Pacific Sun 2-nighter - Riffraff's review

[Riffraff]

We're home again! Had a great time.. 2 nights is not long enough! And I know how much everyone here loves reading reviews, so I've done my bit.

I'd recommend the 2-night cruises to anyone, their only downside is that the end comes to close to the start :).

 

Here's the review.. I'll post the second part tomorrow.

I left work around 4pm and we caught the City Cat to Brett’s Wharf. I can recommend catching the City Cat as a great way to get to Portside – it’s only a short walk (about 300m) to the wharf. We walked in, dropped our bags at the baggage check in, joined the short queue for the cruise cards and boarding passes, and once we had them we walked up to security, got our photo taken and got onto the ship. It was the easiest embarkation ever - from the time we got off the City Cat at Bretts Wharf to stepping inside our cabin was about 30 minutes. Very quick – despite a few minutes hold up due to a problem with the machine not taking my picture to link it to my cruise card, for some reason.

So we were onboard at about 5.30, and we checked the Pacific Daily and discovered that dinner was anytime dining, starting at 5.45. We had booked first sitting but we figured due to the short cruise and people boarding late in the afternoon that dinner might be a buffet or something.

We went for a wonder around the ship to refresh our memories – one look at the showlounge and Terraces and the memories of the awful 80’s Carnival décor came flooding back! But it was great to be back on board, and apart from the showlounge, the rest of the ship is very nice, and still clean and in good condition. Overall she looked much the same as we remembered – it was our first time back on board since 2005. One thing we did notice was how much bigger than Pacific Star she is and how much more outside deck space she has – which is odd, because we hadn’t noticed that Star was much smaller when we went on her. Must be a perception thing.

After our wander we went off for dinner to the Bordeaux Restaurant, once we’d remembered how to get there. Still annoying that you can’t get to anywhere else from the Bordeaux restaurant – you have to go up or down a deck to go forward.

Anytime dining worked well, it didn’t take too long to get in and get fed. It was the usual first night menu. I had the same as last time – Spring Rolls, Mushroom Risotto and the chicken, and of course Raspberry Crème Brulee for dessert.

 

After dinner we had the emergency drill at 7.30. That didn’t take long, and then after that we went up on deck to watch sailaway. The Captain announced that due to a medical emergency our sailing would be delayed – a passenger had taken sick and had to be taken away on a stretcher. So we stayed up on deck with our cocktails and eventually sailed about an hour later, around 9pm.

Cruise Director Demo had announced that the show would start at 9.30, and so we went along to that. It was a combination of song and dance from the Pacific Sun Entertainers and the guest comedian. The Entertainers were o.k. but I thought the comedian was a bit ordinary –not very funny, and his only other talent was the saxophone which is second to the recorder as being the worst instrument ever invented, in my opinion!

After the show we went back outside to see where we were- and we ended up staying up the front, in the cool breeze and darkness, watching us navigate our way out of Moreton Bay. It was interesting to see the lights of Caloundra get closer and watch our course zig-zag towards them around the red and green lights. There were several ships in the bay that we passed as well.

By the way – all ships leaving Brisbane will head north once they get to the mouth of the river – there’s a whopping great island in front of the river mouth that blocks the way. So even if you’re going to Sydney, you will turn to port and head north – no need to panic! (As we approached Sydney Harbour I heard a woman say that we’d have arrived much sooner if we hadn’t had the medical emergency and we hadn’t gone via Caloundra. I was tempted to say that if we hadn’t gone via Caloundra we’d have been even more delayed by running aground on Moreton Island!)

We stayed up the front for ages until we turned and headed out for open sea, and then headed for the cabin at about 12.30am – which then became 1.30am as we had to put our clocks forward.

Part 2 shortly…

[Suncoaster]

Good review, I wondered what it was like to sail from Brisbane and out via Caloundra, as I live (and have done for the past 35 years) at Caloundra, so seeing ships sail past so close is an everyday thing. When we cruised we went on the Pacific Sun out of Sydney, great experience as well, as it is a beautiful harbour.

I have only ever flown out of Maroochydore (just up the road) twice, and that is in the past 3 weeks, always going out of Brisbane before, so that was exciting as well.

[qld cruiser]

We're home again! Had a great time.. 2 nights is not long enough! And I know how much everyone here loves reading reviews, so I've done my bit.

I'd recommend the 2-night cruises to anyone, their only downside is that the end comes to close to the start :).

 

Here's the review.. I'll post the second part tomorrow.

