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Review - Pacific Sun - Week Tropique - 19-26th Sept 2009

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sweet_successes

sweet_successes

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Cruise Review – N929 – Pacific Sun Week Tropique Sept 2009

We were in a suite onboard the Pacific Sun and were thoroughly spoilt for the entire week. It was awesome. We did not do too many onboard activities and tending to keep to ourselves as we wanted to reconnect as a couple after a harrowing few months on the home front.

Cabin

We were in V6 which is portside. It was awesome to finally reach the suites – we had been trying to get there for the last 3 cruises and we finally made it! Our cabin steward was Catherine and assistant steward was Jeff. We walked into the suite to find a lovely bowl of fruit awaiting us – this was renewed halfway through the cruise. We were also supplied with a welcome glass of bubbles. We got all the perks that P&O claim with the exception of flowers (this cruise there was no florist onboard) and the personalized stationary.

The cabin was very spacious and nothing was too big or small for the cabin staff. The fridge was stocked with a variety of softdrink at the start of the cruise and this was complimentary. We also got canapés every afternoon as well as the option of having a hot breakfast (egg, bacon, hashbrowns etc) in our cabin. Our only gripe about the hot breakfast is that we would tick the 8:30-9:00 am time slot and would receive it at 8:00am.

The bath robes are extremely luxurious and sadly we couldn’t bring them home with us! The spa bath was great but beware it only fits one person - we tried and flooded our bathroom!!!!!

Even though it was not our wedding anniversary (it’s today – 18 years yah!) we were celebrating this event and one night on the cruise we got a lovely melt in the mouth chocolate cake (I wish I knew how to make them that way!), towel swans on the bed, a bottle of bubbles, balloon decorations on the ceiling and on the door.

Ship

The ship was as she always was – nice and clean with lots of work going on to keep her up to ship shape condition. She will be going into dry dock in November before heading to Freemantle to have some more work done on her – refurbishment of Terraces, Atlantis and most of the cabins – this was direct from the pursers mouth.

Meals

We chose to have the hot breakfast in our suite most mornings and tended to eat the rest of our meals in Burgundy. We made a standard reservation for every night. We were lucky to find the waiter from our very first cruise in 2006 and loved catching up with him. We didn’t try the steakhouse as nothing appealed to us – no blooming onion – and only tried the buffet once or twice. At the beginning of the cruise I didn’t like the changes to the menu but soon got used to them and towards the end was happy with the changes. The major change that I don’t like was that it is not set dinning any more so you, at times, are finding yourself with different people – we didn’t click with anyone and eventually just booked a table for 2 which we were more comfortable with. Bottles of wine were fro $22-75 each. Beer (xxxx etc) $4.50 ea and cocktails varied from $7.50-$15. My favourite cocktail was a ginger mojito – yummy.

Entertainment

Cruise director was David Pepper and Captain was Charlie Carr. They were a comedy duo between themselves!!! David has plans to head back to England for a break soon and will either be returning to the Pacific Sun until Christmas or heading back to work on Cunard. If he goes back to Cunard he will be a lose to P&O Australia. Captain Charlie Carr was brilliant – out of all the captains we have sailed under he was the most approachable and always happy to chat.

We went to the welcome aboard show and the farewell show. They did not finish with the “If I was not upon the sea” skit. The entertainers were Comedian Ivor Richards (very funny), instrumentalist and vocalist Hayden Smith (excellent voice) and can’t remember who else. They did have the sit down comedy club and Steady Eddy performed which was the funniest thing I have been to in years- he is awesome. They also had someone else but we didn’t go to him.

We went to Marriage Match, meet the captain, Liar Liar, Ivor Richards, Hayden Smith, Steady Eddy and not much else.

Shour Tours

Whitsundays – Great Barrier Reef

This tour was well worth the money. We were tendered off Airlie Beach and picked up by catamaran and taken to knuckle reef. The pontoon had a waterslide, glass bottom boat, semi-subsersible boat and a sectioned off area for snorkeling. You were provided with morning tea, buffet lunch and all snorkeling gear including stinger suits. If you wanted to scuba dive it was extra ($150 first dive and $90 for the second). There was a photographer who took photos and you could purchase these on the trip back for $30 each. We didn’t purchase any and now back at home wish we had. It was a fantastic day and an awesome snorkeling experience (I have never snorkeled before because of my eyesight)

Cairns – Kuranda Railway

We spent the morning looking around Cairns and I was very surprised at some of the shops – Ralph Lauren, Cartier, Louis Vitton etc in Cairns. In the afternoon we took the coach up to Kuranda and the Railway back. I did not enjoy this tour for a variety of reasons. The first reason was that the guide was extremely hard to understand and quite rude at times. The second was that we were actually left behind in the village and had to get a lift to the railway station!! The guide had told us to be back at the meeting point at 3:10 pm – we were back there at 3:05 and the bus went round the corner!!! We got another bus driver to give us a lift to the station. When we got their we asked the tour guide for our train tickets to be told “I only have 1 left”. My response was tough – she then admitted that she had left some people behind in Kuranda on the previous tour and had given them our tickets!! There was no head count or any checking. This was very poor organization and we complained to the shore tours desk when we got back onto the ship and got an apology. We did like the railway and the scenery but I don’t think I will be doing this tour again.

