Pacific Dawn Island Hopper

P&O had a flash one day sale, so of course I'm going to see what is available. I had been keeping an eye on prices for Island Hopper on 5^th of May for Peter's birthday, but that sailing was not on sale..... BUT ...the one the week before was so I booked it. Embarkation was slower than last time, it took us over 90 minutes to get on board. We arrived 15 minutes before our due time to check in at 12 noon, and spent most of the time sitting waiting for our number to be called. At least there was a live performer to listen to, who was pretty good. Of course this delay led to a domino effect ..... too late for Waterfront lunch ...... quick 'gulping' down of lunch in the Pantry …. all venues closed, no lifts from 1.20 to get ready for muster at 1.30ish …. quick rush to room to get life jackets (Yes P&O make one take their life jackets to muster – which is an ok thing to do). So after muster I went up to the Dome to get a seat at the front during departure, and the boys took the life jackets back to the room. This was when I had my first drink!

The alcoholic drink package on P&O is way too expensive for what we drink, so Peter did a pay as you go (and spent a lot less that the $79 - without tea and coffee - or $95 a day), I got a non-alcoholic package ($19 per day), and Jonnie a soft drink package ($7 per day). I do wish they had more than three mocktails though!

The cabin 9101, was as expected, a little crowded with three of us, but lets face it one is not in the room very much - it is just for sleeping. It was interesting that a lady I met said the bathrooms were great - I think they are small. I asked what she was comparing them too and she said Princess! Well there you go, Princess must be really tiny😲.
We didn't waste time this cruise lining up to book dinner, we had dinner in the Pantry. It had the same type of meals as last time. A few different cuisines, but not a lot of variety. Peter only had a curry a few times during the week. He said it was ok. Jonnie and I had spaghetti bolognese from the teenage menu and it was pretty good. We both had it a few more times during the week.

We did stop by the Waterfront after dinner and with no queue we booked a permanent table for the rest of the week. The only sitting left was 7.45pm, and we don't mind a late dinner. After dinner we went to the show, which on the first day was a sample of what was to come. It was good. P&O use to have great Sail Away Parties, but they are pretty much a non-event now.

Day 2 was a sea day, and a very rocky. Our friend Etienne would not have liked it at all! I had breakfast by myself - the boys were still in bed, and then I went to a few trivia's and had a lovely pot of T2Tea Creme Brulee. 

We did discover that P&O now have an app that worked pretty well for us. We all put it on our phones and we could leave messages for each other. As there was no alert, we had to keep checking our phones, but it worked fine. We would also check-in to venues so we could see where each other was. Another good feature was we could check our account daily, instead of going to the kiosk at reception. So glad they have this.

We went to the 9pm show after dinner. The show on day 2 was Slumber, and we were pleased that Jon wanted to come to most of the shows. In Slumber there was a section that was signed - British Sign Language - very similar to Auslan - and Jon smiled and sat forward when he saw that. After the show we were surprised to see hot dogs and sliders were being served at the Casino. Peter and Jonnie enjoyed them. The casino is also where the Sports Bar is.

Late evening was spent in the Marquee Theatre watching 'Perfect Match' and then a funny comedian - Kel Balnaves. We saw him at the show the first night, but this time (10.45pm) it was an adult only show - just so funny!

Day three was Nouméa. We were docked at a container wharf, which was actually really close to the town - a lot closer than RC and Celeb. We didn't dock until 3pm, but that was fine as I wasn't getting off and Peter and Jonnie were walking the short distance to the free internet.

This was the night we discovered Pub Olympics. There was only one show on tonight and that was at 8pm. We would have liked to go to see the comedian, but dinner was 7.45pm so we couldn't. After dinner we went to the Orient and saw the Pub Olympics. The room is divided into half - Port and Starboard, and a set of categories are displayed with trivia type questions. After all the questions have been asked there is a final party game that was different each time and was so funny. We did see Pub Olympics a few nights, but then they changed the time to 8pm - and we were having dinner 😒

Afterwards we went out onto the deck to watch Nouméa fade into the distance.

Day 4 was was a tender day into Lifou. Peter and I have been here before, but it was Jonnie's first time. I had breakfast and went to morning Trivia, while Peter and Jonnie got up and had breakfast and met me. We then went up to the room to get ready for Lifou. By this time all the rush for tenders was over and we walked straight onto a tender. It took a while to get in to the jetty. The beach is still beautiful, but missing was the lovely welcome sign that use to be at the end of the jetty, and there are now more little covered areas selling wares. We watched the cultural performance and then I left the boys to explore some more and to go for a swim. I enjoyed the empty ship!

