Pacific Sun - a Three Star Experience + Photos

Firstly the photo gallery - CLICK HERE

It's wise to wait a couple of weeks after a cruise to review it. We did the July 25th cruise, 12 day option ex Sydney.

:( All in all Pacific Sun is a three star+ experience but I guess you get what you pay for. We were on the Empress deck

The good points:

• An energetic and friendly staff who were full of energy
  
• Sunny weather most of the cruise (except for Poum where the Cultural Village experience was a muddy one!)
  
• The breakfast Buffet which had some good variety
  
• The Evening Shows - except the Puppeteer who 'bombed' and was not a good choice for cruise entertainment
  

General review:

• There's no getting away from the fact that this boat is a 20 year old ship. Carnival Lines seem to have a policy of sending their old vessels ( she's the former Carnival Jubilee) to the "less-discerning" market of Oceania. Bad assumption - we are discerning and many of us have travelled on other cruise lines. Compared to our first cruise aboard the magnificent Superstar Leo, Pacifc Sun is simply not in the same class
  
• The Dinner Experience:mad:
  Poor in both quality and presentation. The Executive Chef was clearly not keeping a close enough eye on his cooks. I work for tertiary institution that has a School of Restaurant Studies and some of the Pacific Sun dinners would never have made it out of the student kitchens
  
• Smoking Aboard:mad:
  Terrible for non-smokers, in the casino and bars. Should be banned
  
• Laundry facilities - two laundrys for the entire ship with some appliance not working and you need coins to operate the washers or dryers - why are they not free?
  

Would we travel on Pacific Sun again or recommend her to others?:confused:

Probably not as there are better cruises available. That said, if you have never travelled the Pacific before, have avery limitied budget and onboard partying is your thing, then perhaps this is the ship for you.

wow, worldlense.

I have jusr checked out your photos and to say they are spectacular wouldnt even do them justice. You certainly have a talent for capturing "moments" i especially love your people shots , the one of mystery island and leaving sydney harbour. My favourite is the "stomach" man that made me giggle....might have to try that myself.

i also had a look at your webpage, again some stunning photos, you certainly have done some amazing travelling. I notice that the photos on your website ae for sale,will the sun photos be going on your site too.

As for your review , i have viewed photos of some other cruise liners and they make the Sun look like a ferry. But like you say, we have never been on a cruise before so will judge for ourselves very soon. I am a little worried about the smoke though as i am very sensitive to it.

Again thanks for taking the time to post your photos and review .

cheers karon

Karon,

If you stay away from the Gazebo Bar, the Casino and the video games arcade, all 3 are located together, smoke shouldn't be too bad for you. They were the 3 worst places on the ship for smoke. Strangely, the promenade outside the Casino and the games arcade are designated non-smoking area, but in reality this doesn't happen as the smoke from the Casino quite visibily flows out into the adjoining areas.

Kym

wow, worldlense.

I have jusr checked out your photos and to say they are spectacular wouldnt even do them justice. You certainly have a talent for capturing "moments" i especially love your people shots , the one of mystery island and leaving sydney harbour. My favourite is the "stomach" man that made me giggle....might have to try that myself.

 

i also had a look at your webpage, again some stunning photos, you certainly have done some amazing travelling. I notice that the photos on your website ae for sale,will the sun photos be going on your site too.

 

As for your review , i have viewed photos of some other cruise liners and they make the Sun look like a ferry. But like you say, we have never been on a cruise before so will judge for ourselves very soon. I am a little worried about the smoke though as i am very sensitive to it.

 

Again thanks for taking the time to post your photos and review .

cheers karon

Perhaps it is me, or my machine - but I could not get past the opening page of the photo album, which I presume is a shot of the funnel.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

Tried again, and got in this time. Great set of photos.

Thanx.

if anyone else has a little difficulty viewing the photos, please scroll page over to the right a bit and you will see an "enter' button. You may not have seen that, as the photo is a little large.Iknow it took me a second to work that one out.

karon

Karon asked the question - if I would be adding the any of the photographs into my Worldlense site, for sale.

The answer is yes, I will be. Not all but definitely some. I have also set up this temporary web site at http://www4.wave.co.nz/~jollyroger/gallery/sydney_heads.htm which can be clicked through and these images will be limited edition prints.

I figured that P&O should feature some Pacific or Nautical prints in their own art auction on board so I have sent them this address as well.

Great Photos!:)

Was there a good mix of different age groups on your cruise?

They are fantastic, very artistic.

Last year on the Sky the Laundry was free. Don't know anymore. Even with 2 laundrys and am pretty sure at least 4 machines each, there was always a queue.

Firstly the photo gallery - CLICK HERE

 

It's wise to wait a couple of weeks after a cruise to review it. We did the July 25th cruise, 12 day option ex Sydney.

 

:( All in all Pacific Sun is a three star+ experience but I guess you get what you pay for. We were on the Empress deck

 

The good points:

• An energetic and friendly staff who were full of energy
  
• Sunny weather most of the cruise (except for Poum where the Cultural Village experience was a muddy one!)
  
• The breakfast Buffet which had some good variety
  
• The Evening Shows - except the Puppeteer who 'bombed' and was not a good choice for cruise entertainment
  

General review:

• There's no getting away from the fact that this boat is a 20 year old ship. Carnival Lines seem to have a policy of sending their old vessels ( she's the former Carnival Jubilee) to the "less-discerning" market of Oceania. Bad assumption - we are discerning and many of us have travelled on other cruise lines. Compared to our first cruise aboard the magnificent Superstar Leo, Pacifc Sun is simply not in the same class
  
• The Dinner Experience:mad:
  Poor in both quality and presentation. The Executive Chef was clearly not keeping a close enough eye on his cooks. I work for tertiary institution that has a School of Restaurant Studies and some of the Pacific Sun dinners would never have made it out of the student kitchens
  
• Smoking Aboard:mad:
  Terrible for non-smokers, in the casino and bars. Should be banned
  
• Laundry facilities - two laundrys for the entire ship with some appliance not working and you need coins to operate the washers or dryers - why are they not free?
  

Would we travel on Pacific Sun again or recommend her to others?:confused:

Probably not as there are better cruises available. That said, if you have never travelled the Pacific before, have avery limitied budget and onboard partying is your thing, then perhaps this is the ship for you.

Lovely shots,leave my pathetic ones to shame! I second your comments as I said all the same when I got back earlier this year. Hope my next cruise is different. I must try some interesting shots instead of just taking the whole scene. Very Good!!