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P&O Pacific Eden Review 4 Mar 16 – Photo Review with Menus & Daily’s


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P&O Pacific Eden 4 March 2016 – 3 night Comedy Cruise to Wilson’s Promontory

 

** INTRODUCTION

 

Firstly I wanted to start with a bit of background on myself and my partner, and why we cruised on this sailing.

We are both travel agents in our late 20’s / early 30’s and enjoying cruising and also land based holidays. I’ve cruised previously years back with P&O onboard Sun, Dawn & Jewel, however together as a couple we have cruised Royal Caribbean & Celebrity, with Celebrity and the little luxury touches being our preference of cruise line.

We enjoy good food and service, and love sea days.

 

For my partner’s birthday, I decided to book this 3 night cruise as a surprise present as there was a great price for oceanview staterooms $300 per person, and thought it would be great for us to experience this new style of P&O ships to help us make better recommendations to our clients.

 

This was a 3 night cruise departing and returning from our home port in Melbourne, with one full sea day and one day scenic cruising around Wilson’s Prom.

 

There has been a bit of mixed reviews on Pacific Eden & Aria (sister ships) on CC, however I am a big believer in making the best of everything. We are lucky to be able to cruise and travel, so I was determined to go onboard and have a fantastic cruise.

 

I’ve listed below a summary of our experience and we really did love the cruise. I have tried to be objective in really outlining the positives of our experience, but at the same time think it is only fair to also mention the small things that weren’t great.

 

 

** EMBARKATION DAY – SCAVENGER HUNT AROUND MELBOURNE

 

The ship was due to arrive into Melbourne at lunch time, which meant it was a late embarkation day with the first group boarding 4.30pm, all the way until 8.00/8.30pm, and sailaway at 9pm.

 

As we had the day at leisure, as some of you may have seen on previous CC posts in the lead up, I decided to make the most of the day and planned a scavenger hunt through Melbourne for my partner, with the final clue taking us onboard Pacific Eden.

 

I woke him in the morning by handing him a Polaroid instant camera and his first clue, explaining that we were off on a scavenger hunt and he needed to take a photo at each stop. I love photos and having a record of something we saw / did to look back on, and thought the Polaroid added an extra element to the hunt as I had bought it for the occasion.

 

I selected the stops on the hunt by including some things we had been meaning to try in our home city.

Our first stop was Hash Coffee on Hosier Lane, for brunch and their signature fairy floss hot chocolates, followed by some laneway photos as Melbourne is known for its laneways.

 

We visited the Melbourne Aquarium which was just amazing. I originally thought we would get through the aquarium quite quickly however am glad that I allowed extra time here as there was so much to see and experience. From the octopus to the jellyfish, to giant viewing rooms and walk through underwater tunnels with giant stingrays and sharks swimming above. The crocodile feeding session was a highlight, as were the penguins.

 

I would strongly recommend a visit to the Melbourne Aquarium if you are a local or a visitor, and allow 2 hours to see everything. Special things such as the crocodile feeding only happen a couple of times a week so I’d recommend checking their website to plan your visit beforehand.

Next stop was an old fashioned lolly store to pick up a few treats, followed by Vietnamese street food for lunch.

 

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After lunch, the next clue took us to Port Melbourne for a walk along the beach. This is also the main port for cruise ships in Melbourne. He pointed out a ship docked right away while we walked. I then handed over the next clue, and told him we were spending the weekend onboard.

He could not believe it and was over the moon. Operation SECRET – completed 

 

We had parked in the short 1 hour parking for our walk, and then now headed back to move the car to long term parking. For those sailing out of Melbourne, ACE Parking Port Melbourne offers long term parking for $12 per 24 hour period. It cannot be prebooked and is on a first come basis, so I would recommend arriving early if you wish to park. We found no problem in getting a parking spot at 3pm, as we were on the first boarding group.

If you want to park here, please note that although the parking address is Bay Street, you enter through Rouse Street and there is no signage indicating ACE Parking until you enter.

