Drunken rowdy parties on P&O?

[Yungs]

Hi there, I was wondering if I could ask (without intending to offend anyone if they are into the max drinking scene) what the atmosphere is like on the P&O cruiseliners out of Australia. All I know is from the bad press like the Dianne Brimble case and the one of the guy who died after winning a holiday etc. Is this because there is a big binge drinking culture on these ships?

 

We are in our thirties with 2 young children, and have previously done the big American cruiseliner thing out of Alaska where average age is 60+ and actually enjoyed it very much as we are as far from the binge drinking party types as possible! But there are some very attractive prices out there for P&O out of Brisbane, so very tempted.

 

Question: Do you think we would have a good time? We don't need five star luxury, just a nice wholesome family atmosphere.

[Carlz]

Hi there, I was wondering if I could ask (without intending to offend anyone if they are into the max drinking scene) what the atmosphere is like on the P&O cruiseliners out of Australia. All I know is from the bad press like the Dianne Brimble case and the one of the guy who died after winning a holiday etc. Is this because there is a big binge drinking culture on these ships?

 

We are in our thirties with 2 young children, and have previously done the big American cruiseliner thing out of Alaska where average age is 60+ and actually enjoyed it very much as we are as far from the binge drinking party types as possible! But there are some very attractive prices out there for P&O out of Brisbane, so very tempted.

 

Question: Do you think we would have a good time? We don't need five star luxury, just a nice wholesome family atmosphere.

 

Howdy,

I cruised with two children aged 4 and 7 on the pacific sun two years ago. Never saw any rowdy behaviour or drunkeness at all.

Of course with two littlies we retired quite early each night, pretty much straight after watching the first show (a 6am wake up call from a 4 yr old poking her finger in your eye to wake you up is a bit much after a night on the tiles!)

Kids had a ball and I had the most relaxing holiday ever. Cruises depart weekly all year round. These two incidents have been tragic...but let's face it....more tragedies happen on land every weekend where alcohol is involved.

Don't let it put you off.

regs,

Carlz

 

PS- just look down....see I'm booked for two more family vacations on P&O!! I wouldn't dream of taking my kids somewhere that was unsafe.

[maxx]

We had little or no trouble on our cruise last year. Common sense prevails...most incidences, if they do occur, are usuall late at night. The security on board is pretty good these days. I'm sure you'll be fine.

The events on our cruise were not made known to the passengers during the cruise. At the end we were told of 1 young man being put off at our first port Luganville, and the drug squad boarded the ship when we returned to Sydney. All very low key, nothing to be alarmed about.

I always felt safe and can only compliment the security staff.

[ladyoftherib]

This has to be the BEST website I have come across. I am grateful for all the advice I have been given personally and have read on other threads. And to top it all off, some 'old cruisers' have assured me on this thread that I am 99.9% not going to be on a cruise full of boozers.. excellent:)

[cheznandy]

Agree with what Carlz has said, my eldest was assaulted on Saturday night here in my home town, ended up in hospital and couldnt work today as his face is just such a mess:( .........we took him on the Pacific Sun in March last year and he had a ball!! as did my daughter who met heaps of others, one she just spent time with in Canberra on the weekend.

 

All my cruises have been with P&O, they have all been different as it depends who I have cruised with, partying when I was younger with friends, romantic with my husband and a family holiday with the kids!! Make of it what you want, security is very tight now, no one gets away with anti social behaviour, it's great way to holiday so grab one of those bargains and go!!

 

Chez

xx

[LouLou28]

We cruised in January/February on the Pacific Star with our then 6 year old daugher and 9 year old son - never did we witness anything that would cause me to feel concerned for their or our safety!

 

As someone else has said above, there was probably some extreme drinking late at night (early in the morning) but this was well after we had retired for the night!

 

My husband would often go back up to the casino and walk around the decks after I and the kids had gone to bed, but he never came across anything of concern.

 

Security seemed tight, but not extreme (as in in-your-face) on our cruise. They seemed to hang back, but keep a firm eye on things.

 

I went up to the Lido Deck on Island Night quite late (for me!!:) - well it was after midnight!) and there was plenty of dancing - but nothing lewd or untoward going on (ok if you don't call fully grown men in coconut bras untoward ... but really they were all ok!).

 

Our children (especially our daughter) loved the kids clubs, and would head back down to Turtle Cove during our dinner (we had early sitting) our waiter would time things perfectly knowing that she would have her dinner when we had our first course, then I would run her back to kids club, and our next course would be served when I got back.

 

Our son had 'run of the ship'. Because of his age and as we had given him permission, he could check himself in and out of kids club. He would go down there and play a few games and see his friends, then come and find us wherever we were ... we knew where he was and he knew where we were. (We're taking some walkie talkies on our next cruise to help further!).

