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P&O Cruises

MV Pacific Sky

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Reviewed by: Claudio Belvedere
# previous cruises: 1
Date of Trip: March 28, 2002
Itinerary: South Pacific

The pacific sky is aimed at the Aussie market, most passengers are working, middle class, lots of kids, lots of party types. Good value pretty good service, don't go if you expect caviar etc, most people are pretty impressed with the food.

Lots of open decks, a real promenade deck, problem with aft pool deck where buffet was served is that it is too windy, needs glass screens. Horizon lounge is wonderful at dusk. Surprisingly for a ship with about 1200 passengers there is always plenty of room you don't feel crowded. 3 pools 1 for children under cover hardly used, the other 2 were never used on my cruise because of crappy weather.

The food was good quality, always a pasta dish available. Themed nights, French, Italian, Aussie, Asian captains welcome aboard and so on the menu never repeats. On our cruise Easter school holidays, they gave each child an Easter egg when we embarked and also on Easter Sunday gave them out to all kids as they entered dining room. Typical dinner was appetizer spring rolls, dim sum. Soups 2 choices, entree 1 selection. Main fish curry or Mongolian pot, it was Asian night. Choice of salad, desert, cheeses, fruit, coffee etc plenty of freshly baked bread and they will bring extras such as chips if you ask. Don't expect to see mangoes, basic fruits apples, oranges etc even though on one day I did notice paw paw it tasted crap. The serves are just right not too big so you don't leave feeling bloated. Service is pretty good Indonesians in the dining room even though I noticed P&O have cut staff and give the waiters an extra table too look after they certainly earn their money. Buffet on deck was very popular I didn't go I prefer to eat in civilized surroundings, plenty of calamari, chips, stir fry and pasta, good selection of breads and foccacias, staff very quick to clean up so there are no plates left all over the place. If you want you can buy a pizza for $6.00 They are very good and the pizzeria was packed form the moment we left Sydney till we go home, you can also buy meat pies, cups of chips by pool and New Zealand ice cream by other pool. Only 2 midnight buffets I think you can do without them. Beers $3. ASCTCH AND COKE $4. Cocktail of the day $4.50 you pay by cruise card which you have to charge up when it runs low like mine Naza in disco looked after me at bar and our Filipino wine waiter was great. My cabin attendant a Vanuatuan never vacuumed under our beds for the whole 10 days but I must admit my kids made the mess

I went with my girlfriend and my 3 sons so she shared with 3 others and me with my sons cabin Baja 117 inside, not as big as fair princess it had a vacuum toilet which impressed my kids as it sounded like a jumbo jet taking off in the morning you can hear all the toilets around you flushing. Shower screen is plastic curtain mine had mould on it. There is a TV in each room that has CNN and a cam showing the ships bow. You cant see movie in cabin but a video card is available for $6 per day or $30 for cruise you get 4 videos all day non stop.

Total and utter crap P&O must have an entertainment budget of $100 per cruise, maybe I am a cynic because most people seemed to enjoy the show. an old man who told Benny Hill type jokes which was predictable and every now a and then he would pull out a saxophone and tell people he will play a song made famous by Acker bilk, blank looks on most peoples faces. Another guy in his 50s who did Rod Stewart songs he even had the same hairdo, the P&O dancers were ok though. Then you had you usual bingo, dancing probably even the Macarena if you look for it. my kids thought the movies were shit as P&O put 2 and 3 year old videos on as movies so you will buy their video card. My girlfriend loved starlight lounge at rear they had a Filipino band till close for the over 35s. I used to go to disco every night it was always pumping great place for the young groovers you can also dance on deck but not used much due to weather. The cruse director Dan was great with passengers his assistant Leila was a bit too aloof for my liking.

10 night cruise to Port Vila the favorite spot for most passengers it was hot and good shopping $11 for a 1 liter of Stolli vodka perfume and smokes cheap. A tip P&O will have a duty free sale before you dock in vila so don't buy anything o n ship as it is a lot dearer the same vodka on ship was about $20 same goes for cosmetics and tell me why do people buy those stupid gold chains by the metre on cruise ships? Lifou - a deserted island in New Caledonia good for snorkeling and not much else pity it rained while we were there. We were supposed to go to isle of pines but it was cancelled due to rough seas, it is the best place I ever been too talk about disappointed. so we spent 2 days in Noumea which I love and 90% of the passengers hate Anse Vate beach is just gorgeous, Noumea is very expensive but there were a lot of sales on whilst we were there an a pair of French women's shoes $60/.

You meet your usual types singles, lots of families old people most people were lovely no violence plenty of boozing a [pretty lively single scene i noticed there seemed to be quite a few over 30 type women on board one even propositioned me much to my girlfriends disgust. A safe experience. I would go tomorrow maybe next time I will get better weather