 

Approx a 10 min walk back to the pier, we dropped off our one suitcase at the check in point and proceeded to enter the cruise terminal. Handed our health forms, there was hardly a queue and we were checked in with cruise cards in hand, all within 10-15 min from arriving. We had arrived early so there was a half hour wait until boarding opened, and the process was a breeze. Through security in under 10 minutes, as there was no customs to go through as this was just a domestic cruise out to sea.

 

Just before boarding the ship, there was the custom boarding cruise photo, and then boarding onto deck 5.

Staterooms were ready, so we could leave our bags right away.

 

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** STATEROOM – MIDSHIP OCEAN VIEW DECK 5

 

 

We normally do like balcony cabins however as it was a spontaneous booking, I opted to make the saving and book an oceanview stateroom, and we loved it! While I’ve cruised in inside and oceanview staterooms before when younger, my partner and I have been lucky to have cruised in balconies on RCI and Celebrity. I was a little nervous if he would feel “closed in” with no fresh air and if the holiday would feel “downgraded”, but this was not the case at all.

 

We actually both said that in future if there was a large price difference between inside and oceanview and balcony, we would be happy to book an oceanview and maybe consider an inside depending on the voyage and price difference.

Normally the benefit of a balcony for us is that I like to bring breakfast from the buffet back to our stateroom to enjoy together, which we normally have on the balcony. On the one day we did this on this cruise, we ate sitting in bed so not as nice as sitting on a balcony, but not a deal breaker either.

 

I had heard reviews from CC and also clients that the rooms were dated and in need of a refurb. Our room was absolutely amazing and wouldn’t have changed a thing about the condition of the room. As soon as you enter, we had the ensuite to the left with a beautiful marble basin area, large mirror and two shelves for toiletries. To the left was the shower over the bath, and the toilet in between these two. The shower pressure was fantastic, and while two could fit in the shower, it would be a tight squeeze for two in the bath together.

Plenty of shower towels and pool towels in the bathroom, as well as Elemis Shampoo, Conditioner and Body wash in the wall dispensers. No other toiletries such as cotton balls, ear buds, shower caps, however these were available on request from your room steward.

 

Toilet worked pretty well however sometimes with even just toilet paper in there, it seemed to play up, so you needed to push the button a few times. As long as it worked, that was the main thing!

 

To the right of the stateroom when you entered, were two large wardrobes and also a large set of drawers. WOW and 5 stars for storage space! I don’t recall seeing this much storage space on any ship! The two large wardrobes had plenty of hanging space including wooden hangers, and also a safe in one of them. The six large drawers were also sufficient for any folded or small clothings.

By the full size sofa was a small cupboard, and also a mini coffee table. The large desk area and mirror really opened up the room, as well as a tv and dvd player. There was a list of movies available by dvd, which you could borrow free of charge to watch in your room. Also two small bedside tables, with a little more storage space.

Stateroom was a great size and with plenty of storage space, would be great for those longer voyages.

Large picture window allowed plenty of daylight. Australian powerpoints in the stateroom, and individual heating / cooling so we could have the room at our preferred temperature.

 

The bed was very soft and great linen, and for a queen bedding configuration, was two single beds pushed together. This is the standard in most cruise ship staterooms and some hotel rooms, and I understand that sometimes you can feel the edge in the middle where the two beds joined. However to be honest, I’ve never felt it as bad as I did in this case. The beds wobbled quite a bit as you got on and off them, and during the night, they did seem to move apart a bit to the point where I did feel that they appeared to be moving away from each other.

Not a huge deal and the bed was still comfy and we had some great sleep in the bed, but just a little thing worth mentioning.

 

The main thing I had an issue with the stateroom, was the noise level. We are not by any means light sleepers, and can sleep easily on trains, coach tours, planes etc. On previous cruises I’ve found the occasional outside noise if you have a group of loud kids run through the corridor etc, however normally the rooms fairly soundproofed.

In this case, the walls felt paper thing. As we had an early start on embarkation day, we decided to have a lie down in the room at 5pm. It felt like our door was open, as there was so much noise coming through. You could easily hear quite loudly outside conversations as guests walked and talked past, and also loud footsteps coming from the Promenade deck above us from deck 6. This in particular I found quite odd as we had an oceaniew stateroom, which I would have imagined would have been a bit more protected from noise on the top outside deck.

