Meet the team of Young Explorers who road-tested some of the activities and restaurants on board a P&O cruise ship and made them better.
The four Young Explorers can now take credit for many of the improvements made to the line’s new ship, Pacific Explorer when she sails into Sydney next month.
The 10-year-olds – Degan Charman, Caitlin Leece, Lily Corliss and Juno Jones – were picked by P&O from more than 3500 entrants who applied for the “tough” job of road-testing and providing feedback on the activities, food, entertainment and design when they spent a whole day on board Pacific Dawn.
Degan tried out the waterslides, Caitlin reviewed the food, Lily critiqued the entertainment and Juno assessed the design which has been earmarked for Pacific Explorer.
When Degan road-tested the Disco Diver waterslide for the first time he was so pumped he could hardly contain his excitement.
“I was a little scared but it turned out to be so much fun. Now I can go on the waterslide again and again and never be bored,’’ he told Cruise Passenger.
His recommendation for making the Disco Diver even more heart-stopping by pumping up the music volume played inside the waterslide, has been introduced on the Pacific Explorer.
“I have never been on a cruise ship before, so everything was new and exciting to me,” he said of his experience.
Come September, Degan and his family including dad Steve, mum Jessica and five-year sister Chanelle will be going on an eight-day cruise from Sydney to New Caledonia – a prize he won when P&O picked him as a Young Explorer.
The Young Explorers also loved the Neapolitan pizza by pizza master Johnny Di Francesco which will be served in the new family restaurant, 400 Gradi on Pacific Explorer.
“It was the best pizza I’ve ever tasted,” Degan said.
The team also asked for additional live Australian music to be played on board and the décor to feature the colour green more prominently.
Brett Annable, P&O Cruises entertainment director said the Young Explorers feedback has been “invaluable and helped us make the final touches to Pacific Explorer.”
The 2000-passenger Pacific Explorer will have new features including two waterslides, a waterpark and a lawn bowls green.
Well done Degan, Caitlin, Lily and Juno.
Great to see younger children having an imput.would love to take my grandchildren on this great cruise ship one day
I would love to see the young explorers continue to critic P&O cruise ships. The children showed so much personality the video was enjoyable to watch and it made my grandchildren ask their mother to go on a cruise.