exlondoner

It may be available for all passengers, but few avail themselves of it. The most I have seen is eight, and that makes it an unnecessarily large space.

But it barely has a view…unless you are an upskirter. 😀 And it is horribly dark and claustrophobic.

Our neighbours at dinner said this is now their favourite ship. In contrast, a man in front of me in the queue for the Purser’s yesterday said to the man in front of him that this ship was just like a P&O ship, only not as good. This was clearly a pejorative comment, but its exact nuance was unclear to me, as I have never been on P&O. I think most of the ship is gorgeous, and the crew lovely, though I wish more passengers would acknowledge them. The only place I complete detest is the Grills Lounge. I can solve that problem for them. The Wellness Studio is barely used in proportion to its large area. It is adjacent to the Grills Terrace and would do fine if converted to a Grills Lounge. The current lounge could become an outdoor dining courtyard, and, if the Wellness Studio is really necessary, a corner of the Grills Terrace could be sacrificed.

I don’t think the restaurant one is any different form the ones on other ships, although they don’t necessarily have everything.

They aren’t in the Grill, they are in the cabins. They didn’t seem meagre to me.

On the subject of canapés which come to the cabin. There are only two of them, but they are much more extensive. One night we had (for two of us) two grissini wrapped in Parma ham, some venison salami, and a jar of cheese and olives, last night was two tiny blinis with smoked salmon, caviar, etc. Tonight was two salady jars, one Greek, one a prawn cocktail thing. See photo.

It is indeed a fine whistle, on what I think is a lovely ship.

Lots of people do wear jackets, but lots of people don’t, so whatever you feel like. I have generally found the air conditioning on the ship quite fierce, but can’t speak for that particular restaurant.

The whistle is blown to mark midday.

Yes.

I think it would take wilful blindness to be unaware of the charges for things like speciality restaurants, drinks packages, and spa stuff as booking them is heavily promoted on the voyage personaliser. I’m sure most people do as I do and note them and then pass on. One interesting thing that is unlikely to herald the end of civilisation is that last time I had a non-alcoholic cocktail it was about $5.50. Now they are all about $12 or I’m looking in the wrong place. 😀

I wish I had a photo of your eavesdropping attempts. 😀

There was a thread asking about the smell of cigar smoke, which I can’t find. This morning on my morning stroll, I encountered a strong smell of stale cigars outside the Churchill Lounge.

Why not leave a note? You, I mean, not the butler, whose intentions were clear enough.

We have ginger. We didn’t for the first couple of nights, but it must have been found and unpacked.

I would assume it is a hiccup, but, if it is very important to you, I would transfer to another ship, because who knows? There is no All bran for breakfast, or, if it is on board, they haven’t found it yet. My husband, who likes, it, is coping.

No fireboat and the only people who watched and waved, as far as I could see, were the rope men.

For most passengers I have observed, it seems to be one or the other.

No, we discovered that at lunch.

I have always had them replaced, but I imagine, if you emptied a bottle of gin a night, they might lose patience

Silk sheets? 😀

I always ring up Southampton a couple of weeks before hand and request a blanket rather than a duvet. This time the message didn’t get through, so the butler had to change it the first evening, as if he didn’t have enough to do.

This was in our cabin, suggesting things s/he might do.

I don’t think we were charged last time we were here.

No, not at all. The noise, the traffic, the tedious shuttle ride, the tedious berthing place, the Gaudi architecture, etc, etc. But I do accept that it is probably a very efficient embarkation port.