There's just no pleasing some people

[PASSIONATE ABOUT CRUISING]

Just came across this review of the Pacific Dawn on a product review website. It started well ...

 

Pros: Service excellent. Lovely traditional dining room. Good size ship. Nice spacious cabins. Very clean overall. Cons: There are NO duty free priced drinks on baord (average $5-8.00 per drink which are watered down)Cheapest bottle of wine is $22.00!. The pools are not that big for this size of ship. Kids tend to take over and without supervision from adults or pool attendant. (what would it be like in school holidays!.)The disco starts around 11 or 12 midnight - too late. There are too many quizz type shows happening until late. Overall: I have been on many ships including P & O. This is a lovely ship - however I would rate it as a Fairstar superliner. Mastered by an ex Fairstar captain - it is 3.5 star and attracts similar clientele. (sorry all you diehard ex Fairstar lovers.) In time this may change but the cruise we were was the hillbillys convention. Pretty rough. Give Pacific Dawn a chance it hasnt been a year yet.

 

 

I personally loved the ship, thoroughly enjoyed my holiday on the PD & certainly wouldn't label it a hillbilly's convention!

 

PAC:)

[Sonyac]

Sounds like they are snobs lol.

 

I saw the same review and figured that the person who wrote that would be better off staying home. :rolleyes:

 

As for the Pac Dawn, I am yet to sail but if it turns out to be even half as fun as I have imagined in my head then I am going to have a ball in 12 days time. :D

[kaseyoz]

Well in school holidays they had one pool adults only at certain times of the day.

[Skyrules]

Sounds like they are snobs lol.

 

I saw the same review and figured that the person who wrote that would be better off staying home. :rolleyes:

 

As for the Pac Dawn, I am yet to sail but if it turns out to be even half as fun as I have imagined in my head then I am going to have a ball in 12 days time. :D

 

Sonya, you'll love it and have a wonderful time.

 

The only thing in the 'cons' part of the review I agree with is the price of wine. $34 for a bottle of Cruchen Reisling that you can buy for $12 at BWS is a bit expensive.

 

Also, while I wouldn't say the pools were too small - they were certainly a bit deep - Mum wouldn't go in the pool as she wouldn't have been able to stand up anywhere in it - even the shallow part would have been over her head. And she wasn't sure about going into the shallow/kids pool up above the main pools.

[Skyrules]

Well in school holidays they had one pool adults only at certain times of the day.

 

We went outside school holidays, and there were only about 120 kids on the cruise, but even on our cruise, one of the pools was Adults only until mid-day every day.

[MargnGrah]

Just came across this review of the Pacific Dawn on a product review website. It started well ...

 

Pros: Service excellent. Lovely traditional dining room. Good size ship. Nice spacious cabins. Very clean overall. Cons: There are NO duty free priced drinks on baord (average $5-8.00 per drink which are watered down)Cheapest bottle of wine is $22.00!. The pools are not that big for this size of ship. Kids tend to take over and without supervision from adults or pool attendant. (what would it be like in school holidays!.)The disco starts around 11 or 12 midnight - too late. There are too many quizz type shows happening until late. Overall: I have been on many ships including P & O. This is a lovely ship - however I would rate it as a Fairstar superliner. Mastered by an ex Fairstar captain - it is 3.5 star and attracts similar clientele. (sorry all you diehard ex Fairstar lovers.) In time this may change but the cruise we were was the hillbillys convention. Pretty rough. Give Pacific Dawn a chance it hasnt been a year yet.

 

 

I personally loved the ship, thoroughly enjoyed my holiday on the PD & certainly wouldn't label it a hillbilly's convention!

 

PAC:)

 

Hi PAC

 

I agree with you...I loved the Dawn and cannot wait till our next cruise on her..

You were our last cruise , did you see heaps of kids overtaking the pool, because I didn't. I agree the drink prices could be cheaper but I guess they have us over a barrel there....at least we don't have to pay tax as well on P&O.

