R713 – Review: Sarong Sails – March 24 2007 – Pacific Star

[ChrisBNE]

R713 – Sarong Sails – March 24 2007 – Pacific Star

 

 

 

You can find our photos here: http://www.perryn.org/cruise07

 

 

Well we’re back home, even though Pacific Star is still on her way back to Brisbane! Overall we had a great time, but there are still a few things I would like to cover in my review. We decided to fly home from Port Vila, to avoid two sea days on the way home. (Someone was feeling the rocking of the boat a bit too hard to bare this time).

 

Let me firstly say I think P&O Australia have a brilliant product. Their staff are always so friendly and willing to go out of their way to make sure their guests to have a great holiday. It impresses me every time. They visit amazing ports of call and the food is always something quite special. I love to hear the captain take such pride in his ship; announcing things such as “Welcome to your home away from home, the beautiful white lady, Pacific Star”.

 

I must however express what disgusted me time and time again on board this cruise. The rudeness and aggressiveness of many of the passengers on board blew us away. At the lido buffet people pushed in, physically pushed us out the way, especially around the dessert area. It was like they thought they were going to miss out! People were impolite to the staff, condescending at times. You could see how jaded a lot of the staff were getting. There was foul verbal abuse thrown around in the tender ticket queues, while enjoying a lovely dinner in the Steakhouse with some shipboard acquaintances, a gentleman behind us repeatedly and loudly burped (and congratulated himself). We’re not ostentatious or snooty, but being polite and good manners cost nothing. This put a real dampener on our holiday, but showed us that perhaps next time we will consider a higher standard of cruise product. I don’t want to sound so critical of this cruise, but I feel it important to raise these points. I hope that when you all cruise in the future with P&O, or any other line, that you take the time to enjoy your holiday and be polite to all your fellow passengers, including the staff.

 

I’m one of those people who loved the Sky, and as far as the ship goes, overall I have to say that the Star is a bit of a disappointment. It feels tired, it looks like an old rust bucket and there was a foul odor about the place that came and went. I found the layout quite frustrating, she doesn’t seem to flow that well. Our cabin was down the back on Caribe deck, and when we were in a tender port, we found it difficult to get around the aft promenade and lido deck areas to get to the other parts of the ship, as they closed off parts to get the tenders off and on.

 

The buffet area is highly congested also because of its design.

 

 

Our cabin creaked and vibrated, and noise from the props was highly noticeable. Cabins (outside) were of a decent size, we had enough space. Our cabin stewards were helpful as always.

 

Ports of call were fantastic. Isle of Pines was amazing, we would have preferred two days here and skip Noumea. Yasawa I Rawa was gorgeous, but the tender service was so slow (being about 2km ride in) and so rough (no protective reef and huge swells), people were only arriving on shore at 3pm, and had to leave at 4pm. Suva itself wasn’t more than just a port city, but our tour – The Jewel of Fiji was amazing. Pentecost island was beautiful and the vine diving was great to experience. Port Vila was great to visit again, we headed over to Hideaway Island for some snorkeling.

 

P&O were great about us disembarking in Vila, more than willing to accommodate us.

 

As I mentioned, the product itself and the itinerary were amazing. We had a great time, it’s such a shame that our fellow passengers spoiled the show.

 

I welcome your comments.

 

 

Many thanks

 

Chris

[The Fox]

Hi

Welcome back .i agree with your comments 100% having sailed on 21 cruises on different lines i agree P&O have great service,food and entertainment but all served up on im sorry to say on inferior ships.I am sure the introduction of the "Dawn " will go along way to righting this.I agree with your comments about rude people.we struck the same on the star in nov 2006

but it was more the overseas people not the aussies.

[epal]

So sad other people had to spoil your special time Chris . Working in hospitality I no how rude people can be. I must agree its something to think about when considering a cruise A friend of our just came of the Sapphire princess and commented about the different caliber of person Not knocking P&O as they do do there best to provide a wonderful service ,Just some people need to learn consideration costs nothing. Thanks for sharing your experience

[matmar]

Sorry to hear you had to cut your cruise short.

 

We have been on the "Sky" and "Star" and have to agree that the P&O staff and ports are great. We found too that there was a high level of "Yobbo":eek: elements on our cruises which has deterred us from going on any future P&O Aust cruises. P&O continue to market to the cheaper end of town with their 4 berth cabin deals which you must agree it makes for a cheap holiday if you can stand sharing a cabin with 3 others, but it also attracts the "yobbos" who just want to party hard.

 

Our latest cruise on "Sapphire Princess" was a totally different experience. No crowds at the buffet, pool or bars even with 2600 passengers on board. It was dearer than our previous cruises but it was worth the extra. The Princess crew were great too as were the ports of call. We will cruise again with Princess for sure.

 

Our next cruise is with Royal Caribean "Raphsody of the Seas" :) so we are looking forward to that and comparing any differences.

 

Recommend you look elsewhere for next cruise.

 

Cheers

 

Mark

[cheznandy]

Thanks Chris, great honest review. I have never really had a yearn to cruise on the Star, your review backed up my thoughts. Possibly the rumours of selling the Star are true and that is why they are not upkeeping her.

