fishtaco

Pacific Explorer 3rd April-15th April Ships getting very old and tired but was good to cruise on a smaller ship for a change. The main Pro to this cruise was Freo -Freo and the fantastic weather this trip always offers. The Cons were plenty though lol The sheets and quilt in our balcony cabin had blood stains first day and we requested them changed but linen throughout the cruise had stains that obviously could not be washed out and should be replaced. The food was well Just OK and got a bit boring towards the end of the cruise with menus never seeming to change much. Quite a lot of the food is frozen pre packaged microwave or oven ready even the pastries which are in no way were Danish Pastries of old! Truffle Parmesan Fries in Lukes at Dinner which were frozen shoestring chips double fried. The rest of Lukes was good and worth the extra cost though. Dragon lady, tried it 3 times and the only Asian food in this place was Rice lol everything ordered was just covered in Oyster or Hosin sauce squirted on top! 3rd visit we requested no sauce on a few dishes and it took a bit of time as it had to be cooked fresh. Angelos Had a few good meals but when an Italian restaurant has Mac&Cheese as a main dish every night you have to question its. authenticity. Have not cruised P&O for 12 years and the food was always the strong point for us but sadly like everything else it has taken a deep dive. If they did offer a Gally tour it would have been of freezers and microwaves with cooks and no Chefs lol We got charged for visas onboard even though we had visas already but after a few calls to Guest services the $50pp was refunded. (do people not realize you can just call Guest Services from your cabin and save lining up in long ques)? The free comedy shows were laughable "in my opinion" and less than 2nd rate but I don't like shows anyway so wasn't about to pay $30pp to see any of the others! No real complaints about anything just my opinions and past comparisons of P&O! Most complaints and there were many were from cruisers who could not get off the ship Early in Broome and Early in Bali for booked drivers and self tours which should be expected by all but "new cruisers" given docking or anchoring in port is not an exact timetable to follow and ships tours always take priority especially when late in port.! Arrived in Lombok to Ramadan and the complaints were flying everywhere because almost everything was closed, I am sure if P&O would have announced it was Ramadan most would have cancelled their shore tours so bit sneaky of P&O as they would have known way ahead when arranging ships tours. We expected late shore disembarkations so just adjusted our time ashore accordingly and let the scramblers fight for early positions and get nowhere in a hurry! we are booked again on Explorer in Feb out of Freo so know what to expect and will adjust our tastebuds accordingly lol Overall it was a great cruise, kids never seemed to be a problem even though it was school holidays but I do believe The Sanctuary should be adults only again because once discovered it became a toddler paddling pool area, this I believe because P&O no longer have pool attendants.

Found a small gold ring possibly child's? In balcony cabin 11175 Pacific Explorer. Doing a last min check before getting off and found a small gold signet ring behind the bedside table, looks like Asian Gold hand made with a small diamond and an initial. I will post on FB as well but could have been lost some time ago as I cant imagine staff moving bedside tables too often to clean behind them!

Nobody drinks wine by the bottle or Nobody cares less? lol CC has really gone down hill since my few years cruising absence! just as CruiseLine's have! Lol

No Stress! If you have paid you have paid 🙂 This is the most " Non Informative" Cruise we have ever done on any CruiseLine! We have actually done this same cruise with P&O twice before (although a few years ago)! Does your party have shore tours booked for Komodo? You cant get off the ship unless you have an official tour booked! Aso re Lombok you can get ships transport to Sengiggi and pay for day use at quite a few Sengiggi Resorts. Cheers Den

In the MRD/DL /Angelos Cab Sav or Merlot? Cheers

Dont forget (if you haven't already done) you need to do your online arrival tax documents and have a barcode for it at boarding, you don't pay the $15pp tax upfront it is deducted from your cruise card, this is a new tax Indonesia have put on travellers. You will find instructions in P&O,s "Manage My Booking" top right email envelope.

No more captains drinks for previous cruisers? No more formals no tablecloths in the MDR what next bring a packed lunch for Sailaway lol, Not sure why I am laughing? 2pm check-in buffet closes at 3 for a 4 sailaway!

I never get a chance to wear one of my many suits except Cruises and Funerals lol

Now there are no formal nights is there any point taking a suit? I wont be taking a dinner suit for same reason but should I bother packing any suit? Cheers

If you are doing the Fremantle to Fremantle Indonesian cruise they will do it onboard. We were asking for weeks some P&O staff said you had to get it yourself others you could get it onboard! We got an email last week saying they do it onboard but only for AU NZ passport holders. We got ours online from official site, I got my visa Tracey did not? after about a week she started getting emails with her passport photo saying hi! Embassy in Perth said the official site is not secure, took us about 3 weeks and many complaints until we were able to hunt down her visa via the secure payment system chatline. P&O are very slow at giving correct information. If you log into your cruise control there are emails top right you will start getting correct information and instructions 2-3 weeks from sailing.

P&O AU have a total breakdown in Cruiser Information re Indonesian Visas Lol. Everyone on the Indonesian cruises by now would have received notification that the "Visa On Arrival" can be done onboard as in previous Freo To Indo cruises although P&O info said different LMFAO! The stress relief of getting your own B1 VOA or not came way way too late! Even though Corporate told me it could be done onboard as in previous AU- Indo cruises, call centre staff had "No Idea" and told all cruisers they need to get it "themselves" Some even paid $60+ each above the visa cost for T/As to get it for them! For me this is a serious breakdown in communication information issued to P&O call centre staff! Its like this, we are well travelled and like to be "On The Ball" re visas for overseas cruises But the P&O info for this cruise caused us (and I am sure many others) massive stress. Both Tracey and I have spent Hours and Hours with P&O on both the phone and via email! Then to make it worse the Indo Embassy told us after a visit in the Perth CBD that the online site for B1 VOA is not safe for information sharing?? This was proven to us by Indo scammers contacting Tracey by email posting her passport Pic saying "Hi would you like to meet up"? We had to get a direct address from Indo Embassy to search for Tracey, paid for VOA! I also got banned from Facebook and A strike from CC for venting my frustration. P&O really need to lift their game plain and simple ! P&O Au no table cloths no loyalty programme! "non travelled overseas" call centre staff obviously paid peanuts lol I have one more P&O booked for next year and then we are "Out"!

I might just get to Terminal check cases and have a casual lunch Ashore until check in! By the way my Email has been spammed by official Indonesian Visa site! We visited Indonesian Embassy yesterday and they told us the official online visa application is not safe? Who would have Thought! My house has probably been sold with the info We had to provide, ID theft runs very deep. 😞

I dont eat as much as I used to but in the past it was a scramble to get early boarding! this time we actually chose 2pm for a 4pm sailing because we are leaving from home port. I might change it to 1.30pm so I can get a small nibble.

Because our cruise does not have any formal nights when and where do you get the canapes? We have them on 2 nights come with the Ultimate Romance Package. Cheers

Do you reckon we will still have time to eat? Buffet closes at 3pm Cheers