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Princess Cruise Line

MS Pacific Princess

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Reviewed by:B. Major
# previous cruises: 10+
Date of Trip: November 18, 2002
Itinerary: South Pacific

The inaugural cruise of the new Pacific Princess, formerly R3 of the now defunct Renaissance Cruises, has provided Australians and New Zealanders, in particular, with the opportunity of a quality cruise close to home in a ship with rich furnishings and classic decor, at a favourable time of the year. Built in 1999, but laid up in Papeete for much of 2001, the 30,000 ton ship has subsequently undergone refurbishment in Singapore, where many of the inaugural crew embarked, then sailed to Sydney via Perth and Adelaide, arriving five days prior to our sailing on 18 November 2002.

Most of our previous cruises have been on larger ships, Oriana, Aurora, Legend of the Seas, Crown Princess, Regal Princess, Vision of the Seas, Canberra etc and as a result we looked forward to being able to compare how this ship of less than half the size of some of these coped with some of the most open and variable seas in the world, the South Pacific Ocean. Embarkation at Wharf 8, Darling Harbour was due to commence at 1 pm with sailing set for 4 pm. By 12.30 long queues had formed in the outer area and we wisely deferred joining it until the queue was actually moving and the length rapidly shortening. By then the wait was minimal, and we proceeded quickly through the security doors to have passports checked and our ship's card issued. By 2.30 pm our luggage had been delivered to our stateroom and we had unpacked. All very smooth.

A "sandwich" buffet, consisting of many varieties of bread and rolls and every filling imaginable, with fruits and desserts until late afternoon was served in the Panorama Buffet to ensure none starved. For many, like ourselves, who had commenced travel twelve hours previously it was welcome. Our very favourable initial impressions left us looking forward even more to the next ten days on Pacific Princess

Entry from the gangway to the reception area and atrium on Deck 4 is memorable as we encountered for the first time the ambience of the ship's rich red carpets, mahogany panelling,gilt framed pictures and elegant black and gilt stairwell balustrades. This theme, more reminiscent of country mansions and lodges, is repeated throughout the ship in all the main rooms.

All public areas are located on Decks 5, 9 and 10 and easily accessible through stairwells and lifts fore and aft. The lifts are remarkably silent and "non talkative"!!...The main dining room, the Club Restaurant and Bar, is located aft on Deck 5, the restaurant approached through the large wide bar, complete with rich wooden panelling, sumptuous chairs and ornate fireplace and bookshelves.

A word here about the "personal choice" in regard to dining. There is almost an inference in the brochure that the much vaunted "choose where, when, and with whom" you dine option on the larger Princess ships applies here. It does not. In fact, all passengers are assigned a first or second sitting place in the Club Restaurant. The "choice" is restricted to the alternatives of the two speciality restaurants, "The Grill" Sterling Steakhouse, preparing premium steaks and classic grill items, and "Sabatinis" Italian Restaurant, where the very best Trattoria fare is served. More on this later. It should further be noted that on a ten day cruise each of these specialty venues are open four days each, further restricting the so called "freedom of choice".

And, in addition, the Panorama Buffet at the stern on Deck Nine, very popular for breakfasts and luncheons do not open for dinner.....so the alternative for "bistro" dinners offered on so many other Princess ships is not available here. Maybe the advertised "freedom" is a little overdone.

Forward of the Club Restaurant beyond the open atrium are the two shops, neither offering a particularly extensive or appealing range of merchandise. Several passengers commented that they wanted to buy, that there wasn't much on offer that appealed to them. Further forward is the Casino and Bar with grand piano corner, perfect for pre dinner drinks, again lavishly furnished in country mansion style, and beyond that, forward, The Cabaret Lounge, where the lavish production shows were staged.

Aft on Deck Nine is the Panorama Buffet, a mecca for those requiring casual breakfasts and lunches. The menus here were the same as the main dining room each day. Adjacent to the buffet, and opening onto the pool area, the BBQ and Pizzeria offered hamburger, fries and pizza fare at a cost of, for example, $8.50 hamburger and fries, pizzas at $6. We saw very little demand for these, except for the afternoon at anchor in Lifou Bay when the food was offered on a complimentary basis. The pool area, incorporating two spa pools of generous size, is more than adequate for the size of the ship and, especially, the relatively small number of passengers. There was never a time, even given the high tropical temperatures, this area was under any stress or demand.