And is this guy calling us hillbillies :mad: ....as he gave a bad review hopefully he will never sail on Pacific Dawn or Sun again:eek:

[a&s cruisers]

Gosh, they must have been old snobs. It's normal for a disco to start late. Anyway we'll go on our cruise next year and we'll enjoy it!

:)

[arxcards]

Not sure what they were expecting. Aussie based ships are independently rated at 3.5 to 4 star at best. There are 5 star ships that visit, but are at least double the price for the priviledge.

 

I am happy to fit the profile of a 3.5 to 4 star cruiser.

 

Yes, drinks are dear. They said they have cruised P&O before, so I can't understand why they expected duty free prices at the bar. Come to think of it, there ain't many ships that do. Helps to keep the fares down and maintain a good ratio of service staff.

 

Hillbillies - is funny. Do they have yodelling competitions aboard?

[lias]

Some people are born to complain.

 

We have cruised with friends who really enjoyed their cruise; raved about the entertainment and food but when the time came to fill in the report form at the end of the cruise they "canned" nearly everything. I don't understand at all.

 

Yes, drinks are dear. They said they have cruised P&O before, so I can't understand why they expected duty free prices at the bar. Come to think of it, there ain't many ships that do.

 

Exactly! ..so their review loses all credibility.

 

Greg

[sailawaysally]

Some people are born to complain.

 

We have cruised with friends who really enjoyed their cruise; raved about the entertainment and food but when the time came to fill in the report form at the end of the cruise they "canned" nearly everything. I don't understand at all.

 

 

That same thing happened to us!!:eek: We've been on the Pacific Dawn 3 times and enjoyed every cruise. Our friends cruise with us once, and they filled out their form with a heap of complaints. They referred to a few 'ferals' which makes us think that was us they were referring to. I think it quite funny that two couples can see, eat, play, dance, etc. on the same cruise and have two totally different reactions. I will happily be classed as a 'hillbilly or feral'. I think some people are just negative with everything in their lives. Why waste time 'complaining' about everything. It's like they are the 'official judges' of life!!!!!:confused:

[bongaree]

We have cruised a fair bit (16 cruises so far) all around the world. We cruised home from LA on Pacific Dawn when she was Regal Princess and she is a lovely ship. My sister has recently returned from a cruise on Dawn and they loved it. Our favourite cruise was on Pacific Sky. We met another couple and we were up nearly every night till 2 am. By the way we are all in our 60's. I hope we are not OLD hillbillies. If so we will wear the name with pride.

 

This time next week, sleeping in on the Sun.

 

;)

[Skyrules]

Unfortunately, for some people it only takes one negative/bad thing to happen to make that cloud their judgement of the whole cruise.

 

We saw that on our cruise - even after 16 days I heard people complaining about the embarkation delays,confusion and the subsequent late arrival in Suva, and saying that is why they didn't enjoy the cruise..... Despite everything after Suva going like clockwork. I'm sure these people filled in the end of cruise survey and only commented on the bad things, not on everything else that they enjoyed.

 

Personally, we commented on the few negatives we saw;

 

* the lack of enthusiasm of the entertainment staff when doing their other duties (hosting trivia, etc)

* conflicting information about the need for passports in Noumea (I got 3 different stories from 3 different people)

 

(now I think of it, there weren't that many!)

 

But we also commented on all the POSITIVES - of which there were many.

 

 

 

Kym

[arxcards]

Unfortunately, for some people it only takes one negative/bad thing to happen to make that cloud their judgement of the whole cruise.

 

We saw that on our cruise - even after 16 days I heard people complaining about the embarkation delays,confusion and the subsequent late arrival in Suva, and saying that is why they didn't enjoy the cruise..... Despite everything after Suva going like clockwork. I'm sure these people filled in the end of cruise survey and only commented on the bad things, not on everything else that they enjoyed.

 

Personally, we commented on the few negatives we saw;

 

* the lack of enthusiasm of the entertainment staff when doing their other duties (hosting trivia, etc)

* conflicting information about the need for passports in Noumea (I got 3 different stories from 3 different people)

 

(now I think of it, there weren't that many!)

