Review - Pacific Sun N025 14-22 August 2010

[croydonCruiser]

We sailed on the Pacific Sun on an 8 night cruise to Emerald Bay, Isle of Pines and Noumea with a group of 14 family members to celebrate Mum’s 70th birthday. We all had a fantastic time, and some of the first time cruisers have now become addicts! :D

 

I’m going to try and keep this brief. Rather than give a day by day account, I’ll just give a list of observations. We sailed on the Pacific Dawn two years ago, so it was interesting to compare the two ships. Obviously it is a smaller ship, and it did feel very crowded at times. The stair wells were very narrow, and the lifts small and hot. My husband had to use the lifts due to his ankle injury, and he was often waiting for quite some time before he could get in one. We did manage to find some quiet areas though, mainly in the bars during the day before they opened. The Oz bar was good. We were able to play cards there while the kids played table tennis. Some of the other public areas and bars were also good, when not too crowded! I actually preferred the cabin layout of the PS to the PD. The cabins are a bit smaller, but overall are wider. There was more room between the bunks, and I liked that the bunks are offset. It just felt less claustrophobic.

 

Having three coeliacs in our group meant that we had to eat in the main restaurant. We chose the Bordeaux as we could book each night. That was fine, as after we slept in the first morning, and had breakfast in the buffet, we vowed “never again”. The buffet was very crowded, there wasn’t enough seating, and the location was not good. Often I’d “forget” it was there, and try to walk through from the Outback pool to the Lido pool area, and have to battle my way through the crowds. It was worse after the norovirus outbreak, as they were on “code red” and everything became even slower.

 

The food in the restaurant was generally good, but we had some problems with the variety. My DH, kids and myself are vegetarian, and at times the choice was limited. A number of times there was no vegie main on the daily specials menu, so I had to have the eggplant risotto from the everyday menu about 4 times! It was OK, but once was enough. The three coeliacs were well catered for though, and were very happy with the choice and variety.

 

The staff generally were great as usual. We had 5 kids aged between 7 and 11. They ate at 5.45 each night (with us adults taking in turns to supervise). Their table waiters Ryan and Louie were fantastic! The adults ate at 8.15, and our waiters Roger and Sandee were also great. They had the gluten free toast ready on the table when we arrived! After the third night of booking the same time/table, we were asked if we wanted to make it permanent for the remained of the cruise, which we did.

 

My 11 year old nephew was allowed to register in Shark Shack, which was great. The kids didn’t really spend as much time there as I thought they would. It was smaller than the one on Pac Dawn, and didn’t seem to be as well run. There were some activities which they all enjoyed though. The older kids could sign themselves in and out, but my 7 year old nephew couldn’t, which did cause a few problems, mainly with him being left behind when the others signed out.

 

The weather was generally excellent. The first day was a bit rough, with 5m swells and 45km/hr winds. I didn’t find it too bad, and was a bit surprised to see so many white and ill looking people. There were also many areas cordoned off during the day, for “sanitisation”, and crew members in white suits wearing masks cleaning up. We were a bit suspicious then, but as the weather cleared the next day, and as there were no signs of illness, we thought all was well. It wasn’t until after we’d sailed from Emerald Bay that the captain made the announcement that they suspected noro was onboard, and that we were now in “code red”. Each day from then until the last sea day we were informed that new cases of gastro had presented to the medical centre, but luckily no one in our group came down with it. We were all careful to wash our hands frequently, not touch the hand rails or use the public toilets, and made sure the kids did the same. One of my sisters was so paranoid that she even ate her toast using a knife and fork! Another sister's cabin steward told her that there were only 30 cases, so either the doctor was over cautious or the measures the crew took were very effective. Apparently this was the doctor’s first cruise, so I guess he wasn’t taking any chances. Either way, it would have been a miserable experience for the 30 ill people, but thankfully it was limited to only 30.

 

We were lucky to be visited by the upgrade fairy! We booked category E on Upper deck, and were all upgraded to category DD on Empress. This was great, except that we originally had cabins near each other, but were now spread out across the deck. I contacted my TA and was told that nothing could be done. She claimed that she had linked the bookings, but P&O didn’t keep them together when upgrading. That wasn’t my understanding, but it was too late to do anything about it. We were happy with the upgrade though, as Empress deck is more convenient.

 

A rumour from one of the crew, is that P&O are looking to get yet another ship next year, and sell off the Pacific Sun. I’ve no idea how accurate this is, but throw it out for what it’s worth. I can easily believe the bit about selling PS, but have my doubts about getting another ship.

