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DamianG

By DamianG,
in P&O Cruises ( UK )

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DamianG

DamianG

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Saturday 2nd April

An interesting start to our day when the alarm clock failed and I woke later than expected in the middle of a nightmare where I’d got on Aurora bound for USA whereas the rest of our party were on Ventura. Weird!

 

Anyway, we were a little later setting off than expected but the roads were kind to us and we arrived at the Ocean Terminal at 11:30am. There was a delay handing over the car keys for parking then we joined the queue for testing. We already had an issue whereby we had not received the result for our son’s pre-booked PCR test so we had to wait for assistance. We bypassed the testing queue and had our lateral flow tests then had a further delay before they processed a new PCR test for Kyle. An agonising wait followed until 2:30pm when we finally got the all clear and were allowed through security for boarding. We were onboard at 2:45pm and went to get our boarding passes scanned for one final time at our allocated muster station. It sure beats being herded into a room and having to listen to an announcement going through all the protocols. All the while I was fretting about missing the upper tier complimentary lunch but needn’t have worried as it was open until 3:30pm. And very nice it was too.

 

We’re in an aft cabin 14739 and it is very good though a little smaller than we have got used to on previous cruises. It’s only a seven-day cruise but Kyle is already showing signs of wanting to be in the cabin all the time rather than out and about so it could get a little claustrophobic if we stay in there too much. It does seem to be extremely warm in the cabin even though we have turned the air condition to its lowest setting.

 

We did venture out briefly late afternoon and enjoyed some complimentary “sailaway” drinks in the Atrium next to Vistas café. We quite liked the airy outlook there and it seemed cooler and less stuffy than the Glass House just above it. We returned to the cabin and Captain Wesley Dunlop made his 3rd (or 4th – lost count) announcement about a delayed departure. The pilot had joined the ship at 6pm but it wasn’t until 7pm that we made our first departure attempt. However, the ship didn’t go anywhere as there was an issue with the locking mechanism on an outer door. We finally got going at 7:15pm and I enjoyed some time outdoors watching the sunset over the Solent and the shoreside views. You don’t miss anything either side with an aft balcony.

 

At 7:45pm I logged onto the ships app to book a table at one of the MDR’s. We picked the Opal restaurant simply because it had the shortest virtual queue. To pass the time we went to Andersons for pre-dinner drinks and quickly found some seats. However, a waitress soon approached us to apologetically advise that we were sat in the adult-only section and needed to move to the family section on the other side of the bar. It wasn’t immediately apparent that there are two separate sections to the bar, but we headed past the partition as directed and easily found new seats in the much quieter section on the other side. Our still apologising waitress followed us and quickly got us some drinks.

 

After 20 minutes or so the onboard app on my phone posted a message to say that our table was ready so we moved on to the nearby Opal MDR. I may be wrong about this but it felt like the party in front of us simply walked in, gave their cabin details and were seated, in contrast to us who had to wait for our booking. Anyway, we were quickly seated on a table for 4 in a quiet corner not far from a window which we were happy with.

 

I’m no design expert but even I could recognise that the restaurant had an opal themed décor, and unlike some MDRs the lighting was just right and not too bright. Michelle and I both had chicken croquets to start, then she had a mighty portion of salmon while I had the lamb. The friendly waiters readily accommodated Kyle with some fries and ketchup as a starter, followed by pasta with tomato sauce as a main course. They even brought him another portion of pasta after he quickly finished the first. Michelle had pavlova for dessert, Kyle a chocolate brownie and I went for cheese and biscuits. This came ready plated and we had a game of guess the cheeses since I forgot to ask the waiters. Stilton was easy to identify, just a small portion which was a good thing as I found it to be very strong for my taste. I’m pretty sure there was mild Chedder, then I’d take a very rough guess at Cheshire and Brie (or Camembert) for the last two. They weren’t big portions which suited me just fine.

 

After dinner we headed to The Club as I really wanted to enjoy some live music, this being one of the things I’ve missed most of all over the last few years. Pulse were playing as usual on a P&O ship and for me this line up was one of the best I can recall. Someone told me a while back that these onboard bands are often put together using music college graduates and these particular young musicians seemed especially talented to me. We noticed that the ceiling in The Club is very low, and I think that this helped the acoustic quality of the performance.