 

Good idea to fly from Vila, save the seasick days!!

 

Yes, i can understand staff feeling jaded when people are constantly rude to them. Manners cost nothing, there will always be rude people when you travel but on a cruise there is no escaping them!!

 

Well, lets hope the arrival of a new Dawn will be the begining of a change for P&O Australia, they certainly have the market there, they just have to look after it!

 

Chez

xx

[karmac]

Great honest review Chris. Loved the photos.Our cruise on the Dawn is similar to your itinerary and I'm particularly looking forward to Yasawa & Isle of Pines. Shame about the fellow passengers. You have to wonder don't you why some people insist on being rude? What do they get out of it?:confused: . We were lucky on our Sun cruise last year and didn't come across any passengers like that. Hopefully, we'll have the same experience on our Dawn cruise.

Must say, I was very surprised when I read your opening statement..."well, we are home...." as I had just checked out the cams and thought to myself...Kate & Chris are almost home...

 

Karen

[qld cruiser]

Hi Kate and Chris, thanks for your great review, and fabulous photos.

I have to agree with you about the rude people. on every cruise you will find them.and I must admit they are not always the younger people.

 

regarding the buffet....I have been almost pushed over on the the Star, it does seem like people are going to miss the food if they don't push through. so whenever my husband goes cruising with me, he gets my lunch as well as his own.

A thing that P&O should introduce at the buffet, is the card that Princess has on each table.. on one side is written the table can be cleared for new people to use, the other side has ... whoever is sitting there is getting more food.... with the Star and the Sun, it's hard to get a dessert or cup of tea sometimes without someone taking your seat....

To compare to the more upmarket ships is like chalk and cheese.

I love cruising on all the cruise lines, but always come back to P&O, I love the atmosphere.... it is like no other.

 

I am sorry you had to cut short your cruise..but if someone is sick :( it's a long way home on a ship.

 

kindest regards, Lorraine:) :)

[Guest012]

Hi there enjoyed your review and welcome back, I agree wholeheartedly that they do have an excellent product....but!!!!!.....Just maybe with a lot more competition happening here in the Australian/South Pacific market they will realize that things have to change to maintain numbers and get repeat business.... word of mouth of a great time is priceless advertising... We have learned from past experience not just here but throughout the world to 1. Avoid Buffets in any holiday resort or onboard ships and 2. We are nearly always last off the ship come tender time.... sad but its a fact of life and it happens everywhere....... hardest part of it all is not to become like them cheers badger

[howsthis]

It seems that no matter where we go these days there are some really rude obnoxious people. They are so selfish in their behaviour and don't give anyone else consideration. You feel like saying something but you know that it would make things worse. I wonder is it better to eat in the dining room for every meal. What do others think?

[The Fox]

hi ,

we tended to eat in the main dinng room for our evening meal because there really wasnt much choice on the star.the steakhouse is good but has no atmosphere and the buffet crowded no end.we normally had breakfast and diner in the main restaruant and lunch at the buffet or around the pool.really not much choice unlike other larger ships.Having said that the food we had was of a high standard and the service great but only a limited choice of resturants unlike say super star virgo with 7 restaurants to choose from.P&O only need to get some modern ships...everything else is top class.

[The Fox]

hi ,

we tended to eat in the main dinng room for our evening meal because there really wasnt much choice on the star.the steakhouse is good but has no atmosphere and the buffet crowded no end.we normally had breakfast and diner in the main restaruant and lunch at the buffet or around the pool.really not much choice unlike other larger ships.Having said that the food we had was of a high standard and the service great but only a limited choice of resturants unlike say super star virgo with 7 restaurants to choose from.P&O only need to get some modern ships...everything else is top class.

[Ransome]

Chris,

 

A great review and very well written. I had a similar experience in Feb on the Star. Old ship, stretched facilities, great crew and service, but a minority of passengers made it hell.

 

Here's my theory. Carnival is sending old ships downunder to an emerging and lucrative market (with limited competition) and adding a significant number of additional berths to existing ships, but with no increase in public facilities.

 

The queues (and queue jumpers) at the buffet are a symptom of adding more beds to a ship that wasn't designed for this. Those expecting an improved service with the Pacific Dawn are (IMHO) in for a shock. My understanding is that they are adding 500 beds to the Dawn with no increase in public facilities. Don't hold your breath.

 

David

[Skyrules]

Great Review, and I agree with a lot of what you said, we experienced much the same on Star on the same cruise last year. We always comment that the worst thing about cruising in generally the other passengers.

 

About the buffet - if you thought the arrangement was bad on Pacific Star, don't bother going on Pacific Sun as the Lido Buffet on Sun is VERY badly laid out.

[karmac]

About the buffet - if you thought the arrangement was bad on Pacific Star, don't bother going on Pacific Sun as the Lido Buffet on Sun is VERY badly laid out.

