific and spend time in a show lounge in the afternoon. I think the one thing I will have to get used to is paying for Burgers or fries. Never did that before. We were hoping with the upscaling of PO that the would join the world standered and not charge for those things.Might change.

Again, great review. Glad we are making the trip. We saw the pictures of the inside and it looks great.

 

Jeffrey

Hi Jeffrey,

I think you will enjoy the experience.

Your P&O days will add to your CC days, but elite status (or any other CC level) is not recognised on P&O Australia. Captains Circle membership for Australians has only existed for a few months, and the benefits are only on Princess here, the same as in the US.

There are costs here for snacks, but also free dining as well. I don't understand it either - you can only eat so much, why charge for a burger at lunch and not charge for a buffet or dining room meal.

 

Cheers

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jig

jig

Posted
Posted

As my girlfriend is Australian she has always been accepted by princess for all benifits of Princess. While you were unable to get a number all you had to do is visit the CC host and they would issue you a card with the number of your cruises on it. You kept it and updated it each time. Now, Australians can get their own number. I am not even sure, Does PO australia have a loyality program. Never seen it on the website. If not that to would put it out of the mainstream of cruise lines as I think all have one

 

Jeffrey

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sailawaysally

sailawaysally

Posted
Posted

On our recent cruise you fill out a card that is in your room with all the other info and you mark down how many cruises you have done and hand it in at the Pursers Desk. If you don't hand it in you won't receive your invite to the Captains Cocktail Party. There was a couple on the ship who had done over 30 and didn't put their card in and were surprised to know that you had to do that. They assumed P & O would know and invite them anyway.

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arxcards "Live from...." Rare

arxcards

Posted
Posted
As my girlfriend is Australian she has always been accepted by princess for all benifits of Princess. While you were unable to get a number all you had to do is visit the CC host and they would issue you a card with the number of your cruises on it. You kept it and updated it each time. Now, Australians can get their own number. I am not even sure, Does PO australia have a loyality program. Never seen it on the website. If not that to would put it out of the mainstream of cruise lines as I think all have one

 

Jeffrey

Jeffrey,

Yes, quite correct. Now she can become a member and be issued with a number.

P&O Australia does not have a loyalty program. I wish we were mainstream. P&O is a cruise company that operates with 2 or 3 ships, and until recently, no competition from the other Carnival brands. Hard to see why you would need a reward program when you have no direct competitors. Our market is very different to the US.

 

Cheers

Geoff

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Brushtail

Brushtail

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Jen' date='

 

Great review, you have covered everything and very well. By the way do you remember your neighbours in cabin B186? That was Brocky and myself, oh and we were also on the same tour in Suva. We had a great cruise and loved having the balcony, it was great to get the fresh air and some quiet time.

 

Kris[/quote']

 

 

Wow, what a co-incidence. You must've seen my CC Brushtail hat hundreds of times and smiled to yourselves. :)

 

We have a photo of both of you looking out at the Opera House from your balcony when we were tied up at Circular Quay. It was taken from our balcony. Let me know if you want me to post it.

 

Wasn't it the best cruise? :p

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Pist'n Broke

Pist'n Broke

Posted
Posted
Wow, what a co-incidence. You must've seen my CC Brushtail hat hundreds of times and smiled to yourselves. :)

 

We have a photo of both of you looking out at the Opera House from your balcony when we were tied up at Circular Quay. It was taken from our balcony. Let me know if you want me to post it.

 

Wasn't it the best cruise? :p

 

it is a co-incidence, esp when you had the whole gang in there building your boat, we were supposed to build one as well but ended up giving it a miss.

 

If its a decent photo would be great to see it posted.

 

It was a great cruise, pitty we missed Mystery Island though. Oh well at least we had seen it 4 years earlier.

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Brushtail

Brushtail

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  • Author
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I found it (we took hundreds and hundreds of photos :rolleyes: )

 

The photo is supposed to be of Circular Quay taken from our balcony, I only noticed you guys were in it when it popped up on the screensaver this morning.

 

2061194752_1506ab828c.jpg?v=0

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Legs11

Legs11

Posted
Posted

Fabulous review Jen, Loved the pics as well. I'm sure it was one of the fish with the big teeth that bit my ass!!!!:D But I am going to remember the crackers next time! Damn shame your cc pirate ship didn't win!! So glad you had a fantastic maiden voyage on the Dawn - get ready for all the questions!!:p

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