 

Sadly, we only heard a few songs before they took a break and shortly after 10pm we decided to retire as well. The corridor to our cabin was a little busy so it seems that we weren’t the only ones having an early night.

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nc388

nc388

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Damien 

great post ! on the same Cruise and once through the covid test nightmare and as you say then the delays and again delay this morning I am sure we could have an eventful cruise !! 

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gsmt47471015

gsmt47471015

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Well if pulse were good it just cannot  of been the screeching ,wailing female singer we had on Ventura recently, if it had been you would have retired to your cabin much earlier, nothing wrong with the musicians just the ,erm, singer!!!!! 

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DamianG

DamianG

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1 hour ago, SarahHben said:

I totally agree with Sue, it is so good to see you posting a cruise blog again 😊 I’m looking forward to reading how your week goes. 
Have a great time!

Thanks Sarah, I’m flattered!

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Jill85

Jill85

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1 hour ago, DamianG said:

Pulling into Zeebrugge alongside Virgin’s Valiant Lady. These big ships just don’t have the elegant look of Oriana or Aurora do they?

7B336DF6-A6AF-45AF-8B86-933F68562094.jpeg

Oriana was the first ship we sailed on and our favourite - crows nest! Aurora is lovely too! Bon voyage.

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Britboys

Britboys

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1 hour ago, DamianG said:

Pulling into Zeebrugge alongside Virgin’s Valiant Lady. These big ships just don’t have the elegant look of Oriana or Aurora do they?

7B336DF6-A6AF-45AF-8B86-933F68562094.jpeg

You're not wrong there Damian. The Virgin ships have definitely had a bit of a whack with the ugly stick imho...

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grapau27

grapau27

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4 hours ago, DamianG said:

Saturday 2nd April

An interesting start to our day when the alarm clock failed and I woke later than expected in the middle of a nightmare where I’d got on Aurora bound for USA whereas the rest of our party were on Ventura. Weird!

 

Anyway, we were a little later setting off than expected but the roads were kind to us and we arrived at the Ocean Terminal at 11:30am. There was a delay handing over the car keys for parking then we joined the queue for testing. We already had an issue whereby we had not received the result for our son’s pre-booked PCR test so we had to wait for assistance. We bypassed the testing queue and had our lateral flow tests then had a further delay before they processed a new PCR test for Kyle. An agonising wait followed until 2:30pm when we finally got the all clear and were allowed through security for boarding. We were onboard at 2:45pm and went to get our boarding passes scanned for one final time at our allocated muster station. It sure beats being herded into a room and having to listen to an announcement going through all the protocols. All the while I was fretting about missing the upper tier complimentary lunch but needn’t have worried as it was open until 3:30pm. And very nice it was too.

 

We’re in an aft cabin 14739 and it is very good though a little smaller than we have got used to on previous cruises. It’s only a seven-day cruise but Kyle is already showing signs of wanting to be in the cabin all the time rather than out and about so it could get a little claustrophobic if we stay in there too much. It does seem to be extremely warm in the cabin even though we have turned the air condition to its lowest setting.

 

We did venture out briefly late afternoon and enjoyed some complimentary “sailaway” drinks in the Atrium next to Vistas café. We quite liked the airy outlook there and it seemed cooler and less stuffy than the Glass House just above it. We returned to the cabin and Captain Wesley Dunlop made his 3rd (or 4th – lost count) announcement about a delayed departure. The pilot had joined the ship at 6pm but it wasn’t until 7pm that we made our first departure attempt. However, the ship didn’t go anywhere as there was an issue with the locking mechanism on an outer door. We finally got going at 7:15pm and I enjoyed some time outdoors watching the sunset over the Solent and the shoreside views. You don’t miss anything either side with an aft balcony.

