Anyone cruised from Brisbane at 2.00pm?

We are cruising from Brisbane shortly and the ship is due to sail at 2.00pm.

Is lunch served on this day?

I have asked the travel agent and have also rang P&O on three occasions, but get different answers every time. (No, Yes, don't know and maybe).

As we will need to be leaving home around 8.00am to make our connections, it will be a long day without a meal if we don't get fed until dinner.

Any help here appreciated. Maybe we need to pack a lunch :D

Can't help you on that sorry, thought I would bump the topic.

Our Star cruise (r603) orignally said 2pm departure but when I looked the other day it now says 4pm.

I would hope that they at least have some sort of food available, given that just about everyone will be onboard by 1pm. Maybe an afternoon tea.

Hi. 2pm seems an unusual time to leave if it is a P&O ship in Australia, as they are normally 4pm departures. However you will have had to be on board rather early, so I think they would have something ready for you to eat before you depart

All the Pacific Sky cruises show up as leaving Brisbane at 2pm.

Thanks for all your thoughts.

I have been thinking though. These 2.00pm departures only commenced in February I think and the ship struck problelms about mid March, and was out of service until early July. So as not too many cruises have actually departed at 2.00pm, I guess there are only a few people around with the answer.

Just seems strange that P&O staff are not clear on it either.

My wife is diabetic, so to be on the safe side we will just take something with us I guess.

Thanks again.

Answer to your question about lunch is yes they do serve lunch on the day of sailing, I did a cruise on the Pacific Sky in February.

Thanks so much, Ozzietraveller. That is a relief. Just something less we have to take in our hand baggage.

Now I wonder if they'll revert back to 4.00pm departures from Brisbane for the Pacific Sky as they appear to have done for the upcoming Pacific Star cruises? I don't really care of course; gives us two extra hours to get organised on that day - Then again, that makes two less hours on the ship! Hmm.

Hi. 2pm seems an unusual time to leave if it is a P&O ship in Australia, as they are normally 4pm departures. However you will have had to be on board rather early, so I think they would have something ready for you to eat before you depart

Pacific Sky cruises out of Brisbane were having trouble keeping time to Noumea. On the cruise we did in November we left Brisbane at 4pm but arrived over 2 hrs late in Noumea, causing cancellation of shore tours etc.

I guess when Pacific Star takes up cruises out of Brisbane departure will revert to 4pm departures as it should be able to keep the sailing schedule.

:) We too are departing Brisbane on R601 in December 2005 at 2pm, we received mail today from P&O and same of our ports of call times have changed also.

My friend is cruising Pacific Sky in October. She has to go to the airport to go through security and will be bused to the ship.

Is this a one off arrangement....or is this the new thing for all?

We are travelling in October as well. I know nothing about needing to go to the airport.

A brochure that came with our documents suggests that you can't make your own way to the ship as it is berthed at a working wharf. Locals need to go to the Brisbane Transit Centre or if you are driving to Brisbane, the nominated security Parking Company near the airport. You will then be coached to the ship from either of these locations.

My neighbour cruised from Brisbane last year and he said they were coached from the Brisbane Transit Centre straight to the ship.

..... you can't make your own way to the ship as it is berthed at a working wharf.

Sorry, I meant working *cargo* wharf.

That sounds like a very strange arrangement.

When we sailed in November, we had to go to Roma Street Transit Centre (we live in Brisbane) and from there we were bused to Pinkenba Wharf, where we went through security prior to boarding the ship. Passengers arriving on flights were either bused to Roma Street (for early flights) or directly to Pinkenba (for later flights).

Kym

My friend is cruising Pacific Sky in October. She has to go to the airport to go through security and will be bused to the ship.

Is this a one off arrangement....or is this the new thing for all?

We did a short cruise from Brisbane on the Sky in October last year i believe. The arrangements from Brisbane are pretty bad. We flew from Sydney and waited at the airport for over an hour to be bused in a more then full bus to the warf making three stops on the way. By the second stop we were completely full but still stopped at the 3rd stop to pick up more people!!