 

We went to most of the shows. There were only 2 production shows by the ship entertainers. Apparently the male lead singer’s mother fell ill, and he had to rush home. They had to get a new singer at short notice, so it would have taken him some time to learn the routines. I think the first show was on day 5. The guest entertainers were a bit mixed. We had Ugly Dave Gray (still the same old jokes), Larry Steele (a tribute to Elton John which I enjoyed), Ash Puriri (Ricky May’s cousin – singing was great but the constant Ricky May comments and tributes got a bit annoying) and Syd Heylen Jnr (didn’t see).

 

We had a very interesting experience with the auto tipping! DH and I prefer to leave the tipping on, and also tip a bit extra to those who give great service. On day three I went to the purser’s desk for a print out of the cabin account, mainly to check that the OBC was there. It was, but there were no auto tipping deductions. So I went back to the desk, explained that I hadn’t taken the tips off, and wanted them put back. I bet they don’t get that very often! :eek: The purser checked his computer, and told me that our cabin wasn’t on the list of cabins that had removed tips, so he didn’t know why they weren’t there. Anyway, they don’t have a form for this, so he gave me the form to remove tips, with all the reasons crossed off, and hand wrote on it that the tips should be put back. I signed, and assumed it would be fixed. A few days later I got another print out. Still no tips! So I explained again that I wanted them put back. Different purser this time, but he made a note and told me it would be fixed. Needless to say, on the morning we disembarked I checked the account that was put under the door during the night, and they still weren’t there. After breakfast and just before we had to leave I went back to the pursers desk. There was a long queue, and we had to disembark, so I gave up! I don’t know what the problem was, but I don’t think there was much more I could have done.

That’s about all I can think of at the moment. This wasn't so brief after all! We all had a wonderful time, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to sail on the Pacific Sun. I can see why she is a favourite with many people. Would we sail on her again? Probably not, although there are some very cheap deals around at the moment, which are pretty tempting! I’d like to try one of the others next time, perhaps one of the Royal Caribbean ships. Pacific Pearl looks good. I don’t know about Pacific Jewel. A bit too similar to the Dawn, but without the dome. I'll just have to wait and see what comes up next! :D

[dougo in oz]

Hi Croydoncruiser

 

I'm glad that you had a good time on board the old girl - I have to say that we've cruised on her 3 times and also on much newer, larger ships, but there is something about her that makes her endearing...

[Vader1111]

I was on the same cruise. Like you, I had a great time.

 

Sid Heylen was OK, but nothing to write home about. His comedy wasn't as funny as Ugly Dave Gray, Steddy Eddy or Mick Meredith, though he did have his moments. His juggling wasn't as good as Kyle (one half of the circus troupe) and the jury is still out whether April is also better (having only learned to juggle 4 months previous). Mostly harmless.

 

Thought the replacement male lead singer left a lot to be desired. Far too many bum notes - 3 inside the first bar of "Moon River" was enough for me. I can accept that he didn't know the shows terribly well, being a last minute replacement, but his inability to hold a note was inexplicable. To be honest, I can't understand how P&O gave him the job in the first place. Their lead singers are normally much, much, much better than that.

 

Loved Divine Island though - my first visit there and it won't be my last.

 

Couldn't believe the lengths the crew went to once "code red" had been declared. They even went so far as to disinfect the pencils used in the trivia contests - they didn't disinfect the pens used to sign for all our drinks though. Go figure!

 

Fairly sure the "new ship" people were discussing is the Pacific Pearl, which is already in Australian/New Zealand waters.

[Forever dreaming]

Hi Croydon cruiser,

 

I loved reading your review. Thanks for making the effort. I'm doing the same itinerery on the Pac Sun in October so I was especially interested in your thoughts. Congrats on being blessed by the upgrade fairy.:D

What did you do in Emerald Bay, Noumea and Isle of pines?

also who is the cruise director at the moment?

 

Cheers,

Fiona

:)

[Vader1111]

Cruise director is Sandy Cadwallader.

 

Not a lot to do on Divine Island/Emerald Bay/Poum, except walk along the beach and go snorkelling on the coral reefs. Absolutely nothing wrong with that - doing nothing is exactly why you go on holiday!

 

The locals on Isle of Pines now offer bus tours to Vao and other parts of the island, which I hadn't seen before. Prices started at around $20 per person, for a 1-2 hour tour. Unfortunately we didn't get to do one of those, just spent the day snorkelling around Kanumera Rock.

 

PS. Weird having one stop go by so many names. Technically the passengers are tendered to Divine Island, which is located in Emerald Bay, off the coast of Poum. Go figure!