Thank you so much for all your questions on the blog. As you can imagine, we’re extremely busy doing our day jobs on the ship, which makes it hard to answer all your queries individually.
I thought the best way to respond would be to collect a few of your questions on similar topics and answer them all in one whenever time allows.
So here goes!
Theme nights:
“…could you let me know what the theme nights will be……so we can be prepared…..and how many formal nights. We have been on many cruises and just love them!!!”
Everyone loves our theme nights – they’re a huge hit! The actual nights change on each cruise so we only advise passengers of the schedule once they’re on board.
But I can tell you we usually have an Island Night and an Outback(country and western) night on each cruise. On Island Night everyone wears their sarongs, coloured tropical shirts & island hats, while on Outback night we see plenty of checked shirts and cowboy hats. If we have time on a cruise, sometimes we add a Rock and Roll night. And then there’s our “Pirates of the Pacific” show, which a lot of passengers love to dress up for.
Formal Nights
“We are sailing on the Dawn in two weeks and it is our first cruise. I have a question about the formal dinners please. Does my husband have to have a suit or will a navy jacket and grey slacks be suitable.”
We usually have two formal nights on our seven to 11 night cruises, and three formal nights on our 12 – 14 night sailings. The dress code for men on cocktail nights is a suit, or sports jacket and tie. Just follow the link below for more information: http://www.pocruises.com.au/html/pre-cruise-information.cfm#dress-at-sea. Please remember the dress code is encouraged for entry into the Palm Court Dining Room.
Christmas and New Year Cruises:
“What happens on board the Xmas and NYE cruises? – Activities etc? …We will be on Ouvea for Xmas day, what happens there? Can we bring a small pressie for the kids to open on Xmas morning?”
Every year passengers rave about our Christmas activities, which include a Christmas village made out of candy and other yummy things, fun ice-carving demonstrations and a special visit from Santa with gifts for the children. We also celebrate with plenty of Christmas food including a traditional Christmas turkey dinner, plus we have carol services and various shows geared towards the holidays.
Activities for cruises are not released before we sail but we will certainly let you know about all our themed activities once you’re onboard, via our daily newsletter.
Of course you can bring presents on board for your children. Plus, you may want to bring something for the local children who usually come to greet you when the ship calls at their port! However, please remember some items may be barred by their customs and we do not suggest any food as gifts.
Kids Club
“In relation to kids club, first in first served, is this on a daily/session basis or does this mean when numbers are reached no other kids will be accommodated for the entire cruise?”
When you board your cruise, the kids’ clubs will be open for registration so that’s the time to put your child’s name down for the access to the club throughout the cruise.
We can only accommodate a certain number of children in the clubs on each cruise although we do gear our staffing levels in advance to reflect the number of children sailing in each age group. Even if we reach our kids’ club limit for registrations on the first day, not all children turn up daily. So if you don’t get your child in when you board, it’s worth checking back during the cruise to see if there’s space for them that day in the kids’ club.
“When we booked originally there were age restrictions for cabin occupancy, ie adult with minors during the night (I guess)…I noticed that quite a few cruises now allow the minimum age to be 16 with younger children in room. then just now in the blog something about age restrictions changes coming into force after sept 09. just asking for a little clarification please.”
Only children, travelling with parents, who are 18 years old on day of sailing can hold a cabin in their name.
From September, young cruisers will have a new place to hang out when a new youth headquarters is introduced for passengers aged between 11 – 17 years. HQ will offer activities including air hockey, karaoke, sport tournaments and hip hop dance classes. There will be opportunities for 11 – 14 years olds to participate in separate activities to those aged 15 – 17 years to cater for their interests.
I hope this really helps you with some of those curly questions.
Stay tuned for more blog posts.
Andrew Spencer
Hotel Director
