WELCOME HOME BUNDY & RESGENE

[Kazza1]

Bundy,

Saw that you were logged on and just wanted to say welcome home and hope you had a great Birthday cruise.

 

Resgene,

Welcome home to you aswell. Hope you had a great anniversary cruise.

 

Regards

Kazza1

[resgene]

Thank you, Kazza,

 

We had an absolute blast. That was the best holiday I could have asked for. Yes there were some things that could have been better but overall it was fantastic. I am really tired and ended up with a cold on the last day. So I might sleep it off and then post again in a couple of days.

 

Night night

Resgene.

[Bundy]

Thank you for the welcome back Kazza1, I had a great time. Here are some photos:

 

Sunset1

Sunset2

Sunset3

Moonlight

Me on the left

[Bundy]

I know how hard it is to find reviews on the Pacific Sun so I figured I would write a quick review of my experiences. I'll make an apology for any spelling and grammar mistakes in advance, I caught the flu onboard and it's hitting me pretty bad.

 

Embarkation and the first day at sea:

 

This was a little confusing for a few of us because the baggage check in for our suitcases was outside of the building. When you check your bags into customs you attach baggage labels onto your bags that show your name, address and stateroom number. You then hand them into customs which is located near the drop off point in the carpark. After all that is over you head inside the building and follow a maze of customs officials and P&O staff. This is where you declare your duty free and surrender any alcohol over 1.125L, you also pick up your cruise card and room key.

 

After all the customs formalities are done you head up the huge ramp which takes you to level 5 of the ship - the Main deck. Here you are greeted by P&O security staff who will instruct you to insert your cruise card into a machine and stare at a dot. Your photo will be taken and used as a reference for other security staff on the ship and at ports. This allows you to travel off the ship via tender boat or port without having to take your cruise ticket, passport, or any other valuable identification with you. Your cruise card is now your ID, credit card and necklace all in one.

 

The cabin steward assigned to you will show you around your tiny room and tell you a few handy things about the ship. Don't expect your luggage to be in your room waiting for you, it will take an hour or more for luggage to arrive. The Sydney weather can get a little cold so I recommend wearing long pants when you embark, or at least pack a jumper in your carry on luggage.

 

If you embark early take the time to look around the ship while it is empty of passengers. It is a very confusing place to navigate and getting lost onboard is still possible after 10 nights at sea. Grab yourself a few drinks and head up to the deck above the bridge. This is where the webcam is located and gets pretty crowded as the ship prepares to leave port. Have your camera ready so you can get photos like this and this.

 

Many of the passengers got seasick on the first night due to the rough seas, even the experienced cruisers said the first night was very rough. Add the fact that St Patrick's day was the day before the cruise and that many passengers had to travel from far and wide to get aboard the ship, and you get a quiet first night at the various bars. On the plus side everyone got their sea legs very quickly and the next day was the start of a very long party.

[Bundy]

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I will be writing this in parts. Anytime you see an underlined word in one of my posts, it is a link to a photograph.

 

Days 2 & 3 - At sea heading to New Caledonia

 

Day 2 was on the 19th of March, my 23rd birthday. I was still a bit sick from the night before, but I wasn't about to take it easy on my birthday. First on the agenda was breakfast. There are 3 ways to have breakfast; You can have it in your room but you only get a limited choice, or you can do it Navy style and go to the buffet which serves up a nice choice of hot and cold food with free unlimited coffee and orange juice. The last and possibly best choice (depending on how you feel) is to have breakfast in your dining room. This is a good chance to meet new people and get the food brought to you. Breakfast in the dining room stops at 9am so the late risers will miss out, but any food you find in the dining room can be found at the buffet anyway. Make sure you have a huge breakfast because the day ahead is very busy.

 

There were activities for everyone of any age. Kids went to the various kids clubs, the older singles flocked to the bar and I decided to see some of the entertainment in the Atlantis Lounge. First up was wooden horse racing. This might not sound exciting but everyone in the crowd loved it. Next up was bingo which once again might not sound so exciting, but the crowd had a great time. Both events allow passengers to win money so you have no excuse not to go. Keep in mind that all bingo tickets can be purchsed from the casino cashiers desk before the game. Every day there is a bingo jackpot up for grabs and it adds up as the days pass if nobody has won it.

