Pacific Dawn - Saturday 10 February, Embark day!

Today's the day! Our check in time states 1-1.30pm but I have never known P&O to follow the check in times so we'll see what happens when we get there.

We left at 10am NSW time (9am Qld time) and were at the terminal not long after 11am - found the parking station easy (Portside Parking) hopped on the waiting courtesy bus (even though the cruise terminal is only a few hundred metres away - there's quite a bit of roadworks so trying to get across the roads made it easy to bus it, plus it was HOT).

Dropped out bags off, heading inside the terminal an filled out our health cards then lined up to check in. No check in times were asked, maybe because we were early and boarding hadn't yet started it's easier for them to process everyone that's already arrived than make them wait until what their boarding time is. With a short wait we had our cruise cards in hand with no 3 as our boarding number. We probably waited about 15 minutes or so before being called to board and by about 12pm Qld time we were in our cabin freshening up and ready to hit the Pantry (what use to be the buffet).

Cabin 6189 - Outside

The Dawn has had a refit since we last cruised on her, mainly the public areas, the cabins looked pretty much the same. We were on deck 6 in cabin 6189 right near Turtle Cove, never heard any noise from the kids but it did make it easier to find our cabin.

Pantry - drinks station

Seating in the Pantry

I love the new modern fresh look of the Pantry, I do prefer this to the tradition buffet but miss 18 said she likes the old style buffet better, you don't have to talk to anyone, ha!

I opted for a small lunch of mexican chicken buritto but ended up with pretty much a bit of everything from the Mexican station. Miss 18 had some pasta and a few slices of the massive roast beef, it was huge!

First meal of our cruise!

After lunch we went exploring and checked out all the new things since the last time we were on the Dawn. Planning on hitting the waterslides sometime during our cruise and will definitely hang out in the stylish Dome - looks awesome.

We headed back to the room for a quick lie down before grabbing our life jackets and heading to the Marquee Theatre for the compulsory muster. Once this was completed we dropped our jackets off and headed back up to the Lido ready for sailaway. 

Sailaway - pretty much everyone's up here as we head off on our cruise to nowhere

One of the pools was transformed into a kids splash park

Spinning around on the Brisbane River

It was so hot so a cocktail was in order, the main bar on the Lido was busy busy so we headed into the Dome where it was much cooler and less crowded. 

Pretty - the pink one was very dry.

We dropped some raffle tickets off at the Spa down on deck 2 but before you could do that you had to do a tour of the Spa where they try and sell you their treatments. It was nice to see all the different areas, I think it must have had a refit because it look quite new and modern. The treatments are so expensive, I'm amazed how many people do them. PS: we didn't win the raffle prize so no free treatment for us. I was planning on getting rid of all my wrinkles and miss 18 was going to get acupuncture and a massage.

Back to the Pantry for a predinner dinner. We'd gone down to the Waterfront to make our dinner reservations, it's always a bit of a palava to book the restaurant on the P&O ships, and had hoped to get a 7pm sitting but all they had left by the time we got to the front of the line was 5.30pm (way too early) 7.45 and 8.15pm. We took the 7.45pm on a shared table, no table for 2's left although she was able to arrange one on our last night. We had the same time for the 3 evenings we were on board.

We hung out in the Promenade Bar before dinner and then went back to the cabin to freshen up and get ready for dinner. It was pretty quiet in the bar with only a handful of other passengers in there, everyone else must have either been eating or still partying on the Lido. It was Bianco/White night tonight and quite a few people, us included, had their white gear in. The other special night was Gatsby/Cocktail evening which would be tomorrow.

Our first meal in the Waterfront was ok, nothing to rave on about. Our table mates were a youngish married couple and two teenage girls. We all pretty much kept to ourselves. The married couple left early as I don't think the lady was feeling very well.

Meatballs and pasta - no sauce so was a bit dry

I had grilled fish which was quite nice. Forgot to take photos of our entrees and dessert but so far we weren't that impressed with the food which is a first for me. The dessert was meant to be a fudge brownie but ended up being a very dry chocolate cake. Hoping tomorrows meal is better.

After dinner we had a bit of a wander around before heading to our cabin, miss 18 was a wee bit tired after a big night the night before. I'm just old so didn't mind not staying up too late. I think we were in bed by 9.30pm (which technically was 10.30pm nsw time!)

Our cabin was a tad chilly so we used the skinny decorative throw as a blanket. We never did get our cabin to warm up even with the temperature set to the highest setting.