Queen Victoria - West Med review (Oct 2016)

[hihilo]

Great pictures and marvelous reviews/ info. Thank YOU

[TeDaKi]

Day 6 (19 Oct 2016): Ajaccio, Corsica, France (Docked 09:00-17:00)

Weather: Sunny, max temperature 20C / 68F

 

I've always been curious at the pronunciation of “Ajaccio”. In the past, I've heard people pronounce it as "ah hack ee oh", or "ah jay see oh", or "ah jack ee oh", or "ah jack see oh". On this cruise, I learned that the proper way to pronounce it is like "ah jack see oh", which to me sounds strange, neither like French nor Italian!

 

Views of Ajaccio from the ship:

 

 

 

Anyway, today we had an excursion booked with the ship. We wanted to go into the countryside of Corsica so we went on a tour called Mountains and Maquis. The tour lasted 3 hours and 45 minutes and cost US$63 per person.

We had to meet at the Queen's Room at 09:20am and once everybody was gathered, we were then brought out to the tour bus and departed at 09:45am.

 

Our first stop was at a gorge. This was a 10 minute photo stop.

 

 

Our tour then proceeded along a really narrow and windy road along the gorge. It was one of those roads where there is a drop down on one side and high rock on the other side. The road was so narrow and people were surprised that our tour bus was able to fit through!

 

After driving for a while, our next stop was at the Tolla Lake. This was really beautiful and we were here for 15 minutes.

 

[TeDaKi]

Next, we stopped at a restaurant for 45 minutes. Here we were given a free drink and afterwards, we walked along a pathway to see the dam at Tolla Lake.

 

 

There was also another nice view of the countryside at this stop.

 

 

It was about a one hour drive back to the port in Ajaccio - we arrived back at 13:20.

 

The beautiful Queen Victoria docked at Ajaccio:

 

[TeDaKi]

We decided to walk into the town. It was a very easy walk from the ship to the centre of Ajaccio and it's not far either - just a few minutes.

 

There were some nice narrow streets around the town:

 

 

In Ajaccio, we did our own short walking tour. We saw the outside of the home of Napoleon Bonaparte. We didn't go inside.

 

 

The Cathedral of Ajaccio is located nearby, however it was closed.

 

[TeDaKi]

We walked to Place De Gaulle where there is a great view of the seaside.

 

Place De Gaulle:

 

 

Afterwards, we walked along the main pedestrianised shopping street Rue Cardinal Fesch.

 

[TeDaKi]

We finished back at Place Foch which is located right beside the marina.

 

Place Foch:

 

 

Marina:

 

 

 

There was free Wi-Fi available at the port, so I was quickly able to check on emails for a few minutes.

 

Getting back on board:

 

 

We were back on board at 15:30 and we decided to have afternoon tea today in the Queen's Room. Our original plan was to have it on a sea day but it can be quite busy on those days. So when we were back on board early today, we decided to have it today. It was very very nice and we had a lovely table in the corner for just the three of us.

[TeDaKi]

Soon after afternoon tea, we went up on the open decks for sailaway. Queen Victoria left the pier at 16:50.

 

There was a great view of Ajaccio from the ship as we were leaving.

 

 

 

As we were cruising out of the port into the open waters, the crew performed an emergency drill for "man overboard". Lots of people were watching it from the open decks. Oscar, the dummy, was thrown overboard and then the rescue crew had to rescue him! It was interesting to watch.

 

 

Throughout the evening and night, Queen Victoria cruised at an average speed of 13 knots on the way to Genoa. It was a bit wobbly around the ship as there was a swell in the sea, but it wasn't bad.

 

Sailing towards the sunset:

 

Tonight was the second formal night on this 7 day cruise - the Masquerade Ball. We ate at the Lido once again and had an early night.

[TeDaKi]

Day 7 (20 Oct 2016): Genoa, Italy (Docked 09:00-18:00)

Weather: Overcast with a few very light rain showers. Max temperature 17C / 63F

 

Today was Queen Victoria's maiden call to Genoa. We thought there might have been some sort of celebration or welcome to the port but there was nothing like that.

 

Docked in Genoa:

 

 

 

It was a dull morning with very light rain. We went up to the Lido at 09:30am and it was really busy and hard to find a table. After two walks around the whole buffet, we eventually got a table.

 

After a fulfilling breakfast, we got off the ship at 11:00am and proceeded into the city of Genoa to do some sightseeing. It was an easy walk into the centre of Genoa and took around 15 minutes.

[TeDaKi]

We first visited Basilica di San Siro. I couldn’t take a picture of the outside because the basilica was covered in scaffolding, but here is a picture of the inside. It was surprisingly nice:

 

 

 

Then we walked along Via Cairoli which continued onto Via Garbaldi. It is a nice pedestrianised street where a lot of palaces are located. It was kind of hard to take photos of the palaces because the street was quite narrow:

 

 

[TeDaKi]

We then made our way to Piazza de Ferrari which is the main square in the city.

 

 

We saw Christopher Columbus’s house, we didn't go inside but I can remember that the entrance cost was €5, or €3 for a senior.

 

 

Beside the house of Christopher Columbus is the Porta Soprana.

 

[TeDaKi]

Just up the street from the Porta Soprana is Piazza Matteotti which houses Doge’s Palace.

 

 

 

And very near the Doge’s Palace is Cathedral San Lorenzo. It was closed so we couldn't go inside.