During late night / morning, the outside corridor noise and Promenade deck noise was bearable, however if you like to rest in the room during the day or enjoy a sleep in, this would be something to keep in mind.

 

Room service available in the room for breakfast and other times of day. Pacific Daily’s delivered to the room each evening with turnover service. And we had a towel animal!

 

Something little to keep in mind is that there are no mini fridges in the staterooms on Eden or Aria, unless you are in a suite. We missed not being able to quickly grab a cold water or can of coke from the comfort of our stateroom, however this was just something little. Ice buckets however were easily available on request.

 

Note: If you need a fridge for medical / medication purposes, please advise P&O when onboard and they will arrange one for you.

 

Overall the room was fantastic, very clean and very modern. Great condition and loved the storage space.

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Room Service breakfast menu

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** MUSTER DRILL & SAILAWAY

 

Muster drills are different on every ship / cruise line. We had our muster drill at 8.30pm, and had to take our lifejackets from our stateroom and head to the Promenade deck. It appeared that almost everyone had the Promenade deck as the meeting point, and we all had to line up under our assigned life boat. The muster drill was quite quick, only seemed to take 15 minutes, with the information relayed over speakers. We had a crew member demonstrate how to put on a lifejacket, and once we had given this a go, we were dismissed.

 

This first night was Bianco theme night, with a sailaway party of top deck. We walked through at a point later in the evening which appeared to be a standard pool deck party, with majority of passengers wearing white.

 

While it was fantastic to sail from our home port of Melbourne for the first time, there isn’t much to see especially at dark. Sydney sailaways with the Harbor Bridge and Opera House definitely are more picturesque.

 

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** SPECIALTY RESTAURANTS

 

One of the first things we always do when onboard, is book our specialty restaurants. Dining is something we really look forward to when traveling, so we like to make sure we had this booked at the start of our cruise so we don’t miss out on our preferred times / and a table.

I am so glad we did this, as we heard other passengers saying they had missed out on the specialty restaurants as they were booked out.

 

I am assuming that they perhaps booked out very quickly in this case due to the short duration of the cruise, however would recommend regardless that if you are wanting to try the specialty restaurants, you do book as soon as first onboard, to avoid missing out.

 

I had heard different responses on how to prebook these on CC, as they can’t be pre booked. Some had booked every day over the phone with a reservation line, some had booked all on embarkation day.

For us, as soon as we boarded and left our bags in our stateroom, we went to Deck 8 which appeared to be the main deck for restaurants and bars / lounges.

 

The Monkey Bar is situated between Angelo’s and Dragon Lady, and here is where you can make reservations. We made an early booking for Dragon Lady this first evening, and Angelo’s for the last evening. While there will be a surcharge soon introduced for these two restaurants of $10 per person (not sure when this will start), at this stage it was still complimentary.

 

For the night in the middle, we made a reservation for Salt Grill. Reservations can only be made at Salt Grill, and not at the Monkey Bar. Dinner was $49 per person cover charge, with lunch a reduced $39 cover charge (same menu for lunch and dinner). A high tea was also offered onboard at Salt Grill.

 

Chef’s Table was not offered for the 3 night cruise (our’s was a Comedy Cruise). This may be available on the short Food & Wine cruise, but not sure.

 

** DRAGON LADY

 

We really like Asian fusion dining, whether it be $10 for 10 dumplings or a good $9 Vietnamese Pho or a nice Thai Curry at a local.

 

The restaurant had great décor, with a variety of tables on offer for couples, small groups, larger groups and also some traditional sunken dining.

 

The menu was not huge, but that being said, we would always rather a small menu done well, rather than a large menu with mediocre food.

 

To start with, we were offered a plate of crisp fried kumara, beetroot and parsnip chips and a pear, orange and ginger juice shooter which we enjoyed while reading the menu.

 

We were able to select one entrée, one main and one dessert each.

 

We selected the Tempura Crusted Sushi and Sweet Corn & Prawn Fritters for entrée. The fritters were a little like a mashed pattie with prawn scattered throughout, however the sushi nice and fresh. Small plates, but that’s okay as it was an entrée and we still had two more courses.

