Pacific Pearl Cruise
This is the story of our cruise by P&O ship
Pacific Pearl. The cruise was called
Pacific Escapade and carried a cruise no. P222.
The cruise was for eight nights, leaving Sydney at 4 p.m. on Saturday,
23rd of June 2012 and covered visits to the islands of New
Caledonia; Noumea, Mare island and Isle of Pines. The ship has 14 decks, of
which 11 are passenger decks. Deck 12 is
a leisure deck with bars, grills, Restaurant, swimming pools and open area with
a giant screen overlooking the open area with lot of recliners. In Deck 14 there
is a walking cum jogging track and a closed area called Dome where classes on
Yoga, Pilates and stretch exercises were held in the morning and quiz sessions
and workshops were held later in the day and late night parties after 10 p.m. In the passenger decks along with rooms are a
gym, a casino, shops, bars, a library, closed theatre, an open entertainment
area, tour desk, reception desk, internet cafe, and a medical centre. Ours was
cabin no.182 in deck 10. This was on the port side with a window giving
sea-view, besides the usual shower, toilet, wardrobe, T V, telephone, fridge
facilities. In deck 10, there was a laundrette midship and an open deck with
recliners, on the rear side. The ship has a passenger capacity of 1817 and it
was full, with more than 300 children.
The ship has crew strength of 727, of whom there were quite a number of
people from India, mainly Mumbai with a few from Tamilnadu, Kerala and
Pondicherry.
On day 1 we
first explored our room and our deck, participated in the passenger safety
drill and then went to the open deck to watch Sydney shore drift by as the ship
leaves the port. The skyline of Sydney
from the 14th deck of the ship was a memorable sight. As the ship sailed under Harbour Bridge with
its flag mast almost touching the underbelly of the bridge, the ship sounded a
siren and we stood mesmerized by the magic of the moment. Opera House, the
other icon of Sydney presented a grand sight, with the backdrop of Centrepoint
towering over other CBD towers, as the ship sailed slowly past it. The Cockatoo islands and Fort Denison and the
promontory all were scenic superlatives as we drifted out to touch the open sea. Equally thrilling and wonderful was the sight
of Sydney shoreline in the early dawn of 1st July as we drifted in
for landing. On both occasions we were
fortunate to be blessed with good weather which made all the sights watchable and
enjoyable from the open deck.
That night we had our dinner at the waterfront
restaurant in the 7th deck, where we had met earlier the supervisor
Edison, who is from Mumbai and he had arranged for serving of rice along with a
vegetable dish for dinner, along with the usual menu, for all the nights of our
stay. Further as it was a restaurant where there was only table service, he was
good enough to reserve a table for the night.
As reservation is necessary for dinner, we made reservations for next
night, as we left after dinner. In the
restaurant we met a waiter, Charles from Mumbai, who took special care to
recommend other vegetarian dishes and also relay to cook our suggestions for
improvement in the special dishes served to us. He was a quite a character with
a fund of brain twisters, with which he kept his tables quite regaled. He also took care to see we were seated in
one of his tables. Other interesting, helpful people from the crew we met on
the cruise were Veeraraghavan, called Veera from Pondicherry, Ramasubbu, called
Rama, from Cuddalore, Samuel, supervisor from Indonesia who is a Bollywood fan,
Jacintha, receptionist from Mumbai who is married to Anup Nair from Kerala, a
steward in our deck. The photos of the ship and the Sydney shoreline sights and
some of the activities we witnessed, 75 in no., can be seen as a slideshow from
the Flickr set, Pacific Pearl - Ship and activities: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sam-sekar/sets/72157630411107298/
On day 2 &
3, the ship was at sea sailing to New Caledonia. Day 2, i.e.,24th
June was a beautiful day with a nice warm weather. We went for a walk on the open deck in the
morning and had our breakfast in the plantation restaurant in Deck12, where
continental breakfast is available from 6 am and full breakfast from 7 am and coffee
and tea all the time from machines. In
full breakfast we had a wide range of choices in cereals, fruits, croissants,
juices, toasts besides pancakes and hash browns on some days. We had our lunch also
there on the last few days there as we could get rice, yoghurt and salad sandwich
besides the usual fruits, cakes, soup, pasta and bread, thanks to the assistant
food manager there. Also we could get from the grill in that deck cheeseburger
without the steak. After a leisurely heavy breakfast, we curled up on the
recliners under the open sky, watching a film on the giant screen, basking in
the mild sunshine. Lunch and dinner were
at the Waterfront restaurant where they gave us channa with rice for lunch, and
mixed vegetables with rice for dinner, besides the usual soup, Yoghurt, papad
and pakoda. This evening we witnessed the Laser show in the atrium in deck5.
