DamianG

Super Depor with their Riazor stadium next to the beach.

Our favourite tea wallah.

Reversing into Coruna early this morning. Note the guys in the jacuzzi at 7:50am!

I am extremely conscious that it’s early in the cruise so things may change but I have my doubts. It’s very different from our experience on Iona in April 2022 but that cruise was circa 2/3 full so naturally there was a higher proportion of crew to passengers. Doubtless it’s a difficult balancing act for the company to have sufficient crew for the busier cruises and not too many for the quieter ones and I have no idea regards whether staffing levels in general are rigid or fluid. As for our dining choices, it’s tricky trying to agree venues etc to suit everyone but the one thing we all have in common is that we don’t wish to eat too early. With that in mind it’s frustrating that on both evenings so far the virtual crews have closed before we have had a chance to look, and even if we check throughout the day there is no option for later bookings. Anyway onwards and upwards, fingers crossed for tonight.

That’s the one, I was anticipating something more like @TigerB had.

Monday 7th August I was asleep quickly last night and apparently so were Michelle and Kyle. I woke at 4:30am but that’s typical anyway then kept dozing off and waking before finally getting up around 8am (taking into account the clocks moving forward 1 hour). Once we’d raised Kyle from the dead we tried to book in one of the main dining rooms for breakfast at 9:30am but the online queues were already closed despite the last admissions time of 10am. We went to Zenith anyway and were immediately seated. Michelle had the P&O Monday classic Eggs Benedict. Yes, I know it’s available every day these days but traditionally it used to be only Monday’s on P&O in the past. Doesn’t that feel strange now? I had the full P&O English breakfast just to confirm that I still don’t like their version of Cumberland sausage and I won’t ask for black pudding again. My poached eggs were very overcooked (as were Michelle’s) but hey, I didn’t have to cook or do the washing up afterwards so none of these minor disappointments would spoil our day. After breakfast I paid a quick visit to reception to unlock our internet access after I’d made a daft mistake with the saved pin code on my phone. I’d hoped not to have any reason to go to reception and here I was on day 2 already there. There was a P&O officer checking the queue and he listened to my issue then told me that the next available receptionist would quickly unlock the access for me. Seconds after he left me the lady behind in the queue dodged past me and was heading for the next available receptionist whilst saying “You’re not waiting are you?” I’ve no idea what she thought I was doing standing in line but I quickly called her back and said that I was waiting. Meanwhile the receptionist was waving me over and shooing her away. Some people! Whilst I was at reception there was a display screen scrolling through various pieces of information. One notice that caught my attention stated that there were no cabin upgrades available due to the “complex nature of the itinerary”. Complex? 6 ports in the Mediterranean over 2 weeks is the lowest number of calls certainly we’ve ever known and there are such small distances between each port that (to me anyway) it hardly looks complex at all. It’s probably just a standard message but it made me laugh anyway. From there we went to Vistas for a tea (for you know who) and an iced coffee for me. I’d never tried a Costa iced coffee before but I am definitely a fan now. The couple in the queue before me caused a massive hold up with their complicated order of 6 drinks (you know, extra shot of this in that one, double this, etc, etc.) then to make matters worse they wanted to spread the charges across 5 cruise cards with multiple drinks packages and one to pay as you go. They’re not doing anything wrong with their order of course, but when you are stood there waiting it is frustrating. We managed to grab some seats next to the large windows on port side which (at that time) was the sunny side. Not long after we sat down I spotted a dolphin and couldn’t help myself shouting “Dolphin!” Well, you have to don’t you, even if no one else saw it. Not long after that the officer of the watch made the 12pm announcement and advised that there were plenty of dolphins in the area so that reassured me that I hadn’t imagined it. We spent time in the cabin then after 2pm Michelle and I went out for a stroll around. We did a lap and a half of the promenade deck then decided to have some lunch in the Quays and chose the roast turkey dinner in a giant Yorkshire pudding. It was good but the turkey was a little dry and in the end the portions defeated both of us. We recently watched a ship review on YouTube and saw one teenager enjoy it so much that he ate two portions in one sitting. He must have hollow legs. From there we went up to the Sky Dome deck 16 to get some