Christmas on the Pearl - Review

[Sandielle]

ok please dont think me silly as i have only been on one cruise, but what does the cruise director do and why does everyone put so much emphasis on this person etc?

i have no idea what everyones talking about!

also for the captains cocktail night someone mentioned you had to have cruised before to get invited?

i have cruised before but p and o apparently have no record of me ever being onboard on one of their ships lol!

 

It also depends on how long ago you cruised with P&O. My older cruises did not count as it was not P&O Australia in those days, just P&O full stop.

Re the CD, some people like to see the CD around the ship and interact with him/her. It doesn't matter to us as during the day we like to do our own thing - sometimes nothing much but read and relax, sometimes we may go to a presentation by the captain/officers or a musical murder mystery. I feel the more we cruise the fewer activities we will take part in as they tend to be similar.

[Rasa Sayang]

Re the CD, some people like to see the CD around the ship and interact with him/her. It doesn't matter to us as during the day we like to do our own thing - sometimes nothing much but read and relax, sometimes we may go to a presentation by the captain/officers or a musical murder mystery. I feel the more we cruise the fewer activities we will take part in as they tend to be similar.

 

I'm with Sandy on that point, and would possibly even take it further.

 

For those that have the focus of their voyage revolve around the cruise director - go for it - enjoy. :)

 

For me and my wife, we cruise to relax, and if something on the entertainment scene grabs our attention we go along and enjoy.

 

But the last thing we want is for some garrulous and glorified MC to be running our cruise for us - and believe me, they can be garrulous.:p

 

Definitely not into Cruise Director fan clubs and the like. ;)

 

Just my two bobs worth. :D

[wildweston]

Thanks Sandi! Yeah i have heard of her through the threads...PS How awesome are our countdown clocks looking :p I wonder if Cheryl enjoyed her cruise?? :)

 

Hi Jas I'm here, have been really busy at work as we have had a massive extenison added on to where I work, but just to let you know I had a fantastic cruise, probably best cruise so far. You will love it, fantastic food, beautiful dining room, good buffet, GREAT staff, beautiful ship, great CD, just can't think of anything to complain about really. You will really love this ship and we got towel animals for this first time ever !!

 

Hi Sandy, how are you ? Looking forward to your next cruise? You two are cruisng this year now :D

[cazz0069]

Hi Jas I'm here, have been really busy at work as we have had a massive extenison added on to where I work, but just to let you know I had a fantastic cruise, probably best cruise so far. You will love it, fantastic food, beautiful dining room, good buffet, GREAT staff, beautiful ship, great CD, just can't think of anything to complain about really. You will really love this ship and we got towel animals for this first time ever !!

 

Hi Sandy, how are you ? Looking forward to your next cruise? You two are cruisng this year now :D

 

 

Hey Cheryl....I`m so glad you had a great time. Was starting to worry when you hadnt checked in with us afterwards. Its great you cant think of anything to complain about....Who was the cruise director? Do you think we will get the same one? Yay, for towel animals....we have never had one.:)

[wildweston]

Hey Cheryl....I`m so glad you had a great time. Was starting to worry when you hadnt checked in with us afterwards. Its great you cant think of anything to complain about....Who was the cruise director? Do you think we will get the same one? Yay, for towel animals....we have never had one.:)

 

Hi Jas good to talk to you again, I have never had a towel animal before either, but we got monkeys. dogs, elephants, swans and flowers all great. The cruise director was Solvor Wol or Sol as she calls herself, nice girl from Norway, I really liked her anyway. Jas this is my tip to you , go on a very strict diet before your cruise because you are going to put on weight !! food is sooooooo good. Also this was the first time I had traditional dining and I really enjoyed it. You will love the dining room, some nights the waiters sing and dance it is sooo much fun. Are you on facebook ?

[Sandielle]

Hi there, Cheryl. I'm so glad you had such a wonderful cruise. :) Yes, it's not long, now! We are on the Pac Dawn again - it's so handy leaving from Bris. They have new menus, too, so it will be interesting to compare with the old......and who can not enjoy seeing NZ again?

