Good Day everyone and its a great day  up in New Caledonia – fantastic weather.

I am delighted to be back on board the Pacific Dawn and sampling once again  the interesting variety of cruises out of Sydney, with the wit and good cheer of our Australian passengers. Recent visits to charming Wala and the magnificent Champagne Bay, way up in Vanuatu,  have been enjoyed by us all. Summer is well on its way and I am pleased to see that the Australian weather is finally living up to its promise, after the winter winds and spring dust storms.

We are just back from our “Spring Racing Bliss” cruise down to Victoria, a first for me. Along with some of our off-duty crew members, my wife Janette and I took the efficient transfer bus service up to the Flemington Race course  for a day at the races, meeting many of our enthusiastic and well dressed passengers on route. I have to hand it once again to Australia, you certainly  know how to do these events in style. Lovely weather through until the end of the racing, a great atmosphere and we had a lot of fun watching the hats, outfits, smart people and of course meeting up with both our passengers and fellow crew members. Our glamorous and very visible Cruise Director Zoltina-J featured in the press with her outfit and self-created hat wowing the media. I placed a few bets and was delighted to end up the day ahead on my earnings. Rumour has it that our Hotel Director Simon, a wealthier individual, was even more ahead but he had been studying form throughout the first part of the cruise.

It was a privilege to take the Pacific Dawn  “Spring Racing Bliss” cruise down south and like many I enjoyed visiting Melbourne, dining out on the impressive Yarra Southbank on a balmy evening, catching up with friends, viewing the ever expanding skyline of this gracious city  and rediscovering the excellent shopping and tours. We expect many return visits to the Melbourne Cup series by the P&O Cruises fleet in the years to come and I look forward to doing it all over again, but will be paying more attention to studying form next time, in an effort to match the expertise and winnings of our Hotel Director. However as a racing novice I found it was a great way to do the Cup, one of the premier Australian sporting events.

We look forward to seeing you aboard next time.

David Box
Captain

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An update from the Pacific Dawn

by Simon Troman on October 19, 2009 · 120 comments

Hi everybody,

 
It’s Simon, Pacific Dawn’s Hotel Director here with the latest onboard news.

We’re on our way back to Sydney after a technical fault.  We fixed the problem early Sunday and left Noumea about 6am.

We’re sailing at maximum available speed and are expected to arrive in Sydney at around 8pm on Tuesday, with disembarkation from around 9pm.

For passengers who are sailing on the next cruise, unfortunately your embarkation has been delayed one day, to 12.30pm Wednesday. We have tried to contact everyone about the delay, and we will have a team at the port on Tuesday to provide further assistance.

As our next passengers will be missing a night and the first port of call (Luganville), a refund of a night’s fare will be credited to their onboard account.

We are very sorry to all our passengers for the inconvenience caused by the delay. I am confident you will have a great holiday and the crew onboard Pacific Dawn is looking forward to serving you.

See you soon!

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Post image for Another successful mail drop at Tin Can Island

Another successful mail drop at Tin Can Island

by Jane Herron on October 9, 2009 · 0 comments

Hi All ,

Well doesn’t time fly when you are having fun!

I can’t believe that I am getting ready to go home for a holiday and Simon will be returning to Pacific Dawn as Hotel Director.

It has been a fantastic experience working on Pacific Dawn and I have had the opportunity to meet so many fun people along the way – both passengers and crew.

I am looking forward to heading back to the UK to catch up with my family and friends and drive around in my new ‘Mini’.

On a recent cruise, I got to experience our mail drop off in Tin Can Island. I wanted to share some of the great photos I took of the drop off. At the same time the mail was collected, we were greeted by a pod of breaching whales – just spectacular! You can read a previous blog entry about the mail drop off by clicking here

I have sent a postcard home which will take 3 months to get there. I hope it arrives before I return Down Under!

Take care, and I look forward to sailing the high seas with you soon with P&O Cruises.

Arrivederci

Jane

Lowering the mail to the locals

Lowering the mail to the locals

 

and again

and again

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Vanuatu Earthquake Update

by admin on October 8, 2009 · 1 comment

For those bloggers with family or friends on board Pacific Dawn or Pacific Sun, both ships have confirmed that they have not been affected by the Vanuatu Earthquake and all are fine.

The official press release is now available here:

http://pocruises.com.au/html/statement-on-vanuatu-earthquake.cfm

The P&O Customer Service and Reservations numbers are:

  • Australia 13 24 69
  • New Zealand 0800 951 200

P&O Cruises

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Swimming with the whales in Vava’U, Tonga

September 22, 2009

Malo e lelei Everyone
I have done many exciting things in my 22 years at sea. I have swam with the dolphins in Mexico, snorkeled with the stingrays in the Grand Cayman and snorkeled with sharks in Moorea.I was lucky to have a few more hours off in port this cruise.
Today’s port of call was Vavu’U [...]

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Walk Around Emerald Bay, Poum

September 14, 2009

Hi Everyone
Well I promised that I’d let you know how our adventures were going in the South Pacific. Here I am in Emerald Bay, Poum, I’m afraid that it was only a quick visit , so I had my uniform on and as you can see I walked to the lookout point in my  high [...]

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Crew and staff complete CARE training

September 10, 2009

 Hi everybody,
Firstly to introduce ourselves, we are the onboard People and Performance Managers across the P&O Cruises fleet. Victor Lee is onboard Pacific Dawn, Beckie McLeaming calls Pacific Sun home and Amanda Hathorn will be onboard Pacific Jewel from December.
Our role involves the training and development of crew and assisting with crew welfare. We are [...]

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Behind the scenes with the Food and Beverage team

September 7, 2009

Hi Bloggers,
Back onboard after a very nice vacation. Had a splendid time over in California, went both to Las Vegas and Napa Valley. Now let me tell you a little bit about our food and beverage storage operation onboard Australia’s first superliner. On this ship approximately 2700 passengers and crew consume around 13 tons per [...]

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Jane goes ashore in Port Denerau, Fiji

September 2, 2009

Bula Everyone
Well we have just finished a great 14 night cruise where we were lucky enough to go to several ports in Fiji as well as to Vanuatu and New Caledonia. I was very lucky to go ashore in the beautiful Fijian spot of Port Denarau with a few other crew from the ship and [...]

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P&O Food & Wine Cruise – Bruce Tyrrell talking discusses cork vs screw cap

September 1, 2009

Here is a video of Bruce Tyrrell talking to passengers on board P&O Cruise ship Pacific Dawn during the Food & Wine themed cruise. It is in a response to a passenger question on why he uses screw caps and not corks to seal wine bottles.

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