pizza and chips for Kyle from Taste 360. It was busy but not overcrowded though with the roof closed I found it to be very noisy. When we got back to the cabin he had let his grandparents in so we spent some time with them and agreed a plan for the evening. Kyle and I went to the gym just after 5pm and though it was quite busy there is so much equipment that we didn’t have to wait to use anything. I thought that I exercised remarkably well considering I’d had 2 glasses of wine earlier. We then headed back to the cabin to get ready for dinner, and while I was waiting for my turn in the bathroom I went back out to return the tray and basket from Taste 360 and to pick up some more drinks for the cabin. I thought that the Sunset Bar deck 8 aft would be a good place to pick up drinks but after waiting 10 minutes or so, and seeing lots of passengers who arrived after me being served before me, I gave up. Happily I went inside to the Club House and was served instantly. We met up with everyone on the library side of Andersons (as kids are supposedly not allowed in the bar side though inevitably there were some in there) at 7pm. We were a bit squashed in a corner but we all got seated and served quickly. I went on the My Holiday webpage and guess what, online booking was closed for all the main dining rooms. I walked just down the corridor and went straight up to the reception for the Olive Grove and quickly made a booking. As expected I was handed a pager and advised it would be around 45 minutes. At 8:20 we were finally paged and as we arrived there was a huge queue. We didn’t know if the queue was for those who had been called or those wishing to book so I made my way to the front and managed to ask a waiter who told me that all the passengers in the queue had been paged and we would have to join it. So we did. After 10 minutes or so we finally got to the front only for 2 ladies from different groups to bypass the queue and step straight in front of me announcing to everyone that as they had been paged they didn’t need to queue. Frustratingly the receptionist completely ignored me and sorted both of them out first. When my sister tried to engage with both ladies they were having none of it either. My mother-in-law had a bit of a dig at them saying that everyone in the queue had been paged and had been made to queue and one of the ladies just responded by sarcastically clapping. I found the whole experience really upsetting and will take this up with P&O in due course but not yet and likely not while I’m onboard. I don’t really want to be spending time complaining to someone at reception and I’d rather put my thoughts in writing post-cruise anyway. Once inside we had a lovely table in a quiet corner and we were quickly served. We weren’t offered drinks as we all brought them with us anyway. We were helping mum to choose her courses and suggested that Gambas al Ajillo (king prawns with garlic and chilli) wouldn’t be that spicy, only for several members of our party, including me, having our collective heads blown off by it. Michelle and I both also had Croquetas Iberico (okay but nothing special) followed by Seafood, Chicken and Chorizo Bomba Rice which was fantastic. There were no clams but plenty of prawns which made up for it. To finish I had one of my favourites, Tiramisu, which was okay but a bit unusual as (to me anyway) it seemed more like a panna cotta. Being on a long table and in a quiet corner meant that conversation flowed much better than last night and we really had a fun evening. Our main waiter had the manner of someone who was coming to the end of a busy day and had had enough. He was polite but not very engaging. Throughout the meal we asked for a few rounds of drinks and all the time he efficiently took the orders and delivered everything quickly. We had such a leisurely meal that we didn’t finish until 10:20pm and as we were getting ready to leave he came back to the table, cracked a lovely big smile and asked “More drinks?” That really was such a simple but lovely thing to finish off a great meal, and I imagined that this would be the sort of waiter that you could build a great rapport with in the old days of club dining. After dinner we half fancied going to see vocal group Boyz4life in the Sky Dome but Kyle was tired out so we called it a day. He put a movie on in the cabin but I’m pretty sure that he’d fallen asleep a few times whilst trying to watch it so eventually I asked him to turn it off at 11:30pm.

Still the same, Zenith has the tablecloths but the budget ran out when it came to the ornamental coverings in the Meridian.

It’s just good to know that I’m not the only person on here to put their foot in it regularly. 😀

No, HE was in HIS phone! 😂

Make that 1198, our Kyle won’t bother anyone (except us of course).

The extra space of our deluxe balcony cabin.

The down and up view from the balcony.

Last night’s sunset over the Isle of Wight.

Great balcony apart from the strange access port hole to the side. What’s that for?

