Back from Pacific Dawn NYE cruise..

[tassie cruiser]

Hi all, we are back from our NYE cruise :( so not good being home and back to normal life. We are missing all the good friends we made on the cruise which were c'cers that we met up with before cruise... Am missing all that yummy food and just everything.

 

For those people who asked before about taking alcohol on. We did and others in our group did too and none of us has any dramas, I tell a lie...my bacardi did taste a bit like shampoo....lol...... but the others where all fine in their water bottles and other plastic bottles..naughty, I know...

 

I will write a review later, but pretty much copy what Barnsey said in her review. We all had a great time, but there were people (as you get everywhere) whinge and moan about everything. Missing Isle Of Pines was a bit disappointing(am sure P&O didnt do on purpose) but we went to Numea instead, hired a car and took off, had a great day (kids enjoyed) as Deidre said P&O didnt have to do anything but giving all passengers $25 credit, was a bonus. I get so sick of hearing people complain about the smallest of things, they really need to realise how lucky we are just to be able to go on a cruise.

 

Will write review soon. Fiona

[Sandielle]

Do you know, on FB, someone was complaining that giving them $25 was an insult??? With some people it's all about 'me,me,me' isn't it?

 

They obviously didn't read the small print at the back of the brochure! :cool:

 

Looking forward to your review Fiona and love your great attitude. :)

[The_Big_M]

they really need to realise how lucky we are just to be able to go on a cruise.

 

Have to agree with you there - great attitude! And glad you enjoyed the cruise :-)

[Jodez]

Hi there Fiona,

 

Great review, fully agree with everything you said. When you see how those village people live, as we did, in Fiji & Vanuatu, what the hell has anyone got to complain about??? getting a $25 cr for missing Isle of Pines would be like winning bingo for them!!! Everyone needs to wake up to themselves.

As said before, a cruise is what you make of it. Even if we have broken Tshirts and blowing bubbles!!! We all had a great time. Tell Joe....... I still feel dirty:D

Jodie;)

[tassie cruiser]

We arrived at Brisbane wharf about 12.30 - 1.00. We wanted to get there earlier as others did but those damm shops in Brisbane kept calling us and we just had to shop for a while. Anyway we got there in the rain and had quite a line up (in the rain) was ok and we were on within about 40-50mins. We had been on Pacific Dawn before so kind of knew what and where to go. The usual unpacking and safety drill (except someone who I wont mention), decided to have a nanna nap while drill was on. lol...Yes, Niecy, we all knew. Sailaway party was great, not as good as going under the Sydney harbour bridge but still great. As you already know we had problem with pipes or something so after the two sea days (which was very windy)went to Numea (unplanned) Arrived there about 5ish I think (sorry, it seems sooooo long ago now :()so excuse me if I have times and order of ports around the wrong way. Some people stayed on ship, some wandered to the casino supermarket. We were meant to leave about 11pm. A few of us stayed up till about 2ish but we hadnt moved anywhere so called it a night. Woke up in morning and still in Numea. P&O provided free buses to lemon bay beach, some did this, some stayed on boat, we hired a car and went out of Numea to beaches etc.. it really was very pretty out of the city.Well, the whinging and moaning started as we didnt leave Numea till late that night.

As we stayed in Numea we had to miss Isle Of Pines, (major moaning and groaning now) so we headed straight to Mystery Island. Was a beautiful day and all enjoyed the snorkelling, markets, massages etc...

Other Ports we went to was Vila, Port Denarau and Suva.

In Vila a group of us (all cc'ers) hired buggys (privately - thru email during the year) there was 13 of us, we went 52km's all up, on roads, bush tracks, beaches, thru villages, resort for lunch with bbq supplied, swam, fed fish with bread, about 4 hours all up, had great time, got sooooooo dirty (didnt we Jodie) I had trouble driving on wrong side of road and sitting on wrong side ) nearly had a few minor accidents but didnt, scared the kids from the village with my driving..One of the men with us..we will call him Dicky....broke the stearing on his buggy and ended up off the road in bushes, he had to ride a quad bike while buggy repaired. Was great day and after that some of us just wandered around to do duty free shopping while others went off to cascade falls.

In Suva we had hired 2 mini buses (cc'ers again ) and a few ring ins... they took us to tourist places then went to a village that doesnt normally get visitors, they were so excited we were there, we took tennis balls, chocolates etc... and gave out.Then they took us to a resort for lunch, we wanted to go back to village so we went to supermarket and bought lolipops, biscuits etc.. and went back, They were so happy to see us, so we stayed there and played cricket with them and some of us met the chief and went into one of their houses.Was great and when we went to leave (I will never forget) this little boy cried and cried as he didnt want us to go. A few of us had to put our sunglasses on..

Port Denarua, we went to South Sea Island. This was a P&O shore tour. Was such a good day. The kids went scuba diving and we had massages eyc.. bbq lunch and as much beer, wine, soft drink was provided for the day. My sister and friend went on helicopter rides. They enjoyed this.

So our Port days were fantastic as they always are.

On the ship, we went to most of the shows in the showlounge, they were soooo good, everything from Motown to dancing to magic. They were all fantastic...... The comedy shows in the dome, were so funny, there were 2 and both adults only but were great.

The food as usual was great. We went to the dining room (only once) the steakhouse (once) the Italian (once) and the buffet the rest of the time.

There was one night where at 12.00 there would be no water on the whole ship, we were given plenty of notice, so no toilets working, no showers etc..... It was off from 12 midnight till 5.30am. (the moaners came out again in full force) we just made sure we went to bed early that night (before midnight)

Didnt have any problems in the laundry, that was all good.