The dress theme for the evening was Bianco (White). I have always pack a white outfit for formal night, and now that formal night no longer exists, I still bring the white outfit - perfect for the nights theme. Again the show, a vocalist, was on at 8pm and we were at dinner, on the plus side we were able to go to 9pm Pub Olympics again. 

We loved the towel animals that our cabin steward Dante made.

 I also liked the new release movies shown on the cabin TV, so after all the activities I would get a hot chocolate to take to bed and watch a movie.

Our last Port Day was in Port Vila. We docked at the container wharf where the usual market was set up. Last time here Jon and Peter did ziplining, so this time Jon wanted to see the town. We had a walk around the market and then the boys got the water taxi into the town to get the duty free. So cheap here.

 I went to Scattergories and won a keyring, had lunch and then met Peter in the Orient for afternoon trivia and Taboo. The games onboard are a lot of fun, and the entertainment staff were the best - a few different from last time, but a lot better than RC and Celeb. Jim the Canadian, Tyler the Texan, and Leigh the Brit were so approachable and funny. Taboo was hard, but fun and our side won. I went to Trivia a few times during the day, and Peter joined me sometimes. We joined another couple and their father for the  cruise long trivia that was held each day and that was fun. We didn't win, but we made some good friends. The show after dinner was another production show called Disconnected about four people and social media. After the show Jon went to the pool deck to watch Star Wars - The Last Jedi.

Days six and seven were sea days. I love sea days, there are heaps of activities if one wants to do them. Day six was again a rocky day. There was a cooking demonstration in the Marquee and Peter did the galley tour. It was a Gatsby theme tonight, so in between trivia and we went to the Dome to watch the dance. We did get dressed up, but didn't go to the show as we saw it last cruise so had a dinner.
The food on board was ok, nothing special. In the Pantry there was not a lot of variety, and there is a lack of fruit - that one gets use to on other cruise lines. There is always some cut up fruit, usually rockmelon and honeydew. At Breakfast there is a bowl of fruit hidden behind a wall on the cereal station and a couple of days there were apples, which was good. One day was kiwi fruit?!?!? Vegemite is only available at breakfast, so I would get a couple extra for lunch and dinner if needed. The bread rolls were always fresh and good for a meal with Vegemite and lettuce. We got into the habit of looking at the Waterfront Restaurant lunch and dinner menus and if there was nothing that appealed to us Jon and I would have early dinner in the Pantry. Jon didn't eat dinner in the Waterfront very often after having pasta that had a really strange pungent taste, he didn't come anymore. The beauty of the Waterfront is that one gets to sit down - there are very few seats in the Pantry. We did eat lunch in our cabin a few times so we could sit down. For dinner in the Waterfront there was always one soup and one pasta, often two fish dishes. The food was often spicy, although not enough for Peter. He asked for chilli on the side one night and was told they had no chilli, and was offered tabasco sauce, which never came. On Celeb and RC Peter always had a small dish of chilli waiting for him on the side. One can ask for extra gravy/sauce and sides of vegetables, salad or fries. In short, breakfast (which is the same each day) and lunch is much better in the Waterfront - you get to sit down, and the food choices are quiet good. Shame dinner is not the same.

We had planned on going to the Gatsby Party, and even got there an hour early, but all the seats were already taken - there is a need for more seats in the Atrium - so after a while of standing around, we went to bed.

 Our last day at sea is always a little sad: the last Early Morning Trivia; the last Morning Trivia; the last Scattergories, logo quiz and the last Cruise Long Trivia with Tyler!! I went to the Musical Murder Mystery Trivia which was fun, Jon and Peter went to the Towel Animal Parade and we all went to the 7pm show Seven. We had seen it before and it was so good we saw it again. After dinner Peter and I went to the final of the Popstars - a talent quest, which was surprisingly good. Then all three of us went to watch a movie - all in different places 😀. Jon went the pool side movie about Watergate, and later Peter went to the movie The Vault in the Marqee. I watched Blind in the cabin.

The only let down with P&O is the food - very limited and ordinary, although they try to make it different. The entertainment team are the best and the staff in general were so good with Jonnie. 

Yes we would sail with P&O again.

See the video here!