Review - Pacific Sun Qld coast cruise N904

[Riffraff]

Here I go with a review of our cruise. Been back a couple of weeks now, so it's high time I got organised and posted my review!

 

Saturday Jan 24 – Day 1!

 

We got a taxi for the 5 of us going from our place to Portside Wharf. Coming along Kingsford Smith Dr we saw the Pacific Sun at the wharf (from it’s ugliest angle, the rear!) We’d seen it there before but this time was more exciting because we were going on it.! Two of our group haven’t been on her before, and one of those hasn’t been on a cruise before, so their excitement rubbed off on us as well.

We were dropped right outside the terminal building, so we unloaded our bags and checked them in.

We joined the queue to check our bags in, and were told we would need our tickets and photo i.d. to check them in. When we got to the counter, we handed our bags over, they checked our tickets, and that was it. The others in our group not only had to produce their tickets, but also their photo i.d. It was the first of a few examples of inconsistencies we noticed.

Then Kym and I left our group in the nice cool air conditioned terminal and walked over to the motel over the road where the remaining 2 in our party of 7 had stayed the night.

 

We met up with them and walked back with them and their luggage to the wharf, they checked it in, and then we gathered in the check-in area. Once we’d got ourselves sorted out, we joined the fast-moving queue to check in. It was just after 10am when we checked in, and we got check in group E.

 

We checked in with our passports, since we’d decided to take them. Kym’s was fine, but the girl had a bit of an issue with mine since it’s a NZ passport issued in Australia.. there seemed to be a problem with an Australian-issued NZ passport confusing things, so we just used our drivers licences instead and there was no problem.

We sat and waited, got some drinks from the little café bar table set up, and got excited that we would soon be boarding! It seemed a very short time for our boarding group to be called. Actually in our group of 7 one had group D, 4 had group E and 2 had group F, but they said we could all go through on group E, so we did.

We walked through the empty area where Customs would be if this wasn’t a Qld coast cruise, and up to Security.

This was our first encounter with the group of people that we were going to have the most niggles about for the whole cruise – Security.

It was here that there was more inconsistencies.

We were walking along in our group when the line split in two to go through the two Security x-ray machines. I stayed in the main line with some others from our group, and 3 went into the other line.

As they got to the walk-through screening machine, they had to remove their hats, AND their prescription glasses – not just sunglasses, but their ordinary glasses as well. They then had to hand these over to the security officer, who grabbed them and threw them roughly into the carry-on bags, and then threw the bags in the x-ray machine and ushered them through. Kym’s Mum’s bag was simply a calico bag which landed heavily and with books and so on inside, her glasses could easily have broken – luckily they didn’t but she wasn’t happy! It wasn’t a good experience – the security officers are at the start of the exciting trip onto the ship and a bad experience there really upsets the whole “getting on board” excitement.

They were told that the removal of all glasses was policy – which was news to the 4 of us who’d gone through the other queue, and not had to take off our glasses at all! If it's policy, they should all do it!

 

After that we proceeded up to the embarkation photo, by which time we were happy and excited again, and especially so when we could see and hear the dinger machine!

Suddenly we were on board – yay! And it was only about 11.15 so it didn’t take long.

Apart from the issue with security rough-handling the glasses, the boarding process was smooth.

 

We went straight to our cabins and explored them – we had a 4 berth this time, and there was enough room for everything. Most important thing – consult the Pacific Daily and find out who is doing what.

Our CD was David Pepper – never heard of him. (It turned out it was his first cruise as CD on P&O) Deputy CD was Sandy. Everything else in Daily looked normal – Welcome Aboard Showtime, etc etc..

While we were in our cabin the guys from the lunch tour walked past – it was great to see familiar faces and meet new ones – great to meet Greg (lias) and see Jo, JP, and everyone else – shame they had to get off but there was no room to smuggle them all in our cabin, sorry guys!

Hunger was calling so we went to find the others in their cabin – they were busy unpacking so we went off to see about lunch. There was some confusion – some staff were saying lunch was only in the buffet, but I was sure I’d read in the Daily that the Burgundy Restaurant was open too. We went up to the buffet queue, but it was very hot up there and Kym went on a reconnaissance mission to see if the restaurant was open (we knew the Bordeaux was closed because of the lunch tour).

When he came back and said yes it was, we went there, and it was much better – cooler and more relaxed.

The lunch menu has changed – it is the same menu every day of the cruise, but there are so many options on it to choose that we never had the same thing twice, and there was still more I wanted to try! All the food on the cruise was wonderful – and the menu has changed since last time. The food has always been good but now it is even better!

After lunch we went up for Sailaway – got the usual cocktail and waved goodbye to everyone on the observation deck. We stayed outside while we went under the Gateway and sailed out to the mouth of the river. Stayed out there until about 3.30, then went inside, unpacked and got ready for the muster drill at 4.00.

After the muster drill I went to the other cabin to see how they were settling in, and while we were there I rang our cabin to tell them “Cruise ship on the starboard bow!” Kym went up and got some good photos as the Paul Gaughin crossed our path in front of us on it’s way to Brisbane dry dock.

Then we got ready for dinner – all our group was on table 22 in Burgundy Restaurant, and we met the lovely Jocelyn and her assistant waiter Carlo.