The answer is at least 2 (Michelle and I). 😉

Sunday 6th August An extra early start to the day for us, we picked up the in-laws and set off just after 6:45am. On our approach to a break at Watford Gap services we started seeing warning signs that the A43 was closed to through traffic (MotoGP at Silverstone, who knew?) so we had a bit of a diversion through Buckingham but didn’t lose too much time, eventually arriving at Ocean Cruise Terminal at 11:52am. I dropped everyone off along with the luggage then drove on to meet Parking4Cruises. There were 2 cars being checked in before me, initially it looked like 3 but believe it or not a lady had driven her car to the wrong company parking space. As ever, as soon as I handed over the car keys the weight fell off my shoulders and I felt like I was truly on holiday. Our allocated boarding time was 12pm and though our 13 year old son was given 2:45pm (as he is Atlantic Tier compared to our Caribbean status) there were no issues allowing him to board at the same time as us. There was a huge queue of passengers who had arrived before their allocated boarding time (almost stretching back the length of the taxi lane) but thankfully we bypassed this and were onboard at 12:20pm. The embarkation process was super quick and we were extremely grateful for our early embarkation time. We quickly checked in at our muster station in Zenith Restaurant then made our way to the upper tier and suite embarkation lunch in The Meridian. We have never seen such a busy embarkation lunch ever. It was really crowded with a queue to get in then a long line waiting for the self-serve buffet. I guess that the numbers are swollen by those in conservatory mini suites? The embarkation lunch often has mixed reviews but we enjoyed the chicken tikka masala curry and especially a few complimentary glasses of sparkling wine. Might as well start as you mean to go on. There was no rush to leave so we took our time, eventually moving on around 1:50pm. We made our way up to deck 10 and as we helped the in-laws to find their cabin the “cabins available” announcement was made. We then moved on to our deluxe balcony cabin just a few doors down. It is a definitely an upgrade on cabin 14739 which we had on Iona last year (nothing wrong with that cabin at all by the way) and I’m certain we are going to appreciate the extra space in this one. Apparently there are 5800 passengers onboard (1200 under 18’s) so we may use our large balcony a lot more than usual. We had the balcony door open and a few times we heard someone shout “Oy! Pack it in!” We guessed that this was in response to (presumably) kids throwing water over the edge of the infinity pool on Deck 16 aft onto the balconies below and later on we actually witnessed this ourselves. There was a knock on the cabin door and Michelle went to answer. It was her mum and dad and the latter hesitated as he entered through the heavy door that Michelle was still holding. “Come on, are you in or out?” she said, at which point the lady in an electric wheelchair next door shouted “I’m doing my best!” Just bad timing and a misunderstanding as she was trying to leave her cabin at the same time but she laughed it off so no harm done. A little later another lady from the same cabin knocked on our door to ask if we had any power as nothing was working in their cabin. Michelle skilfully demonstrated how to place a card in the slot next to the door and hey presto, they had the wonder of electricity. Not long after at 3:30pm our first suitcase arrived. All the while we were getting updates on their journey from my mum and sister who are joining us on a cruise for the first time ever. Unusually their coach left Leeds an hour later than normal (7:30am instead of the usual 6:30am) and the driver had been advised to wait at some nearby services before continuing the journey to the Ocean Terminal. They were finally onboard at 4:00pm having had 2 separate 90 minute stopovers in services just to ensure that the coach arrived at the terminal for its designated time slot (which apparently kept getting pushed back). Another knock on effect of huge ships with large capacities I guess? As much as it can be hard driving with a car load it still beats sitting around for hours on the coach for us (for now anyway). 4 adults, 1 teenager, 4 cases, 3 rucksacks, a rollator and a carrier bag of sweets made for a very heavy, fully rammed car but we got here safely, in good time, and believe it or not with no arguments or falling out. God bless Skoda. By the way, this is mum’s first ever cruise, first time we’ve all sailed together (just missing sister’s partner), first two week holiday for us since 2019, and first time back in the Mediterranean since 2018. That’s enough firsts for now but there will be more to come as we sail along. Our second suitcase arrived at 5:00pm and not long after everyone came to our cabin for the sail away. I always enjoy the sail down the Solent and having an aft cabin meant that we had the best of the views on both sides. We’d brought some prosecco and also had some complimentary champagne but yet again the mystery of extreme evaporation on the Solent was evidenced and before we knew it 2 bottles were empty. Not to worry though, after all we’ve been through as a family recently it was brilliant to have mum finally onboard with us and seemingly enjoying the whole experience. We arranged to meet up in the Amber Lounge at 7:30pm with the idea being to book a dinner slot once everyone was there. We mistakenly thought that going to dinner a little later would work in our favour, and in any case we couldn’t pre-book a late slot on the My Holiday webpage anyway. Once everyone was there I was mortified to find that bookings were closed for Zenith, Meridian, The Olive Grove and the 6th Street Diner. I walked to the Meridian and was directed to a lady who was taking bookings and distributing pagers. She booked us in and advised the wait would be around 40 minutes. She then wanted to demonstrate how to book via the webpage but I assured her that I was familiar with it all and that online bookings were closed hence my visit. As we sat waiting there was a pianist playing in the Atrium followed by a trapeze act that we could see when they were low down but kept disappearing out of sight due to the ceiling blocking our view. Talented though they were it wouldn’t really have been my thing anyway. We had an interminable wait and after an hour I got us all up to go to Meridian and see what was going on. As we walked down the crowded corridor (due to people just milling about and getting in the way, not queueing) the buzzer went off (typical) so we were finally seated at 9pm. The first course was served at 9:15pm and I had chicken croquets for a starter (which if I’d been doing a blind tasting would have thought were fish cakes). I had lamb for my main which was very good as was the pork loin which Michelle chose. The waiter did not ask us to choose desserts until we had finished the main courses and I finished with the tiniest portion of cheese and biscuits ever, though as it was after 10pm by then that probably wasn’t a bad thing. Just as we were leaving a baby started crying and screaming in the restaurant so we were lucky with our timing. After dinner we returned to the Amber lounge and saw 2 Spanish ladies putting on a performance titled “A Taste of Spain”. One played the guitar and the other demonstrated Flamenco dancing. It looked very good from a distance and they got a good reception from those sat near, however I can’t help but feel that the performance was probably lost on a lot of the other passengers in the Atrium. Whilst sat there we were never approached by any waiter for drinks orders but none of us were bothered anyway so only our tea wallah son had a drink from Vistas. We called it a day around 11pm.

