Pacific Jewel - Food & Wine Cruise - 22/25 July 2011

[Debsta]

PACIFIC JEWEL FOOD & WHINE CRUISE

J122 – 3 NIGHTS – 22/25 JULY 2011

Captain: Lorenzo Paoletti

Deputy Captain: Alan Nixon

Hotel Director: Roland Ringwald

Cruise Director: Sandy Cadwallader

Assistant Cruise Director: Bobbi

Dress code:

Night one – Smart casual (aka what you boarded in – no luggage to change!)

Night two – Cocktail/Formal

Night three – Cocktail/Formal (for the last night seriously???? – this was probably due to the lack of photo opportunity sales for the paparazzi on our night two vomit day LOL)

THURSDAY 21 JULY 2011

And the journey begins with the phone calls, texts and emails advising the ship’s arrival will be delayed until about 12 noon on Friday with a delayed embarkation. 8+ metre swells on the way in, weeeeeeeeeeeee. My son’s girlfriends sister is on this cruise (her first cruise) and there has been no word from her during the cruise. No news is good news LOL Alas on her arrival home her words were “never cruise again” (apparently they got food poisoning from the lobsters on one of the islands....plus other things happened – not sure what they were – and the awful seas on the way back)

So starts the disappointment as my boarding time is 6.00 pm. Onto the www watching the seatracker and cruise cam hoping she gets in earlier. After all it’s only a 3 day cruise and I don’t want to miss a minute of it! But it’s also no secret this is to boost cruise credits to get to Elite on Princess LOL Phone calls with Barnsey and her sister with discussions around medications for her sister who hasn’t cruised before......pump her up with pills now!

FRIDAY 22 JULY 2011

I decided I’d sleep in this morning due to the ships delay. Best decision I made. Phone calls from members at the dock continued to confirm my sleep in was the best decision I made LOL It was absolutely miserable weather, and very very cold and no ship in sight. I believe she docked around 1 pm. I don’t get seasick but decided to pop some ginger just in case. Another call from the dock advised me that people were still disembarking at 3 pm but I rang a cab anyway. Yup taxi changeover time. 45 minutes later he turns up and with Alonzo Webber at the wheel, we made it into the city in lightning speed. What a shemozzle. People everywhere which I expected anyway. Decided to drop my luggage at the bag drop as I had no idea how long I’d be in the tent for. Clutching the health card in my hand (ahhhhhhchoooooo) I read the questions and can honestly say I do not feel guilty. The question is do you have a fever PLUS snotty nose, etc. As I have not had a fever and only a snotty nose I could answer the question honestly LOL I discussed my snotty nose with the check-in chick and she wasn’t concerned.

Check-in queue went very fast and the lovely lady checking me in seemed very familiar. We chatted away and then the penny dropped. We had worked together some 30 years ago at World Travel Headquarters (yes, I was a travel agent in a former life).............AMAZING! So more chit chatting, exchanged emails and will catch up on my return. Actually the check-in queue went very fast, and my former workmate gave me an immediate boarding pass hehehe. Barnsey and her sister were already on the ship and had already made our dinner and Salt Grill reservations. Phone calls with another member and the knowledge we would meet up sometime. People were pushing and shoving and incredibly rude and the atrium floweth over. Straight over to the pursers desk to get my card punched then up to my cabin, 9184 ocean view which was a present from the upgrade fairy.

I have been on the Jewel before so knew where everything was. So P&O comparisons (I’m leaving out RCL and Princess). My first impression was WOW far better than the Dawn last week LOL but the Pearl still holds a special charm, and heaps better seating on the pool deck!

With the weather as it was I knew there would be no deck sailaway but was chatting away with the ‘smokers’ and previous cruisers. We were laying bets as to whether we would spend the weekend at Wharf 5 haha. My timeline is a bit wobbly here....but the Captain did make an announcement that we wouldn’t sail until 6 am the next morning due to the heavy swell, so the discussion switched to how much OBC they would offer LOL There were many disappointed people at this stage.....until we did sail and then they complained that we actually sailed LOL. Me? I didn’t care, just happy to not be at home! There was a major ruckus at the pursers desk as people wanted to be allowed off to go to StarCity casino (I promise it wasn’t me LOL) as the casino on board was not going to open. The scene they made was disgusting!

