Review Pacific Sun - Indonesian Adventure N005Q - Feb 12-24, 2010

I'm finally back on the computer so thought I'd write a review. We enjoyed the fact the we had P&O transfers from Perth airport to Fremantle port, as for the first time ever we didn't have to queue to drop off our baggage.

Embarkation was quick & trouble free. Our cabin M92 was spacious & comfortable. Bizarrely there's a pole in the bathroom right in front of the toilet which made access interesting for Allan in his wheelchair. We had previously been in E117 which had a pole outside the bathroom but this was something new again LOL. Our room stewards were Nestor & Abdul who were friendly & efficient but not outstanding in comparison to previous stewards. Our bed was never turned down of an evening & we never got a towel animal. Nestor did sing a Tom Jones number in the Crew show! We thought that the room stewards seemed to have oversight of more cabins than on previous cruises, & we also thought that waiters in the Dining Rooms had to oversee more tables. Has P&O reduced crew numbers in these areas as cost cutting measures? It seemed so to us. These crew were always flat out & service was not always provided as quickly as in the past. This is not a gripe - just an observation as we felt some of these crew were expected to do more than they could reasonably mange in the time available.

We thought the food was of its usual high standard & there was good variety. We always had breakfast in the Dining Room & lunch in the buffet because we thought the DR choices for lunch would be too heavy. The buffet was always chaotic & hot & it was very difficult to find a seat. Also they kept swapping the salad & dessert bars which made it confusing from one day to the next. Finally 2/3 of the way through the cruise we checked out the menu in the DR again & then wondered why we'd put up with the buffet for as long as we did. We eventually got anytime dining sorted out after we realised that the managers & waiters were actually touting for business by trying to get us to go back to their DR & table each night. If they don't develop a relationship with pax, it must affect the amount of tips they get. I'm sure they don't enjoy having to do so. We ended up in Burgundy on Seraphine's table for 12 out of the 14 nights, with the same fellow diners. We decided we preferred the old fixed dining method.

The entertainment was varied. We loved comedian Ivor Richards & enjoyed the interview & Liar Liar show with Steady Eddie. Jackie Love was pretty ordinary as was the other comedian, Mike Harris & also Roland Storm. We only went to one production show, Outback Cowboy, which we hadn't seen before & which was excellent. We had seen all the others previously. We loved David Pepper the CD & especially enjoyed the 2 Sherlock Holmes Musical Murder Quizzes, as well as his morning show which was succinct but informative. WE LOVE DJ DAVE....it was our 4th cruise with him. He now has quite high tech music quizzes using data projector & video clips which are heaps of fun. We love the trivia quizzes & brought home a swag of P&O prizes.

The tropical heat was fierce so we stayed mostly in the a/c although lots of others enjoyed the pools & decks. The ports of call are not our main focus due to Allan not being able to tender but we enjoyed tours in Bali & Broome & I wandered around in Geraldton. We bought some formal portraits for the first time which we were happy with, but in general the candid photos are extremely overpriced & we are always annoyed to see that so many remain unpurchased then thrown out when they could sell them at a fraction of the price & people would buy them.

To our great relief we are happy to report lovely calm seas in the midst of cyclone season. In fact in Indonesian waters the sea was like a millpond & we only felt some movement on the last couple of days cruising once we were south of steep point.

There were the usual whingers & complainers. There was laundry rage I heard but I managed to escape it. Stephen the new Sports Coordinator for the CDs Staff had some trouble with quiz rage at the Sports Quizzes which were held in the Legends Bar every day at 5.15pm. By then some people were already pretty well oiled & got very loud & aggressive, especially with the football questions. DJ Dave had some quiz rage too but he's very experienced & handled it well. Honestly, some people get so riled up over personal opinions & plastic prizes!! i did notice that the singers & dancers weren't hosting quizzes unlike on previous cruises & some of the cruise staff told us that the quiz rage was too much for tham to manage. The quizzes were so popular on this cruise that there were some venue problems with the numbers being too great for Legends & Smugglers & a group had a permanent booking in Terraces every evening. David Pepper did the best he could to sort it out.

One lady said Allan was the first person she'd heard say it was a good cruise..??? But we found the opposite & met some lovely people & thoroughly enjoyed our whole time on the Sun. Our fellow roll call couple, Mel & Mike & their delightful children, found us & we had a lovely coffee with them.

We were late back into Fremantle on turnaround day, but we don't know why. We were an hour or so late leaving Geraldton & we wondered whether we might have been stuck on a sand bar or something.The ship listed quite strongly to Port at one stage & was on a lean for 10 minutes or more. Then we observed a lot of stuff being stirred up from the bottom, & after weighing anchor we still remained immobile for 30-45 min before finally heading through the channel out to sea. No announcements were made but it was slightly disconcerting to see the slope on the floor & the windows suddenly below eye level.