I left work around 4pm and we caught the City Cat to Brett’s Wharf. I can recommend catching the City Cat as a great way to get to Portside – it’s only a short walk (about 300m) to the wharf. We walked in, dropped our bags at the baggage check in, joined the short queue for the cruise cards and boarding passes, and once we had them we walked up to security, got our photo taken and got onto the ship. It was the easiest embarkation ever - from the time we got off the City Cat at Bretts Wharf to stepping inside our cabin was about 30 minutes. Very quick – despite a few minutes hold up due to a problem with the machine not taking my picture to link it to my cruise card, for some reason.

 

So we were onboard at about 5.30, and we checked the Pacific Daily and discovered that dinner was anytime dining, starting at 5.45. We had booked first sitting but we figured due to the short cruise and people boarding late in the afternoon that dinner might be a buffet or something.

 

We went for a wonder around the ship to refresh our memories – one look at the showlounge and Terraces and the memories of the awful 80’s Carnival décor came flooding back! But it was great to be back on board, and apart from the showlounge, the rest of the ship is very nice, and still clean and in good condition. Overall she looked much the same as we remembered – it was our first time back on board since 2005. One thing we did notice was how much bigger than Pacific Star she is and how much more outside deck space she has – which is odd, because we hadn’t noticed that Star was much smaller when we went on her. Must be a perception thing.

 

After our wander we went off for dinner to the Bordeaux Restaurant, once we’d remembered how to get there. Still annoying that you can’t get to anywhere else from the Bordeaux restaurant – you have to go up or down a deck to go forward.

Anytime dining worked well, it didn’t take too long to get in and get fed. It was the usual first night menu. I had the same as last time – Spring Rolls, Mushroom Risotto and the chicken, and of course Raspberry Crème Brulee for dessert.

 

After dinner we had the emergency drill at 7.30. That didn’t take long, and then after that we went up on deck to watch sailaway. The Captain announced that due to a medical emergency our sailing would be delayed – a passenger had taken sick and had to be taken away on a stretcher. So we stayed up on deck with our cocktails and eventually sailed about an hour later, around 9pm.

 

Cruise Director Demo had announced that the show would start at 9.30, and so we went along to that. It was a combination of song and dance from the Pacific Sun Entertainers and the guest comedian. The Entertainers were o.k. but I thought the comedian was a bit ordinary –not very funny, and his only other talent was the saxophone which is second to the recorder as being the worst instrument ever invented, in my opinion!

After the show we went back outside to see where we were- and we ended up staying up the front, in the cool breeze and darkness, watching us navigate our way out of Moreton Bay. It was interesting to see the lights of Caloundra get closer and watch our course zig-zag towards them around the red and green lights. There were several ships in the bay that we passed as well.

 

By the way – all ships leaving Brisbane will head north once they get to the mouth of the river – there’s a whopping great island in front of the river mouth that blocks the way. So even if you’re going to Sydney, you will turn to port and head north – no need to panic! (As we approached Sydney Harbour I heard a woman say that we’d have arrived much sooner if we hadn’t had the medical emergency and we hadn’t gone via Caloundra. I was tempted to say that if we hadn’t gone via Caloundra we’d have been even more delayed by running aground on Moreton Island!)

 

We stayed up the front for ages until we turned and headed out for open sea, and then headed for the cabin at about 12.30am – which then became 1.30am as we had to put our clocks forward.

 

Part 2 shortly…

 

 

 

 

Hi Riffraff, so glad you and Kym had a great time.

it is great to get different views from the same cruise.

 

looking forward to part 2.

 

kind regards, Lorraine:) :)

[cheznandy]

Whoohoo Martin, looking forward to the rest, if you are anything like me and Geri you will turn two days in to a lengthy review:p Gotta have all the details!! Let us know about your stay in Sydney too and your flight home:)

 

Chez

xx

[kaseyoz]

great to hear you are back safely and you enjoyed yourselves.

 

It is nice to read about the differences of a short cruise

[Skyrules]

Whoohoo Martin, looking forward to the rest, if you are anything like me and Geri you will turn two days in to a lengthy review:p Gotta have all the details!! Let us know about your stay in Sydney too and your flight home:)

 

Chez

xx

 

We didn't stay in Sydney this trip - we had 4hrs in Sydney then headed to Canberra where spent 3 days exploring down there... But since Martin's doing the review this time I'll let him tell you about that :D

[cheznandy]

We didn't stay in Sydney this trip - we had 4hrs in Sydney then headed to Canberra where spent 3 days exploring down there... But since Martin's doing the review this time I'll let him tell you about that :D

 

Hey, I knew that:rolleyes: just forgot:p

 

Have been to Canberra twice now, once to catch up with my lovely girlfriend who passed away recently, and last August where I met up with the lovely ADF:) I love Canberra, Andy and I want to go back and spend some time at the War Memorial.