As we had made our booking for dinner into the Waterfront Restaurant we wandered in and made a booking for next night also. Dinner was good and hot and service fast. Can’t remember what we had but no complaints. Then into the Do You Wanna Dance show, out to the Atrium for the Pacific Cirque Show then back into the Marquee for Mike Bennett comedy show. He was great! So with no casino to donate to, we ventured up to the Attic. For those that have been on the PJ they will understand this term “Attic”. Should be named the broom closet LOL As we were all tired, we called it a night and made plans to meet for breakfast at the Waterfront the next morning at 8.30 am after sailaway and before 9.30 am muster. There were letters distributed to cabins with the change of sailaway details. I didn’t get to sleep until 2 am as I watched some tele and missed the motion of the ocean to rock me to sleep. No towel animal.

SATURDAY 23 JULY 2011

Let the fun begin! So I wasn’t going to get up for 6 am sailaway but the body clock had other plans and with 4 and a bit hours sleep under my belt I looked out my window and surprise surprise the tent is before my eyes and not a wobble to be felt LOL. Decide to get up anyway, have a shower and head up to the deck. So last night’s folks are all there still discussing if we’ll leave and how much OBC we’ll get hahahaha We spot some white shirts and ask them and they advise the Captain will be making an announcement at 8 am and kinda intimated we wouldn’t be going anywhere. So we went down to the Waterfront for dining breakfast at 8.55 am only to be met by a surly chick who said breakfast was closed. The Captain announced we would be sailing so up to the very cold, windy and very wet top deck for sailaway. One word...............miserable! But I braved it. Took some video and photos then retreated in for a little bit of buffet breakfast (actually I think we ate breakfast before sailaway.....can’t remember....see told ya my timeline is outta whack LOL) as we were eating in the Salt Grill at 11.30 am. Half way up the harbour the rock began and we were eating. My thoughts were thank God we didn’t leave last night!....not for my benefit, I don’t get seasick, but for all the newbies on this ship and even some people who had cruised before.....the colour green was going to become a dominant feature. Barnsey’s sister started to feel ‘off’ and we weren’t even out of the harbour! Looking around there were other ‘off’ looking people. Then they called muster and the worst mistake the ship could make..............muster as we hit open water! I was in the Casbah, so midship but the green colour of people’s faces was becoming very evident. Many got up and left.....some very quickly! Word from the Marquee was the chunder chain reaction had already started. ‘nuf of that....you get the picture.

After muster you couldn’t go anywhere on the ship without that smell. The cleanup crew were working triple time. The lifts were on my personal off limit list as you didn’t know which one had a deposit made in it. The casino opened and the chunder moved there LOL Seriously???? I was amazed.....it was bumpy, with a pitch and about 4-5 metres and having been in larger seas on the Rhapsody in the cyclone in January this paled into comparison. I guess it is probably because everyone was confined indoors due to the weather. Luckily I smoke (see, smoking is good for you) and spent a lot of time out in the freezing cold, wet, windy smoking area with other healthy people hahahahaha.

With Barnsey’s sister now horizontal in her cabin, Barnsey and I went to our Salt Grill lunch. We were told it was booked out by others we had met and they were on a waitlist...........what a lot of crap! There was at least 8 empty tables for the duration of our lunch. Even if people had of bailed due to being seasick the restaurant should have made a shipboard announcement or an attempt to let people on the waitlist know there were tables now available.

Now what to do. I wasn’t going to pay for any of the drinking events, as I don’t drink LOL Missed coffee appreciation at 9.00 am, culinary demonstration at 10.00 am and cheese tasting at 2 pm (the only freebies) it’s too cold and wet outside to sit out there for any length of time and with the choice of quilling, art auction, tanzanite seminar hmmmmmm riveting or musical murder mystery trivia which I suck at and it was held in the bumpy Marquee that stunk of vomit........OK twist my arm, into the casino LOL. WOW, pokies are paying straight off! Simply amazing! Must be the way they are giving back OBC hahahahahahaha Onto the blackjack.....come in spinner! WOW ahead already......love this casino hehe