On day 3 i.e.,
25th June, the weather turned very windy and the open deck was
closed and was not available for walking and jogging. As there were also intermittent showers, the
open deck was almost empty, with the recliners in the open area folded. This day
I opened an internet account in the internet café and browsed my mail and sent
home a mail. Though there were activities like Facebook get together, team
trivia and fitness seminar we did not participate in any, but enjoyed reading
the Junior Vikatans, Kumudams, we had accumulated for the trip. One other book
we read was “Tamil in Tamil cinema” by
Sivakumar and also some short stories from “Selected stories of Sujatha”. Evening we watched the circus show in the
atrium by Pacific Cirque.
Day 4 i.e. 26th
June was our first shore-stop. This was
at Noumea, the administrative centre of New Caledonia, a French foreign
territory of France with an independent governing body, where France has
representatives. The language spoken was French and Kanak dialect, and English
is scarcely understood locally. We went on a tour of the islands in a shore
tour called “Noumea in a nutshell”. The
tour was in the afternoon and was for three hours. We went ashore after lunch and made a small
tour of a supermarket and transit hall souvenir shops before joining the tour.
The tour crisscrossed the city and took us around the island showcasing the bay
and the beaches. We returned to the ship before 5 pm. As we disembark, our identity cards are
scanned through computer and an identity check performed. On embarking back, an
identity check as well as a security check of persons and any bags they carry
is done. The card scanning also helps them to keep count of the people leaving
and coming back and verifying that all have returned. The ship left for next island after ensuring
all have returned. This evening we watched in the Marquee in deck7, a musical
show by Pacific Entertainers and Pacific Cirque titled “Pirates II- The Mutiny”. The photos taken in and of the island of Noumea, 42 in no., can be seen as slideshow from
the Flickr set, Noumea:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sam-sekar/sets/72157630399613496/
On day 5 i.e. 26th
June, the ship anchored off the waters of Mare island. We were transferred to the shore through
tenders. The island is small, but it has beautiful beaches with crystal clear
wave free waters, ideal for swimming and snorkeling. We did neither but chose to go to a remote
beach, Yejele beach, by a shuttle bus, thereby getting to go round the
island. In the beach we just strolled on
the seaside, wetting our feet and taking in the pure white sand and sparkling
crystal clear waters and watching others swimming, snorkeling and sun-bathing.
After two hours of strolling we returned back to the ship in time for lunch. That
night we witnessed an open air acrobatic show “Glow” in the deck12. The photos
taken in and of the Mare Island, 37 in no., can be seen as slideshow from the Flickr
set, Mare island:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sam-sekar/sets/72157630399035262/
On day 6, i.e. 27th
June, the ship anchored off the waters of the Isle of Pines. The weather which
had been fine the previous two days was not that good this day. The sea was a bit choppy and we could get in
the tenders only with the crew lending a helping hand. There had been showers
overnight in the island and even in the morning there was slight drizzle.
Luckily we had booked the 11.10 am tour.
So we took the tender a bit late and by that time rain has stopped, though
the sky was overcast. The tender also
moved slowly, with caution. But there were
no rains while we were ashore. Here also we took a tour, “Island discovery”,
which took us around the island. The
local scenery reminded me of Kerala with its lush greenery, but the island was
thinly populated, unlike Kerala. Because
of the overnight rains, the Grotto of Queen Hortense was flooded and so was
closed to tourists. Mostly Melanesian
islanders are seen here as in Mare island.
For the adventurous here also there were other tours like snorkeling,
boating adventure etc. That night we
went to the musical show “Centre Stage” in Marquee in deck 7, but didn’t sit
through it fully. The photos taken in
and of the Isle of Pines, 23 in no., can be seen as slideshow from the Flickr
set, Isle of Pines:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sam-sekar/sets/72157630384471030/
Day 7&8,
were days of return journey from the islands. These days we spent leisurely,
lazily, playing Bingo, walking around the open decks, sipping coffee and juice
watching sea go by, exchanging pleasantries with the staff and acquaintances,
touring the kitchen, watching culinary demo, besides watching shows in atrium
and Marquee.
On day 9, i.e. 1st
July, we got up early and as the dawn broke out, we were in the open deck
drinking in the sights of Sydney shore line. By 9 am we disembarked with the
happy memories of the most enjoyable days spent on the cruise. All the photos of the cruise together as a
single slideshow can be seen from the Flickr set, Pacific Pearl Cruise:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sam-sekar/sets/72157630380283938/
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