These are the comments I left on the survey P&O sent to me after the cruise.
Yes, it is long, but some people might find it useful or interesting. If you don't want to read it, simply click on the Slideshow button above and start looking at the photos. Once the slideshow starts, hover your mouse near the top of the screen to get to the options - such as changing the speed of the the slideshow.
Things we liked about the cruise and/or the ship
Unpacking only ONCE, no shopping, no cooking, no cleaning, no bed-making, no work at all (apart from a lot of walking from one end of the ship to the other and back).
Having a variety of food at our fingertips, three times a day.
Having a certain amount of entertainment to choose from.
Being surrounded by happy, relaxed people in holiday mode, ready for a friendly chat any time.
Nice little details to enjoy, such as statues, shops, lots of little nooks and crannies, small rooms/bars with comfy chairs, many of them empty and quiet.
The kids on the ship were well behaved – I think the kids club wears them out!
Air-conditioning that worked at least to some degree most of the time – it was insanely hot and humid outside.
The maps near the lifts were great to help you learn to navigate your way around the ship.
The staff were wonderful – we only had ONE tiny little moment with a waiter that was less than perfect, everyone else was really lovely.
About the cabin:
When we booked, we asked for the bed configuration to be separate "twin" beds, but we ended up with a Queen bed. Then again, we did get upgraded to a room with a window, which was hugely appreciated!! The mattress was comfortable, the lights and light-switches useful, the block-out curtain pretty good.
We didn't get any cute towel animals or little treats on our pillows, but the basic service was perfectly fine, and our stewards were very pleasant.
We hated the toilet.... it is almost too low even for a toddler - squatting/crouching is not very comfortable!
The air-conditioning was adequate (except most of Saturday), but I would have preferred it a little cooler.
The TV was tiny, and of dreadful quality. The remote control only worked sometimes, and only VERY close to the TV. There were no movies on demand, and not even any guide as to what might be showing on the regular few channels.
Cupboard space was good, only two power-points by the desk make it hard to use a CPAP machine next to the bed - thankfully we brought along an extension cord.
We were pleasantly surprised by the very bearable noise level - I didn't even need to use my ear plugs!
About the public areas/décor/ship condition:
The two pools are VERY small. I would have liked to go for a swim in the evening, but the pool was closed off!
Many areas of the ship look a little old and worn (we were told it was a "new" ship, or at least refurbished).
There were countless leaks - buckets and wet-vacs all over the place, and dripping ceilings. There were many "out of order" signs (lifts, toilets, etc). One lift in particular was scary - it kept closing on people, making loud noises, NOT stopping at the right stop, turning back in the other direction when it shouldn't....... and so on. We called it the possessed lift.
The air conditioning was obviously very sick for most of Saturday - most people were fanning themselves with whatever piece of paper they could get their hands on - it was pretty miserable for about 18 hours.
I loved the many little areas - the different decor and decorations, the different colours, the fact that they nearly always empty or close to it. It was always possible to find a cosy spot for a little rest.
I loved the look of the Marquee, but it was hard to see the stage from a row further in the back.
Comments about food and beverage:
We missed out on several reservations because it was booked out. We finally spent FIFTY minutes in line - starting at 7:20am, 40 minutes before the desk opened, and even then the line was already huge!!!!
Many people missed out on the restaurants. The whole situation of queuing for such long times and yet STILL being turned away was completely ridiculous!!!!! The system is insanely useless and annoying, and clearly needs to be fixed!
We finally made it into the Dragon Lady - it is a lovely looking place, the service was extremely slow, but the meal was heavenly! I did not expect to fall in love with a sweet dessert that also contains wasabi.
The Pantry food of course is more ordinary, but was perfectly adequate, and the staff was always lovely.
We enjoyed being able to ask for little bits to try of this and that.
Comments about activities and entertainment:
I was quite disappointed by the lack of entertainment and activities. There were so many un-used areas that could have been used for simple little activities such as more trivia, games, discussion groups, poetry readings, comedy……. I’m not expecting huge Broadway shows everywhere, but much more of the small stuff. The things we attended often started very late, and often were very short. The “word games” consisted of ONE piece of paper with some puzzles. End of game.
We would have liked way more dance classes, and a much better dance floor – the one in the Dome is very sticky and quite unsuitable for proper dancing.
The Karaoke sessions only happened at 10pm, and didn’t have a terribly good collection of songs (for example, every Karaoke list normally includes “Baby it’s cold outside”, but you didn’t even have THAT classic.
I had expected to be super busy and thought it would be difficult to choose, but instead I kept trying to work out what on earth I should do with the three hours before the next thing becomes available.
The music for the most part was not to MY liking– I didn’t hear/see anything about oldies, or classical, or musicals, or singalongs. Most of the time, it was very modern, and mostly just the same as everywhere else.
The shows in the Marquee were nice, although very short. The trivia in the Dome was ok, although something called a “general knowledge quiz” of 20 questions, should NOT contain 11 entertainment/sports questions. It would be nice to have many more and varied sessions, with better choices such as entertainment/sport, music trivia, sciences, history/geography, etc.
The amount of info given in the evening round of schedules is very limited. It also would help heaps to know the activities for a few days ahead instead of only a few hours.
The major parties are held by the pool in the crazy heat and humidity, surely you could consider a cooler place for that?
All up, there was a whole lot less than I had imagined there would be, and some people didn’t even make it into the food/drink sessions they wanted to attend because those were booked out before they got to the registration desk (another stupidly long queue that was so very badly organized!!!!)
Booking experience:
It has been a huge uphill battle to get answers to my questions from the travel agent, the P&O website, or any other source. The FAQs are limited, so I spent ages googling, reading forum threads, asking other people for basic info such as how many power-points in the room? Is there water available? Which of the themed parties will be on so I can go shopping for costumes (no good finding out about this the day before we leave). So many questions, and only a few answers....... many things were never answered, or answered as a guess, but not a certainty.
As to booking the classes/demos/tasting etc sessions: that was beyond ridiculous.
There was one table with two women and hundreds upon hundreds of people queuing up, waiting in the hallway. Why on earth could this not be booked ahead of time? Why were there only TWO people? Why don't you do this in one the many unused rooms, give everyone a number and let us sit down while we wait? Why do you make all these bookings as painful as possible, when we even had to pay a lot of extra money for them?
I heard of people who were keen to attend these sessions, but because they didn't board until after 2pm, everything was booked out and they were rather disappointed.
The organisation of this is pitifully bad and desperately needs to be changed.
Embarkation:
I had to wait for my husband to turn up with our luggage. It was VERY hot outside, but I wasn't allowed to wait inside in the cool, I had to stand in the heat!
Disembarkation:
We get kicked off terribly early, but having to put our suitcases out even BEFORE dinner is a bit much. Surely it could wait a bit longer than that.
What could we do better?
Fix all the things I mentioned in all my previous typing.
But most of all, please read this:
Change the way you do the half hour from HELL!!!!!!!!!!
For our safety briefing, we had to stand out on the deck for half an hour, on a VERY hot and VERY humid Brisbane day. We were squeezed in like sardines, and many of us were close to fainting. We spent endless time waiting around for the late people and for the whole thing to start LATE. Then we had to listing to some announcements, then be told how to put on a life jacket. ALL of that could have been done inside in the comfort of the air conditioning. At the end, you could walk each group to show them their muster station, then let us go again.
It really was quite unbearable - you are very lucky you didn't have a number of peo
© Karin