Next stop Bingo, hold nose for B I N G O with Bobbie in the Marquee. I like bingo with Bobbi as she moves fast! No wins for us today but just that one number you need, you know the feeling, sitting there as each number comes out and then BINGO, someone else calls it, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. The prizes for the individual games were very generous compared to all other cruises I have been on. No jackpot today. During Bingo you could notice the motion of the ocean cease and had we arrived at Jervis Bay and there were two little speed bumps as the anchors took hold LOL

I really don’t know what I did today. Not a lot, seemed to be wandering around and chatting with the day’s survivors. Yes that’s what it’s called Survivor Pacific Jewel LOL Lots of unhappy people around, now they’re unhappy due to the motion of the ocean, so I listen, offer some encouraging advice about other cruises and why this is so different, and move on..... Still the funnest place is chatting in the cold, wind and rain up on Deck 12 with the smokers and the fresh air is a pleasure to breath or in the casino – winners are grinners!

We had rung to make our booking for the degutsation dinner the following night (yes I did spell that right) and the only booking time was 5.30 pm or 8.30 pm. *****? As we are late diners it was 8.30 pm but we knew we would be pushing it to get to the show.

Dinner tonight at the Waterfront tonight was sloooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww and mediocre (lukewarm). We missed the start of the James Galea Magician show but he was excellent! Off to the casino to win some more money then a whirl through the Attic LOL

No motion of the ocean, No towel animal but got a chocolate.

SUNDAY 24 JULY 2011

Breakfast in the Waterfront this morning which was hot and very good with great service. It was still wet and very cold and the oooooohhhhhhs of people thinking it was snow on the hills.....nope just fog peeps!

Wandered about, bit of window shopping and ohhhhhh it’s food time again! Lunch in the Waterfront (trying to avoid the buffet!) Lunch was yummo but the pavlova parfait dessert was not what I expected.....in fact it looked nothing like a parfait or a pavlova. I think the chef looked at the wrong page in the cook book LOL Interestingly enough, there was no afternoon tea in the Waterfront this cruise.

More wandering about and chit chatting. Still searching for another member but never ran into them. Barnsey and her sis went to the wine tasting. Mediocre at best was the comment from them and others. Bingo again with good prizes for the individual games and a $4,500 (approx) jackpot. We upped anchore during Bingo and I knew we were moving but dare not say a word to Barnsey’s sister. Just before Bingo finished she asked me if we were moving and I said no LOL This time we were plying her with drinks to see if that made a difference to the return journey hehehe. And it seemed to work, although the sea was a lot calmer about 2-3 metres. We went up on deck to leave Jervis Bay and there was a large pod of dolphins bidding us farewell. Awesome! Then we turned right at Jervis Bay and headed south! I wondered how he was going to slow us down as it took 7 hours going slowly to get to Jervis Bay. So we tracked south for a while then headed out to sea for a bit then turned north doing about 10 knots all the way. Oh forgot, the pilot did not disembark on the way down so he was still on board.

Back to the cabin for a shower and pack. Decided I’d put my bag out the night before.

Now the piece de reistance of the cruise. The degutsation dining (yes it’s still spelled correctly). 7 courses of scrummy, hot and delectable dining.................NOT! Degusting! The food was mostly cold and badly prepared and in one word.....HORRIBLE! The crisp pork belly was cold, the shellfish soup with grilled moreton bay bugs was filthy, the ocean trout was yum, the quail breast was like rubber and the brulee had been burnt on top. The cheese at the end was great! Would have been better in the buffet!!!! The worst part was they started to serve our courses even before the rest of our dining companions sat down and refused to take them back until we were ready to eat as a group!! and then the slowness started so we missed the start of Run Away to the Circus.

Casino again .....Oh God I love this casino! Another whirl through the Attic then off to bed for an 8.20 am disembarkation. Ahhhhh finally a night of sleep with the motion of the ocean! Yesssssssssssssssssss but no towel animal. Nooooooooooooooooooooooo.

MONDAY 25 JULY 2011

The motion of the ocean sleep had me missing sail in. Oh well. No print out of my bill available? Apparently their computers weren’t working!

