Pacific Pearl, "mini suite " fare extras?

Hi,

My wife and I are going on a P and O, 4 day cruise from Auckland to Sydney.

So we thought it would be great to have a mini suite on the pacific pearl.Never really ever had anything like a suite before.

Now we are wondering about the "extras" that come with the much higher fare pricing to have a suite.

We arrive in Auckland at 10 am. What does it mean when told you have "priority check in" but the E ticket, states that your check in time is 1 pm?

How does the "priority check in" really work? Is it likely we will be hanging around queems wharf for 3 hours waiting to "check in" anyway?

How about "complimentary dressing gown and slippers" . What does that mean?

We hear that there is a pillow concierge. What/who is that ?

We were told you will greeted will a glass of bubbly. Really?

cheers

thanks for your advice in advance

Not having been in a Mini-suite I can only make comment based on what we had in a cabin. But the MS is just a balcony room that is slightly larger and has a couch. Many people aren't impressed with what they get for the extra money.

However if you spend a lot of time in your room it could be very good. Although try to get one that is well placed - we had a number of complaints from MS people who could hear the deck chairs being put out at 5am, people on the running track etc.

As for the check in - on cruise control you can pick what time you want to check in. The queues aren't too bad, so this benifit can be nominal (The pearl isn't that big really).

3 hours is highly highly unlikely. At most 30min would be the longest you would wait.

The robe & slippers is a waffle robe and flat slip on slippers.

The pillow concierge is a pillow menu - you can request from your cabin steward different types of pillows.

Not sure on the glass of bubbly - maybe in your room but anything on deck expect to pay for.

Not matter what you will love the cruise. The Pearl is a great girl :)

Having cruised on the pearl in a mini suite, you should be checked in and boarded as soon as you wish to be .... but the staff at check in arent always familiar with that privilege and will try to put you "in the queue". Just quietly remind them and it will be fixed.

The other cabins have to pay if they use their dressing gown or slippers, you do not.

Pillow concierge: not happy with your pillows then request different ones. We got completely new ones still sealed when we asked for ours to be exchanged.

Glass of bubbly? Cant remember, we always travel suites so this is nothing extraordinary. Our last cruise on the Solstice our butler gave us multiple bottles of complimentary champagne during the cruise.

We had a mini suite last year on the Pearl. Apart from Priority Check In (not much use as we were checking in with others), and the nicer room, we had fruit basket and 2 glasses of bubbly on arrival. Canapes only on formal nights, but the best bit was special tender tickets for any time we were tendering off. That was actually quite useful. It was a bit of a come down from the Dawn a few years ago when we had a suite, and along with it free laundry, canapes every night, priority check in and tendering. Not sure if that was the difference between a suite and mini suite, or just P & O cutting back. Hard to know. But the extra real estate was nice even without the other tizzy bits.

A mini isn't a real suite, just a bigger cabin, with a few (very few) extras thrown in.