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P&O Cruises

MV Pacific Sun

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Chris D'Onofrio
# previous cruises: 2
Date of Trip: December 8, 2004
Itinerary: Australia

I sailed on Pacific Sun as a celebration of the end of school. I was on the third cruise of Pacific Sun out of Sydney after its $35 million dollar refit. However the staff were so well organised and trained you wouldn't have known this was only the ships third cruise. The ship offered a excellent experience and will definitely be sailing on her in the near future.

Overall the public areas were comfortable, spacious and plentiful. The main areas which stood out were the legends bar (during refit the casino was cut down and this lounge added, great improvement as casino was too large before), photo shop, lobby, outback bar and grill, pizzeria and shops. All lounge rooms had brand new lounges, carpets and furnishings, however some areas could do with touch ups, but nothing major. Biggest disappointment was the showroom, the decor is a awful 80's theme, this room was not touched during the refit, therefore is the worse room on the boat, a shame as the showroom is meant to be the best. This room has potential, if refitted would be a excellent space. The stair wells are wide and plentiful, hallways are also nice and colourful. The gym was rather small, so i didn't use it. There is no walk around promenade, but deck areas are plentiful and well designed. The pools are also small, like on her sister ship Pacific Sky, however one of her pools has a water slide which looked like fun, however staff can't open the slide unless the water in the pool is completely still, so the slide was only ever open while in port, therefore i was unable to use it. there is another pool at the back as well, (two pools in total). There are also two hot tubs, which are of a reasonable size.

Food is excellent and plentiful. For breakfast you having a sit down meal or a buffet was open from 7am - till 11am in the outback grill. Lunch you had the choice of a 4- course lunch in the restaurant or a buffet at the outback grill from 12pm till 3pm. Although meals were repetitive in the buffet they were open lengthy hours, if you preferred more of a variety from day to day the restaurant is better suited as the meals constantly change. You could even do both due to the buffet being open so long, i did this a number of times, lol. For dinner there is 5 course in the restaurant and changes each day with different themes each night, food was excellent. There was also a the outback grill , which served steaks for a dinner alternative , but a $15 charge applies. Other food served throughout the day with a charge is sushi, pizza ($7), pies ($2) and new zealand ice cream ( around $3.50 for two scopes). Overall food was great.

Cabins were reasonable in size for a budget ship, there were furnished well. Closet space was adequate. TV was good, even had some fox tel channels like cartoon network, news, movies and so on. The bathroom was small, but had been given new appliances during the refit, so had no traces of any mold. The shower was of reasonable size, i'm a tall guy and found it to be spacious.

I attended some shows throughout the cruise and found them to be quite entertaining and were quite surprised, my favourite would be the "beatles" show. They also ran a Pacific Sun Idol. Like the Australian Idol, where passengers volunteered to perform for there fellow passengers, it proved that there was quite some talent onboard. The cruise staff and entertainers were quite energetic and were exceptional.

I was on a 9 night cruise and it visited Noumea, Isle of Pines and Divine Island. At Noumea i took a shore tour which was kyaking , which was great. Then i purchased a all day transfer pass to the other side of town to the popular beaches. I STRONGLY recommend this, as were the ship docks is the scum of Noumea , the transfer only cost $10 Australian and was definitely worth it , other passengers that didn't purchase it were disappointed with this port and returned to the ship. Isle of Pines was the best out of the three ports absolutely Utopia. Devine Island was also excellent.

My cruise was a schoolies cruise so generally it was all school leavers on my cruise. The Pacific Sun , like Pacific Sky is generally targeted at young people and families. I would strongly recommend this type of holiday to anyone.