 

I think you'll have a great, relaxing and fun cruise with your kids!:)

[Carlz]

, my eldest was assaulted on Saturday night here in my home town, ended up in hospital and couldnt work today as his face is just such a mess:(

 

That's awful news:( :( :( I hope he gets better soon

xo

[MsMinx]

my eldest was assaulted on Saturday night here in my home town, ended up in hospital and couldnt work today as his face is just such a mess:(

 

Chez that's terrible!! I hope he's feeling a bit better! Did they catch the coward/s who did it??

 

As for the 'party' atmosphere on P&O - i'm yet to discover it. Hubby and I don't much fancy the pub/club scene so we stay away. We've never come across any fights or drunken groups on any of our cruises. If there were any incidents we've been 100% oblivious to it.

 

We've heard stories of people being put off for bad behaviour but never actually seen it.

 

Don't let 1 or 2 bad news stories put you off cruising P&O. The good things that happen on those ships far outweigh the bad, they just don't get reported about on the news :cool:

[icemaiden2310]

Agree with what Carlz has said, my eldest was assaulted on Saturday night here in my home town, ended up in hospital and couldnt work today as his face is just such a mess:( .........we took him on the Pacific Sun in March last year and he had a ball!! as did my daughter who met heaps of others, one she just spent time with in Canberra on the weekend.

 

 

Crikey chez thats crook! Hope he is OK

I would have to say that I would certinly go on a cruise on my own ( which I have done) but I certinly would NOT go to the laurieton Pub on my own or any other put for that matter,

 

On the two cruises I did last year I didnt See any drunken parties or any trouble at all

[cheznandy]

Agree with what Carlz has said, my eldest was assaulted on Saturday night here in my home town, ended up in hospital and couldnt work today as his face is just such a mess:( .........we took him on the Pacific Sun in March last year and he had a ball!! as did my daughter who met heaps of others, one she just spent time with in Canberra on the weekend.

 

 

Crikey chez thats crook! Hope he is OK

I would have to say that I would certinly go on a cruise on my own ( which I have done) but I certinly would NOT go to the laurieton Pub on my own or any other put for that matter,

 

On the two cruises I did last year I didnt See any drunken parties or any trouble at all

 

Thanks for your thoughts guys, he is very sore, I cant stand looking at him as he doesnt look like my son!! He was just an innocent bystander, yes they caught the two guys!! My ex colleagues were working that night and said they had never seen so much blood!! Thank god I have retired from the job and dont have to deal with that stuff on Friday and Saturday nights, looking forward to my cruises for relaxation and peace!!!

 

Chez

xx

[LouLou28]

Chez

 

Sorry to hear about your boy! Hope he improves quickly! Glad they caught those thugs! Hope they are dealt with appropriately!

[sweet_successes]

Oh Chez my heart goes out to you and your son, what a horrible thing to happen. I am glad that they caught the people who did this. Hope your son is feeling better soon

 

Rach

[SouthAussie100]

So sorry to hear about your son Chez. My kids get sick of me telling them to be careful. I always say, it's not that we don't trust you but you can never tell what idiot/s (thought I better not write what I really wanted to say) you might come across.

 

hope he recovers fully and soon .

[howsthis]

Hope your son has no lasting problems from this experience. It's often the innocent bystanders that get hurt. I just hope something will be done with the culprits and not just let off with a warning which seems to happen too often.

[cheznandy]

Thanks guys, I showed him all your replies, he was so amazed that people care:)

 

I keep telling him he reminds me of Angelina Jolie with his swollen lips!!

 

Thanks again for caring, it's such a shock when your child is hurt or injured, no matter how old they are!! and dont worry, I will make sure the offenders pay for their crime,

 

Sorry to hijack the post, but I guess it answers your question:D bad behaviour due to intoxication can happen anywhere!!

 

Chez

xx

[karmac]

Geez chez, you're having a bad run lately. Hope you're son is feeling better. Make sure the b******s pay:mad:

 

Karen

[arxcards]

Thanks guys, I showed him all your replies, he was so amazed that people care:)

 

I keep telling him he reminds me of Angelina Jolie with his swollen lips!!

 

Thanks again for caring, it's such a shock when your child is hurt or injured, no matter how old they are!! and dont worry, I will make sure the offenders pay for their crime,

 

Sorry to hijack the post, but I guess it answers your question:D bad behaviour due to intoxication can happen anywhere!!

 

Chez

xx

 

Chez,

Hope your young bloke scrubs OK from this, and I am sure your friends in blue will take care of the rest.

 

There is a big sense of community here, so off course we care. Might not be joined at the hip, but joined at the promenade deck instead.

 

As to the OP, I know where you are coming from, as I was initially having similar concerns. However, P&O is trying hard to promote family cruising, and is showing zero tolerance to anti-social behaviour. Bar staff are required to have responsible service certificates as well. Doesn't matter if you are in the city, country, or miles to sea, hanging around bars at 1am can have it's risks.

