P&O Pacific Aria - Like No PLace on Earth.

Just before Christmas we were fortunate to find a special deal on the P&O Pacific Aria. Aria is a ship that sails from Brisbane and we have wanted to sail on her for some time. The cruise was a seven night cruise to Hamilton Island, Cairns, and Willis Island. We didn’t make it to Hamilton Island due to the weather. Cairns was good and we walked along the Esplanade and had a swim in the lagoon, although it was crowded with families – it was school holidays.

Willis Island was a sail by, and the ship didn’t stay long. We were having breakfast in the dining room so saw very little – we will know for next time.

The ship itself was beautiful. This cruise had 1023 passengers and 680 staff. There were a lot of lovely lounges and places to sit during the day.

We did like the Adults only pool at the stern of the ship, although there were often kids there. The pool was a good size.

The cabin was as expected. It had two large portholes and it had a bathtub – luxury! 

The cabin was cold and we complained each day for the first three days until it was fixed. But overall the cabin was great.

The food was much the same as Dawn. The Pantry had very limited choices. Breakfast was ok, but we preferred to eat in the Dining Room. Lunch we mostly had fruit, and sometimes French fries or a pre-made sandwich. Peter did enjoy the curry one lunch. We never had dinner in the Pantry, although one night after a terrible meal in the Dragon Lady Restaurant I had a bread roll and some cold meat that I made into a sandwich. 

The Kettle and Bun had pre-made sandwiches that were ok some days and not others. On port days the salad bar would make sandwiches to order – just like Subway – and they were pretty good. That is something P&O should seriously think about – sandwiches made to order – Celebrity always have made to order sandwiches for lunch and it is just perfect, and very little ‘left over food’ on plates. I should note here that most food waste on a ship does not come from passengers, but from the ships policy of piling plates high with unwanted items, even if requesting less. This is typical of the pre-made sandwich - little filling and all bread.

However, the Waterfront Restaurant was very good. We had breakfast there each morning and although the menu doesn’t change it is a good menu with enough choices for variety. Breakfast was the best meal each day – lovely tea, orange juice, chocolate croissants, fresh fruit, eggs (different ways) and toast. Lunch was different each day, as was dinner. The menu only has three choices for entrée, three choices for main, and an extra three choices that can be main or entrée. Choices were much better than The Pantry. This was a club sandwich I had for lunch one day - yum.

The staff were mostly good, some a little distracted, but pleasant and appeared happy to assist. Desserts, like all cruise ships, are very decadent, lovely but too rich to eat the whole serving. We often shared a dessert or I ordered extra vanilla ice-cream to go with the rich desserts. In fact I often just ordered a fresh fruit plate for dessert which was perfect.

All P&O Australia ships have the buffet style Pantry, and the table service Waterfront Restaurant. Aria also has other specialty restaurants included in the price of the cruise. We were advised by other passengers to go and book the restaurants asap, so first day I did, We could only book for three nights and got Angelo’s Italian for the first night and the Asian Dragon Lady for 5pm the last night – that was the earliest booking apparently. Angelo’s had a greater choice of meals and the décor was great.

The menu changes every few days and we would go and check each evening to see if we could get in again, which we did a second night. The meals were good and the staff great.

The Asian Restaurant, Dragon Lady, on the last night, we had heard mixed reviews. Passengers either loved it or hated it.

The décor was lovely, and the staff good.

I did not like the food at all, it fact I couldn’t eat either course, so greasy and just tasted awful. The staff apologised and offered to get me another meal, I declined. Peter didn’t mind his.

We thought about going to the Marquee for a ‘second’ dinner, and probably should have, except I felt really sick after the Asian food. We did get some dinner rolls and cheese and meat from the pantry and made sandwiches later in the cabin.

ENTERTAINMENT

I like the entertainment on P&O Australia. We were happy to see Jim from Canada on board. We had Jim on a couple of earlier cruises on Pacific Dawn, and he is so friendly and great to talk to.

Melinda, one of the bar staff had a beautiful voice, and so did some of the entertainment team. We enjoyed listening to Brian at the Piano Bar, and our favourite bar was the Blue Room before dinner.

The Marquee Theatre had great shows and entertainers. We particularly liked the Morning Show on sea days. We have not seen this before on P&O and the Cruise Director Kabir was so energetic and entertaining.

One downfall was the seats in the Marquee and the layout of the upper floor. The seats are very uncomfortable, and next time we sail on Aria we will bring cushions to sit on. The seats are also arranged in a weird way so one cannot see all the stage unless sitting right in front and one needs to turn to face the stage in the other seats. When one considers the shows are approximately 45 minutes, it is a long time to sit on hard uncomfortable seats. Also drink waiters didn’t often circulate on the second floor. We would go out to the Ocean Bar to get drinks. We saw two Stand UP Comedy shows, so funny, but the language was a little crude at times, and two production shows, that were good - as usual.There were a lot of activities in the morning, but not a lot in the middle of the day. The venue for Trivia – I love Trivia – was the Ocean Bar. It was not really a good venue as seating was limited and the room is very long with the stage in the middle. Maybe it was the best place for the trivia and night activities as most of the bars were compact. Each morning one Sudoku and one mindful colouring in was left out and most lunchtimes another piece of paper with a puzzle was left out. Really not enough activities, that’s why I bring my own on P&O.

DRINKS PACKAGES - Part of the special deal for this cruise was the included drinks package. We were surprised that the package didn’t include tea or coffee. I do like the T2Tea on P&O ships. It was good to try the cocktails (my cruising habit), although I wouldn’t pay for an alcohol package. Costs for the packages are cheaper if purchased prior to sailing e.g. The refreshment package – my usual package – is $18 per day pre-cruise and $25 once on board. Soft Drink package is $7.50 per day. Premium Beverage Package, which was included in this special, was $89 per day for drinks up to $12, but doesn't include tea or coffee. The Lot package is $105 per day. There is a limit of 15 alcoholic drinks per day, which is a lot. If one only likes XXXX beer, then 15 beers at $5.95 each will be $89.25. Seven cocktails @$12 each would make the premium package worthwhile, but try as I may (and did) I could not drink 7 cocktails in one day. Even Peter enjoyed a few cocktails.

We drank what we wanted each day and only once did we go over the cost of a drinks package. The size of the cocktail glasses are also smaller than Royal Caribbean. Like Royal Caribbean, the consistency of cocktails was not there – except for the Fruit Tingle. I like the Fruit Tingle. The first mudslide I had on the pool deck was wonderful, but never had the same after that.

I got into the habit of ordering a mudslide, then a short while later ordered a Baileys to add to it. I ordered a few of Belini’s in a couple of bars. The first one in The Blue Room was perfect, but the others were mimosas – a Belini is not a mimosa!! Bar Service is generally slow, except in the Blue Room, another reason not to get a drinks package.