Jump to content

Non Aussie P&O review (Pacific Aria 14 day Singapore to Brisbane)


Velvetwater
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hi

 

Just thought I would post a review of our cruise from a few days ago. I won't do a long one as I am sleepy and jet lagged from flying 14 hours home. First, about us ...we are early 30s couple from the UK who love cruising and prefer to use it as a way to have great voyages and see different places. We usually do long cruises in Europe with US lines and adore the Royal,Carnival and NCL way usually.

 

Onwards...

 

Booking

To say the line is advertised nowhere outside of Oz/NZ booking was relatively painless, Found cruise by accident then booked on the website and called up for a few minutes to check it had gone through. Agents were always very helpful and if anyone is worried about calling the line then the FB page has helpful agents for free that answer quickly. The cruise control panel was a nightmare however....it errored and when I booked shore tours in cancelled them then charged me twice and alsorts. Thankfully the agents were able to help but the interface needs a serious overhaul as it cost time and money to sort it.

 

Embarkation

 

Very seamless and very quick from the get go. Even though we were sailing at 10pm we could drop our bags off at 10am and there were many porters doing this at lightening speed at the SG terminal. We were asked to fill out Indonesian Visas to save time which was fair enough but not given to Health declaration cards for the first time in 7 cruises and this will become important later on. As the smaller cruise port in Singapore is next to a shopping centre it was easy to while away the time and eat and such...very good planning there.We checked in early and were asked to show our Visa grants (thank goodness we had spare copies) then boarded at our 4.00pm time. Unfortunately, we were asked to turn in our passports which although we know happens we hated. As soon as we boarded on deck 5 we went straight to our cabin on deck 5 to see our cases there. FASTEST time ever from boarding to getting in cabin...less than a minute.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Food

 

We liked the addition of Angelos and Dragon Lady as alternative venues and found these easier to book than the waterfront even though the food was superior. and we were glad we got to dine in both venues at least twice However, we found the waterfront to be the worst MDR we have experienced on cruises. The menu was tiny with the small dessert menu have repeats and the service ranging from super quick to slow with little atmosphere. The waiters were generally great with the odd sour monkey here there but the small menu really let it down. The food quality was never really super either and often just managing a good as commonly dishes were mistakenly described or of low quality. It was a shame as the decor was really quite lovely and Lunch seemed to be better than dinner but ah well. The pantry was of normal to decent buffet quality with particular applause to the fish and chips and Stix selections and P&O wins best cruise cakes of all lines.My only gripe was being served way too much food (I firmly asked for one egg and got 2 or asked for 2 pieces of chicken and got 5) so I am not sure if waste was managed well. I did not appreciate the lack of pizza and burgers as push to make you pay for them at grill and it was odd to be on a line that did no free evening snacks. P&O Oz really did come bottom of the pile for food even though we enjoyed some dishes and generally found a lot of different things to eat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...