Hmm - last time with P&O for us.

[Aus Traveller]

Just now, ceeceeDee said:

According to the Coroner's report her blood alcohol reading was .127, not a hugely debilitating amount.

Maybe some of her alcohol purchases were for the men she was with. There was testimony that at least a couple of the men didn't want her with them. They were trying to win on to the young girls and didn't want to spend time with a woman in her 40s.

[Cruisers47]

57 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Maybe some of her alcohol purchases were for the men she was with. There was testimony that at least a couple of the men didn't want her with them. They were trying to win on to the young girls and didn't want to spend time with a woman in her 40s.

Not a very nice conversation 

[Aus Traveller]

1 minute ago, Cruisers47 said:

Not a very nice conversation 

The conversation started because Lyndarra said he wouldn't cruise with P&O because of the unfortunately affair involving Ms Diane Brimble. Subsequent posts were an attempt to point out that it wasn't P&Os fault and that cruising (and security) have changed a lot since then - as has society.

[Cruisers47]

6 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

The conversation started because Lyndarra said he wouldn't cruise with P&O because of the unfortunately affair involving Ms Diane Brimble. Subsequent posts were an attempt to point out that it wasn't P&Os fault and that cruising (and security) have changed a lot since then - as has society.

I realise but I would hope none of her family or friends read this .

[Zetta83]

3 hours ago, ceeceeDee said:

I'll put my hand up for that one!!!! One time we decided to give Mystery Island a miss and made good use of the spa tubs in the adults only area. Bliss!

Sigh... I love cruising and think that cruising is the destination where port days onboard are the best. However, my missus wants to go down on every port, even Noumea which we have been 5 times. It is inconvenience too these days; been parked at the industry port. 

[Balsam12]

Just to throw in another view /comparison of P&O....

 

We did a 7 nighter on Encounter in October last year, our first cruise with them. Enjoyed the ship, food was just OK, but not bad, crew were good. Embarkation in Brisbane was slow, but from memory there was some issue with customs that caused a delay.

 

The bit that stuck in our minds was the other passengers... if you didn't have a mullet or a rugby league shirt, you looked out of place. Did it impact on us? Not really, but Bintang singlets in the MDR isn't our idea of a dress standard. We left the cruise not saying "never again" but we would need to think carefully before booking another one.

We have since just returned from a Koningsdam Alaska cruise, and have decided that HAL are definitely a better fit for us, although next time we won't choose one of their ships that allows smoking in the casino.

 

The twist in the tale .comes with the same story as someone posted previously. P&O just keep sending us offers for cheap cruises. This culminated last week when we got the offer of any cruise of 7 nights or longer at $500 for both of us in an oceanview with $300 casino money, so we booked a 12 night Fiji Adventure. Yes, it will most likely be an obstructed view, but at least it's some light, and we can always bid for an upgrade to a balcony. Hopefully being a longer cruise and not in school holidays might mean a slightly different crowd.

[Ondine]

Well here in Melbourne I'm happy to go on any ship that comes here.  We don't get much choice and looking ahead from 2024/25 it will be worse.  Not sure what we have done to upset the cruise gods.

[ceeceeDee]

1 hour ago, Cruisers47 said:

I realise but I would hope none of her family or friends read this .

If I have offended or upset anyone, that was never my intent and I apologise. Accordingly, I will be making no further comment on this particular subject.

[arxcards]

I have my opinions, but they were aired 15 to 20 years ago. Different rules, and RSA was unheard of at sea. Heck, they used to promote schoolies cruises back in those days, only keeping a loose eye on underaged drinking. But a valid reason for not cruising P&O was made. It was also one of the reasons our early cruises were not on P&O.

 

Looking back, what happened to Ms B. could have happened on any ship, and drink spiking still happens on land and at sea. Thankfully, there is much more security these days and more importantly, we no longer condone predatory behaviour.

Edited October 21, 2023 by arxcards

[OzKiwiJJ]

6 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

I had heard of passengers whose favourite time on the ship was when the ship was in port and they had the ship to themselves when most passengers disembarked.

We've stayed onboard at the occasional port, ones we've been to before. The only downside is the MDR isn't open for lunch. We have to go to the buffet! 😲

[LittleFish1976]

 

Getting back to the topic of P&O and to add to the nostagia of people's recollections of their first cruise on P&O...

 

The first cruise that I was old enough to remember was on a P&O ship, back in the good old days before 'P&O Australia' was a separate entity. We had a family holiday on the Arcadia in 1969. We departed from Melbourne for a month-long trip through the Pacific to Honolulu and return to Melbourne or Sydney.

 

The following summer, from December 1970 we did the same route on the Orsova from Sydney.

 

Those cruises were such a wonderful introduction to being on a ship for a child. (get 'em while they're young) I had so much freedom - meeting and hanging out with other kids. Just lots of sun and swimming, and the daggy cruise ship games and entertainment in the main room in the evening. It's all about the ship for me - no problem with 'sea days'. That's what it's all about.

