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‘New look’ Pacific Jewel has revamped nightclub in its dome

‘New look’ Pacific Jewel has revamped nightclub in its dome
The makeover of P&O Cruises Australia’s 1,950-passenger Pacific Jewel, which will emerge from Thales Shipyard at Garden Island in Sydney on Thursday August 22, includes a new nightclub in its distinctive dome, vp hotel operations, Sture Myrmell, announced over the weekend.

Myrmell was a speaker at Carnival Australia's Partnership Summit 2013 for around 300 Australasian travel agents and partners aboard Pacific Pearl which returned to Sydney this morning after a three-night cruise to nowhere.

He said other highlights of the 70,310gt resident ship’s makeover include the expansion of the child-free Oasis retreat, a laser game called Laser Tag, a Chocobloc shop and an updated Salt Grill -- Australian celebrity chef Luke Mangan’s seagoing restaurant.

He said Pacific Jewel, which also has new carpets, furniture and artwork, will come out of its refit ‘looking like a million dollars.’

Svp Tammy Marshall announced that P&O will be the first cruise operator to call at Margaret River when Pacific Jewel is based in Fremantle for a programme of eight sailings to Asia and Western Australia ports in 2015.

Marshall said Paciic Jewel will call at Margaret River on two cruises in April and May 2015. Passengers will come ashore at Busselton’s historic 1.8km jetty at Geographe Bay, gateway to the region’s acclaimed wineries and boutique breweries.  

Marshall also unveiled details of First Mate, a new complimentary web marketing programme to be rolled out in October that will help travel agents create their own online advertising campaigns to attract more first time cruisers.    

She said research commissioned by the cruise line showed that only seven per cent of Australians holidaying for one week or longer took a cruise.

‘While cruising is booming, clearly the market potential is still enormous,’ she said. ‘We estimate that about one million new-to-cruise passengers have taken to the seas over the past five years and we predict that number will double over the next five years.’