 

Chez

xx

[Skyrules]

Hey, I knew that:rolleyes: just forgot:p

 

Have been to Canberra twice now, once to catch up with my lovely girlfriend who passed away recently, and last August where I met up with the lovely ADF:) I love Canberra, Andy and I want to go back and spend some time at the War Memorial.

 

Chez

xx

 

Allow yourself plenty of time for the War Memorial - we spent 4 1/2 hrs there and still didn't see everything.

 

On reflection it would be better to go twice to break it up, we found that by the time we left we had a feeling of war fatigue. And best of all it's free - so you can go as often as you like.

[MsMinx]

Welcome back boys! Glad to hear you both enjoyed your two nighter :D Hope you got plenty of photos for us? :D

[Skyrules]

Welcome back boys! Glad to hear you both enjoyed your two nighter :D Hope you got plenty of photos for us? :D

 

About 500 photos including our Canberra ones!! I've got to make a quick (unexpected) trip to Melbourne this weekend, so probably won't get a chance to do anything with the photo's until next week.

[Seadreams27]

Enjoying the review so far.

Sounds like you both had a great mini holiday.

Know what you mean about the war memorial, been there

about 4 times and always manage to spend a couple

of hours each time. Great place, even the kids

loved it:)

[surfoz]

Enjoyed Part 1 thanks!

[karmac]

Welcome back fellas. Glad you had a good time & I'm looking forward to the next part.

 

Don't suppose Demo mentioned if he's ever going over to the Dawn )preferrably in March next year:) )??

[karmac]

Good review, I wondered what it was like to sail from Brisbane and out via Caloundra, as I live (and have done for the past 35 years) at Caloundra, so seeing ships sail past so close is an everyday thing. When we cruised we went on the Pacific Sun out of Sydney, great experience as well, as it is a beautiful harbour.

I have only ever flown out of Maroochydore (just up the road) twice, and that is in the past 3 weeks, always going out of Brisbane before, so that was exciting as well.

 

 

OMG Val, where have you been?? It's good to see you back. I was just thinking of you the other day. I was going through some old emails & there was one from you.

Interesting to see your countdown clock. I can't believe it's almost 2 years. Where does the time go???

[tgard76]

Good review, I wondered what it was like to sail from Brisbane and out via Caloundra, as I live (and have done for the past 35 years) at Caloundra, so seeing ships sail past so close is an everyday thing. When we cruised we went on the Pacific Sun out of Sydney, great experience as well, as it is a beautiful harbour.

I have only ever flown out of Maroochydore (just up the road) twice, and that is in the past 3 weeks, always going out of Brisbane before, so that was exciting as well.

 

 

Hi Val,

How close to the coast do the ships get when they go past Caloundra? Is it easy to see and identify them? I have just moved to the beautiful Sunny Coast and would love to get down to Caloundra to see them pass.

 

Trevor.

[Ela 2]

Hi Val,

How close to the coast do the ships get when they go past Caloundra? Is it easy to see and identify them? I have just moved to the beautiful Sunny Coast and would love to get down to Caloundra to see them pass.

 

Trevor.

A lot of my childhood was spent at Caloundra, and I remember watching the ships from our house. (Personal note - My years in the sun left a lot of skin damage and caused melonomas. I am now sitting with one leg propped up after surgery on it yesterday.)

 

The schedules of the P & O ships in and out of Brisbane mean that they pass Caloundra at night. It takes between 4 and 5 hours for the ship to travel from Caloundra to Portside. You would certainly see the lights of the ship from Caloundra. After the pilot leaves the ship when she is off Mooloolaba, it turns further out to sea.

 

On the last 2-nighter (B'ne to Sydney) I had someone near me surprised that we were going north when Sydney is to the south. Duh!!:)

[Riffraff]

Ok, here's the rest of it..

I'll post it in two posts because it's quite long...

 

Woke up the next morning at about 8.00. Looked out the window and we could see land. I was wondering how far out we would go, and according to the midday announcement from the bridge it was 20 nautical miles – so we could see land all the way.

There was a big container ship heading north – the first of about 12 ships that I saw during the day.