 

At 7:45pm I logged onto the ships app to book a table at one of the MDR’s. We picked the Opal restaurant simply because it had the shortest virtual queue. To pass the time we went to Andersons for pre-dinner drinks and quickly found some seats. However, a waitress soon approached us to apologetically advise that we were sat in the adult-only section and needed to move to the family section on the other side of the bar. It wasn’t immediately apparent that there are two separate sections to the bar, but we headed past the partition as directed and easily found new seats in the much quieter section on the other side. Our still apologising waitress followed us and quickly got us some drinks.

 

After 20 minutes or so the onboard app on my phone posted a message to say that our table was ready so we moved on to the nearby Opal MDR. I may be wrong about this but it felt like the party in front of us simply walked in, gave their cabin details and were seated, in contrast to us who had to wait for our booking. Anyway, we were quickly seated on a table for 4 in a quiet corner not far from a window which we were happy with.

 

I’m no design expert but even I could recognise that the restaurant had an opal themed décor, and unlike some MDRs the lighting was just right and not too bright. Michelle and I both had chicken croquets to start, then she had a mighty portion of salmon while I had the lamb. The friendly waiters readily accommodated Kyle with some fries and ketchup as a starter, followed by pasta with tomato sauce as a main course. They even brought him another portion of pasta after he quickly finished the first. Michelle had pavlova for dessert, Kyle a chocolate brownie and I went for cheese and biscuits. This came ready plated and we had a game of guess the cheeses since I forgot to ask the waiters. Stilton was easy to identify, just a small portion which was a good thing as I found it to be very strong for my taste. I’m pretty sure there was mild Chedder, then I’d take a very rough guess at Cheshire and Brie (or Camembert) for the last two. They weren’t big portions which suited me just fine.

 

After dinner we headed to The Club as I really wanted to enjoy some live music, this being one of the things I’ve missed most of all over the last few years. Pulse were playing as usual on a P&O ship and for me this line up was one of the best I can recall. Someone told me a while back that these onboard bands are often put together using music college graduates and these particular young musicians seemed especially talented to me. We noticed that the ceiling in The Club is very low, and I think that this helped the acoustic quality of the performance.

 

Sadly, we only heard a few songs before they took a break and shortly after 10pm we decided to retire as well. The corridor to our cabin was a little busy so it seems that we weren’t the only ones having an early night.

Following along Damian.

Pleased Kyle's test was sorted and you were able to get on board soon after.

The cabin was okay for us 2 but can understand it being small for 3.

You get great views from that cabin.

The canopy over the sunset bar would affect the views on cabins lower down but views were ideal for your cabin which we had March 5th-19th.

Graham.

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DamianG

DamianG

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50 minutes ago, debgreg said:

If you could post some drink menus that would be great, trying to work out whether to get the DP or not as I heard lots of drinks are no longer included ? Thanks 😊 

Really sorry but drink menus don’t seem to be generally used any more. There was a list of exclusions when we signed up but I didn’t take a lot of notice as we’ll generally stick to wine and soft drinks rather than cocktails or shorts. There was no point us signing up on day 1 but based on what we spent last night it will work for us.

Today the staff in different venues have been really helpful guiding us through what is included.

In general terms I’d suggest it probably works for families as the kids package is included but it’s a trickier decision for couples.

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debgreg

debgreg

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2 hours ago, DamianG said:

Really sorry but drink menus don’t seem to be generally used any more. There was a list of exclusions when we signed up but I didn’t take a lot of notice as we’ll generally stick to wine and soft drinks rather than cocktails or shorts. There was no point us signing up on day 1 but based on what we spent last night it will work for us.

Today the staff in different venues have been really helpful guiding us through what is included.

In general terms I’d suggest it probably works for families as the kids package is included but it’s a trickier decision for couples.

Thanks, I think we will probably sign on day two as well. We always get the DP on other lines but there does seem to be many exclusions on this one so just wanted to understand what we couldn’t have. I like Aperol spritz but I know that’s not included 😔

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DamianG

DamianG

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Sunday 3rd April

 

I awoke at silly o’clock as often happens for me after the first evening onboard; some things never change. The ships’ clocks moved forward one hour overnight anyway so it was offset somewhat, then Captain Dunlop woke the whole ship up at 8am (apparently because he had an “obligation to do so”) with an in-cabin announcement that our arrival into Zeebrugge had been delayed due to the lack of local pilots. “That’s the times that we live in” he sighed. He advised that our departure had been renegotiated accordingly, with a new revised all aboard time of 7:30pm.