 

For main, we had the soft shell crab and also the fish curry with steamed rice. These were both great in taste, and we enjoyed them. Portion size was small, and we finished each last bit.

 

For dessert, we ordered whisky and wasabi brûlée, and a coconut tapioca pudding. I personally was not a fan of the desserts after a few spoonfuls of each, however my partner did finish the brûlée.

 

In general, food here was okay with mains being the highlight. However portion size very small. We later did a walk by the buffet an hour later for a snack (it was closed! More on this later!)

 

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** ANGELOS

 

Angelo’s is the Italian specialty restaurant onboard, and who doesn’t like a good antipasto platter or pasta!

 

Breadsticks on arrival, while we read the menu.

 

My partner had a Tuscan bean and vegetable soup in a bread bowl which was tasty, and I had the antipasto platter. A great assortment of cured meats and accompaniments however it was drizzled in a dressing which I’ve never had before on top of cured meats, which took away from the individual flavours and really didn’t work.

 

As we had left Dragon Lady hungry, we asked for an extra main to share between us. The waiter gave the impression that was out of the norm to have three main dishes between two guests, however was happy for us to order the three. Not sure if more dishes can be asked for, but it didn’t seem that this was common to ask for extra dishes.

 

We had the Penne Pasta Puttanesca, the Sicilian roasted Sardine Salads in a Salad, and the Pan roasted gnocchi in burnt butter sage. I’m so glad we asked for the extra main dish to share, as the mains were again small (more like a starter / entrée size on other cruise lines, or even land based restaurants).

 

For dessert we had the ricotta and semolina pastry puffs, and also the pandao cheese which were both good sized and a nice way to finish the meal.

 

We also find wine by the bottle very well priced at Angelo’s. A nice bottle of Italian Red was $34.

 

Very nice décor at Angelo’s with a white scooter as you enter, and beautiful portraits throughout.

 

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** SALT GRILL

 

For $49 per person, we really wanted Salt Grill to be amazing. It’s a signature dining experience on P&O’s ships, and the menu sounded fantastic.

 

We arrived a few minutes early for our reservation, and were seated to the Salt Grill bar next door while waiting for our table to be ready. This is a beautiful lounge bar area with cocktail menus throughout.

 

We could pick from one item per person, from the left hand side of the menu which had tapas, raw bar, salad & things. For mains, we could then pick one item per person from the meat & fish section. Or alternatively one dish to share from the shared plates for our main. We were able to select two side dishes, and they said they were happy to provide extra side dishes if we wanted more during the meal, and one dessert each.

 

There were also oysters which could offer in addition to the above, for $2 per oyster.

 

To start, we were given two pieces of plain bread and two pieces of fruit bread, to dip in olive oil and balsamic oil, and dukkah. One of my favourite combinations, this was a tasty way to start the evening. The fruit bread was absolutely lovely however the white bread, after a few minutes of cooling down was rock hard (beyond a crouton hard!) and actually couldn’t bit it at all. It seemed that the white bread was not fresh, and just heated prior to serving to give it a quick boost of softness.

 

After various galley tours on previous cruises, it seems that bread is one of the easiest things to make onboard. However we found the bread in general to be poor onboard, from this bread at Salt Grill, to the standard rolls in the main dining room, to the bread for sandwiches.

 

Due to freshness, the waiter advised that natural oysters were unavailable, only the cooked oysters so we ordered the Kilpatrick oysters which were tasty with the bacon.

 

For entrée we had the kingfish sashimi and the seared scallops with blue cheese polenta and truffle oil. Both of these dishes were fantastic and full of flavour.

 

My partner had the scotch steak marble score 3 which he enjoyed, and I had the lobster with pan fried gnocchi and truffle broth (which was available for a $22 surcharge). The lobster tail was small but cooked beautifully. Lovely truffle broth but a small shame there was nothing to have with it, such as crusty bread or steamed rice. There was a lot of zucchini in the lobster dish, about half of this was zucchini, but otherwise a well flavoured dish.

Would I pay $22 for it next time? No. But I’m glad I tried it as gnocchi, lobster and truffle and some of my favourite things and I would have kicked myself if I didn’t try it.

