ceeceeDee

Agree, I've seen plenty of rude passengers. Wish they would take their superior attitude and air of condescension somewhere other than the cruise I happen to be on. I find them incredibly embarrassing to be around. Misery might crave company, but they won't be having mine!

Yes, I think the days of a free upgrade are, if not dead at the very least moribund now that a lot of cruise lines have adopted the bid for an upgrade routine.

Absolutely. I've often read reviews of a particular cruise we took and couldn't believe we were on the same ship at the same time as the reviewer. I have to admit that the reviews were mainly a negative whinge about certain aspects. Whilst some had valid points, others made sweeping statements, such as 'All the crew were rude!'. Seriously? You interacted with ALL the crew? And without fail they were rude to you? In that case, I would question the reviewers' attitude and expectations towards the crew. I can confidently say that over our years of cruising on various cruise lines we have never been confronted by a rude crew member (slightly distracted, maybe, but never rude). Are we just lucky or do we (shock, horror) treat crew with respect?

I'm surprised they don't advertise the chute as an adventure activity! 😂

Our's is Campbell 😂

We're paying around $250 pp per night for a Byron mini suite (M1 grade) on Encounter for 10 nights at Christmas (with $200 OBC). Given that it is school holidays, I think that is not a bad price. $250 is the 'base rate', we have a plus package on top of that so spending a bit more. Our original booking price (18 months out) was considerably more, but after about 6 weeks P&O advertised a 'sale' so we cancelled and re-booked for the exact same cabin. Lost our deposit (a whole $2 and the OBC was reduced from $400 to $200) but we saved over $1000 on the original price for the two of us. So much for booking early to get the best deal!!!🙄 Although, I must say that the latest advertised price for that cruise is a couple of thousand more than either our original price or the one we now have.

If you go to Kirkcudbright, there are kookaburras! It's surmised they escaped from a wildlife park somewhere in Scotland.

For once, we are coming out in front. 😉 For our upcoming Encounter cruise we booked value plus fair which included the Premium drink package (booked ages ago but I think the drinks package was $105 per day at the time). Received an email from P&O yesterday advising the change in drink packages and that because we were booked on a value plus fare, our drinks packages would be upgraded to P&O Drinks Plus at no extra cost (which includes specialty coffee, energy drinks and a higher 'up to' value on alcohol (cocktails up to the value of $20 for example. The old Premium package was capped at $16 and didn't include barista coffee, etc). So we're 'saving' around $14 per day. However, one would imagine that the price of individual drinks will have risen accordingly. Not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I'm pleased about the upgrade and the barista coffee is a much appreciated bonus (I'll get my money's worth on that alone.😂) Have to admit it irked me to have to pay for it on our last cruise with P&O particularly when the 'free' coffee was absolutely woeful and almost undrinkable.

No, it doesn't affect my enjoyment of the food and I am capable of ignoring it, but I do find it just a tad disrespectful. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but how hard is it to at least go smart casual and remove the ubiquitous baseball cap?! According to the P&O website: If it’s after 5:30pm, smart casual clothing is required in the public lounges and restaurants. However, as I said, each to their own.

🙄 Each to their own, I suppose. However, I assume you were seated in the MDR, not the local McDonalds? Whatever happened to removing hats at the table, particularly in a restaurant?

Yep, there's nothing 'flash' about their 'sale'!

Absolutely, Leigh. My son has been gone for six years and not a day goes by that I don't miss him dreadfully. Hope you recover soon, Lyle. Please give Lynne my best. CeeCee

I've just had a look at the deck plans for Explorer and it appears there are interconnecting balcony cabins on Deck 11. Look for cabins with the arrow symbol https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/ships/Pacific-Explorer Hope this helps, Snag Cheers CeeCee

Pacific Encounter is a Grand class (ex Star Princess) and is 290m long. She regularly docks at Cairns and I haven't heard of any problems and certainly didn't notice any when we docked in Cairns last year.

Quell horreur!!!😯 Mind you, I'd like to see how they get on in Antartica!🤣 🎵Am I blue? Am I blue. Aren't these tears in my eyes telling you🎵

I can relate. Our resident Labrador is most unimpressed that I won't take her to the park in the rain. All right for her - she's a water dog, but I'd rather not emulate a drowned rat.😒

Oh, for love of....................😒😠 Gotta love ill informed arm chair 'experts'. Get out the tin foil hats!

Weary cynic that I am, I smell the groundwork being put in place for a lawsuit and the ambulance chasers will be gathering at the dock when our 'heroes' disembark!🙄😉

Absolutely! As for one-sided reporting................ 'Never let the truth get in the way of a good story'.

Of COURSE they are still complaining and still doing interviews with the media!! Unfortunately there is a section of society who refuse to accept that they are responsible for their own actions and will blame anyone but themselves. Whatever happened to shouldering responsibility and admitting 'Mia Culpa'? The situation as a whole was extremely unfortunate but it is not entirely the ship's fault as the passengers involved appear to be alleging.

It could well come down to a safety issue as well. Whilst I'm sure the coastguard personnel are excellent seamen, they are probably not experienced in transferring passengers to a cruise ship. Also the media reported that one pax is a paraplegic and another was 80 years old which would have raised the degree of difficulty in the proposed transfer. Imagine if one of pax fell between the coastguard vessel and the ship! The consequences would be catastrophic. There are numerous factors contributing to the captain's decision which have probably not been considered by the media or the pax involved.

Yes, apparently they opted for a private tour which was late getting back. That's the risk you take with a private tour. If it's late, the ship won't wait. Frankly I wouldn't risk a private tour overseas. At least if you book through the cruise line, they have to wait for you. You might save a few bucks with a private tour, but that backfired in this case as the pax affected spent thousands chasing the ship through 6 African countries allegedly. I might risk a private tour on a domestic cruise. An overnight in Cairns you are safe as houses if you take a private tour on the first day and spend the next day doing a shank's pony around the town maybe. Having said that, six people missed the ship on our last Barrier Reef cruise. In the case of the Norwegian Dawn there are conflicting stories on what actually happened and we really only know what the media tells us which is probably not the full story. The pax involved had a torrid time of it and I do feel for them, but at the end of the day they were very late getting back (one report said an hour) regardless of the cause and a ship's deadline is a ship's deadline.

Wish they'd do an open day in Brisbane!

You're very welcome!

I'm really not surprised to hear that she is tired. It's about time she was re-tired! She's pushing 28 years old. I know there are other ships still in service that are in excess of 30 years old in better condition than Explorer, but I suspect P&O only keep their fare prices down because they skimp elsewhere on these older vessels. There was a rumour last year that Explorer was going to be replaced sometime in the near future, but who knows? As for nickel and dimeing once on board................. that's happening on most cruise lines. Just read the Princess threads for a start. And at least on P&O you don't get slugged daily gratuities which, as you probably know, is the case with RCI, Celebrity, etc. We don't mind P&O, we just keep our expectations fairly low and they are usually exceeded. Frankly, we just take a good time with us and that's precisely what we have. The upside of the cheaper initial fare is that we usually opt for a higher cabin category which does come with a few 'perks'.