By
Rebecca Gibson |
P&O Cruises is to replace buffet dining with new restaurants onboard Pacific Aria and Pacific Eden when they join the line’s Australian fleet in November 2015.
Both Pacific Aria and Pacific Eden will feature 15 bars, restaurants and cafés – P&O’s largest ever selection of restaurants – including a marketplace comprised of fresh food outlets selling food such as fish and chips.
To be known as The Pantry, the area will replace the traditional cruise buffet and feature a gourmet delicatessen and other new additions such as the Pan-Asian restaurant Dragon Lady; Angelo’s, an Italian restaurant named after photographer Angelo Frontoni; and Cellar Door, a new boutique winery where guests can taste and pre-order wines before dinner. Guests will also be able to visit the ships’ Open Kitchen – which also features a culinary school – and a dedicated Chef’s Table area.
In addition, the popular Salt Grill by Luke Mangan restaurant – already featured on Pacific Jewel, Pacific Pearl and Pacific Dawn – will include a new Salt Grill Bar serving Luke Mangan cocktails.
Tillberg Design of Sweden has led the design, which also involves an update to the seating to include high tables, communal benches and banquettes.
“It will be a haven for food lovers, offering a contemporary relaxed vibe as guests indulge and discover what’s in The Pantry,” said Tammy Marshall, P&O’s senior vice president. “Guests on Pacific Aria and Pacific Eden will enjoy a dining experience like no other, with our fresh food and stunning décor transforming the way cruise guests dine at sea.”
P&O will also upgrade the pool area, which will feature new day beds, white curtains and outdoor rugs and lamps to provide a ‘luxury residential feel and a great setting for entertainment day or night’.
Pacific Eden and Pacific Aria, which will be transferred from the Holland America Line fleet, will bring P&O’s total year-round Australian fleet up to a record five ships. Both ships will be fully refurbished to incorporate onboard features tailored for Australian and New Zealand passengers.
The ships will be introduced to passengers on 25 November 2015 when they join Pacific Dawn, Pacific Jewel and Pacific Pearl in Sydney Harbour for a five-ship display. The event will mark the first time Sydney, known as Australia’s cruising gateway, has hosted five cruise ships from one cruise line on the same day.
During her first season as a P&O vessel, Pacific Aria will spend eight months in Brisbane, alongside the city’s year-round ship Pacific Dawn. New cruises include an 18-night P&O Explorer itinerary visiting Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, as well as a seven-night New Year cruise visiting Hamilton Island, Cairns, and Willis Island. Pacific Aria will also offer voyages from Sydney.
Pacific Eden will offer cruises from Sydney and Melbourne, as well as five roundtrips from Adelaide, making it the city’s biggest cruise season. She will also provide eight roundtrips from Cairns between September and November 2016, including four seven-night cruises to Papua New Guinea and two ten-night voyages to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
Between April and July 2016, Pacific Eden will offer 13 cruises from Fremantle – the most the line has ever sailed from the port – and will then sail the line’s first roundtrips from Singapore since 2006. Arriving in Singapore in July 2016, Pacific Eden will provide four cruises as part of P&O’s expansion into the fly-cruise segment.
Pacific Eden is scheduled to offer a seven-night South East Asia western itinerary visiting the Malaysian and Thailand towns of Sabang, Phuket, Krabi and Langkawi. Pacific Eden’s Singapore season also includes a 13-night itinerary from Singapore to Cairns with calls to Dili in Timor L’este, Indonesia and Darwin in Australia, as well as a seven-night South East Asia eastern itinerary. Guests on this voyage will call at Sihanoukville in Cambodia, as well as Ko Chang, Bangkok and Ko Samui in Thailand. Passengers can combine the two South East Asia itineraries to enjoy a 14-night cruise.