There were always loungers and chairs available. Both sides of the deck had wide covered table and chair areas for those seeking shade. The pool itself, a 5 foot 6 inches even depth throughout is perfect for the requirements of the majority of passengers. We spent many an hour in the pool and surrounds. The entertainment from the pool stage of the resident bands Toucan and Traffle through the morning and afternoon with their easy listening "songs you know the words of" made the time fly.

Forward of this open air area on Deck Nine are the card room, and internet cafe, once again both beautifully furnished in renaissance rococo style, and beyond that again the fitness centre, salon and spa. The facilities in this centre are just astonishing and must surely be the equal of anything afloat. There is a private area forward of the spa complete with a large spa pool which can be rented for $15 per day.

Deck Ten aft is where the Library, Sabatinis and Steakhouse Gill are situated, all with magnificent sea views. The library, with its magnificent marble green fireplace and fresco ceiling is outstanding. And most forward on this deck, almost doubling as an observation lounge by day is the new Night Club, formerly the "Sports Bar" in R3 days, the only significant change made by the present owners. This large lounge was completely gutted and rebuilt in only two days in Sydney prior to sailing, no mean feat. Furnished in generously large cane chairs and settees with blue and green fabric, it has a very distinctive South Pacific theme, emphasised by the huge circular carpet with a hibiscus motif theme at the entranceway.

The Club Restaurant had open sittings for breakfast and luncheon, and two sittings for dinner at 6 pm and 8 pm. Most tables were for six or eight places. Many nights were themed affairs, French, Italian, Island, Sailaway, International, Landfall, Captains Dinner etc. Dishes were well presented, usually of generous proportions, almost always piping hot and seldom disappointing.

An early teething problem on the first few nights caused the second sitting to be over half an hour late. This improved after the third night as those involved got up to speed. My observations suggest that, in addition to any possible galley problems, the policy of having the assistant waiter acting also as wine steward contributed to the problems. There were many nights when the asst. waiter spent considerable time taking wine orders, presenting the bottle, opening, offering for tasting, then pouring, when that time formerly would have been spent fetching the appetisers. As a consequence our table rarely started eating less than 30 or 40 minutes after being seated. Our elapsed time for dinner did however reduce as the cruise progressed,over the last few nights averaging about two hours, which enabled us to just make Showtime in the Cabaret Lounge on time at 10 pm. This was just about the only teething problem of any consequence we really encountered on the cruise. The other surprisingly pleasing feature of the Club Restaurant was the exceptional acoustics.

Our expectation that the noise level might reach hard to hear and converse levels simply did not happen, even on the final nights.

On the ten night cruise there were two designated "Formal Nights". Dress for these was defined in the pre-cruise booklet accompanying the tickets as "Men usually wear a jacket and tie and women wear an evening or cocktail dress". These loose definitions did nothing towards lifting the dress sense or style of those on our cruise. Even at the Captains Cocktail Party there was scarcely a tuxedo to be seen, and only a few dark suits. It is hard to understand why P&O appear to be downgrading the dress requirements whilst promoting the ship as a premium and superior cruise experience.Can these two attitudes really be compatible? Believe me, there can be few more incongruous sights than tuxedoed white gloved waiters serving afternoon tea silver service style to floral sports shirt and shorts clad cruisers in the very elegant surroundings of Sabatini's.

Our dining highlight was undoubtedly our evening at Sabatini's Italian Restaurant for which a cover charge of $25 per person is made. The service and food was of a very high standard indeed and we met noone on board who thought otherwise. Dinner is a lengthy affair of, in our case, some four hours, with many offerings of antipasti, soups and salads, pasta, main course (secondi piatti) and desserts. Fortunately it is not too daunting, since the only choice needing to be made is for the main course, everything else being proffered and chosen from large platters through the course of the evening. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and very satisfying dining experience. We believe no cruise on Pacific Princess would be complete without at least one night at Sabatini's

Bar prices throughout the ship were reasonable, wines by the glass $5 to $7, domestic beers $4 to $5, imported beers $5 to $6, cocktails $7 to $9, and most spirits around $6.50, all plus the mandatory 10% gratuity.

