Reviewed By:
Stephen
Travel Date:
July 2002
In July 2002 my wife and I (and three children aged 7, 6 and 1) travelled to
four Pacific Islands with the P&O cruise-ship "Pacific Sky". While the trip had
several positive aspects, there were also several negative aspects of the trip
which impacted particularly on our children.
On the positive side, the food was outstanding, with a wide range of high
quality meals offered each day. The children's dinner sitting - from 5.00pm to
6.00pm each night - catered specifically to the needs of children. The
child-care staff were excellent and did a great job looking after our children.
One room was for children aged 12 months to 4 years, whilst that other was for
children aged 5 to 12. A range of activities catering for the interests and
abilities of children of different ages were provided throughout the day and
during the evening (thus allowing parents to have dinner separately in a relaxed
manner). The cabin staff were also first class, providing a friendly and
efficient service.
On the negative side, the logistics of moving large numbers of people on and
off the ship often resulted in long waiting times and queues, providing a
challenge especially for young children. Furthermore, on several occasions
adults not familiar with queuing became aggressive and started pushing and
shoving others - including our children - to get to the front. The childcare
facilities are positioned at the rear of the ship where turbulence is greatest,
resulting in rough conditions in many children becoming sea sick. Furthermore,
the childcare facilities were not properly heated. While the food was great,
there were not enough high chairs for the young children, resulting in some
parents - including ourselves - having to hold their children during their meal
times.
The P&O brochures promises a range of shore tours (including some suitable
for children), but if you don't purchase these almost immediately upon arrival
on the ship you are likely to have only a very limited choice of shore tours, as
these tours book-out very quickly. We were able to book one of the three tours
we wanted to book. It is mandatory to use a P&O charge card to purchase these
trips and any other goods or services from the ship. Upon arrival on the ship
you will need to join a long queue to purchase this card, or wait a day (as we
did), thus avoiding the long queue but having only a very few shore tours to
choose from.
Each evening free shows of variable quality are provided. However, if you
don't get -in early you will find that all the seating is taken and you and your
children will have to stand. This happened to us during both the one show we
considered appropriate for children under 10 and attended.
For most cabins you cannot open your window, and therefore, you have to rely
on the ships air-conditioning. This can present real problems, especially if you
catch a cold or flu (as most of the people on our floor did). When it is sunny
and warm, the decks of the ship were over-crowded and it was difficult to move
about the ship with ease. Finally, when leaving the ship the transport
facilities and infrastructure - including taxis etc - cannot cater for some 1500
people leaving the ship over a few hours. Again, long queues and aggressive
adults were a feature of our departure (and if you have three or more children
most taxis in Sydney cannot - or will not - take you to your final destination).
On balance, we found that the challenges of this trip - including sea
sickness in both adults and children etc - did not make for an especially
relaxing and enjoyable holiday.
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