Disgruntled passengers have described the relief when they finally disembarked from a P&O cruise to New Zealand.
The Pacific Sun docked in Newcastle this morning after engine problems disrupted the itinerary and delayed the ship’s return.
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Have just returned from P&O cruise to New Zealand onboard Pacific Sun. What a joke the $100 dollar compensation is considering We were approx two hours late in Bay of islandsour first port of call resulting our shore tours being late , disembarked in Napier at 3pm had to be back on ship by 530pm . Yes they gave us a big 2and half hours to see Napier what a joke . A lift in mid deck didnt work for entire cruise toilets were blocking up no hot water on three floors on second last day . all coffee machines didnt work and had white out of order stickers on half the buttons for entire cruise . We were invited to captains cocktail night. which went from 5pm till 545pm food was cold at 530 pm everyone was told to finish there drinks and leave cocktail night . mind you this was a captains cocktail party with captain no where to be seen .
we only got 2 hours in Akaroa what a joke . then were told we had engine problems and we were not going to Dunedin or sailing the south island and would be heading straight back to Newcastle . $ 100 compensation for missing south island and having to spend next 5 and half days at sea what a joke . they would get the hundred dollars back in shops casino and bar first day . So they come out way in front not us pasengers. We will be asking for at least 50% refund and will never ever travel on Pacific Sun again. OHHHH NO P&O
I was on that same cruise & all I can say is I totally agree with Phillip Stanmore. The moment the informed us that there would be a delay & we would be compensated $100 I turned to my daughter & said that is a joke they will get that money back in drinks & gambling. We should’ve been informed whilst in Wellington as I’m sure they were aware at that point the ship was having problems, at least we could have the option to continue or opt to fly home from there. I was due back at work today as was my daughter, are they going to cover our loss of wages, I think not and many more people were incoveinenced more by having to cancel flights & re-book only to have to go through it all the next day when it was announced we would be delayed further. The staff on board were amazing & I take my hat off to them for what they had to contend with, as for the captain he was nowhere to be seen, just a voice in the distance over the PA system only to announce bad news. All I can say is I will not cruise with P&O again & will be advising others the same. This ship has been having problems since March last year, wake up to yourself P&O and take it out of service & do a complete maintenance overhaul, otherwise use this ship for your short break trips only, you have inconveinenced to many people, but at the end of the day you still get your money & that’s all you care about, not the fact that most people only get one holiday per year & have to save hard only to have it ruined by a money hungry company, that has put people’s lives at risk by sailing on an unsea worthy ship.
hi i agree with u both of being $100 cash back there should be a bit more of a refund.
i sailed the pacific sun in nov last yr so i dont know were ur getting problems from march,we had a fantastic time with no complications,also few other have sailed since then with no problems this is the first for ages that there has been any,the staff on there ar terffic and there was not problems with any service,sometimes these things happen give the boat a break it does not stop at all one cruise finishs another one starts it doenst rest its bound to have afew slip ups here and there!
on the other hand i do think the captin should have made an apperence and made an apology for the ship/but would u with thousands of ppl screamin at u for money etc!
i do agree that they should stop the boat and give it a fix up but whos to say that any new ship like the pacific pearl wont encounter the same engine issue there an extremly large ship that does not stop like any cruise in any part of the country thats what they do.
goodluck on the refund i do hope u get something bk
Whinge whinge whinge!
Stop bagging out P&O I’ve been on cruises with them they are brilliant!
My Last cruise was November last year with the Pacific Sun, a Clean ship with excellent service.
The staff the activities are just so much fun, met some great friends and didn’t want to leave the ship once it ended.
Food was amazing and you have 3 different restaurants to choose from with not stop entertainment everyone is walking around with a smile. The Parties they throw at night bring everyone on the cruise together singing and dancing and you just have the time of your life!
Every cruise ship is going to have some issues they can’t help this someties. These things happen you can’t blame the captain it’s not all this fault, and like he would want to show his face with angry passengers having a go at him – give the guy a break.
Not everything in life runs to plan a lot of unexpected thing happen sometimes you have to deal with it.
I was not on the cruise but some of my family members were. Not only did they tell me about the trip from hell but 1 of my family members was injured by some faulty equipment causing her to injure her back and knee she is now laying in a hospital where she was transported straight from the boat. The doctor wouldn’t even go to her room to check up on her she had to walk to the other end of the boat with her injuries. Phillip Stanmore you are asking for 50% refund stuff that i would be asking for the whole lot. Some people save for a very very long time for a holiday only to have it spoiled by incompetent unethical companies/people. Shame on you P&O. I know what cruise i wont be ever going on.
