Scottygirl1
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Posts posted by Scottygirl1
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An interesting perspective from this blog regarding the incident on Pacific Dawn.
He speculates that indeed many people do 'fall' off ships. He also asks why witness stories of the incident were discounted ie, that she was vomiting. One could even suggest that if you felt sick you would quickly go toward the balcony. I am hoping that the CCTV footage of this is overwhelming in it's evidence that this was a deliberate act otherwise it is incredibly hard for the family to accept this.
Looking at the water shown where the life ring was thrown in doesn't look very rough to me (considering cruises I have been on and water I've sailed on). Also the deck they show in the photo, which is apparently where she fell/jumped from is not the top deck as was reported. The top deck does not have a deck above as shown here. The deck shown is the lifeboat deck.
Also to the commenter above who suggested some here were being insensitive etc - I don't think anyone here has been anything other than caring and sad regarding this. I too lost a family member to suicide last year which was completely out of the blue. I would even suggest that most people have some level of mental illness in their families and we are all aware of the risks and sadness this brings.
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Definitely don't use your mobile! As soon as you are at sea it switches to emergency SOS marine and that is horrendously expensive. Whatever you do switch your phone to flight mode onboard to avoid those charges. Even logging on the a minute will cost about $30.
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Perhaps not, still I think that will be little consolation to the kids not having their mother. So ad for them, my heart goes out to those kids, especially if they witnessed it as well.
Apparently, according to the news, the kids were not there thankfully.
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Police have been no where near the Pacific Dawn! ( I know I am still on her!).
I bet police will be on as soon as we dock in the morning.
Sorry, I meant to say that police will board here as soon as she arrives (I incorrectly stated that they had boarded her). I agree that no one could trip and fall off. The news item says she "launched" herself off... I'm trying to imagine how one would do that? Certainly it's a deliberate act. Very sad for her family.
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The latest news report indicates that (sadly) the lady jumped. Her husband tried to stop her, but couldn't.
OMG, that's dreadful. I know that what was initially reported had changed and that police boarded the ship immediately. Wow, just awful.
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I have a photo of myself and daughter standing on deck 14 of Pacific Jewel and the railing is just above out waist. If this woman was taller and leaning over and the ship lurched I can totally see how this could happen. The photos we took on our balcony, the railing is even lower and it would not have been too hard at all to fall over given the right set of circumstances. As I said, on Ovation the Seas this simply would not have happened as all the balconies were much higher everywhere.
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There are only three ways you can fall of a cruise ship.
1.) suicide
2.) murder
3.) deliberate/negligent/skylarking behaviour.
Just heard on the radio that P&O has disputed the version of events and that police will begin an investigation when the ship docks in Brisbane. Police are to meet the ship. The coroner has ordered the police investigation and they will not speculate further at this stage.
Normally I would agree with you but if you look at the photo on one of those links, the height of the railing is waist height. If you were leaning over being sick and the ship lurched that side due to high seas it is entirely possible to fall over. I know the railing on the Ovation of the Seas we were just on was much higher everywhere in the ship and it would have been impossible to accidentally fall overboard.
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Edit, sorry there is another thread about this :)
Just in the news.
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We were there in February and didn't see any.
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My sister and my niece are on Pacific Jewel now and are LOVING their cruise!! They said the food is amazing and everything is fantastic.
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Strewth, that is expensive!!! And as you say, nought to do with exchange variance. I think I'll stick with my regular bar there [La Barca] , when I am there in a couple of weeks :)
This was at the bar at Novotel in Anse Vata. We chose the cheapest wine and a standard beer. To be fair though they did give us some peanuts :)
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No this was correct (well to be exact it was $43.01). Here is the breakdown from our credit card: XPF 2950 converted at 70.2883 which included a conversion charge of $1.04. I remembered there was a reason why we didn't want to holiday in New Calidonia again!!
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To be honest ,if you are smart about buying the drinks the prices are reasonable.
We went to a pub in Hobart and bought two pints of boags ( a local beer ) and a scotch and dry ,it come to $32 .
We said let’s go back to the ship,it’s cheaper.
In Noumea we bought a house wine and a beer - that came to $NZ 45 !! We also went back to the ship :)
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We found the only wine we liked was very expensive by the bottle and the glass we got ($14 but on the package) was a very generous size. The wine that was $9 a glass was way too sweet for me. I do think though that had we not got the package I would have learned to enjoy it as I hate spending too much!! Also I think my husband would have had more beers than glasses of wine as the beer was cheaper.
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I love Picton and can't wait to get back there. My grandparents and mother were from there many moons ago. Such wonderful memories.