As of last week he's a teenager now so we think he is but of course he's never going to say it!

Have a great cruise! Sunday for us!

You and your lovely dog was the first thing I thought of this morning, so sad that you’ve had to make the kindest but hardest decision. What a brilliant photo, says it all. Condolences to you and your family.

"A bit damp" - our Teddy has just been in the garden for a couple of minutes and has come back in wetter than if he'd stood under our shower! 😉 We noticed early last week that he was doing an occasional skip with his left rear leg when walking, as if something was bothering him. Sadly the vet has said that he has a slight ligament tear so he is grounded for 3 weeks. He is used to 3 walks a day (usually in the park and woods) and is clearly missing it. Every time I close my laptop or someone says "Right...." he jumps up thinking it's time to go. He is due to stay with pet carers from Saturday for 2 weeks but the good news is that they have experience of looking after other dogs with similar injuries so we know that they will take good care of him. He already goes there once a week just for familiarity and will be staying over in their house so it's the best we can do for him while we are away. We'll still feel really guilty when we drop him off though!

Here's what t'county used to look like before t'government buggered it up changed it:

I've been busy all day and can't believe none of my fellow Yorkies on here have wished you all a Happy Yorkshire Day. So.....

We’ve been Caribbean tier for a few years and have been allocated a 12pm boarding time for Arvia this coming Sunday. We never noticed until now but our 13 year old son has been allocated 2:45pm. He’d better be on his best behaviour if he wants to board with us! 🤭

A friend of mine asked this same question last week and as far as I could make out CPS and Parking4Cruises don’t offer a charging option. As you’ve suggested doubtless sooner or later they’ll offer this service at a premium over what it actually will cost them.

On the Arvia cruise departing 6th August there are 2 "black tie" nights on the 9th and 18th (both sea days).