Pacific Sun Review March 05 N508

Hi all.

I have been unable to post a review on this site so here is a link to where you will find my review.

http://www.cruiseserver.net/travelpage/yourfav/yfc_company_po.asp

Regards

Neicy & Ron:)

Neicy and Ron,

Have just read your review and first off I would like to say CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ENGAGEMENT.

Ron, you must have been bursting, knowing you were going to propose and keeping it to yourself. What a fantastic and memorable way to propose. Besides helping you set up for the big deed, did the staff do anything else to help you celebrate this event?

Your review is great and very informative. Sounds like my family is going to have a ball. Cant wait.

What was in the taxi that you recommend NOT wearing white board shorts? :eek: (as my husband wears alot of them)

Was told the other week to be carefull what purchases we made as some stuff you will not be allowed to keep. Were you told by P&O staff before you went ashore what you would not be able to keep?

Congratulations to you both,Great review :) I didn't go to the port talk so missed any info on what to buy,and I fell for the fake certificates they had on the stalls on Mystery Island,supposedly from the Customs People giving clearance to their items.I bought a shell windchime that had the coated seeds on it.And customs took it away at Sydney.I forgot to mention this earlier :(

Past it,

The shell windchime that you brought, did customs say you couldnt keep it because of the seeds or the shells (or both)?

I was told that you had to be carefull with shell jewelery because there may still be creatures inside it and they wont let you keep it.

Was also told that locals dont like to be photographed. Is that true?

Regards

Kazza1

No unfortunatly they did nothing which many of the passengers commented on. Would have been nice to give Neicy flowers or a bottle of bubbly or something.

As for the taxi...the seats were not the cleanest. so dont wear your best outfit when out and about in Vila.

P& O did not make mention of what you can and can't bring in. However every time you board the ship you are screened and bags searched. Many brought little bow and arrow carvings. These were taken by the ships staff and delivered to customs back on arrival in Sydney. I am assuming they considered them a weapon.

A little tip for you.

Buy a bottle of duty free alcohol before you leave and pack a couple of bottles of coke or whatever you mix with. When you leave Australia you are allowed to take up to 2 litres of duty free with you on board and drink it. We saved heaps this way. Had a couple of drinks in our room each day. Some people even took flasks and used them with there drinks up on deck.

Duty free alcohol you buy after departure from Australia is taken by the ship and returned on arrival back in Sydney.

Another tip.

We packed 45 cans of coke...only 41 arrived in our room with coke in them.

The wharf people in Syd really gave all the baggage a flogging so pack well. If you are taking mixers...make them in plastic and pack them in the centre.

Regards

Ron & Neicy

Kazza the shells were ok they were clean and open. It was the small round ones that looke like pearly beads.They were coated seeds,I was concerned before I bought it,but on seeing the customs clearance papers on each table ,they look so authentic,I thought oh well they have been checked and cleared for sale. The customs man in Sydney said they are fake and you can do anything on a computer.He takes a lot of them. I had a large shell too but that was ok. The wooden bow and arrows/spears were taken off people as they got back onboard,I noticed them in a pile for people to pick up and walk out with,so they must be ok.very strange to me as they were unsealed wood.

The islanders like having there pics taken, I always ask first,but on this last trip I noticed they have gone comercialised and had signs asking for donations for obliging! Which I didn't mind giving a dollar or two,had a win on the pokies so had a pocketful of gold coins.I noticed a lady had a bulk pack of pens and pencils and handing them out to the kids,which I thought was a good idea.One thing I didn't like was a 3 yr standing on a crate in grass skirt,made to dance for money.

Ron & Neicy,

Congrats on your engagement, was great to read of such good news!

Thanks for the review a good read. You mentioned taking along some mixing drinks (coke) which is a top advice and we will do the same. Did you put them on ice daily? You said something about an ice bucket? I presume the rooms have no fridges.

One more question, did you see Table Tennis? Its listed in the brochure for Pacific Sun, but I have never heard of anyone playing it or seeing it? Just curious, I am cruising with a friend from my work and we play table tennis each lunchtime.

Cheers,

Whoey.

Congratulations Ron and Neicy. Did you get balloons on your door? :) There were lots of balloons on doors when we went back to our room for birthdays, anniversary's etc.

Kazza, there were table tennis competitions on our cruise and the table tennis table was located out the back of the Terraces Lounge. It seemed to be used quite a bit. I don't know if there was more than one table but most likely.

