Cruising with the P&O Pacific Dawn
Late one evening, the woman called and mentioned taking a cruise. Lovely sheila voice – sweet, sensual, kind, stranger of sorts – hadn’t seen my guide in ages – so being a bloke, I stood my ground and agreed to everything she said.
She was mostly always right and that was just the right thing to do 
So a day later, deposit paid, I was booked to take a cruise on the P&O Pacific Dawn from Brisbane across the ditch to New Zealand.
P&O Pacific Dawn cruise ship
More professional images can be found at http://www.cruise-australia.net/pacificdawn.htm
The Pacific Dawn is 70,000 Ton cruise ship (1991), with 11 decks and able to carry 2000 passengers. She has a couple sisters – Pacific Jewel (70,000 Tons, 1991), Pacific Pearl (63,500 Tons, 1987) and the oldest sister, Pacific Sun at 47,000 Tons built back in 1986.
For those who plan of taking a cruise, don’t rush. Boarding at Brisbane harbor was slowed down by a large number of the fossils with hearing aids, walking aids etc. strolling up the gang plank. A floating retirement village, that rocks them to sleep one might say
The other thousand of us without pacemakers cruised up the gang plank into boat, only to find the stores and pubs closed whilst docked in the harbor ;-(
Most of the staff on the Pacific Dawn are sourced from China, India and the Philippines. The entertainment staff do however appear to be from Australia. The nationality split is probably to save a coin and bump up the P&O Cruise profits. How un-Australian!
The woman was all drugged up. Every possible and potential sea-sickness cure was cruising through her veins. It was the law – there was just no way that she was going to be sea-sick.
Now initially, we were expected to depart from Brisbane at 2pm and then cruise for three days to New Zealand’s south island “Fiordland”.
Well, the Brisbane harbor master delayed the departure because of the wind.
Imagine that 70,000 tons of metal could be delayed by breeze. Doesn’t the ship have a couple monster diesel engines to push bulk around through the wave fronts or handle the occasional tidal or tsunami?
The Pacific Dawn left the Brisbane harbor about four hours behind schedule.
In a later post, I’ll cover cruising drug update and the cruise through the New Zealand Fiordland.