For dinner tonight I had spring rolls for entrée, Mushroom Risotto for main and raspberry crème brulee for dessert – very nice!

After dinner we went to the Welcome Aboard Showtime, the introductory show so we can see what the entertainment is going to be like. We liked the Pacific Sun Entertainers – lead singers Nick James and Bronwyn Andrews – he’s ok but a bit quiet sometimes, she is very good.

There was a contortionist/acrobat – one half of the duo Pacific Cirque, a guy called Thom. We saw his partner, Tully, playing with his balls around the ship. (He was a juggler, if you were wondering. Although considering how acrobatic they both were, I’m surprised they ever left their cabin… ..)

I enjoyed watching the contortionist,, although there is something creepy about a guy who can put his feet over his head and roll along the floor! And I was also feeling pleased with my own acrobatic abilities, getting up into the top bunk without needing to use the ladder, until I saw Thom perform.

There was also a comedian/impressionist, he was a good impressionist but his routine was a bit tired, I thought. And I haven't made up my mind about David Pepper - he's from England and is very English. He has been the CD on the QE2, and he comes to Pacific Sun off the Queen Mary 2. (Some of us were wondering if he had been naughty and been demoted!

After the show we went to the Speakeasy, which has become our after-show cocktail bar- and had cocktails, and then went to bed.

[Issas]

Ok are we getting more?? Its a great review so far!!

[DICKY BEACH]

Great review so far. We are doing the same cruise in April so really looking forward to the rest of this review.

Frank

[aussie57]

We did that cruise last Oct & we certainly didn't have to remove spectacles! Sounds like Security Guard on a power trip to me

[Riffraff]

Day 2 – At sea – or at least it looks like we are – where’s the movement?

 

Woke up after a good nights sleep. It was great to be in the top bunk – I hadn’t been in a top bunk since Pacific Sky 2004, and it was great to lie in bed and look straight out the window to the sea.

Buffet or restaurant for breakfast? One of many tough decisions you have on a cruise..

The others opted for the restaurant, but Kym and I decided to give the buffet a try, to see if it has improved any.

We collected one of the others from the other cabin who was ready, and we set off for Lido Buffet.

 

It was the first time we’ve been on board since the refurbishment, and it certainly looks much better. I think the nicest area now is the Promenade Lounge, which used to be the Gazebo Bar – the new carpet and furniture here makes the area look really nice, and although I liked the gazebo, not having it anymore makes the area look spacious.

The buffet too looks nicer than it used to, it looks fresh but the improvements are simply cosmetic – the design is still not as good as Pacific Dawn’s is or Pacific Star’s was. The trouble is that people can come at the buffet from all angles, and this creates what I called the Buffet Shuffle, where people who have filled their plates from the sides with the hot food nearly collide with people wanting to go past with food from the cold section or the sushi station, and vice versa, and people who come up the back stairs and walk past the queue to get to the end of it. But I will admit that we didn’t have too much of a queue at any time and also not too much trouble finding a seat.

I did have trouble finding the marmalade & jam for my toast – the toast is at the end of the hot section, but there aren’t packets of jams anymore, just bowls of jam and honey etc at the end of the fruit/yoghurt section, in the middle. Provided you’re prepared for the expedition, you will be rewarded – the food is lovely, and coupled with the sense of achievement when you sit down with your meal, it makes the whole experience worthwhile!

 

After breakfast we wandered around, showing the newbie around the ship and giving us the opportunity to check out the improvements. To avoid a later headache we started in the showlounge, because everywhere looks better than the showlounge!

The improvements look good – I love the look of the Oasis, I love the new Promenade Lounge area, the buffet/pizzeria/Outback coffee bar/Sushi Station/kids meal restaurant area looks much better, the Gym looks good, the circular pool out the back looks better all one colour, the pool area looks tidier without the slide (although comparing it to Pacific Dawn’s huge deck area, it didn’t really make it look any bigger, I thought), and the new china in the restaurants is nice too.

 

Yesterday after lunch we’d had our photo taken with the ‘pirates’ outside the restaurant, so we made our first photo purchase (start as you mean to go on…) and then went into the showlounge to hear a talk on the Great Barrier Reef and on Captain Cook’s exploration of the area from one of the harbour pilots. It was interesting, he could have been a better speaker if he didn’t keep wandering away from the lecturn and then have to walk back to his notes when he needed to remember the next point – but he didn’t do too bad.

Then it was lunchtime. 5 of us met up for lunch at 12.00 in the restaurant, and it was another beautiful meal. We had a nice long leisurely lunch chatting with the 4 others at our table, we spent about 2 hours there! I had the broccoli & gorgonzola penne with chicken strips – it was lovely. Followed of course by dessert, a bitter chocolate brownie with mango ice-cream. Yumm!!

 

After lunch we wandered out the back deck. All day we had been seeing lots of yucky oily looking brown stuff in the water – at first I thought it might have been coming from the ship until I went out the front deck and saw that it was ahead of us as well, and we were sailing through it.

In his talk the reef pilot had mentioned it – apparently it was called detrytis or something, and it was a natural phenomenon caused by the coral in the reef.