It wasnt really a great start to an otherwise fantastic journey. We had previously sailed from Sydney on the the Sky and it was much simpler.

The "passanger terminal" at Pinkembar is not very good at all. The only up side was once getting off the bus it all moved very quickly because there were only 70 (is that how many fits on a bus??) people to process at a time. In contrast to Sydney where once you line up and start moving it tends to drag for a little while until you actually get on the ship.

We did hear some horror stories from locals who boarded from the transit center about the time it took.

I thought they were upgrading another Brisbane warf so they no longer needed to use Pinkembar?

Cheers,

Dan

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I thought they were upgrading another Brisbane warf so they no longer needed to use Pinkembar?

 

Cheers,

Dan

Yes, they are building a Cruise terminal and tourist area a little further up the river at Hamilton. I believe it should be well on the way to completion although I don't live anywhere near that area. Just last week they announced that yet another cruise terminal is to be built on the Gold Coast not far from Sea World. So they go from none, to two, within a short distance of each other.

The new Passenger Terminal at Hamilton (further upstream from Pinkemba, closer to the City) is currently under construction and is scheduled for opening "in the first quarter of 2006", but no firm date yet. We are hoping it opens by 25 March!

On the cruise we did out of Brisbane, having local knowledge helped us I guess, we were able to investigate the boarding process for an earlier cruise, so we knew that on the day it would be best to get to Roma St early, which we did, and got our baggage checked in (we didn't see it again until we were on the ship) and got a 'boarding pass' for the 3rd bus out to Pinkemba, so we had a fairly hassle free trip. And you're right Dan, having a only a bus full at a time being processed in the temporary facilities at Pinkemba certainly helped. Within little more than 1 hr of leaving Roma St (about a 1/2 hr drive from the ship) we were sipping our first cocktail.

The buses from the Airport were probably stopping at the long term car parking places that are in that area, picking up passengers who had drove to Brisbane and had parked in long term parking. We were lucky enough to be able to make our own way to Roma St (via taxi) and transfer from there.

Kym

We did a short cruise from Brisbane on the Sky in October last year i believe. The arrangements from Brisbane are pretty bad. We flew from Sydney and waited at the airport for over an hour to be bused in a more then full bus to the warf making three stops on the way. By the second stop we were completely full but still stopped at the 3rd stop to pick up more people!!

 

It wasnt really a great start to an otherwise fantastic journey. We had previously sailed from Sydney on the the Sky and it was much simpler.

 

The "passanger terminal" at Pinkembar is not very good at all. The only up side was once getting off the bus it all moved very quickly because there were only 70 (is that how many fits on a bus??) people to process at a time. In contrast to Sydney where once you line up and start moving it tends to drag for a little while until you actually get on the ship.

 

We did hear some horror stories from locals who boarded from the transit center about the time it took.

 

I thought they were upgrading another Brisbane warf so they no longer needed to use Pinkembar?

 

Cheers,

Dan

Hi, first time posting. Our family is cruising on Sky on October 1 from Brisbane. We fly in to Brisbane 3 days earlier. From what I understand if arriving at the airport P and O will transfer you either to the Transit Centre (if before 10 am) or directly to the wharf if after 10 am. We have been told to return rental car to airport that morning and then get the free transfer to Transit Centre and then wharf. How far is the Transit Centre from the Airport? Would it be better to make our own way to the Transit Centre early, rather than going with the P and O bus?

Any one else on the Sky departing Oct 1 for Northern Queensland cruise?

Family 5

The Transit centre is a 25 min train trip from the Airport, or about a 30 min taxi ride. Depending what time you need to return your rental car, you would probably be best off getting the shuttle direct from the Airport to the wharf, as that is only a 10-15 min trip (depending on how many stops at carparks you make).

The Airport is actually quite close to the wharf, and in fact if the terminal buildings had been built on the opposite side of the runway, you could almost have walked from the Airport to Pinkenba.

Kym