P&O should be giving us all our money back. This was a nightmare for all who cruised on the white clouds NZ Trip. My question To P&O is why are you treating us all who crusied, with such disrespect. We all paid money in good will. Please help us Australian Public
My husband, family and I went on this cruise so we could all share my Birthday and our wedding anniversary together. This was my parents and aunties first and final cruise. This was my 4th cruise and my husbands 2nd. We were on the DAWN in Feb 2009, we had trouble on that ship as well we went through a cyclone with 8 metre waves and alot of passengers got injured very badly. The captain on there Captain Lorenzo was fantastic, he made sure that everyone was ok and we actually saw him walk around the decks. The only time we saw our Captain was well actually once when he introduced his crew. He didnt even attend his own Captains Cocktail Party….. We will never sail with P&O Pacific Sun again. I cant believe how much went wrong and yet nothing was done about it. We should get our money back at least 50-75% return not just $100 thats just a joke. I must say that the medical staff on board were fantastic, the crew and staff were amazing having to deal with all of our bad moods but they did their best to cheer us up. Was just management that didnt do anything to help the situation.
I rang P&O complaints this morning and the lady i spoke to Lauren at 945am this morning said that because they provided us with food and a safe place to sleep that P&O were not entitled to give us any money back. I am shocked and angry that we were treated so badly by the captain, the refunds should come out of his salary and everyone no matter what they paid because everybody has paid different prices should get the whole refund.
Word of mouth is a very powerfull tool to have people, so if you were on Pacific Sun cruise N107 and have complaints then speak up…………
Jay Jay,
I’ve been on 3 other cruises with P&O and had a ball if I hadn’t enjoyed myself I would not have booked for a 4th time, you weren’t on the cruise so you really can’t pass judgement, the fact that there were so many problems & the lack of communication is my only real complaint it’s hard to enjoy yourself when the atmosphere of the cruise is an unhappy one & why shouldn’t the captain show his face he is paid to look after the passangers & if he can’t deal with the whinging then maybe he needs to get a new job.
This was mine and my families first cruise.it was also our first time out of australia.We had planned and saved for this trip for many years to see New Zealand.It was quite obvious from the start that the ship was having some problems.As we were late in at the ports.when they told us we were not going to Dunedin and sailing the sth iland.we were extremely dissapointed and $100 compensation was an insult.P&O have cost me and my family so much more.We now have to resave for another trip back to new zealand.so that we can see what we originally planned to see.Shame on you P&O.Give us all a full refund.Do the right thing.
This was a first cruise for my husband and myself. The Filipino restaurant staff were absolutely fantastic. Food, service and presentation outstanding! We were formally advised over the PA that the starboard engine had been lost on the 23rd January. We were now to go slow and be an hour or two late into Napier. We had only visited the Bay of Islands and Tauranga before this notification. I agree entirely with other contributors that the engine was faulty before we started and P & O knew this. If I had been wiser I would have googled for information on the ship before booking. But who would have thought that P & O would send out such a faulty and uncomfortable ship? Entries are on the Net from12 months ago re ongoing problems with the engine.. Replies are standard PR but not exactly truthful. Interesting that, as we got back in a day late, they had to ‘adjust’ the 4 day trip from Melbourne, due to leave Wednesday afternoon. That became a 2 day trip to Sydney with engine being fixed on way. That changed to engine part arriving Friday morning. My shuttle bus driver has just told me the ship left at lunchtime Friday and went to Coffs Harbour! Bet the engine isn’t fixed either!
P&O made our first holiday in 25 years a disaster. My wife and I saved up for a number years for this cruise to celebrate 25 years of being together. Now P&O have robbed us blind. The first few days were good, but once in NZ, the whole trip went pair shaped. This trip was marred by engine failure, slow progess, truncated shore tours, cancelled shore tours, lateness into ports, bland food, out-of-service coffee machines, substandard entertainment, the foul stench of raw sewage, and to add insult to injury, $100 compensation that would be spent on board in next to no time on drinks and other sundries.
I talked to one old gentleman, who said that this was his first ever trip too. But being of an advanced age, will be his last. He was resigned to the fact that this was all that would be offered him after many long years of hard work. It makes me angry to think that P&O have effectively robbed us passengers of OUR hard earned savings.
I tried to get onto the P&O website today to get some information, only to find that they have pulled the plug on it. The website is down and out. We are submitting a letter of demand to have at least 50% of our fares refunded. I don’t expect they will honor it, and so it looks like a trip down to the Dep’t of Fair Trading and possible action to recover costs. I vote that passengers of voyage N107 bring a class action against P&O to recover our lost funds. P&O have not delivered on goods and services we have paid for. They have produced a substandard product, that was far removed from what was advertised.
This is definately going to be our last cruise, especially with P&O. P&O should be called ‘Pricey & Overated’.
All I can say is, ‘Minimium Standard, Epic Fail!”
