Pacific Encounter - 3 Day Comedy Cruise

We just got back from a 3 day Comedy Cruise on the 'new to Queensland' P&O Pacific Encounter. We had a great time, especially as my sister and brother in law also came along. This was the first cruise that was cancelled - 4 days before departure - way back in 2020. We had re-booked it numerous times and finally we set sail on 3rd September. This blog will be about the ship and the entertainment. The next will be the cabin, and the last will be the food and dining options. 

The Pacific Encounter is a 'Grand Class Ship' built in 2002 for Princess Lines and named Star Princess. It was transferred to P&O Australia in 2018 and was renovated and ready to sail in 2022. We were on the third sailing.

 

It has a capacity of 2600 guests in two berth cabins, however many cabins will hold up to 4 people, so capacity would be a lot more. I don't think sailings are at full capacity yet as this sailing had just over 2200 passengers. The ship is 290m long and weighs 108,865 gross tonnage. There are 17 decks (although Altitude Night Club is higher and perhaps classed as deck 18?). We were on deck 11 and my sister was on deck 12.

Three days was not long enough to explore the ship fully and work out favourite places on board, and we did our best. It is a beautiful ship.

We booked a car space in Wilson's Parking next to the port. Peter dropped us off and parked the car. I checked in the bag, waited for Peter, and queued to board.

Embarkation process:- was quick, about 35 minutes from dropping the bag off to boarding the ship. We filled in the Verifly app and only had to show it at the entrance of the check-in hall. We had paper tickets, our preference, but we did see others using the P&O app with boarding passes on it. We did not get our ship card so I asked when checking in and they are now on the door of your cabin - just like RC use to do. Everything was clearly marked and there were many staff available pointing the way to go. Yes, it is a longer walk than Sydney to get to the ship, but it is mostly a flat walk and there are benches to sit on if one needs to. The walk way gives a good view of the ship. Once on board on deck 7, the ship staff direct you towards the back of the ship and the atrium area.

Being a new ship to Brisbane (and P&O), I was glad that I had looked at the deck plans numerous times so had a little idea of where things were. So here is a quick run down of what is on each deck.

Deck 4 - medical centre

Deck 5 - cabins and our favourite restaurant Waterfront, and coffee shop, bars, lobby lounges, piano, and a hidden library. 

 

The Atrium is small compared to other ships we have been on and although there is seating all the way up to deck 7, it still feels small. The music there was great, seating to view the performers is limited, although one can sit in one of the bar areas surrounding to hear it. 

Deck 6 - has the two other complimentary restaurants, Angelos

 and Dragon Lady (tricky to find until you know how to get there), 

shops -around the Atrium on decks 6 and 7, 

the casino, and side entrances to the Marquee Theatre. I think the bar near the Marquee is the Bonded Bar and is a little more expensive than the other bars. This comfy lounge was outside the Bonded Bar.

The Customer Services / Reception Desk is also on Deck 6. We couldn't find where the daily paper puzzles were. They were suppose to be at Reception, we checked every day and nothing. they said to go to the library, which we did the last two days and still nothing.

  

Deck 7 - our go to deck - The Black Circus theatre, 

where some trivia was played, bingo, paid and free shows;

specialty restaurant 400 Gradi, which was closed the 3 days we were on board; Blue Room, bar and mostly jazz music - a little loud at times - but our favourite bar;

photo gallery along hallway; internet station - always with long queues (a very strange place to have this internet station); Encounter Hotel, loud always full - we were on a 3 day cruise with a lot of passengers partying - and a smoking area on the outside deck with cigarette smoke coming in every time a door was opened;

The Ocean Bar, a lovely sitting area that also had coffee and hot chocolate; we went there at the end of the day for my hot chocolate.

specialty restaurant Luke's Bar and Grill - we walked past there each evening to go to the show in the Marquee, it was never full, but the smell was wonderful;

The main entrance to the Marquee Theatre on the starboard side of the ship. On the port side is another set of stairs and we would head to the middle (between the two sets of stairs) to the ramp and go to the port side where there were many more seats - most passengers walked up the starboard steps.