[lyndarra]

3 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

The conversation started because Lyndarra said he wouldn't cruise with P&O because of the unfortunately affair involving Ms Diane Brimble. Subsequent posts were an attempt to point out that it wasn't P&Os fault and that cruising (and security) have changed a lot since then - as has society.

As I said, we had not cruised at that time and our impression was somewhat tainted. Thoughts of "booze cruises" drug parties etc..

I have read the Coroner's report and it seems P&O did everything right. Ms Brimble's bar receipts were checked and IIRC were not excessive. She was given GBH, likely unknowingly. By "known persons". I hope those lowlife young men are never allowed on a cruise ship again.

 

[LittleFish1976]

1 minute ago, lyndarra said:

As I said, we had not cruised at that time and our impression was somewhat tainted. Thoughts of "booze cruises" drug parties etc..

I have read the Coroner's report and it seems P&O did everything right. Ms Brimble's bar receipts were checked and IIRC were not excessive. She was given GBH, likely unknowingly. By "known persons". I hope those lowlife young men are never allowed on a cruise ship again.

 

 

Yes, she was drugged. She had done nothing 'wrong'.

 

Pity those men did not get what they deserved by way of punishment.

[arxcards]

53 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

 

I have read the Coroner's report and it seems P&O did everything right. Ms Brimble's bar receipts were checked and IIRC were not excessive. She was given GBH, likely unknowingly. By "known persons". I hope those lowlife young men are never allowed on a cruise ship again.

Not everything right. They couldn't have prevented what happened to Ms. B, but they did everything they could to downplay it afterwards. 

[Zetta83]

4 hours ago, Balsam12 said:

Just to throw in another view /comparison of P&O....

 

We did a 7 nighter on Encounter in October last year, our first cruise with them. Enjoyed the ship, food was just OK, but not bad, crew were good. Embarkation in Brisbane was slow, but from memory there was some issue with customs that caused a delay.

 

The bit that stuck in our minds was the other passengers... if you didn't have a mullet or a rugby league shirt, you looked out of place. Did it impact on us? Not really, but Bintang singlets in the MDR isn't our idea of a dress standard. We left the cruise not saying "never again" but we would need to think carefully before booking another one.

We have since just returned from a Koningsdam Alaska cruise, and have decided that HAL are definitely a better fit for us, although next time we won't choose one of their ships that allows smoking in the casino.

 

The twist in the tale .comes with the same story as someone posted previously. P&O just keep sending us offers for cheap cruises. This culminated last week when we got the offer of any cruise of 7 nights or longer at $500 for both of us in an oceanview with $300 casino money, so we booked a 12 night Fiji Adventure. Yes, it will most likely be an obstructed view, but at least it's some light, and we can always bid for an upgrade to a balcony. Hopefully being a longer cruise and not in school holidays might mean a slightly different crowd.

You must have had some good play. Out of curiosity, how many points did you accrue during the cruise?

[Aus Traveller]

2 hours ago, arxcards said:

I have my opinions, but they were aired 15 to 20 years ago. Different rules, and RSA was unheard of at sea. Heck, they used to promote schoolies cruises back in those days, only keeping a loose eye on underaged drinking. But a valid reason for not cruising P&O was made. It was also one of the reasons our early cruises were not on P&O.

 

Looking back, what happened to Ms B. could have happened on any ship, and drink spiking still happens on land and at sea. Thankfully, there is much more security these days and more importantly, we no longer condone predatory behaviour.

Her drinks weren't spiked. From evidence at the Inquest, Ms B knowingly took the drugs after going with one of the men at 1am back to the cabin he shared with three others. Although I don't have personal experience, I have read that it is difficult to know the strength of illegal drugs.

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, lyndarra said:

As I said, we had not cruised at that time and our impression was somewhat tainted. Thoughts of "booze cruises" drug parties etc..

I have read the Coroner's report and it seems P&O did everything right. Ms Brimble's bar receipts were checked and IIRC were not excessive. She was given GBH, likely unknowingly. By "known persons". I hope those lowlife young men are never allowed on a cruise ship again.

 

I believe that P&O was unfairly blamed. It cost them many millions of dollars including the $2 million they paid the B family as an ex gratia payment.

[Aus Traveller]

38 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Not everything right. They couldn't have prevented what happened to Ms. B, but they did everything they could to downplay it afterwards. 

The problem was the police investigation. Because the ship was Australian based with Aussie passengers, Aust police investigators were sent. They sent two officers from NSW Water Police who weren't experienced in investigating suspicious deaths. The main officer who did the investigation (not that he did much) went on stress leave for two years before submitting his report. In his defence, it was originally believed that the death was from natural causes.

[LittleFish1976]

3 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Her drinks weren't spiked. From evidence at the Inquest, Ms B knowingly took the drugs after going with one of the men at 1am back to the cabin he shared with three others. Although I don't have personal experience, I have read that it is difficult to know the strength of illegal drugs.

I won't include the text here for obvious reasons but follow this search link and read the summary of the Coroner's judgement. She unknowingly consumed drugs. They were administered to her by others.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=was+dianne+brimble+knowingly+drugged

 

3 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I believe that P&O was unfairly blamed.