Quick shower and buffet breakfast then disembarkation on time! Bag waiting in the OPT terminal. Thinking this is great, I’ll be home by 9.30 am, I head for the taxi rank. Taxi queue...................taxi joke! I stood for at least 20 minutes and not one taxi to be seen, not one! People start leaving the queue so the queue got shorter LOL Word was the taxi rank downstairs was exactly the same....long queue, no taxis. P&O staff suggested we walk down to Circular Quay for more luck as with two ships in (Pac Sun) and being Monday morning peak hour. Knowing Sydney as I do, I knew that was not the answer! Then a P&O staff member said does anyone want to go to the airport – we have found one mini-van which can take 10 people at $15.00 per head. I jumped at that as it was half way home and thought I would have more success in getting a taxi at the airport! As our mini-van drove up to George Street, along Circular Quay and along Pitt Street there was a string of passengers wandering up trying to get taxis. At least it wasn’t raining! I got to the airport only to be greeted by a very long taxi line as a few flights had just landed! *sigh*

OK so I’m home. Would I do this again? Been there, done that, and crossed off the list but no way unless it was for a very good reason. As we all know when we cruise there are usually little annoyances that we rarely blink at, such as the weather leading to no sailaway party, the seas and the odd dud meal and odd snarly crew member, but when they are all compounded and consolidated into a 2 day/3 night cruise, well.....................I would never recommend this as a first time cruisers tester, as so many of the people on this ship were, with their ‘never again’ as they were leaving.

A couple of things to note:

They had a room service charge of $3.00 - even for a cup of tea

They had an in room snacks and drink menu – yes it appears you can now get your beer and wine by the bottle delivered to the cabin (no spirits)

When I was on the Pac Dawn last week I bought a $100 FCL which has been charged to my credit card but I never received the letter. I went to see the FC lady on PJ and she said she would look into it for me. Never heard back. She did say without my letter I don’t have a FC even if I had paid for it. *****? Now I have to ring P&O and get the friggin letter FFS! So annoying!

I think P&O would have run this cruise at a loss, with additional overnight port fees and a lot less drinking going on when the ship was moving! To be fair, 99% of the crew were great under difficult circumstances.

So now I have sailed on Pacific Jewel twice, Pacific Pearl and Pacific Dawn, 3 of those within the last 3 months. My order of preference prior to getting on this PJ cruise was Pearl by a mile, then a fair distance down Jewel then Dawn a distant last. My preference has not changed, although the Jewel is now further down the list LOL P&O will need to lift their game next year....big time. I was talking to a guy who worked in the Princess/P&O Loyalty program section (he was onboard as a passenger for a boys weekend) and he said P&O’s loyalty program is still in the making and they have no idea when they are going to release it.

P&O is serving a purpose for me, but is never my first choice. I may well get criticised for this review but these are my opinions, and no correspondence will be entered into LOL Overall I had a good time, but like anything I do, I make the most of it!

Now washing and repacking for a little 2 nighter on the Sun Princess from Brisbane to Sydney on Thursday hehe. Princess Elite just a smidge away hehe

[spucka4]

Hi Debsta,

We were on the same cruise with the in-laws (they were first timers).

It is interesting to read your review to see how one person's view can differ from the next.

We seem to agree on most points, especially the degustation meal. We did not hear much in the way of complaints and thought the majority of passengers handled the situation in good spirits. My in-laws, although 1 was sea sick, are still keen to try a longer cruise.

Are you going to apply for an OBC for the departure delay?

[Debsta]

Hi Debsta,

We were on the same cruise with the in-laws (they were first timers).

It is interesting to read your review to see how one person's view can differ from the next.

We seem to agree on most points, especially the degustation meal. We did not hear much in the way of complaints and thought the majority of passengers handled the situation in good spirits. My in-laws, although 1 was sea sick, are still keen to try a longer cruise.

Are you going to apply for an OBC for the departure delay?

 

I guess with 2000+ people you are going to run into lots of different opinions. Glad we agreed on most :D Nahhhh not going to apply for an OBC, it's the nature of cruising. Are they actually going to hand out credits? Hmmmm if everyone's getting it maybe I will :p

[Seadreams27]

Nice honest review:D

 

Glad to hear that you still managed to enjoy yourself even under

such adverse conditions. Shame the crew didn't make a bit more

effort as they must realise that a lot of people use these 3 nighters

as a sampler. Can't do anything about the weather but a bit more

on the service side might sway a few more to try longer cruises.