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Actually to add to my original post... there are so many cruises coming into and out of Auckland during the peak season I'd be very surprised if they couldn't cruise here, spend a week or more and then get another ship out of Auckland. Look at this schedule... so many ships. http://www.poal.co.nz/operations/schedules/cruise
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This might sound odd but you can do freighter voyages... the cargo ships have passengers on board too. My sister travelled from USA to NZ like this. Not as crazy as it sounds if someone doesn't want to fly. Here's the link:
https://www.freightertravel.co.nz/freighter-voyages/travel-options/
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I think you will be better off paying as you go with the drinks, otherwise you will be drinking for the sake of chasing what you paid. I know it is a holiday and such but realistically having a big day and/or evening with the alcohol is fine but you wouldn't want to do it every day. Your body will need a break. Port days also means that you really only have time for a few drinks in the evening. I think you would be better of PAYG and buying the coffee card. At the very least I know you will not be spending $1300.
I agree that PAYG is good if you really don't drink much... but... we were ahead after 4 wines or two cocktails and two wines. Our deal worked out to be approx $US 48 a day so it wasn't hard to make on the deal each day. I also got heaps of water and some coffees which was great.
To the original poster - between now and when you cruise keep an eye on the prices and there might be a really good deal - it only happened once for us and we grabbed it! Otherwise yes, just pay for what you drink. Also remember that your cruise is 8 months away and prices onboard might be more expensive at that time.
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What does your partner normally drink? You said you'd just drink a few beers? There was a rose type wine for $9 available most places and some other whites for around $11. We did a similar cruise to the one you are doing except we didn't go to Isle of Pines. We didn't spend much time ashore at either Mystery Island or Noumea. We got off early at Mystery Island and went for a lovely swim and walk around but it was so hot that we ended up back on the ship by lunchtime! Noumea we'd been before so did a ship tour that took us to Anse Vata for 90 minutes plus a little tour around. Noumea is dreadfully expensive so again, we got back onto the ship early!
If there's anything else I could help you with please ask :)
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Hi - we wanted to try the Ovation to get the "big ship" experience. No, it wasn't too crowded except perhaps around the pools on a hot day. The Windjammer could get very crowded so we chose to eat out of peak times and found it really good. The shows were fine too, we just made sure we arrived early (at least 20 mins early) to get a good seat. Make sure you book the iFly and North Star prior to boarding if you can - those were fully booked, especially the iFly.
We had no trouble getting into the anytime dining restaurants. Once in though, it is busy but we found the food to be pretty good. One tip is to go to the Solarium on deck 14 for breakfast. Yes, you have to wait for a table but then it's a lovely buffet but with no crowds and your own table!
If you think you won't drink much then by all means pay as you go. There is water and cordial type drinks free plus ordinary tea and coffee. We didn't get much specialty coffee as for that there was usually a queue. It is surprising how much more you might drink on a ship - sea days we'd always have a few drinks during the day and then in the evening around the piano in the Schooner Bar we'd have 2 or three. Also during the day at quizzes etc we'd have a drink. We never got drunk - but it was lovely to know we could have a drink if we wanted. I also got a lot of fizzy water and still water to take back to our room etc.
We did a spreadsheet - put in what we thought we'd drink during the day and worked out if the drinks package was worth it for us. If you think it's not for you then don't worry - just pay as you go and you will be fine.
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We were just on Ovation. All prices here are US dollars and include gratuity. On the drink package all drinks up to $14 were included. Most cocktails were $12, Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc was $14 a glass, beer was around $7. Some wines were around $9 to $10 but not many.
When you consider getting bottled water, the odd coffee and your drink it pays for itself in no time. I usually had a cocktail or two in the afternoon then a couple of wines with dinner and a drink or two after. That came to $US 80 - then add on a couple of waters and a coffee it would be $US90 - in Australian dollars that's $116. Consider how much you think you will drink. Is your cruise port intensive or lots of sea days?
The other wonderful thing with the drink package was the never having to sign for your drink or wonder how much had been charged to our account. It was so easy. My husband would take my card and order two drinks at the same time - I got a wow band for $5 so I could go back to the room or whatever and he'd be able to get the drinks. There were some people who didn't the the drink package who had enormous amounts to pay at the end of the cruise!!
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We had a funny incident on our latest cruise. They got my husband up on stage and while the mentalist was remembering cards (part of the trick), my husband had to stand with his hand up in the air while a clock ticked... and ticked... and ticked. Finally my husband slowly looked down at this watch (like, what's taking so long) and the audience erupted with laughter. Not what the mentalist wanted I'm sure but it was certainly funny!
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She's getting her new livery... very exciting to see this old girl come to life again.
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Thanks for the links - I watched the Ovation of the Seas coming in this morning via the webcams :) It leaves at 7pm tonight.
Incident on Pacific Dawn
in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
Posted
Thanks for the clarification regarding that blogger. Yes, he was aware in his blog that the reports said she jumped - his question was more about how low the rails are. To be fair if suicide is what you wanted to do on a ship nothing would stop you. I'm just glad it was captured clearly on CCTV so there can be no speculation.