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Can P&O Be Serious With Pacific Explorer Add On Charges?


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Here is a question to everyone, How many of you would like to have cruise lines have all inclusive cruises and no extra charges, no even for that special coffee.

I reckon everyone.

 

They do exist, just expensive

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Here is a question to everyone, How many of you would like to have cruise lines have all inclusive cruises and no extra charges, no even for that special coffee.

I reckon everyone.

 

I don't mind some extra charges. What I object to is when they cheapen the base standard excessively so to get anything reasonable you have to pay more.

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I agree with you The_Big_M Thats what happen on a 5 Star ship we took in Europe. I think they were trying to pay for the ship in one cruise as everything was expensive and as MicCanberra stated that is true too because I can remember paying for cruises back in 1983 and I paid over $2500 for an inside small cabin on a 14 night cruise and the only food was a buffet in the morning and lunch in the MDR and if weather was good they had cold meats and salads and very poor selection of deserts then Dinner in the MDR and that was pretty much it but you did get alcohol duty free and you could buy bottles of alcohol on shore and bring onto the ship and drink it but the alcohol was reasonably priced onboard so why bother buying it on land to bring back except for duty free to take home. You didn't have much choice of ships to go on, you either had old crap or very old crap and I asked a purser back then "that's what they were call back then not hotel directors like they are called now " why don't they bring the nice ships over to Australia as I felt there would be a market in it and got told that they wouldn't bring nice ships over because Australians drink too much and would ruin the new ships, what *#&* head and I spoke to someone at RCL in America around 1985 or so and got told it would cost too much to reposition a ship to Australia and that was when they had the Monarch of the Seas and Majesty of the Seas, but what do I know, and look at them today and if one of them took my advice back then one of them would have controlled the market being the only decent ship in Australia so yeah things have improved in cruising but I don't want to see quality of food go down and ships full of Celebrity Chef restaurants to the point that there is no MDR or buffet and you have to pay for everything. Believe me I saw what potential cruising in Australia would be back in 1980s and no one listened so am I right with this one we will have to wait an see and the only thing that will stop quality falling into the bows of the ships is the passengers. There was an oversupply of cruise ships in the Caribbean back then and was building so they sent them to other parts of the world to try to escape the heavy competition as that is what is forcing prices down in the Caribbean, oversupply of cabins. But least we are getting some very nice looking ships and we should thank the crew who look after us as they spend months away from their family to give us a fantastic holiday so to all the crew of every cruise ship thank you for your fantastic service and friendliness.

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  • 3 months later...

Don't forget that these things might be included on other lines, but you also pay much more to sail with those lines. P&O gives you the option to sail on the cheap (can be $100/night for accomodation and meals) and only pay for those extras that you really want. I'd prefer that than pay $200+/night and get free icecream. I am glad to see that the waterslide is free, was thinking they may charge for that.

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I haven't cruised with P&O before, and am going on the Explorer at the end of July.

 

I will probably pay to attend the Black Circus as I find the idea of Dinner and a Show appealing. However we won't be visiting Lukes, 400 Gradi Pizza or the Edge. I think we will stick with the Waterfront Restaurant and the Pantry.

 

Everybody seems to have forgotten about the Dragon Lady and Angelo's restaurants. Still free and still, as far as I am concerned, head and shoulders over the MDR and probably the best free dining of any ship in Australian waters.

 

Also the Black Circus is a venue, the show there is called Love Riot. Somewhat risque, but nothing you couldn't take your granny to.

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Hi

I was on the 3 night comedy cruise 14th to 17th December 17 Pacific Explorer and the Dragon Lady and Angelo's is free, just book as soon as you get there.

I have been on other cruises like the Pacific Jewel twice and the last time was last year 2016 and the food in the MDR was quite good but this time on the Pacific Explorer in the MDR the food was shocking, I asked for a steak and got a piece of meat that looked dry but when you cut it the meat just pulled apart and looked as though it had been stewed and eating it was very chewy and the menu was very limited, so go to Angelo's or Dragon Lady you won't be disappointed. I normally have my dinner in the MDR but the food was not up to scatch and I don't know why the menu was so limited with choices and thought maybe because it was just a short cruise but that is definitely not the same standard as what was on the menu on the Jewel far from it.

I can say one thing about P&O Australian ships there is always something going on in the entertainment scene even past mid night and the service on board was excellent and staff very friendly.

While on board I heard that the Golden Princess was going to be renamed and handed over to P&O Australia It is starting to look like a hand me down line where Princess lines send their outdated ships too.

It's like a big brother or sister handing down clothes they have outgrown and the younger kid who gets all the old outdated stuff. How about some new ships.