 

The evening of day 2 is the captains dinner. Everyone dresses up in their formal gear and has a few photos taken by a professional. We had a party in the Atlantis lounge where the captain introduced all the head staff of the different departments onboard. This event only lasted for a short time because the first sitting for dinner was approaching, and I was already half loaded with boubon by now and felt the need to get back to the bar anyway.

 

At this point in the cruise people were making friends rapidly. I had already met up with a large group of 18 - 30 year olds who seemed to frequent the outback bar. My travel partner and I were given the nickname "Marky Mark" due to our matching first names, and as the cruise progressed others were assigned nicknames by their fellow passengers.

 

After dinner many people headed to the karaoke night where alcohol provided the courage for many brave yet horrible attempts at singing. I remember one guy thinking that the music had not yet started, so he proceeded to have a conversation with the announcer while the karaoke music was blaring out of the speakers with no vocals to go with it. As bad as the singing and dancing was, I laughed so hard that my sides were hurting badly. The drinks staff were constantly serving us drinks so there was no need to get up from our comfortable chairs. We finished off the night with some dancing and more drinking in the Oz disco. Even though it is a nightclub with music you would hear in a typical club in the ciy, 35yr + people were in there dancing the night away. It was amusing to see everyone moving across the dancefloor everytime the ship hit a wave and tilted.

 

The 3rd day is similar to the 2nd, there are activities for those who wish to participate in them (such as perfect match) or you can just laze by the pool or bar and relax. On the 3rd night the pyjama party was in full swing. For those people who have not yet been on the cruise and are single, I won't ruin the fun of the pyjama night by telling any stories. I do advise you to turn up in pj's and bring a camera.

 

I'll be posting more updates soon...

[Neicy& Ron]

Your cruise sounds just like ours (N508).

We had a really rough last night coming in to Sydney and the crew had told us that it would be even rougher for you guys on 509.

 

Here is a link to a web site where you can actually post your review.

 

http://www.cruiseserver.net/travelpage/yourfav/yfc_company_po.asp

 

I have already posted mine with plenty of typo's .....oops.

 

The horse racing and bingo was kewl. Your brought back memories.

 

Now let me guess when the captain got on stage he produced a control from his pocket and said "Now that buttons for left, this one is for right and this one is for forward and I hope to find the stop button before we get to??."

 

Did you have Fractured Movie moments?

 

Regards

 

Ron & Neicy

[Neicy& Ron]

Your cruise sounds just like ours (N508).

We had a really rough last night coming in to Sydney and the crew had told us that it would be even rougher for you guys on 509.

 

Here is a link to a web site where you can actually post your review.

 

http://www.cruiseserver.net/travelpage/yourfav/yfc_company_po.asp

 

I have already posted mine with plenty of typo's .....oops.

 

The horse racing and bingo was kewl. You brought back memories.

 

Now let me guess when the captain got on stage he produced a control from his pocket and said "Now that buttons for left, this one is for right and this one is for forward and I hope to find the stop button before we get to??."

 

Did you have Fractured Movie moments?

 

Regards

 

Ron & Neicy

[resgene]

The cabin staff said it was a rough night out of Sydney, I thought it was sort of OK, until I saw a man who looked like he had stepped out of a black and white movie... he was soooo grey, he made me feel ill. He did look much better the next day, fortunately. I didnt eat much that night.

 

We ended up being upgraded to the Empress deck, that was a surprise. I don't know what the difference is between decks - by what I heard others saying is that the lower decks were just noisier. Although the room full of 10 to 12 year olds across from us were fairly noisy at 1am in the morning. Luckily thats what time we got back to our rooms most nights.:D

 

Yep the Captain did the 'find the stop button' speech. The fractured movie moments night was very funny.

 

regards.

Resgene