Pacific Encounter Balcony Cabin 10505

Booked a guaranteed balcony cabin in April when I found a good sale. It was for a 10 night cruise to PNG in October on Pacific Encounter. 4 weeks before the cruise we were allocated a cabin mid-ship on deck 10. Our PetalliTravellers video of the cabin is here.

We had a cabin for 3.

 Everything worked well - fridge, hot water, toilet.

The balcony was extra large and was partly covered.

The only issue was on the balcony. When the water slides were working there would be drips of rusty brown water on the open half of the balcony.

Decks 11 and 12 looked down on the open half of the balcony, we looked down on deck 9.

The TV was huge.

The cabin was the usual P&O / Princess size cabin.

Muster station was deck 7 Encounter Hotel.

 

See our YouTube Cabin Tour here.

 

Visit our YouTube Channel

Petalli Travellers

 and LIKE and SUBSCRIBE

 

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.

Pacific Encounter Cabin 11736

Our second cruise, but our first P&O cruise since cruising resumed in Australia. We booked a balcony cabin - our first balcony cabin with P&O as the deal, when we booked way back last year, was too good not to. We are the pink circle and my sister is the blue circle. Another first - our first time with a cabin at the back of the ship.

We were on the Deck 11 and the room key card (cruise card) is in an envelope outside the door. We dropped off our bags, met the cabin stewards and then headed off to lunch. Our cabin stewards, Lacson and Gabby were great, always checking to see if we needed anything.

We did have an issue with the balcony door being really hard to open. We contacted housekeeping three times and reception twice but it wasn't until we spoke with Lacson and he organised for maintenance to fix it. This was the second day - half way through the 3 day cruise. We do like having quite drinks on the balcony in the afternoon, and tea in the morning.

The cabin was fine (other than the hard to open balcony door) although we were surprised at how small it was, very comfortable but small. We have had balconies on Celebrity and Royal Caribbean and they are much larger. This cabin was the same as the Coral Princess cabin we sailed in back in July. The bed and pillows were so comfortable, we need them at home.

We had no issues with the bathroom. Water pressure and temperature were great, no toilet plumbing problems. We read so many negative reports about the bathroom, our only negative was the shower curtain. Our preference is NOT a shower curtain - gets the floor all wet. On the plus side P&O provide pool towels in the room. We use them as they are bigger, and use the bathroom towels as floor mats - for the spray from the shower. There is plenty of storage for clothes and suitcases and the wardrobe acts as a dressing room with full length mirror and a light sensor. The light sensor was good at night as it comes on automatically, and in the daytime if one wants it on while dressing, arms have to wave around to get it activated again. I ended up leaving the bathroom door open to get light.

 

There are usb ports in both bedside tablelamps and a double Australian power point on one side of the bed. The 'fridge' cooler was particularly warm and we left the outside wooden door open one day, when we had a slice of cake stored in there, to let the air circulate.  That did make the fridge cooler. There is a dressing table large enough for laptop and a few other items, it also has a few drawers. The air-conditioner was a little cold when we first entered and once we adjusted it we had no problems the rest of the cruise.

The cabin had a large tv with a few channels, including ABC News, and was ok to fill in some time when in the cabin. There was a movie channel that had mostly older movies however I did see part of a newer movie once evening. There was no TV guide so it was hit and miss catching a movie late at night. There is a live camera channel from the front of the ship and a cruise map that gives details of position, tempreture and time. Always good to put on first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

One advantage of a balcony is the balcony. Although small, two chairs and a tiny low table, it was lovely to sit out here on an afternoon with a drink.

We did enjoy having a balcony, and would book it again if the price was right. Our next two Encounter cruises are in a window room - it will be interesting to see what the view is like from the window.

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.