 

We took our time getting ready then used the app to book breakfast at the Aqua MDR. Our “table ready” confirmation came through in less than 10 minutes and we were soon seated at a nice table immediately next to window. There were loads of cargo ships milling around in the sea and lots of windmills were visible in the distance. Michelle went straight for her P&O favourite Eggs Benedict while I had the full P&O breakfast. I’d have it again but without the Cumberland sausage which was a bit too strong for my palate. Kyle had a chocolate muffin and said that he was still full from the double portion pasta of the previous evening.

 

After breakfast we made our way to book the ultimate drinks package. I never, ever, thought we would do this but after much consideration, and taking into account yesterday’s onboard spend, we are pretty sure that it’s going to work for us. Unusually for us, we won’t be ashore that much on this cruise, and considering we spent £40 over the course of last night alone (3 large glasses of wine, 2 small glasses, 1 large Pepsi max), then £79.95 per day less our 10% Peninsular Club discount and OBC should work in our favour. So there you are P&O, you’ve got us, the ship has become the resort for us just as you wanted, for this cruise anyway. Just don’t expect us to do this every cruise.

 

There was a queue to book the drinks package and it felt like a long wait. The chap in front of me hadn’t brought his or his family’s cruise cards so the bar tender couldn’t add the all-important sticker to each (card). After some heavy negotiations the bar tender eventually agreed to hand the chap the stickers as long as he sincerely promised not to lose them and to stick them to the cards as soon as possible. While this was going on another man walked up and hovered behind us, then took it upon himself to warn us all about the exclusions on the package, and regale us all with the tale of how many passengers were complaining about it in the Crow’s Nest last night. Then off he toddled without speaking directly to any staff member. He was either on a crusade to save us from missing out on certain cocktails (not a problem for us) or he just absolutely needed to get it off his chest. Either way thanks very much, enjoy the rest of your cruise.

 

Armed with our new “ultimate” drinks package we went to Vistas for a latte, hot chocolate and Pepsi max. We watched the sail-in through the huge glass windows and had a good look at Virgin Cruises’ Valiant Lady, whom we docked in front of. These big ships may be impressive inside, but the outside “floating tower block” look just does not do it for me. Give me Oriana and Aurora, with those beautiful tiered aft decks, any day. Our son would completely disagree though, much preferring the modern amenities of the newest ships on the block (or ocean, whatever, as he might say).

 

In Zeebrugge it looked like a typical April showers day (or so I thought), sunny one minute, raining the next. We hadn’t booked any excursions (sorry, I just can’t bring myself to use the term “Shore Experience”) so we took a quick vote in the cabin on whether we were going to venture into Blankenberge or not. Two abstentions (Michelle and I, lovely place, been before, happy to go again or give it a miss) and one definite no (Kyle) meant that we would stay onboard. When are the bars open again?

 

We had a leisurely morning back in the cabin and to avoid claustrophobia I went out on the balcony to read. The sun had truly broken through and our aft balcony was sheltered from the cold breeze so in no time I became far too hot. I never thought to bring shorts on this cruise so instead I changed into my pyjama shorts (yes, seriously) and went back out. For some reason this reminded me of the time on a cruise when we looked down on a balcony below (in Valencia I think) and saw a man laid there with no clothes on whatsoever. I guess he forgot to bring his shorts too.

 

Mid-morning Michelle and I went out for a stroll around the upper decks. The infinity pools look good even and even though it’s not really my thing I regretted not bringing some swim shorts to give them a brief try. The “Sun Deck” just looked like any other (Sun Deck), i.e. some spare space at the top of the ship that they’ve filled with loungers. As is often the case though, it was deserted as the breeze made it too cold to sit there.