So while we sailed through 'coral poo' :) and occasionally getting a whiff of it’s fishy smell, I was getting bored with the motion of the ship – there wasn’t any! Because we were sailing inside the reef, the water was flat calm and so the ship was just sailing ahead at 19.5 knots without any movement at all! If I want to feel like I’m standing still I’ll go to a hotel on land – when I’m at sea I expect movement, dammit!

Seriously though, I was pleased for the 1st-time cruiser in our group that it was so smooth.

 

We went to afternoon tea in the Bordeaux restaurant, and I’m pleased to say they’re really improved over the years – it was as good as the last time, nice fresh scones with jam and cream, and yummy cakes, and even small filled rolls. All totally unnecessary considering there was only an hour and a half till dinner, but never mind it was yummy. Then to counter that our 1st timer went off to the Gym, while Kym and I went and found the others in the Promenade Lounge and headed off to get ready for the 1st formal night.

We got all dressed up and headed off to the Captain’s Welcome Cocktail party. Captain Peter Philpott was a nice guy, he did the usual introduction of the senior officers and the welcome on board while we sipped on our rum punch, and then it was off to dinner.

Kym had organised a birthday cake for me for tonight, and two bottles of champagne, which was great. (I also tried dessert as well – it was the pistachio soufflé which I love!) And of course the waiters came and sang happy birthday

After a (very filling) dinner, we headed off to the Music Music Music show. The Entertainers are very good on this cruise, but I’m getting sick of David Pepper calling them the “Pacific Sun Singers and Dancers”. I guess he’ll get used to calling them Pacific Sun Entertainers. I get the impression he might improve over time as he drops some of his QM2 Englishness and relaxes a bit. Still haven’t made up my mind about him though, others in our group found him really annoying. So far I rank him above Zoltina-J because he has a personality, and above Dan Styne because he doesn’t give me the creeps and seems to be much more genuinely friendly, as opposed to Dan’s fake friendliness.

But he’s no Demo or Adam.

 

After the show some of us went to Name that Tune in the Speakeasy, which we won! The prize was a P&O water bottle each..

Demo was on board, we’d seen him at the wharf and discovered that he’s in charge of the Sit Down Comedy Club on board, in Terraces Lounge. So after our cocktails in Speakeasy we headed up there to meet the rest of our group.

 

We heard from the others next day that Demo was great – a very different style of Demo to the cruise director we were familiar with, making fun of just about everybody. They had a ball – and over the rest of the cruise they would occasionally point out people that Demo had picked on in his routine.

 

We were going to stay, but it was quite warm in there. We’d noticed earlier on the air conditioning didn’t seem to be working properly in some parts of the ship – the cabins were fine though.

So we left our group in Terraces with Demo and decided to head to bed. Still flat calm – lying in bed it feels like we’re still tied up at the wharf!

 

Stay tuned for Australia Day!

[Sundance12]

Can someone plz enlighten me on what that black tube in the drink bottles is for?

[Skyrules]

Can someone plz enlighten me on what that black tube in the drink bottles is for?

 

??????????????

[Riffraff]

Day 3 – Monday - Whitsundays (Australia Day!)

 

We’d seen the first Australia Day thing the night before, when the Pacific Daily for today was delivered – for the day it had been renamed Oz Daily, and instead of being blue and white, it was printed in green and gold.

 

I woke up first, at 7.00, and had a shower while everyone else was asleep. Despite Kym sleeping with his head against the bathroom wall, the noise from the bathroom was very quiet. Must be good insulation in the walls. Also, of all the toilets on all the cruise ships I’ve been on, this one’s gurgly-sucky noise is definitely the quietest. (it’s important for all gurgly-sucky noises to be as quiet as possible.) J

Anyway, moving on.. (how did we get on to that subject..?!)

 

Kym and I, and one of our group from the other cabin, headed down to the restaurant for breakfast. Had a good breakfast – breakfast in the buffet is probably quicker, but it’s more relaxed in the restaurant and since we were in no hurry, it was ok.

The restaurant was decorated with Australian flags and green and yellow balloons everywhere.

Looking out of the windows in the restaurant, the Whitsundays reminded me very much of the Bay of Islands in NZ.

 

We’d arranged to meet one of our friends from Mackay ashore, so after we’d got ready we went and got our tender tickets from the Promenade Lounge, and sat in the seats up there waiting to be called. We didn’t wait too long – several groups ahead of us were called all at once because they were also using a fast cat from shore as a tender, as well as the 4 ship’s tenders. They were loading that from the back, and then they called us down to deck 3 forward, where we got on a ships tender and headed off for Airlie Beach.

 

The previous day at lunch we’d been speaking to two girls who had said how much they were looking forward to swimming at the beach when we got to Airlie Beach.

They were a bit disappointed when we pointed out that not only was there no beach at Airlie Beach, just a place where the rocks meet the sea, but they couldn’t swim in the sea anyway because of the stingers. Luckily for them there is a nice man-made lagoon there (like the beach at South Bank in Brisbane) where you could swim.

 

The tender ride was quite long, about 20-25 minutes, and it was very hot and sticky. Thankfully there was a bit of a breeze coming in, and I kept cool by remembering the tenders on Pacific Star and thinking how much hotter it would be if we were in them!