I feel bad that I encouraged/ organised for 3 friends to spend their hard earned cash on holiday. We looked at the ports of call with our goal being to see as much of New Zealand as we possibly could.We collectively prebooked our onshore tours through P&O. The late arrivals to ports for disembarkation to shore tours impacted heavily on the quality and content of our touring experience, and must have been stressful to the onshore tour operators as well. The ships ongoing engine problems increased our inability to keep to schedule and I would have appreciated being given the opportunity to make other travel arrangements from Wellington onwards. I personally, felt hijacked especially after waiting in line for hours at Akaroa to be allocated a ticket to get off the ship and then filling in time waiting to get ashore. I finally arrived onshore in Akaroa at 2.30pm approx (We had been advised the evening before that Tender Tickets would be available from 6.45am onwards??!!!)
The Captain made the announcement that evening that we were going home from there onwards.
Being told we would be credited with $100.00 was, I feel an insult. (I travelled from Hawaii with various ports of call through French Polynesia in 2009 with “Rhapsody of the Seas” (not a P&O ship) and and think at this point in time I will be happy to continue my association with them.) From what I have read over the last few days from past Pacific Sun cruise passenger’s comments (submitted to various websites) I feel I have now gained an understanding that the same or similar issues relating to the ships ability to sail to engine capacity / schedule are in some way repeating themselves. How many times might this have happened, I wonder.P & O I would like a refund. Christina Brown
Returned yesterday from the cruise to Sydney supposed to be a 2 nighter but spent Monday night alongside at Darling Harbour due to alleged engine probs. The ship is a heap of crap, and hand me down from Carnival Cruises built in 1986. I had taken my partner on this trip as a special surprise, booked the best room on-board and was still treated badly. They would not allow us to have a bottle of wine delivered to our stateroom. We suffered blocked and smelly toilets, discoloured and no water at times, bad attitude from staff and lengthy delays for food and drink. The drink prices when finally got one were absurb when you consider it is mostly purchased by the company duty and tax free. Paid about $1700.00 for our room only to find out that the people next door similar room were offered an upgrade from the basic cabin for $50.00, based on that we paid about $900.00 more. P and O have certainly lost the plot for a once great cruise company and I feel sorry for all the hard work that Cruise Hunter has done to get the ships here and then to be let down by p and o. It was basically a bogan cruise with drunken idiots walking around the corridors drinks in hand at all hours wearing singlets and boardies, some did dress up a bit with the addition of thongs.
P and O needs to learn that you don’t treat Novocastrians in this manner as we have a long memory. Would not recommend them to anyone and I am sure this ship has major safety issues.
Hi All, At least you had a cruise, I was booked with a group of 10 friends for a 50th birthday school re-union cruising out of Sydney on 19 October 2010 on the Pacific Jewel when the cruise was cancelled as the Jewel in the crown had an engine failure. I tried to get my expenses back to the sum of $633 dollars and well here I am still in March 2011 without the recoup. P & O’s Customer Relations in Australia have advised me that the money will come as it is approved but only after I made so many calls, received so many promises and waited so long. They have claimed so many times they have my claim, and then that they don’t. Just hope you never have to claim anything from P & O as they say the cheque has been authorised and will be signed and sent, and then it doesn’t arrive. I won’t be travelling EVER AGAIN with P & O and will not recommend them to anyone. Whilst I have loved the cruises in the past, they way I have been treated since October is disgusting, so unprofessional and a waste of my time, I would suggest you all think about who to travel with before going P & O.
I tried complaining to P&O about the treatment we received. All we got back was a letter basically saying ‘Tough Luck’. You paid for the cruise, not the destinations. So effectively, for a ‘Cruise’, the ship doesn’t necessarily have to leave the dock. I went onto the P&O Facebook site to make my complaints known, and got atttacked by obvious P&O staffers. My complaint thread was removed within the hour. I saw one newspaper article say that P&O is only getting glowing reports and positive comments on it’s Facebook site. That’s because P&O attack and then REMOVE ALL NEGATIVE RESPONSES. So P&O can chalk one up for freedom of speech and democracy. I found a new Facebook site called Unhappy Cruisers-The Dark Side of Travel, where people can voice their negative experiences without fear of having them removed by the likes of P&O.
I suggest you let the world know. I know I will
My husband and I were on that ill fated cruise to New Zealand N107 on 16/2/11. P&O are selling faulty goods, and it seems they continue to do so. The Pacific Sun needs to be scrapped as it’s well past it’s prime. Our issue is with management, the overall state of the ship and the lack of information given to the passengers. The crew and entertainment were excellent and couldn’t be faulted.
Trying to be fair, we have held back our comments until we finally heard from the so called Customer Relations Department at P&O today, after many useless phone calls trying to find out what was going on. They seem to have a form letter as our letter sounds very similar to Mark Egan’s – ‘you paid for the cruise, not the destinations’. Basically, all they are prepared to do is pay for the price of our accommodation for one night because we got in a day late. Oh and yes, they also offered us a whopping $100 each discount on a future cruise for our faulty plumbing as our bathroom flooded. As if we would ever go on a P&O ship again after that debacle. They want more money out of us, what a joke!!
Like Mark Egan, we will also be contacting the Dept of Fair Trading, and anyone else we can think of. A class action sounds like the way to go. How can they keep on ripping people off and get away with it?