Pacific Encounter Reviews

Fantastic trip, everything is perfect. There are so many shows and the services were good. Food was delicious. We will join again next time.

I did have a good time. Too long for me though - 14 day cruise with 5 shore days. I hate to queue which is a big part of ship life. Loved the kind, hard working staff and had lots of laughs and singalongs in the Encounter Hotel. Great price and no complaints about P&O.

Since I had not been on a cruise, I booked this 5 day cruise from Brisbane to Airlie Beach and back with P&O. Due to a cyclone, the vessel could not go to Airlie beach, so then just went in circles, with a stop off at Moreton Island, which is about 25 km from Brisbane. Despite the vessel looking old once on board, with peeling wall paper and obvious ...read more rust being painted over, the cruise experience was fine, with all staff helpful. Note that this was during school holidays so there were apparently 700 kids on board out of a total of 2900 passengers.The visit to Moreton Island was poorly organised since at the end of the visit, there were 100s of us stuck on a jetty with 30 degree heat and no shade for over an hour due to the slow and infrequent feeder boats between the island and the vessel. Hannah from Global Journeys was excellent in organising the booking at relatively short notice.

For a first cruise the Whitsunday cruise is unbeatable. The P&O terminal and onboard staff, from your welcome to your farewell, are so helpful. An abundance of activities for kids and adults to do. The menus at every eatery and restaurant provide a great choice for dining. Rooms are clean and the beds are so comfy. Easy and well organised tender service ...read more into Airley Beach to partake of the onshore activities. If you haven't done it yet, book your cruise now!

We went along to celebrate our daughter's birthday. 4 adjoining rooms (thanks Georgie) meant we were together. Food was great, rooms OK, not so but adequate. We had a good time with a lot of other people. Adults only pool horrible as to the smokers being there so no bonus for us but overall a good trip spend with the family.

Global Journeys and particularly Rachael were beyond helpful and easy to deal with, even though we were in different countries - Thank you Rachael. It was the first cruise my husband and I have ever been on and so have nothing to compare it with but we did enjoy the cruise. The entertainment was top notch and the food was good too. I would recommend ...read more the drinks package even though we did not drink anything like 15 drinks a day - it is still the cheaper option. Our balcany room was great - I even saw a mother whale with her baby on her back swim right below our deck - unfortunately I did not have my camera - pooh! I recommend booking excursions with P&O because it is difficult to match times with external companies and we had to forgo one of our bookings or miss the boat. All in all - a great experience - thank you.

Our cruise was awesome. Weather was fabulous. Saw a few whales and some dolphins. Airlie Beach was lovely as usual. Will go there again but will probably do another one a bit longer. Global Journeys were awesome and Jemma was fantastic - will definitely deal with her again.

I think the boat was too crowded. Hard to join in some activities. Lack of room and/or poor room set up. Service was exceptional. Food was acceptable. On shore excursions were the highlight for me. Tracey was amazing and I have already recommended Global Journeys to my friends.

Global journey did a great job - clear and quick communication, that's why we are back! Thanks Jemma. The holiday was beautiful, Queensland has a lot to offer, we loved the ports, live music and cocktails, dance classes and yoga. Food was great.

The cruise was a really good short break, just what we needed. It was a nice break from everything, and we really liked not having to plan anything every day. The balcony in our cabin was great, larger than on other ships we've been on, and it got the sun for most of the day. The room was nice too, although the shower/bathroom was very small but adequate.

The ...read more food was below average, a little worse than what you'd expect from a Sizzler restaurant. Adequate but not great for a holiday. We expected a bit better. The service for drinks was quite slow, with long queues at the bar all the time. Queues were especially long at the adults-only area at the back of the boat, where we spent most of our time as the other pools had lots of families and kids.

Definitely dress up for the Gatsby Night and White Night. It was quite fun and the majority of people on board were dressed up from 5pm onwards. The comedy shows were good too.

Our phones managed to get some reception a few times a day while we were on board, mostly when we were on the top decks. This was good enough to send and receive a few messages and emails, but we were without internet most of the day, which was fine with us. Otherwise, you would need to buy the internet plan.

We had the full refreshments package, but it didn't include "Sparkling Water" at the restaurants, so we were charged for it. When we went to customer service to ask about the charges, they wouldn't refund it and told us we should have ordered "Soda Water" instead. This was quite disappointing. The staff doing table service should have told us when ordering.

All in all, the ship was ok and the people were nice. Food could have been better, staff and service was disappointing.

We were disappointed in that we asked friends to cruise with us and their rooms were very poor indeed. The rooms at the end of the ship had such serious vibrations that neither could sleep properly on several nights. The staff were great. The food was excellent. The trouble is if you get no sleep who wants to go? One couple was compensated with ...read more a free meal on the last night. I feel bad because I recommended the the cruise. It won't be happening again!

We enjoyed our trip with P&O. The service, food, staff were wonderful. However, our cabin had severe vibration due to it's location at the back. Other friends on board did not have this and so if you can, avoid the room at the back.