 

For dessert, my partner a licorice fan had the signature Licorice Parfait which he really enjoyed and said was done well. I had the Floating Island which was a pavlova with fruit, and a nice dish to finish on.

 

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Salt Grill bread starter

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** THE WATERFRONT MAIN DINING ROOM

 

This dining room is very modern, light and absolutely beautiful. Not very large, so there could be a long queue for breakfast or lunch if you arrived at a peak time. We didn’t dine here for dinner however my understanding is that they have buzzers if you arrive for dinner at a peak time.

 

We dined for breakfast once here and it was a good breakfast menu, small but again if done well, is enough. We saw pastries being offered around once but our table was missed and didn’t see the waiter come back with these.

We were offered tea and coffee throughout breakfast which was fantastic, and drinkable. We weren’t offered fresh juice by a drink waiter or by the main waiter. My partner had the salmon bagel which was more of a round roll than bagel style. Salmon bagels are a highlight of cruises for us, we always have them for breakfast from the buffet on RCI and Celebrity, however didn’t see them at the buffet / The Pantry on this cruise, only here in the dining room.

I had a big breakfast of fried eggs, bacon, hash browns, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms and beans. The eggs and bacon were both fantastic and hit the spot. They are very generous with the bacon, and very well cooked.

The grilled tomatoes and mushrooms were very cold, like they had been sitting out for a while. Barely warm. And the hash browns were discolored, they were obviously at the bottom of the pile which part of the hash browns white where they had been touching other ones, and one was so full of oil to press, it was inedible.

 

I’m not one to complain about little things, and this for me was a little thing. I prefer to vote with my seat and my money, so ate what I could, and just wouldn’t go back to the Waterfront for breakfast. I ended up going by The Pantry for a second breakfast.

 

Sea day lunches in the main dining rooms are a highlight on cruises for us. We love having a lazy lunch and being waited on. Lunch here was okay, however again after the one experience, we didn’t go back and wouldn’t have gone back if on a longer cruise.

Not sure if the menu changes daily or if it is standard, however we could select from one entrée / one main / one dessert each.

We each had a soup for entrée – I had a tomato soup and my partner a Vietnamese pho, and we enjoyed both. For mains, my partner had the wagyu silverside which was nice. I had a chicken schnitzel sandwich which was very plain. A few little leaves of lettuce, one or two pieces of tomato, a small piece of chicken schnitzel no bigger than my palm, and two pieces of bread. I had a nice cheesecake for desert and my partner a cheese board. The entrees were definitely the highlight, and if I had to go back, I would have just opted for the entrée soups as a main course (which was an available option on the menu).

 

It was great to see wait staff enforcing the dress code of no singlets for men in the Waterfront restaurant at lunch.

 

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** THE PANTRY / BUFFET

 

I was really excited about trying The Pantry. I’m a TA and we have heard so much in the industry about this new style of buffet dining, and was really keen to give it a try. It is similar to a food court in that there are different stations for different cuisines, with two or three items available to pick from, and the wait staff do serve you. Hopefully this minimizes the spread of illnesses as passengers are touching less communal things in the buffet.

 

For lunch and dinner, there were 7 or 8 stations in general – fish and chips, Mexican, salads, 2x dessert stations, bakery sandwich station, curry house, meat section, noodle section.

 

There were some nice dishes we had here for afternoon snacks, such as a great broccoli soup and also an Asian coriander soup. I think on a longer cruise I would have found it quite repetitive as the cuisines are the always the same, just a slight change in protein cook etc.

 

Breakfast at the pantry had the same options on both sides of the buffet – really based around your basic eggs and bacons, cereals, and fruits. All prebooked so nothing made to order.

 

I really enjoy buffets normally on cruise ships for breakfast daily and the occasional lunch / pool side snack, as you can try a bit of everything.

 

With the concept of The Pantry, you had to line up separately for different things. So if you wanted bacon and eggs, you lined up for this first, and then had to line at a separate station for toast etc.

 

Cheese and crackers are kept hidden in the buffet however available on request at the sweet dessert station. It’s a very basic sliced cheese and saladas, nice to have by the pool, however no cheese selections to pick from.