 

.

[TeDaKi]

We found that all the main sights in the centre of Genoa were located near each other and within walking distance.

 

While walking back to the ship, we stopped by the old port - Porto Antico. Here I was able to pick up free Wi-Fi.

 

 

We got back to the port at 15:30 and were back onboard Queen Victoria soon after.

 

The cruise terminal of Genoa is a nice looking building (Stazione Marittima):

 

 

We had an enjoyable morning/afternoon of sightseeing. We went to the Lido for some afternoon tea snacks.

 

At 17:55, Queen Victoria dropped her lines and we were soon on our way back to Civitavecchia.

 

There was a great view of Genoa when we were sailing out.

 

Goodbye Genoa, next stop: Civitavecchia!

 

[TeDaKi]

Day 8 (21 Oct 2016): Cruising at Sea

Weather: Mostly sunny, some clouds, Max temperature 18C / 64F

 

This morning, I woke up at 08:30am and the ship was rocking very slightly.

 

I really like sea days as it is a day for relaxing and doing nothing! I really love sitting out on the promenade deck in the nice warm weather and gentle sea breeze - it's my favourite thing to do on sea days.

 

Sitting on promenade deck

 

Interestingly, our route from Genoa back to Civitavecchia took us down along the west coast of Corsica and through the Strait of Bonifacio (the area of water between Southern Corsica and Northern Sardinia).

 

Between 17:00 and 17:30, Queen Victoria passed through the narrowest point of this strait.

 

Sailing through the Strait of Bonifacio: This is Sardinia

 

A look at the Commodore’s Club:

 

Harpist playing in the Grand Foyer:

 

The average speed throughout the day was 10 knots with slight waves.

 

In the evening, we brought out our suitcases from under the bed and started packing! I don't know where the week went - It really flew by so quickly.

 

Early tomorrow morning, we'll be back in Civitavecchia.

[TeDaKi]

Day 9 (22 Oct 2016): Civitavecchia, Italy (Arrive 06:00)

Weather: Sunny, Max Temperature 18C / 64F

 

This morning I set my alarm clock for 05:45am. When I looked out the window, we had already docked in Civitavecchia. We were leaving the ship early this morning as we had an early flight out of Fiumicino Airport (which was leaving at 11:30am).

 

About half of the ship's passengers were disembarking Queen Victoria today, while the other half were staying onboard for the next voyage.

 

Breakfast at 06:15am at the Lido was nice and quiet. We filled ourselves up for the day.

 

We were doing the "Self Help Disembarkation", so we had to carry off all of our luggage ourselves. We didn't have much luggage so it was easy for us. We disembarked Queen Victoria at around 07:30am and proceeded to the cruise terminal. It was really quick and we just walked through without any customs, passport control etc.

 

We had pre-booked a shared transfer directly to the airport. I had it booked for 08:00am so we were a little too early. The reason we disembarked the ship at 07:30am was to give us some extra time in case of customs checks etc., but there was nothing like that.

 

We patiently waited for our driver, who arrived at 08:15am (15 minutes late) and he had to pick up other passengers from another ship, which was docked at a different pier on the other side of the port. So we had to wait a little longer.

I had read about this previously - allowing extra time when booking shared transfers because other passengers travelling with you on the same shuttle might be late or have to be collected from another ship etc.

 

Eventually, we left the port of Civitavecchia at 08:45am, and it was a quick ride to the airport, arriving at Fiumicino Airport at 09:30am. The cost for the shuttle was €90 for the three of us (€30 per person).

 

Our flight back to Dublin was departing at 11:30am so we had plenty of time. The airport wasn't too busy. After a smooth 2 hour 50 minute flight, we arrived back into Dublin, on a cloudy/overcast/cool (typical!) day.

 

We had a brilliant holiday on our first Cunard cruise and wished it was starting again!

 

Until next time :),

TeDaKi

[Host Hattie]

Thanks for your review and all the lovely photographs.

[gentlemancruiser]

Thanks for posting the pics and review. I was onboard with you and enjoyed many aspect of the cruise. Great photos. I believe we may have shared the same excursion is Ajaccio but were on the other bus. The weather was very good that week, we stayed on for the 2nd week and I'm not sure I'd book 2 one week cruises like that again. From what we were told each week the staff are rotated and we were surprised to find we had a new cabin steward and different bar staff in the grill lounge. Also our assistant waiter changed part way into our 2nd week. Very much like 2 different cruises.

Edited November 5, 2016 by gentlemancruiser
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[TeDaKi]

Thanks for posting the pics and review. I was onboard with you and enjoyed many aspect of the cruise. Great photos. I believe we may have shared the same excursion is Ajaccio but were on the other bus. The weather was very good that week, we stayed on for the 2nd week and I'm not sure I'd book 2 one week cruises like that again. From what we were told each week the staff are rotated and we were surprised to find we had a new cabin steward and different bar staff in the grill lounge. Also our assistant waiter changed part way into our 2nd week. Very much like 2 different cruises.

 

Interesting to read about your observations for the second portion of your B2B cruise..however I'm glad that you enjoyed the cruise too!

[pretenda]

I very much enjoyed your review and pictures. We will be on QV next year with a similar itinerary,although over 14 nights. It's a while since we sailed Cunard so your observations have been welcome.

[laurathegenie]

Loved your review and photos. Absolutely fascinating. Thank you so much.