 

Later we went to The Quays for lunch and Michelle and I chose the “ultimate” burger (the name’s a bit of a stretch but nice enough) and Kyle had the fried chicken (“okay but it’s not KFC”). Of course Michelle and I had a glass of wine (Malbec, very nice) each to accompany our lunches but for me it was a poor match for the food. Thinking about it, which wine would go with a burger? Suggestions welcome please, as long as it’s priced by P&O at £6.95 a glass or under and included in the ultimate drinks package.

 

After lunch we spent some time in the Glass House where the waiter suggested a New Zealand white wine “Money Spider” for me. I found it pleasant enough but a bit too fruity for my taste. The waiter returned and asked my opinion then recommended a Greek wine (“more drier”) (typed exactly as he said it, even though the spelling checker is telling me off for bad grammar). I’ve never had Assyrtico Wild Ferment Skouras before and I’d describe it as “okay, but it’s not Albariño.” I do love getting suggestions from waiters though and hopefully we’ll get another opportunity to visit the Glass House again. It’s a shame that they don’t have menus any more but it’s understandable, and so far we’ve found the waiters and waitresses to be very helpful advising what’s available.

 

Mid-glass Kyle asked if there is a gym onboard so I readily agreed to take him there, especially as we’ve been worried about him getting bored (onboard) and spending too much time playing games on his iPad. We made our way down to Deck 5 forward and once inside the staff member on duty said that Kyle was okay to try the equipment as long as I was with him so we passed some time while he tried out various pieces of exercise machinery. Now I was really regretting not bringing some shorts/gym wear so tomorrow I’ll try buy some kit ashore. The gym is by far the best I’ve ever seen on any cruise ship with so much choice of equipment that I can’t imagine having to wait long to use anything even if it was busy (only 5 in there when we went). Kyle really enjoyed it and I’m already imagining us getting some exercise in together during the rest of the cruise.

 

After the gym we returned to Michelle who was still stationed in the Glass House. We picked up some bottles of water and returned to the cabin to catch the end of the West Ham match (nice result Andy and Brian and handy for Leeds United’s survival hopes as well!) with the aim of going back out to the onboard shops at 5:30pm (at Kyle’s request). We duly went back down to deck 7 at 5:40pm, however, we’d failed to realise that the extended departure meant a later opening time and they were all still closed. So, in order to rescue a wasted trip down several decks, I picked up a couple of glasses of Prosecco for Michelle and I to have in the cabin pre-dinner. If that’s not the best “let’s have another drink” excuse ever on a cruise ship then I don’t know what is.

 

Around 7:30 Captain Dunlop made another important in-cabin announcement to advise that Rotterdam port would be closed tomorrow to high sided ships with potential windage (that’s a new word for me) issues. Instead, we would be staying overnight in Zeebrugge, then moving on to Rotterdam. Surprisingly he said that our stay there would still be 2 days, followed by a sea day then Le Havre which would be shifted to Friday. So effectively we’ve gained another day in port. The previously scheduled sea day between Le Havre and Southampton always sounded a bit strange anyway, or maybe it was intentional to have an extra sea day up their sleeve for any port issues?

 

Michelle and Kyle decided to watch a film in the cabin so we didn’t attempt to book a dinner table until 7:45pm. We checked on the app and the Coral restaurant had the shortest virtual queue so we tried that and before I’d got my shoes on we received the “table ready” notification. Once inside we were quickly seated in a central location and I found it to be really noisy (I have tinnitus in one ear which is generally not too bad but sensitive at times). Fortunately the large table next to us soon vacated leaving us a little more isolated and everything settled down. Overall though the venue isn’t a patch on the Opal MDR as it seemed much bigger, definitely brighter and nowhere near as relaxing or intimate. It’s alright, but for me it just doesn’t have that traditional sense of occasion or atmosphere of going to dinner on a cruise ship.

