P&O Australia New Food Menus - Pacific Encounter

So much has been said about the new menus on P&O Australia lately. All true. Food choices are an individual thing. 

Cruisers that have cruised previously on Encounter and long term cruisers on P&O Australia are not happy with the new menus - understandably so. New cruisers may think they are great - also understandably. Matter of opinion!

Menus changed late April. However, before that, menus were put on a 3 day cycle. OK, with the extensive menu - especially in the Waterfront - one can have a different 2-3 course meal each night on a 7 night cruise. Now with the reduced menus and more 'extra paid for' items at the 'included' restaurants, choices are very limited.

I've never been a fan of the Pantry and loved the breakfasts in the Waterfront Restaurant, especially the Eggs Benedict.

Breakfast February 2018 - 21 choices - no 'extra cost' menu items.

December 2018 - 16 items - 2 extra cost beverages.

February 2023 - 14 items and 2 extra cost beverages.

May 2023 - after the new menu change - only 11 items and 4 extra cost items.

Breakfast menu has always included juice, pastries, and tea or coffee. However, on our last two Encounter cruises we have had to ask for pastries and sometimes juices. We found it wasn't worthwhile going to the Waterfront each morning like we use to.

Breakfast menu in the Pantry was the same each day. Two stations each side set up as egg stations with fried and scrambled eggs, toast and tomatoes - sometimes mushrooms on either end. The middle station was pancakes and french toast. Pastries differed each day, and seemed to be slightly different on each side.

LUNCH - the choices are the Pantry or the Waterfront (on sea day only). The Waterfront has the same menu each day, and there are enough choices to eat there each day - more so than the Pantry. However the lunch menu is not as extensive as it was.

The Pantry has many different types of food and although they are suppose to change daily, they do not:

• Curry House - smaller choice of dishes and accompaniments than before. Peter likes his curries, and these were not spicy enough. I don't like curry at all.
  
• Mexicana - too spicy for me and Peter didn't try as he likes his curries. I did one day get some nachos, salsa and guacamole, which was nice - a little spicy but I got extra sour cream.
  
• Kettle & Bun - much better than before, although not a lot of variety from day to day. Some days I just got bread rolls and made my own Vegemite sandwich.
• Hook's Fish and Chips - always try it, but sorry the fish is always mushy. Guess I live in hope that it will be better one day. Chips are lovely and some lunches / dinners all one needs is a bread and butter roll and lovely chips. A bonus is on the last full day lunch, Hook's will sometimes have prawns. BC (before Covid) we were told the prawns are the thawed prawns that can't be re-frozen and can't be used on the new cruise the following day.

 

• Stix - Asian noodle bar. Not bad. Some days the noodles were too spicy for me. Son loved them and ate there  every day for lunch.
• Fat Cow - roast dinners and carvery. Was ok. Only the carvery changed in a cycle.
• Nic & Toni's - pasta and paellas. Not really appetizing.
  
• Sugar Bar - desserts. There use to be a big variety of cakes, slices, jelly and custards. There is not such a big variety now. 

This photo was 2018.

DINNER - choices are Pantry, Waterfront, Angelos (Italian) and Dragon Lady (Asian). The Pantry is much the same as lunch menu. When booking a dinner time, the ship will book you into each of the three other restaurants on a 3 day rotation. Again the menus are much reduced from what they use to be. We eat at each one once, and then have given Dragon Lady a miss the rest of the cruise. We consider the food there not very good, although it is better than when we first tried it in 2017. Another big dislike is sitting at a table in the dark. We only did it once and now ask to be moved to where we can see the menu and the food! A very dark place. Angelos is good, again not as good as it use to be. The food is tasty and varied. The Waterfront has more options, so that is our go to place. 

If doing a short 3-5 day cruise the dinner menus are fine. If doing longer there will be an issue with variety. Our last 8 night cruise saw me eating chicken schnitzel 5 nights out of the 8. (I'm not a meat eater)

We love cruising, and the best thing about P&O was their Waterfront breakfast, - better than other cruise lines. It WAS. Yes, it is a cheaper cruise line, and adding extra paid food items to the 'included' restaurants is fine - it is just a bit rude to take items away that use to be included 'free' and to now charge for them. It makes P&O less value for money.

Would I cruise on Encounter again? Of course - if the price is right.