We docked at Abel Point marina which was nice and modern, and there were lots of locals waiting to guide us around the place, if we wanted. They do a great job and were very helpful, pointing the way into town, handing out maps and so on. There was a shuttle bus to take people into Airlie Beach town itself, or you could walk around the waterfront path. It was not far from the marina to town.

We were met by our friend who took us on a driving tour of the place, up the steep hills to show us all the new developments going on, and to a couple of lookouts where we got great views of the bay and the ship way in the distance. We could see why we had to anchor so far out, the bay was quite shallow for a long way out.

We had lunch at a nice fish & chip shop in town, and even though it had started raining gently we didn’t mind because it cooled us down a bit! After lunch we went for a drive around to Chute Harbour, home to some more big developments and of course several anti-development protest signs.

Some lovely views of the islands from here. Then we drove back, wandered around the lagoon, and headed back to Abel Point, and got back on the tender heading back to the ship.

 

Relaxing on the ship in the late afternoon I saw David Pepper wandering around wearing an Australia Day outfit and carrying a large inflatable hand with the Aussie flag on it. Then later he was holding a large inflatable kangaroo – he seemed to be enjoying Australia Day, and he certainly enjoyed reminding us that it was Australia Day, over and over again. But someone needed to tell Sandy, the Deputy CD from Canada, that dinky-di is not pronounced dinky-dee.

We’d watched the morning show on the TV in the cabin earlier in the day – it’s always fun to watch it and see them try and pretend that it’s actually filmed that morning!

It was during this show that Sandy started talking about things being ‘dinky-dee’. He never corrected it, despite our yelling at the television “it’s dinky-di, you idiot!” (Yelling at the television doesn’t really work at all. We try it at home as well, but it never seems to have any effect!)

 

We walked down to the restaurant for dinner, and in the foyer outside was a large ice-sculpture of the Sydney Opera House, and a big Australian flag cake.

The dinner menu in the restaurant was the Australian Dinner that we’ve usually had on the last day of the cruise – Barramundi, Lamb, etc etc with either Pavlova (it’s nice of New Zealand to lend one of it’s national dishes that it invented to the Australians to help celebrate their day!) or Peach Melba for dessert.

 

After dinner we went to the Australia Day show. We only stayed for the first half, which was the Pacific Sun Entertainers doing a slightly modified version of the final number from the old G’Day G’Day show. It started with the lead singer doing a nice version of My Island Home, and went into the medley of Road to Gundagai, Tie Me Kangaroo Down and so on.

After that we quietly left because we thought it was going to be the comedy impressionist next, and we didn’t particularly want to see him – so we went for a wander to the back of the ship. After gazing at the wake in the darkness for a while we walked back in and caught the tail end of the show – and it was the comedy magician Phil Cass, who was actually quite good, shame we missed him.

After the show David Pepper came out and said that he hoped the singer was going to do it, but she wasn’t able too or something, so he lead the whole showlounge in singing the national anthem. We all stood and sang it, and we all knew more words and did a better job than he did. I guess he hasn’t had time to learn the words yet.

After the show it was back to the usual routine – 2 of our group would go off to the casino, and some of the others & Kym and I went to the Speakeasy for cocktails, and then bed.

 

Tomorrow, Cairns - must remember to take the mosquito repellent!

[MargnGrah]

Hi Martin,

 

Was very happy to finally read some more of your review. Due to to optus server problems I have not been able to read any more than up to day 2 (of the other one)

 

Sounds like you had a great time, and look forward to reading the rest.

[mrssoexcited]

RiffRaff, my hubby and I go on our first cruise in 2 days on Pacific Sun - thank you for putting on this very comprehensive review - he has loved it, particularly the bit about Pavlova. It is his absolute favourite dessert and he was so excited to hear you say that you normally get it on the last night of the cruise. We love you New Zealanders who donated the recipe to Aussies to call their own. Looking forward to the rest of the review!:p

[Riffraff]

Tuesday - Cairns.

 

For some reason I woke up at the ungodly hour of 5.45. Deciding that since I was awake I may as well get up and see where we were, I got changed and went up on to the ODTF (Outside Deck 10 Forward - the open deck bit) with the video camera and watched our arrival in Cairns, and the embarking of the pilot from the pilot boat. The way into Cairns seemed very straight forward - head up the coast and then turn left, and head straight in. I stayed up there until we were turned around and docked at the wharf, then I went back to the cabin and had a shower. It was 8.20 by this time, and the others all eventually awoke and were surprised they'd slept in! At least one of us is not being lazy! Ha ha.

We had breakfast in the buffet, and one of the Steakhouse waiters was coming through asking if anyone wanted to make reservations for the Steakhouse tonight. We'd known that Kym and his folks would be back at 6.30 from their tour and might miss dinner, so we decided to make a booking. That was dinner sorted!

 

They announced that we had to do something I've never done before in all 9 previous cruises - get disembarkation tickets when we're alongside the wharf.

In fact, getting off the ship in Cairns was more involved than getting off the ship in Noumea, Vila or Suva. I wondered why we needed tickets, but I think I figured out a reason. There were two gangways off the ship, on deck 5 midships, the main doors by the pursers office, and deck 3 forward, the tender platform. My theory is that to divide the passengers evenly and avoid queues at one exit, by using tickets they could alternate which exit the groups used.