 

If I wan't to binge drink, I will go to my bottlo and buy up. Damned if I am going to pay cruiseship drink prices to go on a bender.

If you are still concerned with the P&O badge, Princess is now running Pacific cruises out of Sydney as well.

Talk to your T/A and I am sure you will find something to suit.

 

Cheers

[Yungs]

Thanks heaps everyone for your replies! I feel much better now - (rubbing hands together in glee) might go shopping for some cruises! :)

[Skyrules]

Yungs, you and your family will have a wonderful time on a P&O cruise. The cruise is what you make of it. What 'partying' there is, is usually confined to certain areas of the ship, so if that's not your scene you can avoid those places - as you would if you were going out on land.

 

Most of the reports you would have heard (excluding the tragic case of Dianne Brimble) have been blown out of all proportion by the media, taking minor happenings combined with ship board rumor and gossip (notoriously unreliable), and pure invention, to make a sensational story.

 

And Chez, while I'm posting, please add our thoughts to those of everyone else, and we hope your son doens't come out too the worse for wear from his experience.

[epal]

Chez I hope all is well for your son, my kids are in there late 20's and i know what you mean, Trouble can happen any where take care and a speedy recovery for your son. :) :) :)

[Cooee_Kid]

Thanks guys, I showed him all your replies, he was so amazed that people care:)

 

I keep telling him he reminds me of Angelina Jolie with his swollen lips!!

 

Thanks again for caring, it's such a shock when your child is hurt or injured, no matter how old they are!! and dont worry, I will make sure the offenders pay for their crime,

 

Sorry to hijack the post, but I guess it answers your question:D bad behaviour due to intoxication can happen anywhere!!

 

Chez

xx

To help him recover, send him on a cruise, its safer out there.:D

[Whoey]

Yungs,

 

P&O try very hard to make cruising a great experience for kids because families are very strong repeat cruisers! What you will find is the kids clubs are far away from the bars and casino. Realistically you won't find anyone drunk or carrying on inappropriately during the daylight hours as those type of people are usually sleeping off the night before. Keep in mind that ALL activities throughout the day, excluding meals when your children are with a parent, all other times they are supervised by trained child care staff.

 

The acitivies outside of the clubs, for example discos and treasure hunts are all fully supervised.

 

Of course there is always potential for something bad to happen, thats life, compared to other overseas travel where the parents are 100% responsible for safety of their children, a cruise is a blissful chance for you the parent to relax. Where else can you take a real break with confidence your child is enjoying (very important to me that my kids enjoy themselves) in a controlled environment. Can I say one other thing, the staff in these centres work very hard to ensure ALL the children are engaged, I have never seen a bad P&O child centre worker they are great people.

 

Dont forget if you do see something suspicious, for example an adult loitering around kids centres, tell security. I dont know how old your children are, if they are reasonably responsible you can always give them a cb radio walkie talkie and that way they can contact you at ANY time - this is a good idea if you feel they are mature enough to have the "run of the ship" as some parents allow their older children to do.

 

Best of luck and I hope your son gets better soon :)

[Rolls]

Thanks heaps everyone for your replies! I feel much better now - (rubbing hands together in glee) might go shopping for some cruises! :)

 

 

Hi Yungs.

 

You need not worry about reports you have read in papers or seen on TV about drugs, boozers and the likes on P&O cruises. I was on the same cruise which Dianna Brimble was on, and although we were told of a death onboard on the first or second night out of Sydney, we did not see or hear any bad behavour by passengers on the whole cruise. Like on land, unfortunately these things do happen and will probably continue to happen from time to time, however I have been on a few more cruises since then with P&O and the passengers on board are there to enjoy themselves and the company of those around them.

 

If you decided to go, you and your family will have a wounderful time I am sure.

 

My first P&O cruise was 2002, and now I can't stop!!!!:eek: Maybe I'm a cruiseaholic??????:rolleyes:

 

Regards

 

Roland

 

2002 Pacific Sky (September from Sydney)

2003 Pacific Sky (September from Sydney)

2004 Pacific Sky (August from Auckland)

2005 Pacific Sun (August from Sydney)

2006 Pacific Sun (September from Sydney)

2007 Pacific Star (September from Brisbane - R735 - 29/9/2007):)

[Croozin']

Our cruise on the Sun at the end of August was totally fine. You'll have no problems.

[frog cruiser]

Mum has been on 31 cruises and I have been on 21 the only one that caused us any concern was a schoolie cruise and my grandson 12 at the time with homones of a 18 year old and ego to match.Tryed to crack on to a girl and her boy friend took offence and hit him.Security wanted to put the boy off as he was 18 but after hearing my grandsons story I felt that the boy who was so stressed and his girl friend had dumped him, I felt he had suffered plenty.

I feel it is safer on the ship then at home.

Enjoy yourself and rest comfortable.