[thied]

They have new menus last oct when we cruised on the Pacific dawn, we were the first cruiset to have tried them, have they changed them again ?

[wildweston]

Hi there, Cheryl. I'm so glad you had such a wonderful cruise. :) Yes, it's not long, now! We are on the Pac Dawn again - it's so handy leaving from Bris. They have new menus, too, so it will be interesting to compare with the old......and who can not enjoy seeing NZ again?

 

Hi Sandy, yes handy leaving fom Brissy for you and I agree I LOVE NZ too :)

[haircut4u]

For my review may I directo you to http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=76870

[tassie cruiser]

Hey Cheryl....I`m so glad you had a great time. Was starting to worry when you hadnt checked in with us afterwards. Its great you cant think of anything to complain about....Who was the cruise director? Do you think we will get the same one? Yay, for towel animals....we have never had one.:)

 

Hi Jas, you will get towel animals on your Rhapsody cruise.. Every night when they come to do rooms ... like about 8.30-9.00ish.... We got a: dog, swans, love heart, elephant, monkey hanging from the light etc..... sooo cute... Fiona

[tassie cruiser]

In fear of being one of few by the sounds of it.. here goes... We had Zoltina J on our NYE cruise '09-'10 Pacific Dawn, I thought she was great, always friendly, just overall a nice lady. A couple times we were in the elevator with her and she chatted away, very down to earth..

We are on the Pacific Pearl this easter and had heard she would be on there, so we were happy.... What is it that people dont like about her?? :rolleyes:

Fiona

[Sandielle]

In fear of being one of few by the sounds of it.. here goes... We had Zoltina J on our NYE cruise '09-'10 Pacific Dawn, I thought she was great, always friendly, just overall a nice lady. A couple times we were in the elevator with her and she chatted away, very down to earth..

We are on the Pacific Pearl this easter and had heard she would be on there, so we were happy.... What is it that people dont like about her?? :rolleyes:

Fiona

 

I really don't know, Fiona! We found her OK and quite funny - but we saw her only at shows and Pub night, etc. I have the feeling from reading many posts that some people think she is snobbish - they like a lot of interaction with the CD around the ship and if they don't get this, they get upset about it.

[tassie cruiser]

I really don't know, Fiona! We found her OK and quite funny - but we saw her only at shows and Pub night, etc. I have the feeling from reading many posts that some people think she is snobbish - they like a lot of interaction with the CD around the ship and if they don't get this, they get upset about it.

 

Oh, Ok thanks Sandielle..... We just got off Rhapsody and Sol the cruise director on there, she was ok, but much preferred Zoltina :eek: We very rarely saw Sol around ship, only at shows, and we didnt go to that many, as they were bit diff to P&O... the Quest night (which we missed) was meant to be great, everyone was talking about it, so sad we missed it, but anyway some of the other shows were, a violinist, a juggler if you get what I mean. There was the marriage game and it was pretty much word for word from the P&O and Princess one, same questions etc....

There was lady on there called Kate or Katie, she was activity coordinator or whatever the correct title is, she was fantastic, she also cohosted some shows in the theatre with Sol as well as organise all the deck activities...

She was just the best, so natural and down to earth, a bigger lady but she always was georgeous.... Fiona

[rockie]

I also liked Demo, but then Dan Styne? took over. He was great. I was wondering if you got to fill in a comment form before you left the Pearl. I always fill them in honestly and have been told on here that P&O do take notice of comments. Hopefully their teething problems have been ironed out.

[brad_p]

For my review may I directo you to http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=76870

 

Thanks for the review. It would be nice if you can actually explain what was wrong in the following situations:

• Having never departed from Queen’s Wharf I was interested in seeing how it operated. It was an utter shambles

• Christmas at Sea. it turned out to be a most abysmal affair, with the least said the better.

• Anytime dining does not work in a ship of this size.