Anyway, we had shore tour tickets so we didn't need to get tender tickets. Our group of 7 were doing two different tours, so I met up with the others and went ashore, to do the Skyrail and Kuranda train, leaving Kym and his Mum & Dad to do theirs, the trip to the Atherton Tablelands.

 

As we got off the ship we had to lower our bags so the sniffer dogs could see if we were bringing any contraband apples or smuggling small children in our bags, or whatever they were looking for. Obviously all suspicious quarantine activity only happens during business hours, because later when we went ashore they were gone.

Anyway, not a major inconvenience, I was just surprised that a ship with mainly Australians on, mostly from Queensland, in Queensland, provisioned in Queensland, would have been subject to an AQIS exam.

 

We met outside the wharf and got on the tour bus and off to the base of the Sky rail.

Cairns is in the middle of a dengue fever outbreak so we'd all been aware that we needed to use plenty of insect repellent - and after seeing my first mosquito at the Skyrail shop I made sure I was covered!

The trip up the Skyrail was fantastic. Even though it was a warm sticky day it was lovely and cool in the gondola, and the views were great. We got out at both stops along the way and had a wander through the rainforest. Met the tour bus at the top and he drove us to Kuranda - about 30 seconds up the road. We had lunch there at the nice cafe called Banjo's. Next time you're in Kuranda, go there, it was lovely. Then we wandered around the markets, and had an ice cream. Kuranda is only a small place, but I enjoyed it. Met the bus again at 1.30 and he took us back to the Kuranda Railway Station, which is right next to the Skyrail station.

The train trip back was great - it reminded me of the Taieri Gorge train trip we'd done at Dunedin, NZ. Beautiful scenery.

We got back to Cairns at about 4.00, and met the bus outside the station, and he took us back to the ship. The tide had gone out now and the deck 3 doors were now below the level of the wharf, so only the one gangway was in use.

Once back at the ship I went and had a swim in the pool to cool off. The water was very salty but it was a nice swim, not too many people about. The pool is only 4ft 3 deep.

 

I had what felt like two dinners tonight. After my swim and shower I got ready for dinner, we were first sitting at 6.00. Kym and his folks weren't back from their tour, but the others in the group were, so I went to the restaurant and ordered an entree so I could eat with them, and then go off to the steakhouse at 7.30 Because none of the others ordered entree, our lovely waiter Jocelyn organised with the head waiter to bring their main meals out early, so we could all eat at the same time, which was nice of her.

So at 7.30 I left one half of the group and went and had the rest of my dinner with the other half!

 

We had been interested to see how the steakhouse worked now it was in the library - and it works very well. It's much better than just sectioning off a section of the buffet, it feels much more like a proper restaurant - it's a nice room anyway and looks great at night as the steakhouse. But the best thing is the food! The cover charge is $25, and the meals are well worth it. I had fillet steak, which was beautiful, and the others all enjoyed their meals too. Several plates of vegetables are served in the middle of the table, and there is a choice of sauces as well, all included in the price.

We all agreed it was a lovely meal.

 

After dinner Kym and I went ashore and explored Cairns at night. We went to the Night Markets, walked along the Esplanade and then back to the ship around the waterfront. We went back on board and went and had a cocktail to celebrate our first day in Cairns and not getting bitten by any mozzies!

[Riffraff]

RiffRaff, my hubby and I go on our first cruise in 2 days on Pacific Sun - thank you for putting on this very comprehensive review - he has loved it, particularly the bit about Pavlova. It is his absolute favourite dessert and he was so excited to hear you say that you normally get it on the last night of the cruise. We love you New Zealanders who donated the recipe to Aussies to call their own. Looking forward to the rest of the review!:p

 

Glad you're enjoying the review - yes, there will be pavlova, and it's lovely of course!

I'm sure you'll have a great time on the cruise.

[LOVE cruising!]

I have thoroughly enjoyed your review so far, thank you. I was interested to see what was on offer with your intinerary. It all sounds great. I went to Cairns & Port Douglas for my honeymoon (nearly 10 yrs ago), and found that Cairns seems to come alive at night. We also did the skyrail, night markets, etc & loved every bit of it. There are some great places near the markets to eat too. Your review is taking me back.:)

Cant wait for the next installment.

[ktchutney]

Hi Riffraff,

Thank-you so much for taking the time to tell us about your cruise :D. It's the BEST description of life aboard the Pacific Sun I've come across. I'm taking my mum and 2 sons in May and it's great to get an idea about meals etc. And you write beautifully ;)

Cheers, KT

[ktchutney]

Hi Riffraff,

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to write about your cruise - it's the BEST information about life on the Pacific Sun that I've come across!! :D

 

I'm taking my mum and 2 sons on her in May and your diary has given me a great idea of meals etc. And you write beautifully ;) !!

 

Cheers, KT

[ktchutney]

Hi Riffraff,

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to write about your cruise - it's the BEST information about life on the Pacific Sun that I've come across!! :D

 

I'm taking my mum and 2 sons on her in May and your diary has given me a great idea of meals etc. And you write beautifully ;) !!

