Floating playground:Liam Oliver on P&O's Pacific Jewel.
Kids can have fun at sea,too,especially when adrift from their parents,writes Liam Oliver.
The moment I stepped aboard the Pacific Jewel I had a plan:to see as little of my mother as possible.
This is pretty easy if,like me,you’re an 11-year-old on a ship which has action for kids and thrill seekers of all ages. I would be ziplining,riding on Segways and climbing the ship’s funnel while she did all the boring things she likes:have facials,massages and eat at Luke Mangan’s restaurant,Salt.
Passengers on top of the ship's screen.
Then we would just meet each night in our balcony cabin. It meant four days of fun for us both.
The great thing about going to a ship’s kids’ club is that you don’t have to see your parents if you don’t want to;you can go to the buffet and eat what you want and they’re not there telling you to eat more vegetables. You can watch movies on an outdoor screen,and have pizza and ice-cream delivered to your deck chair.
The fun started as soon as the ship left Sydney’s White Bay. The ship has P&O Edge,and I could see ropes,bridges and lines attached to different decks. We climbed to the top of the movie screen to get a view of the city. We were so high when we sailed under the Harbour Bridge it felt as though if you reached up you could touch it. We were strapped to harnesses and from there I went straight on to a flying fox and swung out above the ship’s swimming pool like Tarzan while people on the top deck cheered me on. It was fun so I did it again.
The cargo net climb.
On the second day of our four-day cruise to Moreton Island in Queensland I got to climb the funnel wall and rappel down.