Our stateroom 8020 was spacious, light and, being midships, very accessible to all the ship's amenities. It was also extremely quiet, no annoying squeaks or vibrations, not even any hissing noise from the air conditioning. Large floor to ceiling windows and central outside door opened onto our verandah with two chairs and table.

The seating area inside featured a rolled arm three seater settee, masses of cushions, two balloon backed french style chairs with matching circular table, and an extremely large wide mirror backed writing bureau and ballon backed chair with sets of drawers below, all within a mahogany panelling and varying blue carpet and fabric theme, with golden yellow drapes and contrasting cushions. Alongside this were three very spacious wardrobes with ample supply of shaped wooden hangers.

The suite overall measured 322 square feet, nearly half as large as the 216 sq ft balcony cabins on Decks 7 & 8 below. As we overheard one cruiser putting it.."Now that I've actually seen one, I'd gladly pay the extra. It's worth it". A personal safe, bathroom of ample proportions with bath and shower, vanity, hair dryer etc.completes the picture. The brochure does not mention the ample refrigerator, presumably this must have been a final, but much appreciated, last minute addition. Our cabin steward Rolando maintained an impeccable standard.

There was, literally, something for everybody through most of the waking hours. Cruise Director Dan,seemed to have a more muted profile than on his Pacific Sky days, ensured there were few bored cruisers. The shows in the Cabaret Lounge with the Princess Entertainers were replays of the very popular Princess Cruises favourites from past years......"Give My Regards""New York NY", "Bon Soir Paris", "Shake, Rattle and Roll" (easily my favourite) and "Words and Music", the costumes and routines being given a new lease of life by the very talented and enthusiastic young Australian team. In addition, they doubled as extra cruise staff, assisting with all day time activities, and definitely contributing to the fun of days at sea.

There is a very limited children's programme, a consequence of the previous owner's "adults only" policy. There was a suggestion that P&O might be restricting the numbers of children on future cruises due to the lack of facilities, and it is not difficult to see the reasoning behind this.

On board activities were almost endless, and featured some unusual crafts such as quilling, earring making and flower making. Deck games such as quoits and golf chipping were popular, together with cards, scrabble, shuffleboard, t shirt painting. Chess, needlepoint etc.

The beautifully appointed library was well stocked. Our cruise itinerary included full days in Noumea ( and evening), Isle of Pines, Lifou and Port Vila, the same ports I last reviewed in May 2001 ( see Pacific Sky review). Very little has changed since then so we can move on .A comprehensive tours programme at each port was offered, it was relatively easy to organise a "do-it-yourself" tour once on shore at a significantly lower price for those prepared to "go it alone". The late morning transit of the Boulari Havannah passage with its narrow passes and high mountainous peaks and many reefs was memorable

This ship with its appealing renaissance interior, rich furnishings and classic decor quite properly attracted mostly Australians to this inaugural cruise, many of whom had chosen to defer their initial cruising experience until now. We would expect the other four at our dinner table, first time cruisers, to choose to cruise again on the ship or a similar ship in the next year or two. They were, we believe, agreeably surprised with the value they received.

We spoke to many of the 680 passengers and there were none disappointed with their cruise, most thought the ship was exceptional. There has probably never been anything better offered for a regular cruising season in this part of the world.

So.."Who Goes"?.. Over the next five months until the end of April 2003..mainly Australians, a smattering of Kiwis..and very few others.......after that on the Tahiti and Alaska itineraries.....the usual mix......

On December 8 the official "christening" and naming ceremony will take place at Darling Harbour, Sydney, with Godmother Gabi Hollows officiating. There could not be a more inspired choice. All prices in this review are expressed in Australian Dollars.