 

For dinner Michelle and I both had a lamb kofta starter which was spicey in a peppery sort of way but accompanied with some fantastic tzatziki, followed by a turkey dinner. I'm not a great fan of sprouts but ate all mine with no regard for potential windage issues later. Kyle had pasta with tomato sauce followed by…wait for it…another bowl of pasta with tomato sauce. He stuck with the chocolate brownie for desert, Michelle had apple strudel and though I didn’t really fancy anything I chose Chickpea Meringue, Roasted Pear and Dark Chocolate Soya Ganache (with Hazelnuts) just to see what it was. In my humble culinary opinion, if ever there was a dessert invented for the sake of invention then this is it. The meringue wasn’t crunchy and just stuck to my teeth, the pears had a weird, slightly bitter taste that I couldn’t identify and the chocolate ganache was a mere smear across the plate. Still, the hazelnuts were nice! Somebody’s trying too hard to create something new methinks.

 

Michelle and I both had a glass of white Rioja with our dinner then while Kyle had his usual post-dinner cup of tea we each had a Baileys which was on the menu and (all importantly) included in the drinks package.

 

After dinner we made the trek from aft to forward and up 10 flights of stairs to visit the Crow’s Nest. Kyle does not like using lifts so I’ve been trying to keep up with him using the staircases instead. My mobile phone health app showed that overall I’d done over 9k steps / 5.5km around the ship which is not too far above an average day at home walking the dog etc. However, within that I’d done 40 floors in total which explains why my calves were aching like crazy.

 

Pianist Duke Alexander was performing and he played song after song, all merged into one without breaks or introductions. I really appreciated his pianistic talent but he attempted to sing every song in a bass voice which didn’t really work for me. Waterloo Sunset sang solely in bass would be a tough gig for anyone.

 

First impressions of the Crow’s Nest itself were that it had a very pleasant, relaxed and seemingly more formal atmosphere than the other venues. Everyone seemed smartly dressed, or so I thought, and I briefly wondered if they were applying some dress code rules. Then I noticed a chap in shorts and t-shirt, and another gentleman in a luminous green Leinster rugby shirt complete with club badge and full sponsor details so bang goes that theory. We were all tired so just had one more drink before taking the long walk home to our aft cabin just after 10pm again.

Dessert.jpg

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Gettingwarmer

Gettingwarmer

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45 minutes ago, DamianG said:

We checked on the app and the Coral restaurant had the shortest virtual queue so we tried that and before I’d got my shoes on we received the “table ready” notification. Once inside we were quickly seated in a central location and I found it to be really noisy (I have tinnitus in one ear which is generally not too bad but sensitive at times). Fortunately the large table next to us soon vacated leaving us a little more isolated and everything settled down. Overall though the venue isn’t a patch on the Opal MDR as it seemed much bigger, definitely brighter and nowhere near as relaxing or intimate. I

No Opal or Aqua MDR equivalent on Arvia only the large MDRs. 

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Britboys

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3 hours ago, DamianG said:

Sunday 3rd April

 

I awoke at silly o’clock as often happens for me after the first evening onboard; some things never change. The ships’ clocks moved forward one hour overnight anyway so it was offset somewhat, then Captain Dunlop woke the whole ship up at 8am (apparently because he had an “obligation to do so”) with an in-cabin announcement that our arrival into Zeebrugge had been delayed due to the lack of local pilots. “That’s the times that we live in” he sighed. He advised that our departure had been renegotiated accordingly, with a new revised all aboard time of 7:30pm.

 

We took our time getting ready then used the app to book breakfast at the Aqua MDR. Our “table ready” confirmation came through in less than 10 minutes and we were soon seated at a nice table immediately next to window. There were loads of cargo ships milling around in the sea and lots of windmills were visible in the distance. Michelle went straight for her P&O favourite Eggs Benedict while I had the full P&O breakfast. I’d have it again but without the Cumberland sausage which was a bit too strong for my palate. Kyle had a chocolate muffin and said that he was still full from the double portion pasta of the previous evening.

 

After breakfast we made our way to book the ultimate drinks package. I never, ever, thought we would do this but after much consideration, and taking into account yesterday’s onboard spend, we are pretty sure that it’s going to work for us. Unusually for us, we won’t be ashore that much on this cruise, and considering we spent £40 over the course of last night alone (3 large glasses of wine, 2 small glasses, 1 large Pepsi max), then £79.95 per day less our 10% Peninsular Club discount and OBC should work in our favour. So there you are P&O, you’ve got us, the ship has become the resort for us just as you wanted, for this cruise anyway. Just don’t expect us to do this every cruise.