Pleased to hear you like the Jewel as I was getting a bit worried

that we might of picked a dud:eek: :D

Hope the casino will be as lucky for me:D

[rkmw]

glad you enjoyed yourselves but you cant help the weather.....but why do they have to give OBC as its classed as a 3 day cruise to no where

 

we have done longer cruises and missed ports because of the weather and we have not received any obc

[barnsey1802]

Hi Deb,

 

Sorry we didn't get to see you before you left yesterday. We had a good trip home on the train. Merryl rang last night wanting to know why she was still swaying like she was still on the ship...lol forgot to tell her about that part.

 

Glad we didn't have to get a taxi. By the time we got off the ship there was a line a mile long.

 

Deidre.

[barnsey1802]

glad you enjoyed yourselves but you cant help the weather.....but why do they have to give OBC as its classed as a 3 day cruise to no where

 

we have done longer cruises and missed ports because of the weather and we have not received any obc

 

 

A few people thought there should have been obc because of the delay in boarding. 4 to 6 hours late.

 

While there was no obc P&O did provide free shuttle buses to Darling Harbour so people that had turned up early could fill in some time. We arrived at the wharf at about 12 and went up to Darling Harbour on the bus. After a quick look around the shops and a nice lunch we went back to the drop off point at 2 pm to wait for the bus. It came at 2.15, dropped a group off and took us back to the wharf. I was talking to a lady the next day and she told me that she was among the group that got off at 2.15 and the bus never game back to pick them up.:confused:

 

She and a whole bunch of others waited for over an hour and ended up getting a taxi back to the wharf. She asked why the bus didn't come back and was told the shuttle bus stopped the service at 3pm. Would have been nice if they told people that.

 

Deidre.:)

[anderss22]

Another great and honest review. Im glad that you feel that the pearl is the pick of the Aussie fleet, makes me feel so much better about my trip on her. :)

[Neil R.]

Hi – I was on board and the best choice P&O could have made was delaying the departure, and spending the rest of the weekending Jervis Bay. The worst choice was the muster drill as we went out of the heads. I was at the Casino, but I heard some horror stories about the Marquee.

Overall, the crew were fantastic handling what could have been a total disaster with bad weather. The Jewel is starting to show her age, however all in all she makes for a good holiday. Now just need to count down for my Rhapsody weekend, and then Christmas on the Radiance!

[KaneyT]

We were on J121, sailed on 12/7 & returned to Sydney 22/7

No dramas with staff at all, very nice people & we ate every night at the Waterfront, breakfast most mornings at the same but choose to skip lunch.

 

We booked the same table (145) every night & so we had the same staff, food was always hot, always served together (4 people) no complaints at all in this regard.

Even the 8 to 10 mtr swell was ok, the weather once back near the coast was tame...!!!

 

Our only issue was the late return to Sydney (possible mechanical failure) this may have caused the late sailaway....but P&O would blame the weather rather than mechanical problems for obvious reasons.

A staff member told us we were running on only one engine since Wed night causing the late return to port....They said they hit this weather all the time & might be 1 or 2 hours late at the worst.

We came through the same area in 2006 but the weather was worse but we were still on schedule.

 

We missed our 2.30pm flights, new flights were $751 each (full price) P&O had let the airlines know of the problem....we have put in a claim on the travel insurance but I don't know how much they will pay.

 

Cheers Terry & Lesley

[MissusH]

We were also on that same cruise, it was our first cruise and more of a "test" type cruise for the 30 round Australia next year.

We had a ball, we were in the lucky bunch that did not get sea-sick, in fact hubby and I were pretty excited about the swells, turned to the side and saw a bunch of very green people... OOPS

We were dissappointed that so much time was lost to set sail, but I would much prefer to take off late than what could have happened. I think that all the best precautions were taken. I shudder to think what would have happened if we did set sail. You just only need to do a few quick searches on You-Tube to see how bad things can be.

I suppose I should write a review too :)