Resgene.

Nope...no ballons no nothing from P&O.

Never mind....we still loved the cruise.

Your cabin stewards provide the ice in a small ice bucket that is left in your room.

They got us a huge steel bucket that we used to load up with coke in the morning and they filled it with ice for us every day. Sometimes twice a day.

Just remember though...use bottles not cans...that was our mistake.

Thanks for the congrates to.

Regards

Ron & Neicy

Just read the postings again.

No...no fridges in the rooms.

Some time in the first few days on the ship they gave a customs talk and told us about certain shells that weren't allowed as they are endangered species and would be confiscated. This was also in the information folder in our room.

My husband and I were able to bring home shell necklaces (one had seeds in it as well) and I brought home some other shells. We showed them all to customs and they said they were ok and then they checked all the dirt and dust that they could 'bash' out of the grass/woven bags that we had.

On our way back in we were stopped by the really cute sniffer dog. He was looking for food. He sniffed out that we had stored fruit in a container that was in our hand luggage and he could still smell it even though the container was empty.

My husband participated in "Beer Quoits" and scored a few cans of VB - we had a rather large ice bucket stacked with cans too.

Two laundry's, 4 washing machines and 4 dryers in each and one iron that wouldn't get hot enough to iron silk. That was something to avoid..

regards,

Resgene

Have seen the comments about taking drinks on board. Just a few comments from experience.

If your cruise is leaving from Australia, the duty free shops - particularly the more expensive city and airport ones, tell you that you can only buy and take a certain amount of both cigarettes and alcohol. This is some sort of licencing agreement. I rang customs directly several times to confirm what I thought.

The limits are about what you can take into a country, not out of a country. As most people fly, shops only let you buy whats allowed for your destination. They really have no idea about cruising.

I have taken enough cigarettes and alcohol for whole 20-day cruises. It's what you bring back that counts.

To overcome the duty free shop limiting your purchases, just do the rounds of a number of shops. It is worth shopping around and suburban duty free shop prices can be half that of city and airport shops.

Not that I would encourage smoking and I risk the wrath of the anti-smokers, but for my brand duty free cartons can be AUD29.00 in the suburbs, AUD43.00 at city & airport, and AUD75.00, so quite a saving.

I have often embarked and settled, then got off and gone shopping for soft drink (pop!). They actually can't stop you taking soft drink on board and I have never been questioned.

The tip of packing alcohol in your case works best as they don't seem to follow it up. Your suitcases are xrayed by a contractor in Sydney who didn't seem to care.

Princess has a soda card that gives as much as you can drink from soda fountains (not cans) for the whole cruise. I don't understand why P & O don't do it as well.

I advised a friend about this who was doing an Hawaii NCL cruise. She was the only one who got her drinks on board as her friends didn't follow the advice. They were not very happy.

Hope this is helpful

Chris

Neicy and Ron

Might sound like a silly question...

I know it will be cold when we first leave Sydney, but what is the weather like at night?

Regards

Kazza

As the Pacific Sky is marooned in a dry dock due to gear box problems (...again) the Pacific Sun has been sent across to New Zealand to become a floating hotel for Lions Rugby tour supporters. The story is at this address: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=10332634

We are booked for the 12 day cruise departing Sydney on July 22nd so I hope they have the beer stains out of the carpets by then!

This will be our second cruise - the first some years ago on Super Star Leo out of Singapore which we both enjoyed.

We had originally planned to go to the Caribeann from New Orleans but a cruise on the ex Carnival Lines Jubilee a.k.a. the Pacific Sun might be better value for money.:)

Just thought I would bump this up for anyone wanting a review.

Neicy and Ron.

Just bumping up the review for those that may be planning a cruise on Pacific Sun.

Ron & Neicy

Hi Ron. I have just re read your review on your cruise yet again!!

I noticed your cabin number was 2 doors away from ours. We dont have cruise docs yet but this number is showing on the new cruise personaliser so not sure if that will change. We are in U27, quad room. how did you like the position?

cheers karon

Position was fine.

Although when the anchor was dropped at the islands it was like an alarm clock.

View out the window was kewl. Watching the bow wave from the ship.

A short walk up the passage to the lift.

Very quiet late at night with not to many people walking past making noise.

Having said that it was usually about 3am before we went to bed most nights.

Regards

Ron