P&O Cruises Australia’s Brisbane-ported ship, Pacific Encounter, has today become the first in the brand’s fleet to call into Darwin since the resumption of cruising. Her maiden call is part of a 14-night ‘Indonesian Explorer’ repositioning cruise to Singapore, where she will undergo a three-week dry dock.
Highly anticipated additions during drydock will include the installation of the 142-metre-long and 16-metre-high Twin-Racer waterslide and the P&O Edge Adventure Park. The Adventure Park, designed for thrill-seekers, will feature a 55-metre-long Zipline, Rock Climbing wall, Cargo Net, Walk the Plank, and Beam Walk; each sitting a heart-stopping 10 metres above Deck 16.
Marguerite Fitzgerald, President of P&O Cruises Australia, says the anticipation of Pacific Encounter’s arrival into Singapore next week is building.
“These exciting additions will mark the completion our three-fleet transformation and bring us yet another step closer to a full and ‘normal’ cruising season. And of course, we look forward to welcoming our Brisbane guests back onboard and seeing the joy as they race down the new slides and test out the adrenalin-pumping activities at sea when she returns.”
The brief drydock next month follows the vessel’s major transformation in 2022, which unveiled P&O’s new Byron Beach Club concept, Luke’s Bar & Grill and 400 Gradi celebrity Chef restaurants, an F45 Fitness Studio, Black Circus Theatre, as well as contemporary bars and cafes including the Encounter Hotel, Bonded Store and Altitude nightclub.
This initial work was completed ahead of her return to Australia in August, where she made history as the first cruise ship to return to Brisbane to resume year-round cruising, home-porting at the new Brisbane International Cruise Terminal.
The 1730 guests currently onboard the 14-night cruise will join Pacific Encounter in celebrating even more history-making moments as she becomes the first ship in the P&O fleet to complete further maiden calls into Benoa/Bali and Lombok in Indonesia, before arriving in Singapore on Monday 6 February.