I seem to recall that P&O allowed the men to remove belongings and themselves from the cabin in which a forty-something person who was not registered to that cabin had died (one would not expect it to be from natural causes given her age). They cleared their phones of compromising footage and images - again, I won't mention what they showed.

 

They allowed a massive compromise of the scene of an unexplained death.

[arxcards]

Just now, Aus Traveller said:

The problem was the police investigation. Because the ship was Australian based with Aussie passengers, Aust police investigators were sent. They sent two officers from NSW Water Police who weren't experienced in investigating suspicious deaths. The main officer who did the investigation (not that he did much) went on stress leave for two years before submitting his report. In his defence, it was originally believed that the death was from natural causes.

Before police were able to investigate the "crime scene", the cabin had been cleaned, I believe in breach of maritime law. Keystone cops, yes, but who knows what they would have identified if they locked everyone out of the cabin.

[Aus Traveller]

Just now, arxcards said:

Before police were able to investigate the "crime scene", the cabin had been cleaned, I believe in breach of maritime law. Keystone cops, yes, but who knows what they would have identified if they locked everyone out of the cabin.

Initially everyone was locked out of the cabin, but at least one of the male occupants appealed to the Purser to be allowed to get his shaving gear and other personal items. Agreed - it shouldn't have been allowed.

[Balsam12]

47 minutes ago, Zetta83 said:

You must have had some good play. Out of curiosity, how many points did you accrue during the cruise?

I don't think our play was huge, and I've worked in casinos since about 1988, so have a pretty good idea of what big turnover is. We played 1 and 2 cent slots, maybe averaging two to three hours per day. My other half and I play the same machine together, and we only ever put her card in the machine specifically to see if we would get some sort of offer.

The best part is that we walked off the cruise nearly $1000 up as well as now getting what basically amounts to a free cruise... $420 of our $500 cost is Port fees and taxes, so the actual cruise is costing us $80.

[mum and son]

On 10/21/2023 at 10:02 AM, MMDown Under said:

I had heard of passengers whose favourite time on the ship was when the ship was in port and they had the ship to themselves when most passengers disembarked.

Meeee ✋. I've been on 5 cruises this year, just out of Brisbane, but have only got off the ship in a port on two occasions (and that was only because I was with a friend and her kids who had never been there before). Otherwise those port days onboard are my favourite days on any cruise!

[mum and son]

Back to the topic of this thread, I have been "stuck" with a lot of P&O cruises over the years. I work a stressful job and I live and work at the same place so I have to fully get away to get any kind of break. Cruising is perfect for me to relax, and I really need a week off every few months rather than longer breaks less often.

 

So, I'm mainly stuck with P&O ex Brisbane. I gave the Luminosa a good spin (3 times) on those almost free cruises earlier this year but I don't like the ship, couldn't stand the food (except the Steakhouse) - and the main positive for me was I really liked the app. 

 

In August I did B2B cruises on the Encounter. 7 days to the Island plus 4 days to Airlie, in a Byron Beach Club mini-suite. It really changed my mind about P&O. I spent at least 3-4 hours a day in the Club, often alone. I had the pool and spa to myself and could change my seating with the sun. Breakfast in Angelos is more my style, I skip lunch and then an early dinner. Yeah, the food isn't 5 star but I managed to work the system so I didn't repeat a menu once on the first 7 day cruise. On the 4 day cruise I simply booked my dinners around the menus I enjoyed the previous week. Not too bad.

 

I'll never go on a P&O cruise longer than 3 days unless I'm in a BBC room again. 

[ceeceeDee]

7 hours ago, mum and son said:

Back to the topic of this thread, I have been "stuck" with a lot of P&O cruises over the years. I work a stressful job and I live and work at the same place so I have to fully get away to get any kind of break. Cruising is perfect for me to relax, and I really need a week off every few months rather than longer breaks less often.

 

So, I'm mainly stuck with P&O ex Brisbane. I gave the Luminosa a good spin (3 times) on those almost free cruises earlier this year but I don't like the ship, couldn't stand the food (except the Steakhouse) - and the main positive for me was I really liked the app. 

 

In August I did B2B cruises on the Encounter. 7 days to the Island plus 4 days to Airlie, in a Byron Beach Club mini-suite. It really changed my mind about P&O. I spent at least 3-4 hours a day in the Club, often alone. I had the pool and spa to myself and could change my seating with the sun. Breakfast in Angelos is more my style, I skip lunch and then an early dinner. Yeah, the food isn't 5 star but I managed to work the system so I didn't repeat a menu once on the first 7 day cruise. On the 4 day cruise I simply booked my dinners around the menus I enjoyed the previous week. Not too bad.

 

I'll never go on a P&O cruise longer than 3 days unless I'm in a BBC room again. 

Yep, we have become spoilt by the Byron Beach Club. And breakfast in Angelos is really relaxing. Not too crowded and always get a window seat. The canapes in the room every night aren't half bad either.🙂