P&O Pacific Eden Review 4 Mar 16 – Photo Review with Menus & Daily’s

[LuckiePuris]

This is a really great review. Very comprehensive and impartial. We used to do a fair few P&O cruises (still do the odd one). P&O have basically lost our custom. We have been on Royal Carribean in the last few years (P&O last August) and I would say the quality of Royal Carribean food over the last 2 years has dropped but P&O has improved their game. I remember fondly where on most days P&O main meat in the Buffett was Silverside (nothing wrong with silverside, but for a main for 6 days out of a 10 day cruise).

For us all the little extras that P&O charge for and other lines do not charge for do make a difference.

Last P&O cruise no welcome back cocktail party, but we got an invite to the captains cocktail party (in the dome on the Jewel) and received a photo!

Thanks for the photos - I nearly gagged when I saw P&O charge $15 for a room service full hot breakfast.

Otherwise, they are all good days on holidays.

 

Thank you for your kind comments. Wow that is pricey for breakfast! Really makes me appreciate RCI and Celebrity having complimentary room service!

 

I agree about the little extras being charged for on P&O. I think it's having these little things included that make a holiday a little more special.

Edited March 12, 2016 by LuckiePuris

[kuldalai]

Did not realize that P & O Australia have so many extra charges for food items, bit over the top for a three star product.

 

I would not have been happy with that rusty stains running down my cabin window .

 

Think I'll stick to Princess .

[LuckiePuris]

Did not realize that P & O Australia have so many extra charges for food items, bit over the top for a three star product.

 

I would not have been happy with that rusty stains running down my cabin window .

 

Think I'll stick to Princess .

 

Yes there were quite a few extra charges. Also saw no complimentary soft serve stations or at the buffet. Ice cream is always nice and refreshing.

 

To be honest the rust stains on the window didn't bother me much as we were on deck 5 and this happens with salt water. I found that we didn't spend much time looking out the window, just an occasional glance here and there so it was fine for us.

[Keith1010]

Enjoyed your review.

 

Keith

[LuckiePuris]

Enjoyed your review.

 

Keith

 

Thank you Keith :)

[marinating]

Hi, currently on the Eden sailing out of Eden harbour!

I was very apprehensive that husband would not enjoy P and O and hide on the balcony for the duration! He loves it! We both do, this ship feels like the ships of the past, yes she's old but the makeover in the public areas are excellent. Very happy with the cabin and bed very comfortable. The shows on board have been excellent, far better than I have seen on most other ships and the theatre has an intimate feel to it, we feel like we are in a supper club from the 30's.

In my opinion the food has been pretty average but we are very happy to book again on this lovely old ship.

We have done almost 40 cruises now and this would be one of my favourite ships!!

 

Marina

[steve1970]

Yes there were quite a few extra charges. Also saw no complimentary soft serve stations or at the buffet. Ice cream is always nice and refreshing.

 

The soft serve ice cream is nice to have on a hot day - don't forget it's P&O - there is the NZ Natural Ice Cream, really beautiful ice cream and at only $5.00 a scoop I think it's basically a giveaway.:)

[RMDEC]

Thank you sooo much for a very comprehensive review! My family and I are taking our first ever (short) cruise on Eden next month and had found some not-so favourable reviews online. I'm just looking forward to not having to cook and do housework for a few days so am happy for the chance to have a relaxing getaway! :cool: Your descriptions and photos give me a much better idea of what to expect, however I will need to make sure the debit card has a fair bit of cash available as it sounds like we might be up for quite a few extras! :) Oh and we are also on Deck 5 in an Ocean view!

Edited March 14, 2016 by RMDEC
added more

[Mustangsally58]

Thanks for your report. We are travelling on a short cruise out from Fremantle in April and looking forward to it. We have cruised on Star Virgo (4 times) and Princess Crown in Alaska before

[Cruisin D]

Loved your review and photos.

 

We are going on a sneaky cruise next weekend on the Eden and we where just wondering if the Waterfront Restaurant, is this an open sitting restaurant?