 

There was a queue to book the drinks package and it felt like a long wait. The chap in front of me hadn’t brought his or his family’s cruise cards so the bar tender couldn’t add the all-important sticker to each (card). After some heavy negotiations the bar tender eventually agreed to hand the chap the stickers as long as he sincerely promised not to lose them and to stick them to the cards as soon as possible. While this was going on another man walked up and hovered behind us, then took it upon himself to warn us all about the exclusions on the package, and regale us all with the tale of how many passengers were complaining about it in the Crow’s Nest last night. Then off he toddled without speaking directly to any staff member. He was either on a crusade to save us from missing out on certain cocktails (not a problem for us) or he just absolutely needed to get it off his chest. Either way thanks very much, enjoy the rest of your cruise.

 

Armed with our new “ultimate” drinks package we went to Vistas for a latte, hot chocolate and Pepsi max. We watched the sail-in through the huge glass windows and had a good look at Virgin Cruises’ Valiant Lady, whom we docked in front of. These big ships may be impressive inside, but the outside “floating tower block” look just does not do it for me. Give me Oriana and Aurora, with those beautiful tiered aft decks, any day. Our son would completely disagree though, much preferring the modern amenities of the newest ships on the block (or ocean, whatever, as he might say).

 

In Zeebrugge it looked like a typical April showers day (or so I thought), sunny one minute, raining the next. We hadn’t booked any excursions (sorry, I just can’t bring myself to use the term “Shore Experience”) so we took a quick vote in the cabin on whether we were going to venture into Blankenberge or not. Two abstentions (Michelle and I, lovely place, been before, happy to go again or give it a miss) and one definite no (Kyle) meant that we would stay onboard. When are the bars open again?

 

We had a leisurely morning back in the cabin and to avoid claustrophobia I went out on the balcony to read. The sun had truly broken through and our aft balcony was sheltered from the cold breeze so in no time I became far too hot. I never thought to bring shorts on this cruise so instead I changed into my pyjama shorts (yes, seriously) and went back out. For some reason this reminded me of the time on a cruise when we looked down on a balcony below (in Valencia I think) and saw a man laid there with no clothes on whatsoever. I guess he forgot to bring his shorts too.

 

Mid-morning Michelle and I went out for a stroll around the upper decks. The infinity pools look good even and even though it’s not really my thing I regretted not bringing some swim shorts to give them a brief try. The “Sun Deck” just looked like any other (Sun Deck), i.e. some spare space at the top of the ship that they’ve filled with loungers. As is often the case though, it was deserted as the breeze made it too cold to sit there.

 

Later we went to The Quays for lunch and Michelle and I chose the “ultimate” burger (the name’s a bit of a stretch but nice enough) and Kyle had the fried chicken (“okay but it’s not KFC”). Of course Michelle and I had a glass of wine (Malbec, very nice) each to accompany our lunches but for me it was a poor match for the food. Thinking about it, which wine would go with a burger? Suggestions welcome please, as long as it’s priced by P&O at £6.95 a glass or under and included in the ultimate drinks package.

 

After lunch we spent some time in the Glass House where the waiter suggested a New Zealand white wine “Money Spider” for me. I found it pleasant enough but a bit too fruity for my taste. The waiter returned and asked my opinion then recommended a Greek wine (“more drier”) (typed exactly as he said it, even though the spelling checker is telling me off for bad grammar). I’ve never had Assyrtico Wild Ferment Skouras before and I’d describe it as “okay, but it’s not Albariño.” I do love getting suggestions from waiters though and hopefully we’ll get another opportunity to visit the Glass House again. It’s a shame that they don’t have menus any more but it’s understandable, and so far we’ve found the waiters and waitresses to be very helpful advising what’s available.