We went up to breakfast at the buffet – I really like the buffet area on Pacific Sun but having the separate areas for hot food, cereals, danishes and pastries makes it a bit awkward, Pacific Star’s seems a better design where everything was together. I guess having it split like that means that there are less people queued all in one place. The queues weren’t too bad, we didn’t have to wait long at all.

Anyway, the food was of course really good, and a good selection.

We noticed they were being very scrupulous with the hand-sanitising. Not only did they have the dispensers on the wall, but also people giving a squirt of gel as you picked up your plate which was good to see.

We’d checked the Pacific Daily and there was the usual stuff to do. We decided to go and have a look at the shops. The souvenir shop wasn’t open, the sign said that it was due to open at 10am. Inside we could see boxes everywhere, some marked with ‘Transfer from Pacific Star’ and some from Sapphire Princess as well.

When the shop opened we had a look inside, they had some nice stuff and we bought a couple of things. We’d already bought our embarkation photo as well, so our spending was off to a good start! I liked the background of the embarkation photo – an image of the ship photoshopped to be docked beside the Story Bridge.

We were being good – we resisted the photo shops deal of buying both embarkation photos (2 different backgrounds), a scrapbook photo album and 2 stock photos of the ship for $49.95.

After the shopping we went for a walk around, had a coffee at the Gazebo Bar, checked our emails, and then before we knew it it was time for lunch. We had lunch at the buffet, and sat outside by the pool. The weather was great – warm and sunny, and the seas were really calm. Boringly calm, actually… I would have liked there to be some movement other than the constant mild vibration that Sun seems to have. But I’m strange like that, I prefer it to be a bit rough, you feel like you’re at sea then.

Even though it was only one day at sea they still managed to fit in an art auction. We went along because we’d seen some Godard paintings around the ship, the ones with the olives (my avatar is one of them). We decided not to get one – but we did see some nice paintings of ships that we liked – they were unframed, cheap ones so we got one of the Queen Mary 2 and one of the original Queen Elizabeth.

We didn’t stay to see the rest of the auction, we decided it was time to head off to the back pool for a swim, and then back to the cabin to get changed for dinner.

The dress code for tonight was "Formal or Smart Casual" – because I guess not everyone brought their formal stuff since it was only 2 nights. We had ours, well a shirt and tie anyway, we didn’t bother with jackets. I’d say about half were dressed up, and half in smart casual.

They had delivered the disembarkation leaflets to the cabin in the afternoon, and we discovered they’d changed the system slightly. I’d seen on the internet that Princess in the US had changed their procedures, and now P&O have followed suit. It’s not that much of a change, you still get allocated a coloured luggage tag – but instead of gathering in any public lounges and waiting for announcements, each coloured group is allocated a particular public lounge where they meet, and there is a crew member in the lounge who announces when the people in each colour can disembark.

I thought they may have had the allocated tables for dinner tonight, but it was open sitting again. Once we’d got ready we put our bags out for collection, and we decided to go and get our photos taken. Then we had a small spend on the poker machines before heading down for dinner. Again it didn’t take long at all to get seated, and as the table filled up the waiter took our order.

I prefer the fixed sitting dinners because you get to know your waiters, but open sitting has it’s advantages as well, mostly the flexibility to eat whenever you like.

The menu was the Australian Dinner – the one they usually have on the last night. I had the chicken again, and the pavlova for dessert. (Why they have a New Zealand dessert on an Australian dinner I don’t know!!!!) (OK, don’t shoot me down for that..couldn’t resist…)

 

More to follow...

[Riffraff]

Part 3...

 

Even though dinner was open sitting, the show was geared for the first/second sitting system – and because people were eating to fit in with whichever time of show they wanted, dinner seemed to separate into two sittings naturally anyway. The first show was at 6.45 and the second at 8.15, so we went to the 8.15 one.

We’d had mobile phone reception nearly all the way down, although mostly only on the starboard side of the ship, closest to land. I rang my brother to arrange when & where to meet them in the morning.

Demo came on stage to announce the show – we hadn’t seen enough of him this cruise, I guess he was busy planning the 42 days ahead! The show was a brand new one – it was the first time it was staged. It was called Cinematastic, and it was a great show. Demo said that there are several new shows coming - and watching Cinematastic I think I figured out why. With Pacific Star leaving, all P&O ships now have a 2-storey showlounge – so now they can have shows that involve more jumping, swinging and twirling without worrying about concussion from the low ceiling! There was a fair bit of swinging dancers around in this show, it was really good. But the singers did let it down a little bit, they weren’t the best we’d seen. And also the setting wouldn’t have helped.

