We are a family of four (2 adults and 2 children) who have recently just returned home after a 7 night pacific island hopper cruise on the pacific dawn. This was our first ever cruise. We enjoyed parts of it but there was a lot of disappointments that I would like to voice.

We eat in both the pantry and the waterfront restaurants. I work in hospitality myself so I know a smile goes a long way and brings people back. We only encountered one male waiter in the waterfront-don't remember his name, who showed our children various napkin arrangements such as a chicken, swan,shoe,etc that he knew, which entertained the kids. All the other staff seemed tired and unhappy. Food was ok. Portions could be a little bigger and decorated more as I had ravioli one night with nothing with it, just ravioli on a plate, finished it in about 5 mins. Broccoli on many occasions was not cooked completely. Ice cream for dessert-only got two scoops for me whilst a child got 3 also with no decor. Desserts in pantry also not very nice, dry and very small, also long queues. We finally decided after the first few days would be a great idea to get a table before ordering food as we had to walk around looking for a table on first couple of days while food was going cold. The windows throughout the restaurants esp the pantry are so stained or dirty you can barley see out of them. I noticed on the second last day that the windows in the shell and bones restaurant are perfectly clear but either side of that the windows are stink. My husband let a supervisor know that a drinks menu was incorrectly written stating that Bulmers cider is from England, whereas it's made in Tipperary, Republic of Ireland where my husband originates from and did work there for a short time(bulmers factory). Nothing was done to rectify this problem. Google will tell you exactly where its from, don't know how they got that wrong. Also another problem that was not rectified was on the way home we and other guests noticed sparks coming from the smoke stack. They were flying back toward us, some landing very close to us and others sitting outside the pantry for a quiet cuppa.(tea and coffee was nice) Also not rectified, staff from the pantry came out and looked up and seemed shocked.

Room was comfortable, we were on deck 8 with an obstructed view room. Asked for an upgrade on check in at reception but we were declined as the guy told us the ship was at full capacity. Shower was great and our room stewards were lovely. What was a big disappointment for us a family mainly was that kids club and edge adventures were understaffed. There were days we couldn't bring our daughter to kids club as they said they were understaffed and had no space for any more kids as they had 30 at that time. There was one day at 10am we brought her to be told they were booked to the max. We said fine we will bring her back, we put her on the waiting list for them to call us, they didn't. We brought her back at 2pm when they could take her. I picked her up at 5pm. We went back to the room to get ready for dinner when the phone rang saying kids club could accept her now as they had space. I had only just picked her up after her just being there for 3 hours. Did they not have it noted in their systems she was there? Well I'm sure they did but it's a bit unprofessional to be honest. There were a few adventures we didn't get to do as there was only 3 staff to cater for everyone on the ship that wanted to do edge. Long queues and to wait nearly half an hour then to be told you can't do it due to it being completely booked up. Staff seemed stressed and under pressure. Could of done with more staff esp in edge. I went to watch the sunrise with my eldest child, my 13 year old son on the second last day of the cruise only to see a used condom on the deck under the walk the plank, just glad my son didn't see it but still that should of been cleaned up before people were walking and jogging around the ship. There was about 20+ people on deck at that time and the cleaners only came out at about 6.30am ish when we were heading back to our room. Pool was small and very cold, we didn't go in, but not much can be done about that I suppose. Sun loungers were comfortable but hard to find. Spas were great, says 5 max in them at any one time whereas I saw one with 8 children in it at one time. We couldn't go to many shows at night as most were 18+ or on too late and our kids have special needs and could not be left alone or with a babysitter due to anxiety. We were all really looking forward to the white party, it started great for the kids but only ran for 40 mins,too short I think, then stopped and had to wait till nearly 10pm for more but by that time kids were exhausted so we went to bed, after really looking forward to it and getting dressed up. Photos are beautiful on the ship but a little over priced, if they were cheaper I think we and a lot more people would buy more. We met the captain and he was so lovely, chatting and signing our souvenirs for us. It's such a pity that I have to give such negative feedback about a holiday that we were looking forward to very much, but it's all true. We enjoyed our time I think more on the islands than actually on the ship. Would go on a cruise again but would give P and O a miss and try something else. Thanks for reading and hope this review may be of use to future travellers.