fishtaco

Seems I have been banned from P&O FB pages for telling the Truth about my recent P&O12 night cruise experience? I was neither scaving nor over critical! and am on the same ship again in 9 months, I really wanted to compare "Now and Then" Which is obviously no longer allowed in this Social media world of "Mac Donalds" dining accepting millennial moderators??? This is why CC "Cruise Critic" Is the place to assess! Way too many first Time Cruisers rave about a cruise with Zero experience of how it was, so their experience always out ways your own! No cruise is a bad cruise because you are cruising but when new cruiser "Flamers" out weigh experience then its time to stop posting genuine experience!

Cheers

On 4/17/2024 at 11:18 AM, 2022cruisey said:

On the same cruise and it was our first P&O experience.  
 

We thought the food was really good, better than Princess and Carnival.  We ate in Angelo’s, Dragon Lady, Waterfront and the Pantry.  I really liked the Pantry set up, much better than the Princess and Carnival buffets.  Although it was often busy, we didn’t have to find a table outside like we have had to do on other cruises.

 

They did have a galley tour and it looked very much the same as other cruise lines.  Also impressed by their chef show - the only one I have seen where they give out the food they have cooked during the show.  
Hung Le was funny, he was the only comedian we saw and the shows were the same standard as other cruises.

 

 The tendering did seem to take much longer, they were only using 4 tenders, whereas the other lines use many more.  I got into line at 640am to get tender tickets for Bali and we got off the boat on tender  14 at 1030 - long time to wait, when they started at 7.

In Broome we got shuttle bus 31 and arrived in town at 430 on a Saturday afternoon when nearly everything was closed. However we went to the pub for dinner and then to the Sun Pictures for a movie, which was an awesome experience.  Cable Beach the next day which was also great.

 

Ship was clean, lots of activities, over 18s area always had plenty of loungers, great weather.  Very positive experience and I would definitely go on P&O again.

My absolute favourite thing was that there was none of the fake crew/passenger interaction that comes along with trying to get tips.  This really annoys me on Princess and Carnival.

 

If you ate In Lukes or any of the other paid for restaurants as well as the Bonded Bar you were presented with a receipt to sign with added "Tip Line" even though the meal charge was added to your account before Receipt sign! And the Gally tour I believe was for those spending an absorbent amount on Lukes Degustation! I believe over $200 pp?

3 hours ago, Elorac123 said:

Shush,don’t tell everyone 

Cheers Carole

Lol

Found a small gold ring possibly child's? In balcony cabin 11175 Pacific Explorer.

Doing a last min check before getting off and found a small gold signet ring behind the bedside table, looks like Asian Gold hand made with a small diamond and an initial.

I will post on FB as well but could have been lost some time ago as I cant imagine staff moving bedside tables too often to clean behind them!

Nobody drinks wine by the bottle or Nobody cares less? lol CC has really gone down hill since my few years cruising absence! just as CruiseLine's have! Lol 

1 hour ago, kylie_k said:

 

Thanks, yeah we're onto that. Although we already paid the $15 for that one. The person in our party that did it said that it had to be paid to get the barcode. Hopefully we wont be charged again.

No Stress! If you have paid you have paid 🙂 This is the most " Non Informative" Cruise we have ever done on any CruiseLine! We have actually done this same cruise with P&O twice before (although a few years ago)! Does your party have shore tours booked for Komodo? You cant get off the ship unless you have an official tour booked! Aso re Lombok you can get ships transport to Sengiggi and pay for day use at quite a few Sengiggi Resorts.

 Cheers Den

In the MRD/DL /Angelos Cab Sav or Merlot?

Cheers

On 3/29/2024 at 2:33 PM, kylie_k said:

Yes, Fremantle to Fremantle. Thanks, that helps a lot.

 

That's unfortunate about Traceys visa. You'd think something like that would be secure.

Dont forget (if you haven't already done) you need to do your online arrival tax documents and have a barcode for it at boarding, you don't pay the $15pp tax upfront it is deducted from your cruise card, this is a new tax Indonesia have put on travellers.

You will find instructions in P&O,s "Manage My Booking" top right  email envelope.

1 hour ago, ceeceeDee said:

On our P&O cruise last year there was definitely a formal night (though not everyone participates). We don't mind dressing for dinner, so hubby wore a suit and I my little red cocktail number. There were quite a few people who went to the trouble and quite a lot who didn't. Personal choice really.

No more  captains drinks for previous cruisers? No more formals no tablecloths in the MDR what next bring a packed lunch for Sailaway lol, Not sure why I am laughing? 2pm check-in  buffet closes at 3 for a 4 sailaway!

3 hours ago, Nang said:

P&O is CASUAL. Wearing a suit will make you stand out. Wearing a sports jacket will put you in a reasonable sized minority. Its your holiday, wear what makes you comfortable.

I never get a chance to wear one of my many suits except Cruises and Funerals lol

Now there are no formal nights is there any point taking a suit? I wont be taking a dinner suit for same reason but should I bother packing any suit?

