Pacific Sun Review: N623 - 3 Night Cruise

Hey everyone.

I've just gotten back from my first cruise on the Pacific Sun. I'd been reading all the posts on here for a while before the cruise so the only expectations I had was from what everyone else had said about it. :)

Overall, it was a good trip. Not great, because of a few things, but it was really fun and enjoyable. I'll write about what I remember in headings so it's set out in a semi organised manner. :P

Embarkation:

Boarding was scheduled to start at 3pm, for an 8pm departure. Me and my friend got to the wharf just before 4 and found no lines. We were handed two forms to fill in, one to say that we hadn't been sick and the other to say how we'd be paying for our expenses. We weren't told anything about our luggage, so we entered a queue, and proceeded through the xray machine, and got out cruise cards, and walked onboard. We carried our big luggage all the way onto the ship ourselves because we saw no where else to put it. We only saw one place for 'Passengers' to enter, so we did. But it wasn't a big deal, and we weren't the only ones who had their big luggage with them the whole way through.

Cabin: (U101)

The cabin was nice. A decent size and was very clean. Everythin' was working as it should have been, and within 1 minute of entering the cabin our steward, May, came and introduced herself and was really friendly. We were right in the middle of the ship, which I chose, and didnt' really feel much of the motion. I went to a cabin at the back of the ship of friends that I made on the cruise and the vibrations back there were unbelievable. Rattling noises everywhere. I was *very* glad to be in the middle of the boat.

Weather:

Even though this has nothing to do with the Pacific Sun, I have to mention it because it will be mentioned further on. The weather we had on the cruise was dreadful. It was *extremely* rocky, and the motion did not stop throughout the whole cruise. I've never been on a cruise before, so I had no idea what to expect, but I did say that if this is how the ship moves on every cruise, then I have NO idea why people cruise. It felt like we were on a rollercoaster ride. Over a hundred people went to the medical centre on the first morning, and I heard people saying that even some staff were getting sea sick. So.. basically the only reason the cruise was.. not that great, was because of the weather. My friend who I went with was bed ridden for the entire first two days. So in effect I only enjoyed the nightlife on the final night when he felt a little better, as I'm not much of a 'go out bymyself' person, and wasn't in the mood to meet new people alone.

Entertainment:

The shows on the first two nights were really good. The first night had the Pacific Sun dancers and singers doing their thing, albeit being very wobbly on stage.. The second night 'Rod Stewart' did his show which was very funny and entertaining. The third night was meant to be the "famous" G'day G'day show, which I'd heard alot about on this cruise so I was very excited, but it was cancelled due to the really rough weather, and instead they put on some movie. Demo was really funny, and the Marriage Match (I think it was called) was hilarious. I haven't laughed so much for ages. Bingo was great, with someone winning over $3000! The Terrace and the Oz Nightclub (me being 20..) were awesome. The last night of the cruise I went out and met great new people. The retro music and the new music in both venues, which are only 5 metres apart was great as we could go from one to the other all night. My friend went to bed early, but I stayed on with my new friends until the ship sailed into harbour at 4amish. Let me tell you, being drunk, on the deck of a ship at 4am after having eaten pizza, singing retro songs as you sail under the harbour bridge, is EXTREMELY fun, something I'll never forget. :P

Food:

The food was alright. Was expecting a little more but I'm not complaining at all. I only ate at the buffet once because I was feeling too sick to eat, so I can't really say much about the choices. Dinner was okay, enough to fill you up but not enough to make you feel bloated. Something I found strange was that the wait staff did not introduce themselves to us. I think they 'spoke' to us (about something other than what we were ordering) just once. They didn't learn our names, or even ask. But that's alright, it didn't bother me at all, and I'm sure it was only because it was a 3 night cruise they didn't really need to. The people on our table were great, with 2 young girls round 25ish, and a family of 4 sitting with us. Great table converstaion. :)

Overall:

