A Week Aboard The Cloud

Quick update on the Cloud - we came a rockin' and a rollin' through the Straits of Gibraltar in heavy seas and a strong easterly wind which meant we missed the port stop at Gibraltar as the wind was forecast to strengthen further so that we would have had difficulty leaving the port. We came instead to Malaga and have overnighted here in fair but cold weather.

Service on board has noticeably slowed down now the ship is closer to being full - still only about 220 pax tho' - I wonder just how slow it would go if we were full? About 6 children embarked, they seem fairly well behaved altho' I've heard one report of a couple running and shouting in a corridor. Lots of Germans, embarked too.

After our second week on the Cloud, we have not noticed any reduction in service. As a matter of fact, many of the passengers are now being addressed by name as the crew gets to know them. The attitude of the staff is great due, I'm sure,, to the management of Sujith, the Hotel Director David, the Cruise Director, and Sergio. the Restaurant Manager.About 14 of us will be continuing on to Athens from Barcelona. The ship will be completely full for that segment. It will be interesting to see if the level of service holds up with a full complement of passengers.

I saw the children myself running and shouting along deck 6 this morning, I hope they aren't disturbing any pax trying for a lie-in after an even more rough and stormy night - 45 knot headwinds, 25 ft waves - so rough in fact that we're too far off schedule to make in into Cartagena today and are continuing to plough through heavy seas to Valencia, arriving tomorrow.

David has arranged a full slate of happenings at short notice and the general mood is quite accepting of events.

And, to make it clear, service has not declined in attention and friendliness - the crew are doing an excellent job in the circumstances, can't be easy for them - but it has definitely slowed down.

Please give Sujith, David and Sergio greetings from duct tape. They RE some of my fvs. Enjoy!

Will do. All three of them are professionals and nice people.

We were on this trip. As always, there were changes. We liked the new Terrazza evening menus. Pool deck fries were not as good as usual. Service in all areas was above the normal high standard. Weather could have been improved! We'll be back.

Now that my jet lag has subsided, I wanted to share our experience on our third week on the cloud. We continued on from Barcelona to Athens. Unlike the first two weeks, the cruise was fully booked. Very different crowd, mostly younger people, some of which were on their first cruise.

We were concerned that the level of service would be diminished, but, found the high level of service continued on in spite of a full ship. Reservations in LA Terrace were a little harder to get which was expected, but, a little planning on our part would have solved thatt. Since we had a port everyday, there was. very little time for lectures other tan a few port talks.

Going through the Corinth Canal turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip.

I can't speak for the other ships in the fleet, but, the food and service on the Cloud was great and we enjoyed all 24 days. Looking forward to booking another one.

Thank you for some positive posts! A breath of fresh air.

Please give Sujith, David and Sergio greetings from duct tape. They RE some of my fvs. Enjoy!

Mine, too! See, we agree.

Mine, too! See, we agree.

Me three.Hope they are still onboard come the end of June when we we embark.

Now that my jet lag has subsided, I wanted to share our experience on our third week on the cloud. We continued on from Barcelona to Athens. Unlike the first two weeks, the cruise was fully booked. Very different crowd, mostly younger people, some of which were on their first cruise. We were concerned that the level of service would be diminished, but, found the high level of service continued on in spite of a full ship. Reservations in LA Terrace were a little harder to get which was expected, but, a little planning on our part would have solved thatt. Since we had a port everyday, there was. very little time for lectures other tan a few port talks. Going through the Corinth Canal turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. I can't speak for the other ships in the fleet, but, the food and service on the Cloud was great and we enjoyed all 24 days. Looking forward to booking another one.

Appreciate your great report and update. Glad to hear, as we enjoyed earlier this year on the Silver Cloud, a very nice level of service and quality. Glad things worked well with the Corinth Canal. For those who have not seen this dramatic engineering project, below is one of my visuals from there when we did a land tour around the Peloponnesian Peninsula. Very unique and interesting to see.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 106,221 views for this posting.

The Corinth Canal is right on the route as we were circling the Peloponnesian Peninsula and nearby to the famed, ancient, historic city of Corinth. This canal is a unique engineering job carved through about 260' of rock. The canal is four miles in length, 75' wide and was built between 1881 and 1893:

Thx for the great reports on the Cloud. Has me excited for our 4th of July celebration on her this summer. I'm hoping Duct Tape can pull off an incredible fireworks show in the Norwegian Fjords this voyage!

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