Re the latter, I always think of ships like the Freedom and Oasis... largest ships on earth which offer anytime dining... wonder why pearl can't.

Sorry to hear you didn't have a good time :(

[The_Big_M]

I'm confused by this statement:

"The cruise was perfect for families"

 

But you took your mother and said you didn't enjoy it so it doesn't sound like it's perfect for families in your view...?

[kiwi sailor]

Are you allowed to take some soft drink on board with you.

 

Thanks.

Yes you can. If you are a Coke Zero fan, it is a must as they don't sell it on board. The size of the cans varied as the cruise went on. Started off at 370ml down to 330mls later in the cruise. Still the same price AU$2.75

[CruiseW827]

I informed that she may be on the Pacific Pearl till at least March, but that could change.

 

by the way great review Rob and glad to see you had a great time.

 

According to Zoltina she is off on a break very soon. And wont be back till March.

[Dizziedi]

For my review may I directo you to http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=76870

 

 

Thanks for your review. This will be our first time with P&O and we too, are wary. It was the only suitable cruise available at late notice. Hopefully, we will be pleasantly surprised. There have been a couple of reviews that are pretty good - the one bad thing that seems to be repeated is cold food:eek:, so I hope they get that right by 17 Feb.

 

Cheers

Di

[thied]

I informed that she may be on the Pacific Pearl till at least March, but that could change.

 

by the way great review Rob and glad to see you had a great time.

 

According to Zoltina she is off on a break very soon. And wont be back till March.

as i did say that it could change.................

[leggyliz]

I think having a good DJ is way more important than a CD. We had DJ Marco on the Pacific Dawn 2 years ago and we ended up renaming (behind his back) DJ Wanker. He was in his 50's at least and would only play music that the skinny gorgeous blonde 18 year olds loved. He just wouldnt listen to our requests as all. I think he thought he was 'all that' when in fact he was an idiot.

[Dizziedi]

For my review may I directo you to http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=76870

 

Thank you both for your reviews. As we are off on the Pearl (first time on P&O) in 2 weeks, hopefully we will be pleasantly surprised and all problems will be sorted by then. Sounds like we might be dining in Sea Salt(?) on a regular basis.

 

Quite frankly, if I was kept awake by that noise and reception wasn't prepared to do anything about it, I'd go back to my room, put on pyjamas (note to self to take pyjamas), dressing gown and slippers, take my pillow and go camp right next to the Purser's desk.

 

Cheers

Di

[Sandielle]

Thank you both for your reviews. As we are off on the Pearl (first time on P&O) in 2 weeks, hopefully we will be pleasantly surprised and all problems will be sorted by then. Sounds like we might be dining in Sea Salt(?) on a regular basis.

 

Salt Grill? :)

 

Quite frankly, if I was kept awake by that noise and reception wasn't prepared to do anything about it, I'd go back to my room, put on pyjamas (note to self to take pyjamas), dressing gown and slippers, take my pillow and go camp right next to the Purser's desk.

Cheers

Di

 

Atta Girl! That would teach 'em! I reckon, in the same situation, I'd be tempted to do the same. At least they might take more notice of your concerns! :cool:

[Chivalrygirl]

Booked the Pacific Pearl for May, but the more I read the more I am struggling with should we cancel!

Are you telling me that you have to pay at least $A40 for a bottle of wine to have with your dinner? Don't even want to convert that into NZD, my goodness we don't even pay that on shore here in Auckland!

To cancel, or not to cancel. ????????

[Aus Traveller]

Booked the Pacific Pearl for May, but the more I read the more I am struggling with should we cancel!

Are you telling me that you have to pay at least $A40 for a bottle of wine to have with your dinner? Don't even want to convert that into NZD, my goodness we don't even pay that on shore here in Auckland!

To cancel, or not to cancel. ????????

We haven't cruised on the Pacific Pearl (yet) but I think it is likely the drinks prices would be consistent across the fleet (P & O Aust). Only a few months ago there were several different wines available for AUD$25-$26. We felt they were quite drinkable.