First Time Cruise with P&O - a little worried

[musicorn]

Hi

I have booked my first cruise with my Hubby and 2 children (13 & 18 years). I booked directly with P&O thinking that would be easier but organising linking flights turned out to be a nightmare.

My 18 year old has a disability so we are not the simple get on - get off fliers due to needing assistance. Every time I contacted P&O I got a different person and it took days to resolve and was quite stressful. We have now got this all sorted.

I have also been reading reviews on the Web (which is how I ended up here) and some of them do not rate P&O or the Pacific Sun highly.

I need some good news stories so I can regain my excitement about this wonderful experience I am about to have. i would appreciatte any info on P&O or the Pacific Sun.

Thanks

Leanne

[Drelix]

Hey leanne ...
I have traveld with a person with disabilitys that was in a wheel chair and if you have any questions about it i will try help out as best i can.

When on bored the staff help people out like that and there is no problems gettin on the tenders and that and on and off the islands..

What cruise you going on and what ship and what port of calls/ islands>

[offagian]

Hi musicorn, I have seen many people with a disability on P&O cruise( australia), you normallyhave a separate counter for boarding, depending on the disability. I personly have seen a few great things provided by P&O and staff for people with a disability on cruises that we have done with them.
With reading of posts on here please keep reading as there are a lot of great posts on here that reflected on this subject.

[musicorn]

Hi Drelix

Thanks so much for the reply. We are traveling from Fremantle on the 31st of January 2010 with stops in Geralton, Broome, Lombok, Padang Bay and Komodo.

It is good to hear that the tender boats are not a problem. My daughter uses a walking frame and can weight bare so she should be fine. Likewise, it is good to hear that there is assistance on board if needed.

I am hoping that now I have paid all of my money, got all of my Passports, completed the Cruise Personaliser and organised my connecting flights and accomodation that I can start to enjoy the planning of the nice things. I have just read so much bad publicity about P&O lately that I hope it will go fine from here.

Once again Thanks for the info.

Leanne

[musicorn]

Hi Offagain

Thanks so much for that. I am hoping things will go well for her once on board and from the posts I am getting here it sounds as if they will be fine. I guess when the phone staff at P&O could not understand what my needs were for her in regard to flights and I was not allowed to speak to the flight organisers, I started to wonder what the cruise would be like.

Thank you once again for your support and information

Leanne

[Drelix]

I have traveled on pacific sun and dawn and they are great ships i have never really had a problem with them and i dont think either has many of the other cruise tragics here.

i think they will help your daugther aboard and maybe able to skip the line for the line up and that and everyone of the staff is friendly and will always try help out where they can ...
I can give you my email address or msn if you want it so you can contact else where its up to you

[offagian]

Originally Posted by musicorn

Hi Drelix

Thanks so much for the reply. We are traveling from Fremantle on the 31st of January 2010 with stops in Geralton, Broome, Lombok, Padang Bay and Komodo.

It is good to hear that the tender boats are not a problem. My daughter uses a walking frame and can weight bare so she should be fine. Likewise, it is good to hear that there is assistance on board if needed.

I am hoping that now I have paid all of my money, got all of my Passports, completed the Cruise Personaliser and organised my connecting flights and accomodation that I can start to enjoy the planning of the nice things. I have just read so much bad publicity about P&O lately that I hope it will go fine from here.

Once again Thanks for the info.

Leanne

I think you wil find that P&O go out od there way to help any body that has a disability.
just remember to tell P&O about your daughters disability and you all will have a great cruise.

[stevedonna]

Leanne

You and your family will have a great time. Yes you do read bad things..that because good news does not sell...

Pacific Sun is a very fine ship, and the staff are helpful and diligent.. It is an older ship, and is only rated as a 3 star, so do not expect the sumptious opulence of the new super liners..but you will not be dissappointed.

It was the ship of our first cruise..and now we are hooked...such was the great experience we had on her.

We had a disabled cabin..and it was just fine. Stop worrying about the things that wont happen..start thinking the positive thoughts about the great holiday that will happen

Steve

[Johhno]

Originally Posted by musicorn

Hi Drelix

Thanks so much for the reply. We are traveling from Fremantle on the 31st of January 2010 with stops in Geralton, Broome, Lombok, Padang Bay and Komodo.

It is good to hear that the tender boats are not a problem. My daughter uses a walking frame and can weight bare so she should be fine. Likewise, it is good to hear that there is assistance on board if needed.

I am hoping that now I have paid all of my money, got all of my Passports, completed the Cruise Personaliser and organised my connecting flights and accomodation that I can start to enjoy the planning of the nice things. I have just read so much bad publicity about P&O lately that I hope it will go fine from here.

Once again Thanks for the info.

Leanne

Hi Leanne
Firstly welcome aboard to Cruise Critic Im sure you will find a wealth of knowledge on this site. ( I did )
Being a local West Aussie and only 20 mins from the Freo passenger terminal where the PS will berth if there is any info I can help with Perth etc please ask away.
Like you i havent been on PS as yet but will be taking a short 3 nighter cruise to no where on Jan 20th with the family,so anything your not sure about on board I might be able to check for you.
Otherwise stay posted as im sure others will have a wealth of info about PS.