I know I rave on about how horrible the Atlantis Lounge is, :rolleyes: but it’s not just that I don’t like the décor. I reckon that if you put on a show, which is bright, colourful and loud, in surroundings that are already bright, colourful and loud, you lose a bit of the impact.

Give me a paintbrush and two different shades of a nice subtle colour and I’ll happily paint it for them! (Plus a free cruise, of course):D

After the show we went to the Speakeasy for a cocktail, and then a bit more of a wander around and a coffee out the back before we went to bed – ready for an early start in the morning.

Woke up in time to get organised and get up the front to see us sail into Sydney Harbour – a really impressive sight. We’d been told by Demo, and in the Pacific Daily, that we were going Circular Quay – but even as we turned towards the Overseas Passenger Terminal people were still convinced we were going under the bridge.

After we pulled up alongside we went back to the cabin and got our bags, and went to Terraces lounge to wait for disembarkation. It took a bit longer than I expected, but we we were off at about 9.00, having tied up at just after 7.00. We were about the 4th group called.

After that we went and met up with my brother and his partner and had brunch at Circular Quay, watching the workmen give Pacific Sun another touch-up of paint.

After that we went to Central, got the train to Canberra which was a good trip, and arrived at around 4.15.

Spent the next few days exploring Canberra, and despite their best efforts to hide the shops we did find some – although we only accidentally stumbled across a MacDonalds on our last day there.

We explored the War Memorial which was great, so impressive and so much to see. We also explored Old Parliament House, I stood on the steps and did Gough’s “Well may we say God save the Queen….”speech, (fortunately we were the only ones there). That was really interesting as well. We spent several hours at each place. We also went up Black Mountain Tower and went to Cockington Green Village, caught up with friends, and after 3 days there it was time to come home again!

It was a great trip – It was strange to have the ‘first day at sea’ feelings mixed with the sadness of the last day of the cruise, and we didn’t get to know our cabin stewards at all – only saw them once..but it still felt like a good break and it’s a great idea for people who don’t know if they could handle a longer one or not.

There seemed to be a mix of people who had stayed on from the previous cruise, people like us doing the 2nighter, and people starting the Cherry Blossom cruise early.

I’m glad we got to go back on Pacific Sun again – I’m looking forward to going back on board in January for my birthday cruise.. and of course we’ve got the cruise on Pacific Dawn coming up in September… can’t wait!

[baycruising]

Now very excited about the reverse 2 nighter in April after reading your great review. It sounds as if it will be a fun weekend and just right for convincing my "other half" that a longer trip would be great. Sailing out of Sydney at night will be awsome I'm sure.:)

[Suncoaster]

Hi Karen I will e-mail you in the next couple of days, as yes Calula is planning a cruise for her 21st Birthday, which is not till Sept 2010.. She has suggested going on the Dawn, so I'll want to know comparisons etc.

Been travelling Aus in a caravan, lately, but I'd be on another cruise tomorrow if I had the chance..

Will be in touch,

Val

[Ela 2]

Hi Martin,

You mention that you went into the Speak Easy lounge on the last night on the Pac Sun after the show. Did you by any chance sit just inside the door with your backs to the glass wall?? We were there at that time sitting fairly near the door.

[Suncoaster]

Trevor (Tgard76) they are only 1 km off shore at Caloundra. You can get the shipping info on the net for Brisbane port, so you know what is coming and going. But when it is something special like Queen Victoria, we ring the Pilot station and ask at what time it will pass Caloundra. The night she went passed, half of Caloundra were out for a look and there was little parkiin around the headland. Biggest excitement was when the Anro Asia ran aground back in the 80's (I think).

You sure need to keep your wits about you if you go out there fishing, those ships are big, when you are only in a fishing boat.

Val

[Skyrules]

Hi Martin,

You mention that you went into the Speak Easy lounge on the last night on the Pac Sun after the show. Did you by any chance sit just inside the door with your backs to the glass wall?? We were there at that time sitting fairly near the door.

 

Yes we did sit on the side by the glass... We spent some time taking photo's of our cocktails!!

 

Kym

[Ela 2]

Yes we did sit on the side by the glass... We spent some time taking photo's of our cocktails!!

 

Kym

We were sitting in the centre of the room in the chairs closest to where you sat. I was sitting with my husband facing you, then a friend came and joined us. I thought it might have been you when you said you wore shirts/ties but no coats, and that you went to lounge at that time. Small world.:)