 

Cheers

[Rosieg30]

Yes. You can just turn up and as long as all your party are with you , you will be given a table. Occasionally there is a wait but they will give you a buzzer

[kas123au@yahoo.com.au]

Thank you so much for your review. My husband and I are due for an 8 day cruise on the 24th May. We have a premium drinks package included. I am a little worried now, as this includes all drinks $12 and under. I had thought no problem, we are not big drinkers. Two or three cocktails a day for me, two or three beers for my husband. Maybe a glass of wine for dinner each. I saw your drinks price list and got a horrible shock. All the cocktails were $15 and over. I am really disappointed. My dream of sipping a different cocktail every afternoon, and an expresso martini before dinner is fast fading. I just see the premium drinks package a waste of money, designed for those wishing to down dozens of beer a day.

We purchased our cruise before Christmas, including a so called free premium drinks package. We thought great, even tho as I said we are not big drinkers. We were a little miffed when after Christmas the free drinks package vanished and the cruise cost on a cabin the same class as ours dropped $500. We still thought okay, I doubt we would have spent that much between us, but so be it. Now I find out most anything I want to drink I have to pay for :(

Has anybody else used the premium drinks package ? Was it possible to order cocktails ?

Thank you for any input. We are hoping to book another cruise for October, this one tho RC.

[LuckiePuris]

Thank you all for your kind words and taking the time to read my review :)

 

 

Loved your review and photos.

 

We are going on a sneaky cruise next weekend on the Eden and we where just wondering if the Waterfront Restaurant, is this an open sitting restaurant?

 

Cheers

 

Hi there! Apologies for the delay, the waterfront main dining room was open sitting. We never went for dinner, but there could be a big queue for breakfast and lunch depending on the peak times.

Edited March 19, 2016 by LuckiePuris

[LuckiePuris]

Thank you so much for your review. My husband and I are due for an 8 day cruise on the 24th May. We have a premium drinks package included. I am a little worried now, as this includes all drinks $12 and under. I had thought no problem, we are not big drinkers. Two or three cocktails a day for me, two or three beers for my husband. Maybe a glass of wine for dinner each. I saw your drinks price list and got a horrible shock. All the cocktails were $15 and over. I am really disappointed. My dream of sipping a different cocktail every afternoon, and an expresso martini before dinner is fast fading. I just see the premium drinks package a waste of money, designed for those wishing to down dozens of beer a day.

We purchased our cruise before Christmas, including a so called free premium drinks package. We thought great, even tho as I said we are not big drinkers. We were a little miffed when after Christmas the free drinks package vanished and the cruise cost on a cabin the same class as ours dropped $500. We still thought okay, I doubt we would have spent that much between us, but so be it. Now I find out most anything I want to drink I have to pay for :(

Has anybody else used the premium drinks package ? Was it possible to order cocktails ?

Thank you for any input. We are hoping to book another cruise for October, this one tho RC.

 

Hi there, if you refer back to the copies of menus I think you'll find that there still are a number of cocktails for $12 or under, especially in the MIX sports bar and pool deck. The standard cocktails appeared to be $12 or under, with a chocolate espresso martini available for $12.

 

The cocktails are the mix cocktail bar and salt bar were more in price however they were the more premium bars / drinks on offer.

 

For me when comparing cabin price for P&O, RCI and Celebrity, I've found them similar in cruise price, however a lot more included free of charge with RCI & Celebrity.

[kas123au@yahoo.com.au]

Thank you, now I see them.:o We wish to cruise Voyager Of The Seas Singapore to Sydney Cruise in October 2016, But want to find a P class cabin, or something on deck 12. We will keep an eye out. I also want to read reviews of Voyager Of The Seas. Again I really appreciate you wonderful review of The Eden. Loved all the photos, it had so many details. We now know we are going to do the Italian restaurant, which we had ruled out before your review.:D

[mtn_couple]

We just got off the Eden last Saturday and I have to say I totally agree with your review. We were surprised that the pantry closed so early and were looking for that late night munch. Also disappointed at the extras they charged for that other lines don't. I too would short cruise on Eden again if it left from Melbourne, but for longer cruises will be sticking with Celebrity.

 

Thanks for your comprehensive review.