 

Also found the buffet closed quite early in the evening! Sometimes it’s good to get a late night snack of a slice of pizza or something small, however we found the buffet closed by 9pm. Buffet also closed from 3pm – 5pm, so no opportunity for a pool side snack from the buffet.

 

Plenty of drink stations through The Pantry, as well as juices at breakfast.

 

Loved the décor of The Pantry with plenty of seating, very funky.

 

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** THE GRILL

 

Really liked The Grill for casual dining by the pool! We found the prices quite reasonable and generous portion sizes. A great alternative to The Pantry and the Waterfront for a nice lunch.

When you order they give you a buzzer so you can go back and sit by your deck chair, while your food is cooked to order.

My partner had the burger and I had the nachos, and I couldn’t finish the nachos they were so big!

They also offered buckets of fresh prawns which looked lovely.

 

The only thing that confused me a little was that The Grill advertises themselves as the place for early risers and night owls. I tried to order a bacon and egg muffin at approx 9am and was told that they didn't open until 10am. I would assume a venue that says on their sign for early risers and has breakfast menus, would be open earlier.

 

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** DINING SUMMARY

 

Good food is a big part of our lives, and we do trying out new / different foods when we travel.

 

After reading some posts on CC asking “is the food even edible on P&O”, we went onboard reminding ourselves this is a 3 star cruise line, and not to expect fine dining.

 

We knew that if we wanted RCI or Celebrity standard of food, then we needed to cruise with RCI or Celebrity and pay their cruise fares.

 

We were just looking for good and tasty food, and in general felt this was P&O’s biggest let down.

 

Normally for us when traveling, food is a highlight of our day whether it be a hot bacon & eggs breakfast in the buffet, a nice burger by the pool deck, some freshly baked bread rolls in the dining room, or a premium steak in a specialty restaurant. It doesn’t have to be fine dining, but we enjoy the variety of foods on cruises.

 

Yes the food was edible, you wouldn’t starve. However there was a lack of variety especially with the new Pantry layout.

 

While the Scallops and Licorice Parfait in Salt Grill were amazing dishes, in general the quality of food in the Specialty Restaurants are on par with what you receive complimentary in the Main Dining Rooms on RCI and Celebrity.

 

Obviously we do know that P&O is a three star cruise line as opposed to 4 star RCI and 4.5 star modern luxury Celebrity, however we just expected the food to be a bit more consistent and the standard of a general local restaurant you would visit at home.

 

Even with a lowered expectation prior to the cruise, I felt that I was still disappointed by the quality and variety.

 

I really did want to share my dining feedback not because I wanted to talk about not-so-great aspect of the cruise, but because food is such a big part of cruising, and wouldn’t want anyone to try Eden / Aria / P&O without being aware of this beforehand.

 

In general, we found that dining times felt like a chore, and the quality of food preparation equaled to airplane food. Not always the right temperate, very plain and often lacked seasonings.

 

This would be big factor for us if deciding to book a longer in duration cruise on P&O.

 

** NEW ZEALAND ICE CREAM & COFFEE

 

Well this part of the ship was always busy! Premium coffees available for purchase, a small for $3.50 which we thought was well priced and tasted good. Lots of ice cream and sorbets on offer by the cone, cup or as a sundae.

From memory, I believe the sundaes were priced at almost $10 so could add up if you’re traveling with a family and needing to buy a few!

 

New Zealand ice cream IMG_1405_zpsdy79paqh.jpg

 

** BARS ONBOARD

 

We absolutely loved the offerings of bars onboard this ship. We don’t drink a lot, but on cruises we like to take advantage of not needing to have a designated driver, and enjoy some drinks together.

 

There were two MIX bars on deck 8 – one for some unique cocktails (almost think Molecular Bar on Celebrity), and one for beers on tap and also other cocktails.

 

This second Mix Bar also had a large tv screen showing live sports, which my partner enjoyed and we did catch a few games now that NRL season has started. They tend to have the one allocated sports channel they show here which seems to stream the most popular game at the time whether it be AFL, NRL, Soccer. This channel as well as additional short channels are available in the stateroom tv also.