Overall it was a great cruise. If the weather had been better, I would have had the time of my life. I'm not going to recommened cruising to anyone, but if they ask I'll tell them they'll enjoy it if the weather is fine. The two young girls at my dinner table were part of a travel agent conference, and they were sent so they could sell the ship, and they made it very clear that they would *not* recommend cruising. I don't blame them, as every second face on board was pale. But that's not P&O's fault, they were great and they definately entertained me. On the other hand, there were those who did not feel sick at all, and partied on into the late hours every night. These 3 night cruises are definately about having a wild weekend. The bars were always full, people were always dancing, and the bands were always playing. However, there were the 'older' passengers who definately seemed to be enjoying their time reading and lazying about (inside the deck though, definately not outside as the deck chairs were all tied down on top of each other to prevent them from flying away - that's how windy it was :P)

Oh and another thing, the two girls from our dining table had $130 dollars stolen from their wallets one morning. Their luggage had been moved around the room and $130 was missing. They found out just before dinner, and were talking with security, and so came up to ask the restaurant if they could dine on the 2nd sitting coz they were busy with security and giving statements etc, but the staff at the restaurant plainly told them that they could NOT eat at the 2nd sitting, and if they missed their allocated time, they would miss out on dinner all together. That was something that definately shocked me, so I thought I'd mention that too. Use your safes!

Sorry about the long review. But I used to love reading reviews before I went on the cruise, so I thought I'd write my own long one for other people. If you have any other questions let me know :)

I have copies of all the Sun Daily's, and I'll be posting my photos online somewhere but I don't know where yet, but when I do I'll let ya'll know. :)

I was on the cruise just before yours. It was so sad seeing it leave again without me on it. We had really rough weather leaving sydney too.. alot of people were injured and someone even had to get dropped off at Port Vila hospital (we were in between Mystery Island and Wala i think?) and pretty much every port we stopped off at we were late. once we were out abit (after the 2nd day of sailing) the weather started to come good and we had sunshine and warm weather.

Morgan Kent (rod stewart) was the funniest person i've ever seen. The dancers did really well, as did the show band considering we were their first real audiences.

Our bingo snowballed to about $5500 too bad i didnt win :(

Great review mikeygO, sad about the weather, I am shocked to see your friends have money stolen. I guess that's why you are recommended to put all your money on your card and then cash it back if you have any left at the end of the cruise. I hope that P & O will look into it, I would mention to them that you didn't have 'friendly' waitstaff because our waiters went out of their way every night for us and it shouldn't matter if it's a 3 day cruise or a 10 day cruise. The service should always be the same. A shame you won't cruise again by the sounds of it. I hope our trip next November has some good weather. Cyclones around that time so who knows.

Is the bad weather due to the time of the year, obviously it's worse in winter but does that mean we just might get some really rough weather sailing out on the 30th.

Luci

its usually pretty bad (though not always) sailing out of and back into sydney so you should expect to have roughly 2-4 days of not so great seas- once you are out in the pacific it really calms down

In regards to the weather.It has ALWAYS been my experience ever since my first cruise some 20 odd years ago that the weather is always very rough in and out of Sydney. Always going across the Tasman. As for the 3 days cruises if you look at the map they always just go out of Sydney do a big circle and come back. That is why the weather was so bad. I personally would never do a 3 day cruise as I know what the seas wld be like in that area.

I hope it has not put you off cruising as you have read already, it is what yuou make it and people really do enjoy themselves on cruises. Around the Pacific islands you wouldnt dream sometimes that you are on a ship as it is so smooth.

Just to show how fickle our weather can be about 2 years ago. Just my husband and I went for 2 weeks to the islands. As we sailed thru the heads and for the 1st 3 days at sea when it is usually rough it was so smooth that we remarked how calm the waters were. At Noumea the captain announced that we were leaving early as a cyclone was coming.

Cut a long story short we were in the edge of the cyclone for 4 days and arrived back into Sydney a day late. So goes to prove you can never pick your time for the best weather.

narelle