One of my daughters is 14 and she just loved the kids club, very rarely saw her. The youth security would tell them at 1am when club closed to go straight to their rooms, occassionally they didnt but usually the youth security would see them and scare the life out of them so they would go to rooms. If they were just getting a pizza or something that was ok, they just didnt like them running around ship. which is fair enough. Other daughter is 17 and she had great time, didnt go to the teen club but had a lot of friends, mostly cc'ers....The teen club is split into 2. HQ and HQ+, they even got separate daily newsletter things...

Drink prices were good. Cigarette prices have gone up heaps.

Sorry, if I have bored everyone... but we had a great time and cant fault anything, sure we had few small things, like the water being off once, the unexpected visit to Numea and the adults pool was empty for over half the cruise. I wouldnt call any of the above major problems. We met some great people which I am sure will be lifelong friends. I am sad to be home, I miss the cruise life and everything that goes with it, we are looking around for another cruise....yay...cant wait...I probably forgot heaps of things, if I think of anything important I will add it later. Fiona

[barnsey1802]

Hi Fiona,

 

If your looking for another cruise to go on, there is one in Dec going to NZ. Great people going on this one.;);)

 

Deidre.:cool:

[staceymrow]

Fiona,

Your not boring us at all!

We love reading reviews!!!! :)

Thanks for the great read, Im glad you enjoyed the cruise,

[wildweston]

Thanks Fiona I really enjoyed you review :)

[Sandielle]

So did I Fiona. You tell it like it really is - very interesting, thanks. :)

[tassie cruiser]

Forgot to say that we really liked Zoltina J. I wasnt sure what to think as I had read quite a few things on here and from what I could work out not that many people liked her. I thought she was a georgeous lady, always friendly and happy, if she saw us out and about she would always speak. So there you go, just my opinion but I thought she was great. My sister who also went with us won bingo on the first day which was $970-00 so that was a good start to the cruise.We thought it was funny as last time we were on Pacific Dawn, I won bingo on the first day, a bit over a thousand. The last day was over $14,000.00 that would have been sooooo good. Oh well, next time. Fiona:p

[tassie cruiser]

Hi Fiona,

 

If your looking for another cruise to go on, there is one in Dec going to NZ. Great people going on this one.;);)

 

Deidre.:cool:

 

I heard that, that cruise was the grey brigade cruise or hang on...was it... the floating retirement home....lol...

[lolabunny77]

If under the age of 35 steer clear of any Christmas Cruises Out of Brisbane.For all the wonderful young people I met on board and had a great time with There were old people everywhere else that spoilt it for me when I did mine at the end of 2008.

[tassie cruiser]

If under the age of 35 steer clear of any Christmas Cruises Out of Brisbane.For all the wonderful young people I met on board and had a great time with There were old people everywhere else that spoilt it for me when I did mine at the end of 2008.

 

Haha, thats funny...... We arent real young, but not old either.... Have booked Royal Caribbean, Rhapsody of the seas NYE out of Syney, havent paid deposit yet, hopefully not too many grey brigade on that:p

[chardygirl]

Hi

 

Thanks for all the positive posts about the Dawn - less than 3 weeks to go now so v excited.

Most important question - i heard that the drinks had gone up heaps - can anyone tell me how much wine is a glass/bottle and how much tooheys new is - if $7.00 like someone said need to do heaps of overtime next fortnight.:mad:

 

ps can anyone direct me to fb site cos i cant seem to find it ?

 

Thanks

 

Jann

[chardygirl]

forgot to add how much are cigarettes - someone said they had gone up heaps ????

 

I pay $10.00 here so should i take my own and if i find them cheaper i can smoke them on board and bring mine home

 

Jann

[tassie cruiser]

forgot to add how much are cigarettes - someone said they had gone up heaps ????

 

I pay $10.00 here so should i take my own and if i find them cheaper i can smoke them on board and bring mine home

 

Jann

 

Hi there chardygirl.

 

Husb mainly drank VB (cans) they were $5-25.... Last time we went on Pacific Dawn which was 08 the cigarettes were $5.00 then I heard they went up to $8-00. This time they were $11-00 (packets 25 and 30) like Benson & Hedges, Winfield, Longbeach etc....You can buy at any of the bars and smoke whenever, so no need to take your own unless you have something different. Drinks worked out cheaper if you got the spirits on the rocks then bought a can of coke or whatever to go with it. We discovered and loved...Galliano and solo.... Would but Galliano on the rocks and ask for can solo. 1 can would do 2 drinks.. yummmmm.... We also took on Bacardi and Vodka (naughty I know) and took a heap of soft drink cans on as well and stocked up the fridge and our room steward would fill up our ice bucket all the time. Wine by the glass was $7-50......

How excited you must be, lucky thing...enjoy..am sure you will... We just booked another cruise on Rhapsody Of The Seas NYE cruise. Now I cant remember how to do my countdown clock, will have to try again. Any other queries, fire away............... Fiona

[tassie cruiser]

forgot to add how much are cigarettes - someone said they had gone up heaps ????

 

I pay $10.00 here so should i take my own and if i find them cheaper i can smoke them on board and bring mine home

 

Jann

 

Forgot to say, re the cigarettes, they sell them duty free on the ship..... If you are going to Vila, cheaper there. I have Longbeach and they didnt have in Villa but had Winfield etc... They were $22 per carton. I bought cartons of Longbeach on ship - $27-00 carton 30/240. You can smoke these onboard....

[Kinkacruiser]

Thanks Fiona for sharing your cruise. It would have been great with all those ports you visited. You'll just have to book another to go to the Isle of Pines.

Cheers,

Anna