 

Cheers, KT

Sorry for double-post...

[Riffraff]

Glad you're all enjoying the review. I love reading other peoples so thought I'd better do one of my own!

 

Wednesday - 2nd day in Cairns.

 

It was so weird to not feel any movement in the night (from the ship I mean!) and to wake up in the same place we were in the day before. We had an early start to our tour today, we were all except one doing the Lunch with the Lorikeets tour at the Rainforest Habitat at Port Douglas, and we had to meet at 7.00 on the wharf. So we went and had breakfast in the buffet and then went ashore - no sniffer dogs today, just a straight walk off.

We got into our mini bus with our driver, George. He knew a lot about trees, and pointed them out along the way. Not every tree, thank god, but only what he considered the interesting ones. Even that was several trees too many, but he was nice enough and he also pointed out other scenic wonders as well.

The tour took us up to Mossman where we drove into the gorge, and walked around the rainforest which was really nice - and the swing bridge was fun too. After that we went back to the town of Mossman and had some food. We were filling in time because we didn't have to be at the lunch place till 11.30. George had to think of places to show us to fill in the time - he did a good job of that, but we all agreed that the tour didn't really need to start as early as it had.

 

We went from Mossman to the Rainforest Habitat - a lovely place a bit like Australia Zoo without the hype and the annoying precocious child. We walked around and saw all the birds, got some great photos and also saw the crocodiles, bats, koalas and other wildlife as well.

Lunch was in the large open cafe area in the middle, buffet style, and while you're eating a woman brings around a lorikeet (Lunch with the Lorikeet would be a better name for the tour - there was only one) and it sits on your head and nibbles your hair - it has a taste for hairwax, apparently! Cute little bird, and while it's busy pecking away, the woman takes some photos which you can purchase. You are also allowed to take your own photos, which is good.

Other birds, big herons and egrets and the like, also hang around the tables.

After lunch we got back in the bus and George drove us to Port Douglas, we did a bit of a tour around there, stopped at a nice lookout, and also went to Marina Mirage for shopping and an ice-cream.

My mother and her friend were the last two back on the bus from the shops - typical! Of course I pretended to have no knowledge of these strange late women getting on the bus. "Never seen them in my life before. Aren't late people annoying??"

 

Back to the bus after that, and headed back to the ship, stopping at some lookouts on the way. The road between Cairns and Port Douglas is nice, some great scenery.

Back on board, had a coffee in the Promenade Lounge - very disappointed they don't have the nice warm cookies they used to sell - and then got ready for dinner.

We sailed from Cairns after the main course but before dessert - so after I'd finished my Tropical Rice Iririki, but before my Mango Crème Brulee, we went out to the upper deck to watch ourselves leave. The channel marker lights looked like a runway lit up at night.

Kym and I didn't go to the show tonight, it was the comedy magician Peter Cass. Some of our group went and said he was good, but we gave him a miss. Other things to do - shopping, checking out the photos at the photo shop, and checking the internet.

Tomorrow morning, Willis Island...

[strawberrypatch81]

Loving your review so far. Looking forward to reading more. It is very detailed and enjoyable! :)

[MargnGrah]

Thanks Martin for another fantastic instalment. Wish your cruise was longer as I love reading your review. You have a wonderful way with words and it flows really well.....and very entertaining.:D

[strawberrypatch81]

Looking forward to reading more of your review. Hope you write more very soon! :)

[Riffraff]

I've finished writing it all now, so I'll post it all on here now - happy reading!

 

Thursday - Willis Island, and the opportunity to make "What'cha talking about, Willis?" jokes... sad. :o Don't know if anyone else remembers that TV show. but anyway, on with the review.

 

We had breakfast in the buffet and ate it out on the back deck so we could get a good view of the island. At around 9.30 the faint dot on the horizon had come closer and started to resemble an island. It's very small, about 150m long, with a building on it and a boat anchored nearby, and that's it.

The bridge set up a conversation with one of the 4 people on the island, and they relayed that over the ship's P.A. system. The 4 men spend six months on the island monitoring the weather. Apparently their favourite pastime is snorkeling. That's just as well, they'd be right out of luck if it was snow-boarding.

They released a weather balloon while we were there, and after several minutes squinting into the sky I saw it - it was very small.

It would be strange to spend six months there, but it looked a nice spot. It's about 250km straight out from Cairns.

We lowered the anchor and then promptly raised it again, to fulfill the legal obligations of it being a 'port of call' for customs and duty-free reasons, and then we were on our way, we sailed past Willis Island a bit and then turned to head for Brisbane.

 

After Willis Island had disappeared in the distance we headed off to the showlounge for the culinary demonstration. The Maitre'd is Max Rondoni, and he's a large Italian character. It was a fun demonstration, and they asked for volunteers to come up and try the results. They cooked the Salmon & Vodka Penne (which Dan Styne had described as the 'pissed fish' in a previous demonstration on Pacific Star:)), Chilli Prawns, and Cherry Jubilee.

After the demo was the galley tour, which was impressive. Very clean and well organised, just like the others we've seen. It was while I was walking through the galley that I glanced at the noticeboard and saw a printed out press release announcing that name of the fourth ship is going to be Pacific Pearl. I quite like the name - at least it won't get confused with any Princess ship down here, like the Sun and Dawn do.