 

Fantastic service, large number of beers on tap and great cocktail offerings. Peanuts and chips also available for purchase.

 

There were a number of cocktail events on offer around various bars, which always looked like lots of fun.

We did find that the Mix Bar that specialized in cocktails and also Salt Bar were out of stock of some ingredients, so there were some amazing cocktails that couldn’t be made.

 

The Ocean Bar and Salt Bar also looked fantastic, as well the Blue Room which we ran out of time to experience.

The pool bars were reasonably quick with taking drink orders, which I’ve always found very slow and unorganized on Celebrity pool decks. Lots of deck chair drink service as well which was good.

 

A great thing I loved is that P&O seems to have moved away from needing slips signed when you make a drink service! The only time I needed to sign a docket was in the gift shop or when we booked the wine event.

 

Pool bar menus IMG_1864_zpszchkyc8k.jpg

 

Mix Sports Bar

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Mix Sports Bar

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Mix Sports Bar

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Salt Bar Menu IMG_1426_zpsouoktfdc.jpg

 

** WINE EVENTS

 

The Cellar door is a beautiful nook and the perfect sitting for their wine events.

 

I strongly recommend booking early if you want to participate in the wine events as they only take small groups and they do book out. We managed to get into one, the Glandore Black Label wine tasting at $18 per person for five wines.

 

The tasting only included the five wines, no cheese or crackers or water. Even water would have been nice to have in between tastings. The lady (not sure if she was a sommelier) poured the wines, gave a 30 second talk about the name of each wine before tasting and why Glandore selected that name (they all are named after family members), maybe a quick mention about a taste of the wine, and then we drank the wine. She didn’t seem to know much about the wine, or wine varieties. She was just there to pour really, so we didn’t feel that we got a wine tasting experience like we would on other cruise lines (where the wine is introduced, we’re told something about the wine variety, what we can expect to smell / taste). We enjoyed the five wines on offer.

 

Wine Tasting Event IMG_1512_zpsthflj099.jpg

 

Cellar door IMG_1822_zpsp7r8ykmg.jpg

 

Cellar door IMG_1823_zpshlw2vdue.jpg

 

** ONBOARD SHOPPING

 

As this was a domestic coastal cruise, no duty free was on offer so can’t comment on the selection. However there were some great shops especially when it came to jewellery and perfumes / cosmetics, including a Pandora sore.

 

Great souvenier store with plenty of P&O gifts and merchandise, clothing, cruise ship models and even a chocolate / lolly store with pick & mix.

 

IMG_1397_zpscbhntpk4.jpg

 

** CASINO

 

Casino had a variety of machines and tables including virtual poker. Bingo tickets started at $15 from memory of a quick glance. Much better value than Celebrity starting at three times that much.

 

IMG_1398_zpstn1uua2t.jpg

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** EDEN PUBLIC AREAS

 

We were absolutely wowed by the public areas on this ship, and really loved the décor. All the areas we saw were modern and in fantastic condition. Did not see any areas that were dated or in need of maintenance.

 

The bars and lounges all had a unique décor, and really had a wow effect.

 

Loved the pugs and French bull dog touches by the reception. Great also that there are self serve machines where you can book short excursions or also check / top up your onboard account with cash!

 

The pool decks had fantastic deck chairs, thickly padded and a great number of single and double deck chairs. A variety with swinging seats and cabana style seats, and also lots of outdoor lounges.

 

We loved that while the pool deck had recorded music or live music, it was never too loud.

 

The main pool deck had a retractable room which was great for warm and cool weather.

 

We didn’t see all areas of the ship, but what we did see, we loved.

 

Never had to wait long for an elevator and loved that each elevator opened to a different theme! They were absolutely beautiful and it was a lovely surprise each time the doors opened. One of my favourite things about this ship.

 

Overall very modern in terms of décor, and we didn’t notice the ship size as much smaller than our favourite ship Celebrity Solstice, as we tend to only use the pool deck, the restaurants, the bars.

 

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Main Pool Deck – love the modern art

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Main Pool Deck IMG_1406_zps6flg4oeg.jpg

 

Main pool deck IMG_1846_zpscw8whcbx.jpg

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