[LuckiePuris]

We just got off the Eden last Saturday and I have to say I totally agree with your review. We were surprised that the pantry closed so early and were looking for that late night munch. Also disappointed at the extras they charged for that other lines don't. I too would short cruise on Eden again if it left from Melbourne, but for longer cruises will be sticking with Celebrity.

 

Thanks for your comprehensive review.

 

Thank you, it's great to hear your feedback also!

 

I really tried to be fair in my review and not make mountains out of small things, but I really felt that when comparing P&O to other cruise lines (which are normally similar price anyways), that there is better value cruising options for longer cruises.

Edited March 25, 2016 by LuckiePuris

[deathwalker01]

Thank you very much for your review. My wife and I are going on the eden tomorrow from Adelaide to Melbourne on a 4 day cruise.

 

This will be our first cruise so we are looking forward to it.

 

One question though, we are tossing up whether to go cash on the card or credit card. The problem with credit cards is the 1 percent or so charged and the pre-authorisations. What do people think are the best ways to go?

 

I take it they don't include the drink packages on the smaller cruises? I saw your cocktail lists which were fantastic but roughly what prices were the beers?

 

Once again thank you for your review!!!

 

Regards

Deathwalker

[newfarmers]

Thank you very much for your review. My wife and I are going on the eden tomorrow from Adelaide to Melbourne on a 4 day cruise.

 

This will be our first cruise so we are looking forward to it.

 

One question though, we are tossing up whether to go cash on the card or credit card. The problem with credit cards is the 1 percent or so charged and the pre-authorisations. What do people think are the best ways to go?

 

I take it they don't include the drink packages on the smaller cruises? I saw your cocktail lists which were fantastic but roughly what prices were the beers?

 

Once again thank you for your review!!!

 

Regards

Deathwalker

 

Only you can decide which is better.

 

We very rarely ever use cash and pay for prett much everything with credit card no matter how cheap. We pay our bill off every month. For us the 1%+ charged (we use an Amex so it's never only 1%!) is completely offset by the Qantas frequent flyer points we collect. We then use the points for flights and points upgrades.

 

We booked our Aria cruise through Qantas cruises so got points for the full cost of the booking, points for paying with the credit card then points for what we spent onboard. Win, win, win.

[mtn_couple]

Thank you very much for your review. My wife and I are going on the eden tomorrow from Adelaide to Melbourne on a 4 day cruise.

 

This will be our first cruise so we are looking forward to it.

 

One question though, we are tossing up whether to go cash on the card or credit card. The problem with credit cards is the 1 percent or so charged and the pre-authorisations. What do people think are the best ways to go?

 

I take it they don't include the drink packages on the smaller cruises? I saw your cocktail lists which were fantastic but roughly what prices were the beers?

 

Once again thank you for your review!!!

 

Regards

Deathwalker

 

We are the same as the above poster. Everything on the card then use points for holidays. This year our credit card points paid for our 4 day Eden cruise + flights home from Singapore after our next cruise and I'm currently working on paying off some of our Solstice cruise with points too, by the time final payment date comes there should be enough for $2k off that trip too. Gotta work the system, we use cash for nothing!

[Rosieg30]

On board we only use cash on the cruise card. We just load up our allocated budget onto the card. If we need more we just take it out of the onboard atm on board and load up some more. The night before we leave we just go to reception and get refunded any money still on the card. Easy.

[deathwalker01]

thank you everyone for replying it is most helpful :)

[LuckiePuris]

Apologies for the late reply!

 

We used card for convenience and as it was a short cruise with a small amount of onboard spending, we didn't mind the small percentage.

 

Sorry I don't have any prices of the beers, however my partner recalls them being standard prices.

 

Hope you have a great time!

[Lynz82]

Thank you for such a detailed review! I am shocking i do notlike too many surprises & like to plan plan plan trips so having all this inside view to how things are was the highlight of my day when i came accross it!

 

Can i ask with the White & Gatsby parties did everyone make a real effort? I have the gatsby costime sorted for our cruise in a few weeks but i dont wear white at all..... can you still attend if not in all white?

 

:)

[Rosieg30]

On our cruise it was probably about 60% got in the spirit. You don't have to go full Gatsby or full white. A touch of something adds to the fun though.