 

After the galley tour we went shopping again, and then met up for lunch. This time I had the shepherds pie, which was lovely. After lunch Kym and I went off and had a soak in the spa pool which was nice and relaxing. Then I met up with the very excited first-time cruiser in our group who had become addicted to the afternoon teas, so I went off to have afternoon tea with him although I certainly didn't need it, having not long ago had lunch and dinner was just around the corner!

 

Time to get ready for the Captains Club cocktail party for past passengers, held in the Terraces lounge which I discovered and pointed out to our group as we were about to head off to the showlounge.

We had the usual rum punch, and then listed to the Captain's talk - he announced the expansion of the fleet from 2 to 4 ships - he mentioned the fact that Pacific Dawn's sister was coming down and being named Pacific Jewel - to which most of the room gave a collective 'ahhhhhhh', and then he also announced that the 4th ship would join in late 2010 and be named Pacific Pearl - and everyone gave a collective "ahhhhh' to that too, and very enthusiastically. Judging by the reactions from the people in the room, they're both popular names.

 

After the cocktails, we had some formal portraits taken, and then went down to dinner. I had the Potato & Bacon Flan, the Rigatoni Pasta, and of course Baked Alaska for dessert. Just after our dessert was served they had the baked alaska on parade. It wasn't flaming - apparently there had been an incident with the sprinkler system in the restaurant not liking the flames! The ceiling is quite low in the middle of the restaurant, and if a tall waiter was holding his pudding up (so to speak) it might set them off - but it didn't look as good since they didn't dim the lights. And then Sandy the deputy CD (who could get on my nerves a bit) spoiled it by saying they were all fake moulds anyway!

 

After dinner we headed to the show which was Cinematastic - and very good! Then we hit the casino and the pokies for half an hour, before going to the Speakeasy for cocktails and then the champagne waterfall, held in the Terraces lounge.

During the afternoon I was delighted to see that it was getting a bit rougher, and by 11.15 when the waterfall started it was moving quite a lot at the back. But the waterfall was well built, and champagne is incredibly sticky, so it held together. It did look better than the last one we saw in Terraces, which was a bit of a low-key affair. At least this one the Maitre'd was enjoying and encouraging people to come and pour. Still not the best one I've seen - Pacific Sky in 2004 with Giacomo Messina as Maitre'd and the waterfall set up on the back deck was the best one - but this one was still good.

After our champagne we headed off for bed - last day tomorrow.... sad.

Still, should be a good nights sleep tonight, the rocking motion had definitely got up by this stage.

[Riffraff]

And finally...

 

Last instalment!

 

Friday - last day at sea :(

 

There was quite a bit of motion over night, and looking out the window I could see why - hmm, waves everywhere! Finally feels like we're at sea! Of course I keep my happiness and excitement that it's got rough to myself, don't want to annoy my traveling companions! (They might get a bit sick of me being so cheerful if they're not feeling too good, that's happened before!)

 

It was a fairly relaxing morning for most of us with the exception of our first time cruiser. Sadly a week of having great food, too much baked alaska and the rougher weather had conspired to make him feel a bit off-colour. I found him on the port side in mid ships, looking out over the horizon - he felt fine if he was there, but didn't like spending too much time inside. The wind had got up too, so it was a bit like standing in a wind tunnel out there!

The highlight of the morning was the Meet the Entertainers in the showlounge, which he decided to miss because he didn’t want to risk sitting inside up the front going up and down... and in any case, the show lounge is enough to make anyone ill, just with the patterns on the walls and floor!

So we left him to his horizon-gazing and we went to the showlounge. It was very similar to the meet & greet they'd had on Pacific Dawn - the audience gets to ask any questions and the cast answer them, and then show us backstage. It's always interesting to see backstage - there's not a lot of room back there! I think the key to it is organisation - they know exactly where their costumes are and they are all in order.

And of course going backstage we got to walk past and touch the famous sea-horses. They actually seem to serve a purpose, and that’s hold up the piece across the top of the stage. Still, I noticed they looked worse close up – paint flaking, and even some chips coming off them. If they need a hand to get rid of them, I’m happy if they want to let me at them with an axe!

Backstage this time there was no dodgy writing on the mirrors - on Pacific Dawn we were halfway through the tour when a panicked entertainer realised they hadn't removed some comments written in lipstick on one of the other entertainer's mirrors. Never got to see what it was, but there was quite a laugh over it.

 

After we'd walked through there I went out to check on our sick one - he'd had some food so he felt a bit better. The rest of us went to the buffet for lunch, and chatted about how the cruise had been. As usual when you travel with a group on a cruise, everyone seems to have had different experiences, and were saying hello to different people they'd met that we hadn't, and vice-versa. Our companions went to the trivia quite religiously, so they'd met people that way, whereas we'd been to afternoon tea and lunch in the restaurant, so we'd met different people there.

 

The rest of the day was spent very quietly, and involved packing. Despite feeling like we hadn't bought much, we seemed to be packing away quite a bit more than we'd unpacked.