Cheers Johhno

[suexxx]

Hi musicorn and family. Welcome to CC. DH and I are on your cruise. Come and join our roll call. Type in Pacific Sun roll calls and choose 31-01-2010. Suexxx

[rkmw]

Originally Posted by musicorn

Hi

I have booked my first cruise with my Hubby and 2 children (13 & 18 years). I booked directly with P&O thinking that would be easier but organising linking flights turned out to be a nightmare.

My 18 year old has a disability so we are not the simple get on - get off fliers due to needing assistance. Every time I contacted P&O I got a different person and it took days to resolve and was quite stressful. We have now got this all sorted.

I have also been reading reviews on the Web (which is how I ended up here) and some of them do not rate P&O or the Pacific Sun highly.

I need some good news stories so I can regain my excitement about this wonderful experience I am about to have. i would appreciatte any info on P&O or the Pacific Sun.

Thanks

Leanne

hi leanne, again welcome to CC and what the other ones have said is good

one other very important thing, you have not mentioned is travel insurance...if you have not purchased it.....get a quote from
http://www.1cover.com.au/ they are very good

enjoy your cruise
rkmw

[aussiedisneyfan]

The staff onboard the ships are great. One thing to note is that I think the official line is that passengers must be able to get on/off tenders themselves. In reality once onboard as long as it isn't too rough the staff will help anyone. Once they have even carried my wheelchair friend.

There is a whole section of these chat boards about cruising with disabilities which might have some pertinant information for whatever concerns you may have.

Have a great time.

[musicorn]

Wow I really can not beleive the amount of support you get on this board. Thank you everybody. I am going to respond to the last lot of messages together, I hope that is o'k with everybody.

Drelix - I think I will hang around here for awhile and see what I can find but if I am stuck i may take your direct contact offer up. Thanks.

Offagain - I informed P&O when I first made the booking so they are aware but thanks.

Steve - your advice is good and that is why I joined here in the hope that I could become more positive and it has wiorked thanks to people like yourself. Thanks

Johno - thanks for the offer of info but we are booked with P&O for our flights and transfers to the port so we should be fine. Thanks

Sue - I will check out the roll after this. Thanks

Ausiedysneyfan - I have just started to discover all of the wonderful topics on these boards. Thanks

It is wonderful to feel so welcome given I am new to this board. Thanks guys.

[buggsy62]

I think you will have a wonderful time. We ruised with P&O and had a ball and have booked our next P&O cruise in January.

Don't believe all the bad write-ups. I did a review of our Sun Princess cruise and later another person did a review of the same cruise and it was so negative I couldn't believe he was on the same one. People being people there are some who will never be satisfied.

Our memories with P&O and Princess are that the crew love helping people. People with diabilities have been on both our cruises and have been treated beautifully ..... I'm sure you will have a ball!

[Forever dreaming]

Hi Leanne,

Welcome to CC. I agree with everyone above. I went on Pacific Sun last April and had a fantastic time. Unfortunately too much sea air had shrunk my clothes by the time I had to get off. You may need to watch out for that !! The staff do a fabulous job helping everyone and do actually go out of their way to help anyone with a handicap. You should be in good hands.
Relax and enjoy, You'll soon be a cruise addict too !

Cheers,
Fiona

[fishtaco]

Originally Posted by musicorn

Hi

I have booked my first cruise with my Hubby and 2 children (13 & 18 years). I booked directly with P&O thinking that would be easier but organising linking flights turned out to be a nightmare.

My 18 year old has a disability so we are not the simple get on - get off fliers due to needing assistance. Every time I contacted P&O I got a different person and it took days to resolve and was quite stressful. We have now got this all sorted.

I have also been reading reviews on the Web (which is how I ended up here) and some of them do not rate P&O or the Pacific Sun highly.

I need some good news stories so I can regain my excitement about this wonderful experience I am about to have. i would appreciate any info on P&O or the Pacific Sun.

Thanks

Leanne

Hi Leanne welcome aboard our cruise!

You will have a ball on the Pacific Sun.

Just a quick mention about Ports, In Bali the roads/pavements/walkways sometimes leave a lot to be desired! I would imagine Lombok and Komodo to be worse.

the pavements tend too be very high from the roads because of flooding and they tend not to drop lower even at crossings. Also The drainage runs under the pavement so sometime you have to dodge the the bits that have collapsed!

Mobility can be a problem in some places with pedestrians sharing narrow roads with motorbikes and cars,some of these roads being only wide enough to fit one car so everybody has to move out of the way to let them pass.

They don't have many disabled Taxi,s but there are many many 8 seater vans called bemo,s that you can hire quite cheap!

Have you enquired about P&O shore tours for people with limited mobility?


See you over at rollcall


Den