 

But we also commented on all the POSITIVES - of which there were many.

 

 

 

Kym

Hi Kym,

I think the way life is now, people are encouraged to only open their mouths when something is going wrong.

 

I know when I was working shiftwork (thankfully no longer), the manager only wanted to hear what had gone wrong overnight - so that he had the info to pass on to the daily operations meeting. He was never interested in the good things.

 

Same happens for the review. All the positives (which are big ones) rattled off in one sentance with no detail, followed by a blow by blow list of the few problems they had.

 

I have even made the mistake with my own review. I did not comment much on the good things that were as we expected, and focused on the magical things and the problems. I look back on that review now, and it does not represent the great time we had.

 

Our future reviews will be diary/blog like - so that we can add the context that puts everything into perspective.

[lias]

Personally, we commented on the few negatives we saw;

 

* the lack of enthusiasm of the entertainment staff when doing their other duties (hosting trivia, etc)

* conflicting information about the need for passports in Noumea (I got 3 different stories from 3 different people)

 

(now I think of it, there weren't that many!)

 

But we also commented on all the POSITIVES - of which there were many.

 

Kym

 

Hi Kym

 

That said, I believe your comments on the negatives will receive more credence at P&O than those of people who simply have to knock anything and everything.

 

I am sure they appreciate any feedback so long as it is genuine and not just complaining for the sake of complaining. Their problem is sifting though the garbage. I'll bet they have a good laugh at some of the reports.

 

Anyway, back to watching today's Gold Coast Indy carnival until other half wants to go shopping :(

 

 

Greg

[mumzie]

We dont' go until next year, but all I can think of is 14 days without kiddies asking me for food, changing nappies, taking them school, the fights, the winging, I will how ever miss my kisses and cuddles and will try and cope, but I can sleep in if I want to :D not wash dishes, not clean house gezzzz I think I can handle anything for all those wonderful perks lol

[mumzie]

opps sorry double post :blush:

[Cruising Crows]

Hi P A C, can someone please tell me which revue it is, I have a hankerin' to read wot they said bout the dawn hillbillies

thanks Lynn

[Cruising Crows]

Hi P A C, can someone please tell me which revue it is, I have a hankerin' to read wot they said bout the dawn hillbillies

thanks Lynn

[xxmatthewxx]

I do agree somewhat.

 

On the last cruise I did find the pools were over run by kids but just dealt with it.

 

And the price for bottles of wine is a bit steep as well I found but I just didn't buy anymore after the first one.

[LuckiePuris]

Sounds like they are snobs lol.

 

I saw the same review and figured that the person who wrote that would be better off staying home. :rolleyes:

 

As for the Pac Dawn, I am yet to sail but if it turns out to be even half as fun as I have imagined in my head then I am going to have a ball in 12 days time. :D

 

Sonya I have been on Pacific Dawn twice and loved it!

 

There is nothing like your first cruise, have a FANTASTIC time and be prepared to be hooked onto cruising!!

 

Don't forget to take some seasickness tablets just in case. Check with your doctor. I've always taken Kwells and never been sick. I take a tablet about a half hour before sailaway from Sydney, and for the first sea day or two. Just in case, because once you're sick, you're sick. Sea sickness tablets act as a preventative, not a cure. But ofcourse, speak to your doctor in regards to what suits you.

 

HAPPY CRUISING!! :)

[Froggy57]

Next year we are off on our first cruise for a long time on the PD, great to hear all the positive comments got a bit worried at the begining of this thread. As for wine prices it sounds like what I expected and something to plan for,

[arxcards]

There is a much more appropriate review on that site now!!

 

They sound very pleased with PD

[dogboy53]

Hi P A C, can someone please tell me which revue it is, I have a hankerin' to read wot they said bout the dawn hillbillies

thanks Lynn

 

Hi Lynn,

 

The review by the uneducated varmint is here

 

http://www.productreview.com.au/showitem.php?item_id=14826

[Cruising Crows]

Hi Don,

Thanks for that, much appreciated

Lynn