Had a break for a coffee in the Promenade Lounge, and then got ready for dinner and put the cases out for collection. Dinner was lovely, of course, and it was accompanied by cake & champagne that Kym had organised for his Mum's birthday, a few days after we got back. Champagne for everyone!:D (I was tempted to do a Bubbles DeVere impression, but resisted! Those that have seen Little Britain will know who I mean.)

 

After dinner we had the Starry Starry Night show, which was great, where the Entertainers re-enact scenes from the cruise to a medley of cruise songs.

After the show we went to Speakeasy for the final cocktails (I had a strawberry cloud) and then to bed - I was sad about it being my last night sleeping in the top bunk!

 

Saturday the 31st.

I woke up for some reason at about 2am - and promptly went back to sleep again when I realised the time. Then I woke up again at 4.30 and slowly got up and looked out the window - we were just approaching the Gateway Bridge. That's weird - that makes 2 cruises in a row where I have woken up and looked out the window to see the Gateway approaching.

After a bit more sleep I got up and went up on deck to watch us turn around in the river. Turning was an involved process - we headed over to port, towards the Cairncross dry dock - got a great view of the Paul Gaughin in there. Then we kept spinning around to port until we were facing downriver again, and then reversed backwards and over to the wharf.

 

Went back to the cabin, had a shower, we headed off to breakfast, then came back, got our things together and went up to the Terraces lounge.

We had to meet there at 6.25, and we were only there for about 20-25 minutes before we were called. We disembarked, dinging off for the last time, and walked off into the terminal. Collected our bags, met up with our companions from the other cabin, and then got a taxi van home.

By 8.30am we were home and having a coffee, and another great cruise had come to an end!

A summary:

 

The ship looks good after the refit - didn't try the Oasis because we ran out of time and never really thought of it, but looking through the door it did look a nice area.

 

Likes:

I liked the new menus, and the new dinner plates as well. The single menu for lunch worked well because there were plenty of options.

The Promenade Lounge was a favourite area - the large cane chairs by the window are popular, but it's also nice to sit in the new tables and chairs.

The cabins are big enough for 4, with enough storage space - we put our empty cases under the beds.

The staff, waiters, crew and entertainers were all good - especially the female lead singer. And our waitress & junior waiter Jocelyn and Carlo were great.

The food was wonderful, and I can also recommend paying the cover charge and trying the steakhouse for something special.

 

Having mobile phone coverage for the whole cruise was a novelty – and it meant it was easy to catch up with others in the other cabin, or when we did separate shore tours.

But a word of warning – the coverage on the ship is not local – you’ll need global roaming, and so all calls will cost.

Niggles:

There were some air-conditioning problems in some of the public spaces - some days it was worse than others. According to one of the waitresses in the Speakeasy it did get fixed half way through, (it did improve) but something had gone wrong again. It made the stairwells, the buffet and especially the Speakeasy quite stuffy at times, but fortunately the cabins weren't effected much, ours was nice and cool mostly. And it did seem to be improving towards the end of the cruise –by the last day it was fine.

 

Security - at wharfside (the ones on the ship were fine). The ones at Brisbane were rough and rude with some of our group, and also inconsistent - some had to remove ordinary glasses, some didn't.

 

The niggles were fairly minor compared with the fun and enjoyment we had.

Overall, we had a fantastic cruise, it was great to celebrate mine and mother-in-law's birthday on board ship.

It was also great to cruise with a first timer, because some of his excitement rubbed off on us and we could remember what it had been like for us on our first cruise. 1st timer was hooked, and realised that cruising is great value for money and very easy - they keep changing the scenery every day!

 

Now looking forward to the next one...

[MargnGrah]

Thanks so much for the wonderful review. It really sounds like you had a ball. Isn't it great that your friend (1st time cruiser) has decided that cruising is the way for holidays.

So at Willis Island they actually drop the anchor just so they can sell duty free......interesting..

 

We too are travelling with a first time cruiser (Grahame's sister) and we are getting excited for her, and with her about our cruise.

 

I see that you are doing the 2 nighter to Brisbane, from Sydney on Dawn Princess, there is certainly a lot doing it from over the other "side"

We would have loved to do it as well but we go away every long weekend in June with a group of friends,......maybe another time we will be able to go...

[Skyrules]

Thanks so much for the wonderful review. It really sounds like you had a ball. Isn't it great that your friend (1st time cruiser) has decided that cruising is the way for holidays.

So at Willis Island they actually drop the anchor just so they can sell duty free......interesting..

 

We too are travelling with a first time cruiser (Grahame's sister) and we are getting excited for her, and with her about our cruise.

 

I see that you are doing the 2 nighter to Brisbane, from Sydney on Dawn Princess, there is certainly a lot doing it from over the other "side"

We would have loved to do it as well but we go away every long weekend in June with a group of friends,......maybe another time we will be able to go...

 

Shame you can't make it on the Dawn Princess cruise, but maybe we could catch up for a drink on Friday morning before we board??

[MargnGrah]

Wish we could but we will be on our way up the coast. We usually meet at The Entrance Pub (Central Coast) for lunch.:)

I will be thinking of all and hope that have a fantastic time....:D

 

I know it is a long way off , but in October, on our cruise we call into Brisbane for the day, and was hoping/wandering if we might be able to catch up with you and Martin then????