Disembarkation & transfers were smooth & uneventful.

Please feel free to ask questions as I'm sure I've missed something out.:)

Thanks Anne and Allen for your enjoyable read of cruise insights. I'm pleased you enjoyed yourselves and I also would have paniced a bit at the listing in Geraldton.

Cheers,

Anna

Great review! Nicely written and an enjoyable read. Its amazing how serious people take these trivia games, i dont know how it works on P&O but the prizes on Princess are tokens you can cash in at the end of the cruise for things like Passport jackets, decks of cards and caps (no Holidays or new cars on offer:p). The assistance CD on the Dawn Princess told a story how on one of the other Princess ships, 2 teams got so worked up they actually threw furniture!!!! Anyway thanks again for a great read!:)

I to was on this cruise and had the time of my life, was my first cruise so had nothing to compare it to but I enjoyed every minute of it. The food was way better than I thought it would be, so was the service. Only gripe for me was the constant searching for somewhere to sit at the buffet.

Harleez, next time just skip the buffet altogether! We learned that the hard way with lunch! The dining room is so much more civilised, & yes, the buffet is certainly chaotic....& also VERY hot on that particular itinerary. Actually the lunch desserts in the Bordeaux were a bit posher than the slices in the buffet - they had a tirimasu to die for & a really yummy blueberry bread & butter pudding. The breakfast specials in the dining room were very popular too, esp Eggs Benedict on Tuesdays.

Hi Anne and Allan, thank you for great review....the only thing that I don't like is the same old ...same old guest entertainers...whether it be on Princess (Dawn and Sun) or P&O. they keep the same shows each cruise...I think I know Ivor's word for word.

I knew you would do well with Trivia...lol..

like you, I go to the restaurant for meals, not that I dislike the buffet, but it is hard to manouvre around with WS, then finding a table. if I am with friends it is O.K.

when I get home, I will let you know what I think of ship since her refit.

hope we do another cruise together, kind regards, Lorraine:):)

:) Thanks for your review, I really enjoyed it

Hi Allan & Anne. Firstly let me say it was an absolute joy to catch up with you both on the cruise. We were very appreciative of all your comments and advice posted on CC and it was great to meet you both.

Our review of the cruise comes from a different perspective being a "family" holiday and in that regard we can not speak highly enough of the experience. Our children (12 & 9) found their respective kids clubs to be the highlight of the cruise. The clubs were well run with a range of supervised, age appropriate activities, enjoyed so much that even on our shore days they couldn't wait to return to the ship to catch up with all their friends.

The food offered in the buffet restaurant was varied and catered for all our tastes, so we enjoyed breakfast and lunch from the buffet and enjoyed dressing up and dining in the "formal" restaurants in the evenings. Plenty of healthy options available at all meals. We do not mind the heat and enjoyed eating breakfast & lunch by the poolside.

We were thankful for the insight into the tender ports before the cruise as this prepared us for the somewhat frustrating process of making our way to shore. Patience was required! However overall the tender process worked as well as could be expected.

We didn't participate in too many arranged activities although what we did, we enjoyed. We also thought David (cruise director) did a great job.

Would we recommend Pacific Sun - YES! Would we go again - YES!

Thanks again to all those on CC for sharing in our excitement leading up to the cruise and for all the helpful advice.

Oh - we do have one critisism - the beer wasn't cold! But if that is our biggest gripe over the 12 days... then we think we did alright:D!

Mel (& Mike)

Hi Mel & Mike

Great to hear from you. I'd agree that the buffet would be the best option for families as you can see all the choices in front of you & take what you like. The lunch specials in the buffet were quite good, too eg the garlic prawns, stir-fry station, hot desserts & special Indonesian dishes like Nasi Goreng cooked to order. My comments were an observation rather than a criticism & there certainly is a place for both types of dining to suit all types.

How is Will going? Has he been in touch with Beau since getting off the cruise? It was lovely to meet you & really glad you enjoyed the cruise.

Hi Mel & Mike

Great to hear from you. I'd agree that the buffet would be the best option for families as you can see all the choices in front of you & take what you like. The lunch specials in the buffet were quite good, too eg the garlic prawns, stir-fry station, hot desserts & special Indonesian dishes like Nasi Goreng cooked to order. My comments were an observation rather than a criticism & there certainly is a place for both types of dining to suit all types.

How is Will going? Has he been in touch with Beau since getting off the cruise? It was lovely to meet you & really glad you enjoyed the cruise.

Welcome back Anne & Allan. We loved reading your review! We also wondered what was going on when we were leaving Geraldton - didn't think of a sand bar - but could well have been that! Yes, Will has emailed Beau & Hannah has been in touch with a few girls from her club. Will was very pleased he got a mention in your review! I don't know how we are ever going to match, never mind beat that holiday - I think we have spoilt them! So, now we are all looking for another cruise special - let us know if you see anything you think we would like! :)