Cheers

If you are doing the Fremantle to Fremantle Indonesian cruise they will do it onboard. We were asking for weeks some P&O staff said you had to get it yourself others you could get it onboard! We got an email last week saying they do it onboard but only for AU NZ passport holders.

We got ours online from official site, I got my visa Tracey did not? after about a week she started getting emails with her passport photo saying hi! Embassy in Perth said the official site is not secure, took us about 3 weeks and many complaints until we were able to hunt down her visa via the secure payment system chatline.

P&O are very slow at giving correct information. If you log into your cruise control there are emails top right you will start getting correct information and instructions 2-3 weeks from sailing.

I might just get to Terminal check cases and have a casual lunch Ashore until check in!

By the way my Email has been spammed by official Indonesian Visa site! We visited Indonesian Embassy yesterday and they told us the official online visa application is not safe? Who would have Thought! My house has probably been sold with the info We had to provide, ID theft runs very deep. 😞

2 hours ago, ceeceeDee said:

Depends on how long it takes to get through the embarkation process. We usually have a really big breakfast, just in case.🙂

Last cruise we didn't bother with lunch on board, just opted for early dinner.

I dont eat as much as I used to but in the past it was a scramble to get early boarding! this time we actually chose 2pm for a 4pm sailing because we are leaving from home port. I might change it to 1.30pm so I can get a small nibble.

Because our cruise does not have any formal nights when and where do you get the canapes? We have them on 2 nights come with the Ultimate Romance Package.

Cheers

Do you reckon we will still have time to eat? Buffet closes at 3pm

Cheers

On 1/25/2024 at 6:40 AM, ceeceeDee said:

What ship are you on?  You can definitely fit cases under the bed on Encounter.

We have a cabin that can be a queen or bunks, the top beds come down on top of the bottom to form a queen with no space under the bed. They have added extra cupboard space for case storage but my wife's case is way too big!   P Explorer.

On 2/13/2024 at 12:01 PM, Amaroo Andrew said:

My brother has recently returned from a Pacific Adventure cruise to the Sth Pacific Islands. He was checking his statement for charges and noticed a debit for 'condiments`. The only thing he thought it could be was a charge for having sugar with his 'paid for' (not ship swill) coffee. Surely they're not gouging the pax for sugar in the coffee? I think it was 30 cents per sachet.

He should contact P&O By phone (this is the only way I could speak to a P&O rep in Australia) And ask what the charges were for so then we all know.

I noticed you can now buy just one premium drinks package it used to be all adults in the cabin had to buy it.

How will they stop people sharing the one package? or dont they care given there is now a limit of 15 alcoholic drinks per 24 hour period.

I have had the unlimited on RCL before and just didn't like the availability of that much booze, I am mainly a beer drinker but I stated hitting the top shelf just to chase the spend and I didnt enjoy it.

Tracey rarely drinks more than 3 drinks a day and I could no way drink 15 beers a day and we both don't drink fizzy drinks other than soda water  but its tempting to get one package and share it! I am a fool for marketing because I swore I would never buy another booze package.

So my P&O booking site has been  saying "Come back 3rd Feb" to pre book Daily Restaurant choices, Well we work it all out for the 13 nights but when I go to book on 3rd Feb it tells me all Included restaurants must be booked once  onboard via the App or at Dragon Lady Deck 6! The only dinning I can pre book is "Specialty Dinning"

Just as   well we are late diners ! I think we will just turn up anywhere we want with a take it or leave it attitude!

On 1/28/2024 at 7:46 AM, dazadelaide said:

We really like the "stodge" in the waterfront, just really nice pub food.

Much prefer DL to Angelos love pasta but for some reason don't like the taste at Angelos (too much garlic for me)

In saying that though we always try Angelos once per cruise.

Do like the pantry for Indian/mexican/asian especially at lunch.

Daz

I don't really care if I eat every evening  meal at The Waterfront! You can never go hungry on a cruise!  But with just us 2 I want shared tables for the crack! We really miss Set evening dinning because it always ended in great table guests reciprocal or not even in US 🙂

1 hour ago, ceeceeDee said:

For anyone interested, this is the current Ultimate Romance package

 

 

 

For us we probably wouldn't get our money's worth. Hubby is not the champers aficionado (pearls before swine springs to mind 😂), we already get canapes every night from day 2 with a Byron suite, we don't find breakfast in bed romantic (yeah, I know, we have no soul), dinner at Luke's last year was less than $140 for the two of us and a photo portrait of Gatsby night was around $30 from memory. Luke's and the photo were covered by our OBC.

 

We found this more to our liking and pre-ordered it to be delivered to our room upon arrival on embarkation day. It was a really good Sav Blanc, too:

We just have a standard balcony so seemed worth it, so what canapes do I get and when/where do I get them? Is it on Formal/Theme nights?

Another question is Angelos DL and WF closed on port day evenings especially if in port overnight.

Cheers