Live from Pacific Explorer - 31st May - Australia is Cruising Again

[JohnGc]

Oh yes, I can see Barb in the photo, she is the one with QLD on her shirt. 🙂

[arxcards]

4 minutes ago, JohnGc said:

Thanks Geoff. Not like the media to miss out on that. I watched the tv hoping to catch up on the opening. Been waiting since covid messed every thing up to see the new Terminal. Still have not seen much of the inside yet but that will be a surprise for when I go on my cruise in January. Thanks for all your post on your cruise, gave me a bit of a cruising fix.👍

There was a bit of a tour a few months back, where media and T/As etc had a tour of the terminal. There are some good pics out there.

 

Just a tip when your day comes - wear your most comfortable walkers.

[arxcards]

4 minutes ago, JohnGc said:

Thanks Geoff. Not like the media to miss out on that. I watched the tv hoping to catch up on the opening. Been waiting since covid messed every thing up to see the new Terminal. Still have not seen much of the inside yet but that will be a surprise for when I go on my cruise in January. Thanks for all your post on your cruise, gave me a bit of a cruising fix.👍

There was a bit of a tour a few months back, where media and T/As etc had a tour of the terminal. There are some good pics out there.

 

Just a tip when your day comes - wear your most comfortable walkers.

[JohnGc]

3 minutes ago, arxcards said:

There was a bit of a tour a few months back, where media and T/As etc had a tour of the terminal. There are some good pics out there.

 

Just a tip when your day comes - wear your most comfortable walkers.

I will see if I can dig the pics up. Thanks for the tip, I take it there is a fair bit of walking to do then.

[arxcards]

An earlier comment was asking about photos of menus and the ship. Menus are mostly available on P&Os site. I have DLd a few from on the ship, and will get them up when I get home to some decent internet latency. 

 

Ship pics? Only when there is something new. Some new carpet and linen added during the covid pause, and the only significant change is the enclosing of the open grill area on deck 14. Luke's Burgers becomes Salt Grill at night.

 

[MMDown Under]

11 hours ago, arxcards said:

The ceremony went for a couple of hours. They had a mini concert with Ricki-Lee Coulter to kick it off, but it might have missed morning TV due to some delays in getting the gangways set-up for the first time.

 

There was an hour pause, then a ceremony that included a welcome to country and smoking ceremony; speeches from Carnival Australia President Marguerite Fitzgerald, Brisbane Ports CEO, Brisbane Lord Mayor, Premier Annastasia Palaszczuk. Deputy Miles was also there, but if he spoke, it wasn't enough for me to remember. Then the plaque, some group photos with passengers and the official party, and a press conference with the media.

 

My wife was in the group photo op. I am hoping to get a better screen capture of a bigger screen when I get home. 

Not surprised that this BIG local event didn't make the TV news.  Queensland misses out being included in interstate news.  Our local newspaper, The Courier Mail, is a disgrace so locals don't buy it. The Bulletin is little better.  We need competition by a quality newspaper.  When I travel within Queensland, I always notice the local TVs stations have better local news coverage than Brisbane.  

[arxcards]

We are back in Sydney.

 

Any headlines yet?

[Kiwi_cruiser]

Welcome back home Geoff!

 

[Aus Traveller]

3 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Not surprised that this BIG local event didn't make the TV news.  Queensland misses out being included in interstate news.  Our local newspaper, The Courier Mail, is a disgrace so locals don't buy it. The Bulletin is little better.  We need competition by a quality newspaper.  When I travel within Queensland, I always notice the local TVs stations have better local news coverage than Brisbane.  

The arrival of the Pacific Explorer was covered on the Channel 9 news bulletin. Someone else said it was on Channel 10.

Edited June 3, 2022 by Aus Traveller

[arxcards]

Protocols aside, this cruise has been quite familiar.

 

Familiar food, every day, familiar food. This is a short cruise, so I hope the longer ones have variety. For us, same breakfast and lunch menus daily in Waterfront, and very similar to what we had in early 2020. We didn't dine for dinner there.

 

Shell & Bones - same menu as 2020. We dined there once, the food is great, and is generally underestimated.

 

Angelo's - looked like the same menu as before. Nice though.

 

Dragon Lady - beautiful spot, but same menu, and we chose not to dine there because of that.

 

Luke's - a nice change-up to enclose the area, and have a "Salt Grill" menu. Good enough to do it twice. Very similar menu, but a few dishes have been trimmed and others reimagined.

 

A bit of variety on the menus would be nice, but pretty happy with the quality of the food. Service was good, but with one observation, especially for lunch in Waterfont. Order a starter, or wait till everyone else in their station has finished theirs before you get anything. P&O doesn't have any gophers in their team of waiters, and the waiters only have time to visit one line in the galley at a time. Lowest common denominator- if one table in the group is dining slow, you all dine slow.

 

We are currently on the shuttle to Central. They have an early and late shuttles for both Central & the airport. $15pp, and the taxi queue is very long this morning.

[Aus Traveller]

Thanks for your posts and your review. $15pp for the shuttle is a very good price.🙂

[cheznandy]

Oh no Geoff, it's over☹️

Thanks for all the updates, enjoyed it.

 

Explorer food was like that a couple of years ago, buffet was same same, menus same in dining room every lunch, same for Dragon Lady and Angelo's, That's why P&O is last on our list for longer cruises😁

Will see what Adventure is like in January.

[Aus Traveller]

13 minutes ago, cheznandy said:

Oh no Geoff, it's over☹️

Thanks for all the updates, enjoyed it.

 

Explorer food was like that a couple of years ago, buffet was same same, menus same in dining room every lunch, same for Dragon Lady and Angelo's, That's why P&O is last on our list for longer cruises😁

Will see what Adventure is like in January.