The Marquee Theatre was small for the number of passengers (although it doesn't look it in the picture), and all seats had a great view of the stage. We couldn't see a couple of shows due to lack of seats, and we needed to get there at least 30 minutes earlier to get a seat. The Bonded Bar on deck 6, is not far from the Marquee and there is no bar service in the theatre. The seats have individual tables that pull out from the right hand side.

Deck 8 to Deck 12 are all cabins.

Deck 14 - the adult only Oasis pool, bar and sunbaking area, right at the back of the pantry; 

a large sitting area for the Pantry; that on the port side turns into Shell and Bones seafood restaurant - extra charge.

family pool under cover; main pool and hot tubs; ice-cream bar -extra charge; Gradi Pronto Pizza - extra charge; and Luke's Burger Bar $$; pool bar, and more cabins. 

We didn't spend a lot of time on deck 14. Went up for the Sail Away which was ok. Sail Away's are not like they use to be.

Deck 15 - Youth and Teens centres at the back end; boardwalk to sky bar, the Elemis at Sea Spa - extra charge; and the fitness centre.

Deck 16 - at the front of the ship is the Byron Beach Club for suites guests only.

Deck 17/18 - at the back of the ship - sports court with access via deck 16 stairs; and the walkway to deck 18 and the Altitude Nightclub.

During the day the Altitude nightclub is a lovely quiet area with wonderful views. I think I'll be spending some quiet days here on the next cruise.

Entertainment: Many of the main entertainment areas filled up quickly and one needed to get there at least 30 minutes before the event. The comedy was better that I expected, it was very funny and not crude. Johnny Balance was fun, and the host for each night, Kehau Jackson, was very funny.

The production show was Musicology and was very good. A 3 day cruise and one production show.

Theme nights were Bianco (White Party) and Gatsby. Both are fun. We have been to many over the years. We always like to end the night with a drink and watch the Gatsby Party.

The Entertainment team were amazing. Julie from NZ was the Cruise Director and Christian (maybe the assistant cruise director) held trivia a couple of mornings in the Black Circus theatre. That was funny. There was also some games in the Encounter Hotel - too crowded to go there, and also some games when we were at dinner. More games during the day would have been good.

There were a couple of comedy game / shows during the day. The Liars Club is always fun.

The P&O app was good, but didn't work on my phone - really, my phone is still a good functioning phone and I'm likely to update it any time soon. The app worked well on Peters phone. We were able to see whats on (I used my highlighter and highlighted the events I wanted to go to on the Good Times newsletter delivered each night).

Staff were great and very happy to help - except one person in the main dining room on the first day, who was not interested in any of the diners, maybe she was having a bad day. All the other staff were very helpful and chatty. We had the best time.

Disembarkation:- was confusing. We didn't get any notification of luggage tags as usual the night before so our wonderful cabin steward got them for us, but bags had to be out by 8pm and we didn't get back to the room until after 11.30pm. The disembarkation leaflet left the last night said we had to vacate the room by 8am the next morning. However, we were woken by a phone call at 7.05 from my sister who had been asked to vacate their room early. Ten minutes later we had a knock at the door asking us to vacate. We had originally arranged to meet at the Waterfront for breakfast at 7.30, so we were a little early. We took our luggage with us and left it at the door and had a leisurely breakfast before trying to work out where to leave the ship. There were no signs pointing to which way to get off, not even which deck. We assumed it was deck 7, as that's the deck we boarded on. We walked around in circles on deck 7 and finally saw an officer and asked where to go. He pointed us in the right direction. It is on deck 7 at the stairs to the Marquee. Once off the ship it was the long walk back to the pick up area. We took our ship photo and waited for Peter to get the car.

The only negative of the cruise was the small number of passengers not wearing masks or social distancing. Wearing masks was mandatory while inside the ship unless eating or drinking, so the total disregard for this rule was disappointing. 

However, we had a great time and can't wait to do it again.