Pacific Jewel

We just did a cruise on P&O's Pacific Jewel, a three day "Food & Wine" cruise out of Sydney.

This is the first time I have tried P&O, hence the three day cruise, also it left on my partners birthday, easy present.

It was scheduled to leave at 4pm, the Captain announced at 3.30 that we would not be leaving until 7.30, it left the dock at 11.30pm, there was no further announcement from the Bridge re this, so much for the "sail away party".

I was under the impression that it sailed for the full three days, but it sailed over night to Jervis Bay and dropped anchor next morning and stayed there until late next afternoon, not much sailing to be had, mostly at night, so much for sitting on the balcony to enjoy the ocean.

First night we had dinner in Salt Restaurant, the service and food were superb, well worth the extra charge ($40.00pp).

From this point trying to organise anything was a chore, you had to stand in line for up to 45 minutes to try and get into any of the talks that were part of the "Food & Wine " aspect of the cruise.

After enduring this, I must admit I'm not good standing in queues, when you finally reached the counter you were then told that what you wanted to do was fully booked.

Not a good start, the organisation of this was abysmal.

I then went back to the cabin to call the other restaurants we wanted to try, well it did not get any better, i was told i could not book for the following night and had to call back the next morning from 8am, i informed the person on the other end of the phone that i had been trying to get thru for 15 minutes, ( it seemed like hours having to dial the number over and over), they just said thats how it is.

We went to the Waterfront Restaurant the second night, this is the standard restaurant for the ship, i had booked in asking for a table for two only and was happy to wait until this could be done, we arrived at 8.00pm and was told no this was not available and we had to sit at a shared table jammed in like a rat, the service was erratic and slow, when the food arrived it was just warm, getting a wine list was a whole other experience.

The cabin we had 11123 was a mini-suite, the best this ship could offer, it was well laid out, spacious and clean, the bed was good and the sheets were of good quality.

We didn't have in the room the inclusions that were promised, i had to phone to request these, i was told the steward must have forgot to put them in the cabin.

The one huge concern was the noise from the deck above, we were under the pool deck, normally not a concern, but on this ship the tables and chairs being dragged around by people just using them came straight thru the ceiling, it was unbelievable the amount of noise, it keep you awake at night and woke you up in the morning, this level of cabin on this ship is a huge waste of money, opt for the standard balcony cabin on deck 10, it might be half the size but it will be quite.

Over all the ship was what was expected i suppose, ( cheap & cheerful) I was hoping for more, the staff appeared to be over worked and looked on average unhappy and tired, the food was very average, good if you like warm to cold, except for the pay to use restaurants, they were very good and well worth the extra.

As a mini-suite customer you really get nothing extra except more space in the cabin and the noise from above killed the enjoyment of that.

It was worth a try, but i will not be boarding the Pacific Jewel again and will think twice before trying another P&O ship.

It's a good job you posted it here instead of on the P&O Aust forum, they would have been gunning for you by now.

Our experience on the Jewel last October was a good one overall but we knew at the time not to expect too much after having been on the Pacific Sun.

Hope it hasn't put you off, you just have to choose your cruiseline carefully if you want to enjoy a classic cruising experience or accept that you will not get that from P&O at present.

Paul

This thread has been copied to the P&O Australia board. Replies may be posted in either of the two forums. Go to this link: Pacific Jewel

Well I'm hoping the crew will be more rested by the time we depart 1st of June and I am also hoping that they can get there act together with there restraunts...:(...anyway I intend to make the most off it :D....glad I'm on deck 10 although i do plan to be well tired before attempting sleep :)..

Thanks for the review.

Scurvy if you are going on the Jewel in June you will have a great time, the only negative things I can say are these:

When we cruised in October it was in the school holidays and every cabin was filled to capacity, the crowding was horrendous it was P&O style OVERFULL.

It seemed like there were a thousand kids on board.

We were lucky enough to get a suite on deck 11 and although it was a bit noisy the room was very nice and ok for the 4 of us.

We spend quite a bit of time in our cabin just chilling and the larger cabin was a godsend for us.

Again the overcrowding spoiled the main bar for us, unless you got there early, there were no seats and it was rather like an overcrowded RSL club where they serve beer from the bottles without asking if you require a glass.

The main dining room was well laid out but the staff were next to incompetent but they seemed to be very overworked.

The food was very good.

All of the above I don't believe will be problems for you as the ship will probably not be overfull.

The spa is a waste of space, it would really make a great entertainment area if they converted it to a lounge or similar. As it stands now it reminded me of what a really tacky brothel might look like, there really are some strange dark places in there and you wonder what people might be up to in there especially the strange chair things.

We paid for the spa because I enjoy the sauna and the whole spa complex was somewhere you could get away from the madding crowd, crowd being the operative word.

Try the speciality restaurants on board as these are both very good, they cost a little extra but it is worth it.

The entertainment was great, as usual for P&O.

Sludge

Thanks Sludge..will take those points and work with them :)..

So I will be able to swing a cat then on board? :D

Ohhh and can I have a little help over on your thread on "G'day mate" people are hijacking it..and being generally unruley..I know I started it but I think I created a monster lol :(

Plus people on the "passenger=space" mathmatics thread are just being silly now and making a mockery of our fine calculations :D...lol

Scurvy, with your sense of humour you would have fun on a barge! :D

Jordy, sorry you did not enjoy your cruise, but thanks for your fair review.

It has reinforced my belief that a cruise for less than 7 days is too rushed and not a true representation of what I think a cruise should be. I found even 7 days was not long enough! (You no sooner get relaxed and into the swing than it's time to get off the ship again.)

I'm glad Brisbane got the Pacific Dawn - we've had three great cruises on her. Hope you have better luck whatever ship you choose in the future. :)

I fell off a barge once but I was working so it wasn't fun :D

But I will take that as a compliment :)