P&O kept the same menus in the dining room, but I seem to remember they changed once during a seven day cruise.

[arxcards]

45 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Thanks for your posts and your review. $15pp for the shuttle is a very good price.🙂

That is for Central BTW. The airport one is likely a bit dearer.

[arxcards]

44 minutes ago, cheznandy said:

Oh no Geoff, it's over☹️

Thanks for all the updates, enjoyed it.

 

Explorer food was like that a couple of years ago, buffet was same same, menus same in dining room every lunch, same for Dragon Lady and Angelo's, That's why P&O is last on our list for longer cruises😁

Will see what Adventure is like in January.

We did expect that to an extent Chez. Thought there might have been a bit of a revamp during the break though. Even just a meal of the day would be appreciated.

[arxcards]

Sydney offered a nice quiet welcome this time.

 

And a fun 4 days displayed as a wiggly line.

 

Disembark was quick and ran well ahead of schedule. The good part of that is NSW Health can't have had too many issues.

 

Lots of coughers on the ship, but that is a post covid symptom too. The only time they were strict about masks was in disembark lounges, gangway & terminal. As commented by the staff member, it isn't a good look. We waited two years for that, and we don't want to be told to wait for another two.

 

Public transport requires a mask. The train is much worse than the ship - lots more coughs and not many masks.

[Cbtours]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

Protocols aside, this cruise has been quite familiar.

 

Familiar food, every day, familiar food. This is a short cruise, so I hope the longer ones have variety. For us, same breakfast and lunch menus daily in Waterfront, and very similar to what we had in early 2020. We didn't dine for dinner there.

 

Shell & Bones - same menu as 2020. We dined there once, the food is great, and is generally underestimated.

 

Angelo's - looked like the same menu as before. Nice though.

 

Dragon Lady - beautiful spot, but same menu, and we chose not to dine there because of that.

 

Luke's - a nice change-up to enclose the area, and have a "Salt Grill" menu. Good enough to do it twice. Very similar menu, but a few dishes have been trimmed and others reimagined.

 

A bit of variety on the menus would be nice, but pretty happy with the quality of the food. Service was good, but with one observation, especially for lunch in Waterfont. Order a starter, or wait till everyone else in their station has finished theirs before you get anything. P&O doesn't have any gophers in their team of waiters, and the waiters only have time to visit one line in the galley at a time. Lowest common denominator- if one table in the group is dining slow, you all dine slow.

 

We are currently on the shuttle to Central. They have an early and late shuttles for both Central & the airport. $15pp, and the taxi queue is very long this morning.

Thanks so much for allowing us to travel along on your cruise via our armchairs! Great reports. Looking forward to comparing when we get on in 12 days !!!

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, cheznandy said:

Oh no Geoff, it's over☹️

Thanks for all the updates, enjoyed it.

 

Explorer food was like that a couple of years ago, buffet was same same, menus same in dining room every lunch, same for Dragon Lady and Angelo's, That's why P&O is last on our list for longer cruises😁

Will see what Adventure is like in January.

Only 76 days till Coral Princess 😁

[Cruisegroover]

On 6/2/2022 at 4:19 PM, arxcards said:

Minor celebrity & camp entertainer, Hans is performing two shows on the ship. There is a difference to these shows, as they are ticketed. I think it is $18pp. I am not overly impressed, as the shows have been mentioned on the socials, but no hint there was a fee.

 

I booked for Hans at the Box Office onboard and I was not told there was a $20 charge. I just happened to check my account straight after booking and saw the charge and went back and cancelled it. I just said I wasn't aware there was a $20 charge and I wasn't happy paying for entertainment. They reversed the charge no questions asked. 

 

 

[possum52]

2 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

The arrival of the Pacific Explorer was covered on the Channel 9 news bulletin. Someone else said it was on Channel 10.

It was shown on Channel 7 news in Melbourne.

[Aus Traveller]

27 minutes ago, possum52 said:

It was shown on Channel 7 news in Melbourne.

Then it was probably shown on Channel 7 in Brisbane also.

Edited June 4, 2022 by Aus Traveller

[arxcards]

The screen cap of the group photo that included Barb was taken from channel 10. They keep news content online for streaming for 4 weeks.

 

It looked like a minute, but what do you expect from news. Hopefully P&O can add some content, as they had their own media there. 

 

I'm the end Brisbane's fanfare would and should revolve around the arrival of Coral Princess next week.

[MMDown Under]

56 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Then it was probably shown on Channel 7 in Brisbane also.

I watch ABC News

[CDaze71]

2 hours ago, Cruisegroover said:

I booked for Hans at the Box Office onboard and I was not told there was a $20 charge. I just happened to check my account straight after booking and saw the charge and went back and cancelled it. I just said I wasn't aware there was a $20 charge and I wasn't happy paying for entertainment. They reversed the charge no questions asked. 

 

 

AGREE. I am not paying for shows or guest entertainers. The more that people accept the charges, the more they will charge for more things. If the show was mostly empty, then they might do a re-think. But because people did pay for the tickets and lines were long through the photo gallery, that doesn't look great for the future. P&O are charging for lots of things, so I am looking forward to my Coral cruise this month.

[NSWP]

37 minutes ago, CDaze71 said:

AGREE. I am not paying for shows or guest entertainers. The more that people accept the charges, the more they will charge for more things. If the show was mostly empty, then they might do a re-think. But because people did pay for the tickets and lines were long through the photo gallery, that doesn't look great for the future. P&O are charging for lots of things, so I am looking forward to my Coral cruise this month.

The P&O Cruiselings will continue to pay for the extras on board so P&O will continue to charge for them. They charge for cabin service breakfast and cabin food service too I think.  They are charging like wounded bulls, but they are catering for a certain market. I had better hide, the Cruiselings will be after me right now. lol.