Cairns – Green Island

This more than made up for the debarcle of Kuranda. We were taken by catamaran to green island. It was about an hours ride. When we got to green island we had a ticket – this gave us a free buffet lunch and trip on a glass bottom boat. Again there were snorkeling areas and you could purchase other things eg scuba diving, helicopter rides etc. I did not snorkel here as my eyes were sore but hubby did and loved it. It was a great island. It’s a shame that this tour will not be offered after the Pacific Dawn arrives in Brisbane as I would love to do it again.

Overall Thoughts

A great cruise and a great itinerary. I was sad to say goodbye to the Pacific Sun but am excited to be saying hello to the Pacific Dawn in April 2010. The only down sides to the cruise were that we felt a bit shunned by others when it became known that we were staying in a suite which made it very hard to get to know people – we didn’t broadcast the fact but when someone asked we told them and 9 times out of 10 they became a bit chilly towards us. The second thing was the Kuranda Shore Tour. Other than that – it was fantastic and I am very much looking forward to doing the same cruise again with our daughter next April.

Any questions – just ask. Sorry for the length of the review. Am currently loading photos and will post the link shortly.

Rach

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Kiwi_cruiser

Kiwi_cruiser

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Ship

The ship was as she always was – nice and clean with lots of work going on to keep her up to ship shape condition. She will be going into dry dock in November before heading to Freemantle to have some more work done on her – refurbishment of Terraces, Atlantis and most of the cabins – this was direct from the pursers mouth.

 

When we where on the Pacific Sun in July, we had a Q & A session with the caption (Captain Salvatore Lupo), and he said something about that she was going in to dry dock, but I think I must have miss understood him as I thought he was talking about the 2008 dry dock, but he must have been talking about both.

 

We are going on the Pacific Sun in December so it will be interesting to see what other changes they have made.

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yamcrzr

yamcrzr

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Thanks Rach, thats an awesome review. We are very much looking forward to our trip. We depart bris on the sun 24/10. Same trip, also thinking about doing the green island day trip. Cant wait to see your pics.

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am1984

am1984

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Thanks Rach for a great review & congratulations on your anniversary, it appears from your review that you both had a great time.

 

I agree with you in regard to David Pepper. He was the cruise Director on our cruise in April & was well received by many onboard. We found him to be very good.

 

Regards

 

Alan

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Riffraff

Riffraff

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Hi Rach,

Congratulations on your anniversary, and thanks for the review.

 

You've made me very happy - they're refurbishing the Atlantis Lounge, the worst room on the sea! yay! So excited to hear that, and in time for our cruise in December!:D

I really hope the refurbishment means they will be ripping out those hideous sea horses, and getting rid of the 'Flash Gordon' red & gold lightning pattern on the walls! That would be so good. The Terraces could do with a refurb as well so that will be great. I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like when it's done. They did a good job with the Promenade Lounge refurbishment, so hopefully it will be a big improvement!

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sweet_successes

sweet_successes

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Hi Rach,

Congratulations on your anniversary, and thanks for the review.

 

You've made me very happy - they're refurbishing the Atlantis Lounge, the worst room on the sea! yay! So excited to hear that, and in time for our cruise in December!:D

I really hope the refurbishment means they will be ripping out those hideous sea horses, and getting rid of the 'Flash Gordon' red & gold lightning pattern on the walls! That would be so good. The Terraces could do with a refurb as well so that will be great. I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like when it's done. They did a good job with the Promenade Lounge refurbishment, so hopefully it will be a big improvement!

 

 

Sorry to burst your bubble but they aren't getting rid of the sea horses - I asked!!!!

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staceymrow

staceymrow

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Happy Anniversary to you both!

Im glad you had a nice time cruising in a suite! Il get there one day

BUT.....

Im devistated they dont do blooming Onion anymore!!!!!

I loved that dish!!!

Makes me feel like googling the recipe and attempting to make it!!(and I hate cooking lol!!)

 

Ps

Do you know what date drydock is in November?

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am1984

am1984

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Ps

Do you know what date drydock is in November?

 

Having looked at the dates of the Pacific Sun's upcoming cruises, it appears that the dry dock is scheduled for 7th November to 13th November & then a sail out on the 14th November.

 

Regards

 

Alan

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thied

thied

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Happy Anniversary to you both!

Im glad you had a nice time cruising in a suite! Il get there one day

BUT.....

Im devistated they dont do blooming Onion anymore!!!!!

I loved that dish!!!

Makes me feel like googling the recipe and attempting to make it!!(and I hate cooking lol!!)

 

Ps

Do you know what date drydock is in November?

ues i have seen what you were like with the last blooming Onion you had:D

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jingles83

jingles83

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Thanks for the review Rach, sounds like you had a lovely time and it was an interesting itinerary.

 

When you got off, we got on and did the week fantastique. Will be interesting to see what they do in dry dock when we get back on in December for Bne to Melb.

 

Sorry to say but I couldn't stand David Pepper so it won't be a loss to me if he's not back on. I know I will be shot down in flames for this, but he reminded me of a sleezy old english man past his prime but still trying to be young and hip. LOL Just my take, his voice in horse racing grated on me.

 

I will try and get a quick review up this week for ours.

 

Happy Anniversary too, we also celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary on our cruise, but all we got was a sign and balloons on our door. No cake for us. :mad:

 

Cheers

Jingles.

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thied

thied

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glad to hear you both had a lovley cruise, pitty you felt a bit shunned by others when it became known that we were staying in a suite ( we have a suite on the paficic dawn in feb 2010). Charlie Carr has to be the best captain we have ever had, very very happy and friendly.:D

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