You don't want the nick name, The hand me down line.

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Hi Pacificlover

That was the worst restaurant food I have ever had. I have been on the Jewel twice and the food in the MDR was quite good with good variety but on this ship there was no real variety and I was not game to ask for another steak as the last one was terrible and it pulled apart and looked sinewy which it was " very Chewy"

I don't know why such poor menu and food in the MDR but they better fix the problem fast as they will loose passengers.

The ship was very nice, the crew fantastic, Angelo's and Dragon Lady's restaurant was excellent and the staff in both those were fantastic. I can honestly say that the crew onboard the Pacific Explorer were the best I have come across in all the ships I have been on but fix the food and menu in the MDR.

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I agree totally. In every way (bar MDR) my Christmas cruise was fantastic. The vibe on the ship was wonderful. The children dressed in their pixie and fairy outfits was lovely to see. I certainly want to do another Christmas cruise, but will have to think long and hard about my choice - cheaper with P&O but do I want to eat in The Pantry every night? Dragon Lady was good, but we did not try the Italian.

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will have to think long and hard about my choice - cheaper with P&O but do I want to eat in The Pantry every night? Dragon Lady was good, but we did not try the Italian.

 

I much preferred Angelo's over the MDR or the Pantry. You can arrange a regular booking on the first day aboard.

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  • 1 month later...
Just read the Cruise Critic review of the Pacific Explorer, the renewed Dawn Princess which we quite enjoyed in the past. Surely others must feel somewhat puzzled by the latest cruise industry grab for guests cash.

The new Luke's Café to charge $6 for French fries and up to $15 for a hamburger, a seven course meal at the Chef's Table $99. The Pizzeria will set you back $25 for a cheese board,$9 for salads and $12 to $16 for a pizza. That's not all folks, $10 for breakfast room service and the P&O Edge Adventure park will be a steal at $139 adults and $119 kids for unlimited access.

We know what they are thinking in the P&O board room, profit, profit, profit but will cruisers go for it?

Add to this the service charge on drinks, tour costs and the extras may cost as much as the cabin hire for the cruise.

Is this the future of cruising? If so our cruise days are numbered after more than 50 cruises.

Obviously the new generation of cruisers have a different attitude to cash and cruising than us old timers and the cruise industry is planning ahead but will cruisers follow?

Well P&O are at the very least teaching the Aussie cruisers a few lessons after being forced to suspend gratuities on all Aussie cruises.

 

 

 

Same on all P&O Australia ship but NO SERVICE CHARGE ON DRINKS ETC

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  • 2 weeks later...
I reckon everyone.

 

It's easier to buy the experience you want at a value you think fair if you start with a base fare that is roughly the minimum any passenger would want and then let those that want more add on. For example, we don't drink alcohol and so I'd not want to think part of my fare was to pay for this and especially not on a itinerary with a sizeable number of Australians onboard (or Kiwis for that matter).

 

The key for us is to choose a cruise line where the minimum price is not too low since in our experience the demographic that is attracted is not one we want to mix too closely with. We've sailed P&O only three times and each time was a "never again" experience; we meant this after the third such experience.

 

The P&O base fare is designed to attract cruisers who can not otherwise afford to cruise. It's a business model that has worked very well for them even though they need more security staff per capita compared to more expensive lines; they save in plenty of other areas.

 

It's fair to say that P&O have had to lift their game in the last few years as fundamentally nicer cruise lines started competing for many of their passengers. Still, charging for a pizza will always remind you that you're down at the very bottom tier of cruising. Per day though you probably come out around about even on a like-for-like except for the demographic differences.

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i think that P&O should add a few free things like the pizza and burgers. Surely they don't make that much money by charging for them.

 

Not sure how much money they make; it's probably not much in the scheme of things. However, when you make it free, demand increases and they may well need to scale up just to supply which can be problematic. (And then people get dissatisfied because it's run out/they have to wait).

 

As for being worthwhile charging though, Celebrity thought it worthwhile to add a USD10 charge for burgers a few months back, so the bean counters still see merit in that revenue anyway.

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Yes, they got a lot of complaints so rolled it back.

 

The complaints were understandable too when they charge at least 2-5 times as much as P&O, people were ticked off at having to pay even more for such things on board. But shows how much they try to get more dollars off people anyway.

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I am wondering where and how these cruise lines get the so called 3,4,5,6 Stars because I have been on a 5 star rated ship that the food had less variety and poor service than on a 3 star ship and you were pretty much paying for extras that I thought would have been free because it was a 5 star ship. Maybe I should start my own rating system but on service, food and variety not because the ship is new.