 

Can you help me out here please? I haven't been on the Star so find it a bit hard to understand. Do you mean the actual layout of the different food areas? Is is all in the one area on Star whereas at different counters on Sun? I agree, the buffet area was generally very busy but if you want to go to the outback bar on the Star you HAVE to walk through the buffet area but on the Sun you don't. I would have thought that would have made it better. Just trying to imagine the difference here. Maybe I need to book a cruise on the Star to find out for myself:p

 

Karen

[ChrisBNE]

I hope you don't mind...I have sent your review to my partner Chris on board the Star..(he is practica on board and probably helped you get away in Vila).

 

Hi Kaz,

 

Many thanks to Chris, he was a really big help for us with the disembarkation, originally wewere told we would be booted off at 8am with our luggage.. but he allowed us to come back in the afternoon to shower, change and pick up our luggage.

 

 

 

 

On another note, I felt a little bad being so critical of my fellow passengers, who ultimately are people who read and post to this board! However, I feel now that it has stuck a chord with many of you here, and perhaps we encountered a cross section of Australian society, some of which we keep away from in our day to day lives. I'm shocked and ashamed that these type of people can be so disrespectful, unashamedly rude and complain without end, more so when they hail from the best country on the planet.

 

At the end of the day I say to all my clients, you make your own holiday, and we still had a fantastic time! We didn't mind coming back the extra two days earlier, it feels like we've had a bonus couple of days off. We didn't tell anyone we'd come in early!

 

I wish everyone who is departing today (seems like half the board) and in the future bon voyage and bon appetito!

[howsthis]

I thought the buffet area on the Sun was great. Never had crowding problems except when you queue for the hot foods. I liked how they had different counters with the different food items. Spreads everyone out a bit. It didn't seem squashy at all. Then again, we were always early to the buffet, liked getting a seat near the windows.

[karmac]

I thought the buffet area on the Sun was great. Never had crowding problems except when you queue for the hot foods. I liked how they had different counters with the different food items. Spreads everyone out a bit. It didn't seem squashy at all. Then again, we were always early to the buffet, liked getting a seat near the windows.

 

 

We never had a problem either howsthis. Although I must admit we rarely used it. Always had brekky in the dining room & most days didn't have lunch. Went to the dining room for lunch once & the other (very) few times that we had lunch, it was in the buffet but had no problems. Walked through there plenty of times though, didn't seem too bad.

 

Karen

[tgard76]

Here is a picture of the Lido Buffet on the Star.

It's not great, but will give you an idea.

 

Looking at the far wall, there is one long bench with most of the food items in it. You enter either side of this bench. Basically the selection stops half way along the bench and then is repeated on the other side, so there are two lines, one on the left and one on the right. Just out of shot on the left is the carvery with the breads, this is mirrored on the other side. Down the center is the drinks and desserts, you can see there are two benches for these, both the same.

 

This is the Outback Bar, which can be accessed through the buffet (left) or via stairs from the Promenade Deck.

 

Hope this helps a bit.

 

Trevor.

[qt_esme]

I thought the buffet area on the Sun was great. Never had crowding problems except when you queue for the hot foods. I liked how they had different counters with the different food items. Spreads everyone out a bit. It didn't seem squashy at all. Then again, we were always early to the buffet, liked getting a seat near the windows.

 

We never had a problem with the buffet on the Sun either even if their were a few queues they always seemed to go pretty fast! :D We are going to try a dining room brekky & lunch this time! Thats how hassle free we found the buffet, we didnt need to go elsewhere!

 

I also think P&O do a great job, but maybe it is time to update our ships, not just with the dawn, but replacing the Sun also, I do love the Pacific Sun dont get me wrong but their is defiantly a market out there for the more updated, activity packed ship.:p

[karmac]

The only reason we had brekky in the dining room everyday is because I decided that I was on holidays & I wanted to be waited on. It doesn't happen any other time:mad:

 

Karen

[Skyrules]

My problem with the Buffet on Sun was that you virutally had to double up on your self to get to the various servery's and in addtion you have the rear set of stairs that came up near the Outaback Bar area and people would come up those stairs and try and get through the buffet to get the midships pool area.

[AuzzieCruiser]

Has anyone got a picture of the buffet area on the Sun? Is it set up like one continuous line, or are there seperate stations, similar to Sizzler's setup?

I always wait for my turn. I know there is no rush, as there is plenty of food to go around!!;)

I've tried the dining room once for breakfast (our very first morning on our first cruise), and vowed never to have breakfast in the dining room. Found it too be too much in the morning.:p :rolleyes:

[Skyrules]

Not a very good one but it's the only one I took.

 

 

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2477261840078909071vYgQKc?vhost=travel

 

 

It was a bit like Sizzler, all seperate stations, but there seemed to be no logical layout - you often ended up doubling back on yourself to get to different things, and people were dodging and weaving around each other.

[jessica3152]

Not only is the layout of the buffet on Sun poor there is always a battle to get a seat. In some respects lunch on a sea day on Sun is the most stressful time of the cruise.

 

I tend to agree with other comments that it is a flow on from the berths added to Sun when she came over from Carnival, hence it is experienced most during school holidays when the ship is effectively sailing well above its advertised capacity with upper berths in use throughout the ship.

 

Sad to say it but these reviews tally with my experience on Sun last year and I will probably not cruise with P&O Australia again until the revamp their product substantially.