Pacific Aria Review
Too many faults accompanied by poor service; how could they get it so wrong?
Rating by category
Additional details
For a company with the resources and experience of both P&O and all those under the parent company Carnival Cruises, the introduction of newly refurbished ships to the line should go like clockwork. After the two shakedown cruises prior to arriving in Brisbane one would think that most of the bugs would have been ironed out – not so. I found it hard to believe that every conversation with a stranger on board seemed to start unprompted with a complaint about P&O, the food, the crew, the restaurants and other problems on board. The only reliably positive things to be said were about the comfortable beds, roomy cabins and very good cabin attendants.
Although we had a reasonably enjoyable cruise it was more to do with what we made of the few good aspects of the ship and the camaraderie with fellow sufferers than about what P&O contributed to our holiday. The ship is far behind the quality of service and food provided by the Pacific Dawn or other ships.
Where to start with the problems?
Cabin Review
Suite accommodation:
Very roomy but a bit dated. I think the bathroom had several layers of tiles on it so the toilet was very low to the floor. Water pressure for the shower could be better. I pity any elderly person trying to get in and out of the high sided but narrow spa tub. Beds were comfortable and a great range of pillows. The provision of a Nespresso machine and bottled water was great as was the priority embarkation/disembarkation.
I was disappointed by the fact that advertising for the suite stated ‘fully loaded IPod with docking station’ – many excuses as to why we didn’t have it and it never eventuated. I even had my IPod player to plug into their docking station in case their content was not to my liking. The binoculars provided half way through the trip were old and faulty.
DVD player was provided but no DVDs available to play.
Cocktails with the Captain and staff.
A rushed photo (no effort made to take a decent photo) with a disinterested Captain followed by a brief cocktail party. Some staff made an effort to involve guests in conversation while quite a few made no effort and just stood to the side and left some guests just sitting alone.
Port Reviews
Cairns
Great food and restaurants particularly the Ochre.