On a 5 star ship I should not have to Que up at the bar to get a drink there should be drink waiters roaming around and as for food there should be a very good variety of food with very good presentation and not feel you are been forced into an expensive specialty restaurant every meal time because there is no variety. so can someone tell me how these cruise lines get their star ratings and does that star rating cover Service,food etc.

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I am wondering where and how these cruise lines get the so called 3,4,5,6 Stars because I have been on a 5 star rated ship that the food had less variety and poor service than on a 3 star ship and you were pretty much paying for extras that I thought would have been free because it was a 5 star ship. Maybe I should start my own rating system but on service, food and variety not because the ship is new.

On a 5 star ship I should not have to Que up at the bar to get a drink there should be drink waiters roaming around and as for food there should be a very good variety of food with very good presentation and not feel you are been forced into an expensive specialty restaurant every meal time because there is no variety. so can someone tell me how these cruise lines get their star ratings and does that star rating cover Service,food etc.

 

You could - it's just subjective. There are no definitive requirements, even less so than hotels (which have had their own issues and disputes about how they are rated).

 

The closest to a standard is the Berlitz guide, but that is still their own rating system. Though at least they try to apply a fairly consistent measure across what they assess. For the rest, it's just a label that they apply for themselves so doesn't have any basis to it, except to make them sound good.

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Thanks for the Star rating advice and yeah it seemed to me that the rating was self administered but I thought nah they would have to get the rating from a reputable organization but apparently not, just build a ship and give yourself 5.5 stars because its new but the service and food can be crap. So now I know that I won't waste money on going on 5 star ships as these ships charge more to go on them and you don't get any better food or service than the lower star as I have found out.

Watch out cruise lines I'm going to give you star ratings on your service, food,cleaniness.

The rating will be

1 to 5 stars and 5 stars being fantastic overall

so if the food is mediocre and poor variety and the rest such as clean ship, service fantastic, then they will score a 3.5 star but if all 3 areas are poor then they get a big 1 star and I don't care if the ship is so called 5.5 stars self rated because I am sick of going on these ships and end up very disappointed because of poor food, bad service.

Sure you can go on 3 ships all belonging to the same company and get different outcomes such as one ship gives you bad experience then you go on another one of their ships and the experience is fantastic so I think that each ship should be rated and not wipe out the company because of one ship.

so next time you go on a cruise do that 3 simple checks such as food how good, service, cleanliness and we might get a better experience and those that get a bad rating might pick up their game.

I'm not interested in the entertainment because every ship has that problem I think and as for activities, that can't be rated as the bigger ships have it all and to rate a medium size ship on activities wouldn't be fair

But I find people seem to question food quality, service and how clean their stateroom are more than anything else.

So start rating and hopefully it will catch on and we will be able select a ship and know exactly what to expect. put your score in this site and the reason it got that rating.

fantastic cruising for all.

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  • 11 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Just off the Pacific Explorer and would never cruise with them again, everything seemed to be an additional charge on board and the entire novelty of cruising is lost and may as well just do a land based holiday with so many add on fees.

 

Really restricted dining menus with paid options, activities extra, pay for shows and constant up selling. 

Asking money for burgers, fries and pizza is so stingy! If it was Lobster or a multi course degustation they wanted a surcharge for you could understand but fries and burgers... 😳

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Each to their own preference, but RCL also charge for burgers and fries, and Celebrity also experimented with that last year, but retracted after consumer protest - understandable when a Celebrity fare is typically at least double P&O.

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On 3/4/2019 at 11:57 PM, The_Big_M said:

Each to their own preference, but RCL also charge for burgers and fries, and Celebrity also experimented with that last year, but retracted after consumer protest - understandable when a Celebrity fare is typically at least double P&O.

 

RCL has complimentary burgers and fries all over the ship both in the buffet and in the dining room, it is only the experience of Johnny Rockets that is additional which I don’t agree with either and wouldn’t use it! Have had JR’s in US and it was okay but it was pretty cheap on land so don’t get the added fee on a cruise.

 

As as far as I know Celebrity experimented with a for fee premium burger but still kept the complimentary burgers as well but like you said dropped the fee burgers. 

P&O fares are comparable to Celebrity fares for a balcony cabin on a South Pacific cruise which is bizarre because Celebrity also includes drinks in that pricing. 

 

I guess the touchy bit with P&O is that they deliberately don’t serve any pizza or even a basic burger and fries to push people to paid venues, other mainstream cruise lines around the price of P&O at least have complimentary options. 

 

NCL offers complimentary burgers 24 hours a day with waiter service and Carnival has some of the best burgers (Guys Burger Joint) at sea that are complimentary.

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