 

Mid-glass Kyle asked if there is a gym onboard so I readily agreed to take him there, especially as we’ve been worried about him getting bored (onboard) and spending too much time playing games on his iPad. We made our way down to Deck 5 forward and once inside the staff member on duty said that Kyle was okay to try the equipment as long as I was with him so we passed some time while he tried out various pieces of exercise machinery. Now I was really regretting not bringing some shorts/gym wear so tomorrow I’ll try buy some kit ashore. The gym is by far the best I’ve ever seen on any cruise ship with so much choice of equipment that I can’t imagine having to wait long to use anything even if it was busy (only 5 in there when we went). Kyle really enjoyed it and I’m already imagining us getting some exercise in together during the rest of the cruise.

 

After the gym we returned to Michelle who was still stationed in the Glass House. We picked up some bottles of water and returned to the cabin to catch the end of the West Ham match (nice result Andy and Brian and handy for Leeds United’s survival hopes as well!) with the aim of going back out to the onboard shops at 5:30pm (at Kyle’s request). We duly went back down to deck 7 at 5:40pm, however, we’d failed to realise that the extended departure meant a later opening time and they were all still closed. So, in order to rescue a wasted trip down several decks, I picked up a couple of glasses of Prosecco for Michelle and I to have in the cabin pre-dinner. If that’s not the best “let’s have another drink” excuse ever on a cruise ship then I don’t know what is.

 

Around 7:30 Captain Dunlop made another important in-cabin announcement to advise that Rotterdam port would be closed tomorrow to high sided ships with potential windage (that’s a new word for me) issues. Instead, we would be staying overnight in Zeebrugge, then moving on to Rotterdam. Surprisingly he said that our stay there would still be 2 days, followed by a sea day then Le Havre which would be shifted to Friday. So effectively we’ve gained another day in port. The previously scheduled sea day between Le Havre and Southampton always sounded a bit strange anyway, or maybe it was intentional to have an extra sea day up their sleeve for any port issues?

 

Michelle and Kyle decided to watch a film in the cabin so we didn’t attempt to book a dinner table until 7:45pm. We checked on the app and the Coral restaurant had the shortest virtual queue so we tried that and before I’d got my shoes on we received the “table ready” notification. Once inside we were quickly seated in a central location and I found it to be really noisy (I have tinnitus in one ear which is generally not too bad but sensitive at times). Fortunately the large table next to us soon vacated leaving us a little more isolated and everything settled down. Overall though the venue isn’t a patch on the Opal MDR as it seemed much bigger, definitely brighter and nowhere near as relaxing or intimate. It’s alright, but for me it just doesn’t have that traditional sense of occasion or atmosphere of going to dinner on a cruise ship.

 

For dinner Michelle and I both had a lamb kofta starter which was spicey in a peppery sort of way but accompanied with some fantastic tzatziki, followed by a turkey dinner. I'm not a great fan of sprouts but ate all mine with no regard for potential windage issues later. Kyle had pasta with tomato sauce followed by…wait for it…another bowl of pasta with tomato sauce. He stuck with the chocolate brownie for desert, Michelle had apple strudel and though I didn’t really fancy anything I chose Chickpea Meringue, Roasted Pear and Dark Chocolate Soya Ganache (with Hazelnuts) just to see what it was. In my humble culinary opinion, if ever there was a dessert invented for the sake of invention then this is it. The meringue wasn’t crunchy and just stuck to my teeth, the pears had a weird, slightly bitter taste that I couldn’t identify and the chocolate ganache was a mere smear across the plate. Still, the hazelnuts were nice! Somebody’s trying too hard to create something new methinks.

 

Michelle and I both had a glass of white Rioja with our dinner then while Kyle had his usual post-dinner cup of tea we each had a Baileys which was on the menu and (all importantly) included in the drinks package.

 

After dinner we made the trek from aft to forward and up 10 flights of stairs to visit the Crow’s Nest. Kyle does not like using lifts so I’ve been trying to keep up with him using the staircases instead. My mobile phone health app showed that overall I’d done over 9k steps / 5.5km around the ship which is not too far above an average day at home walking the dog etc. However, within that I’d done 40 floors in total which explains why my calves were aching like crazy.

 

Pianist Duke Alexander was performing and he played song after song, all merged into one without breaks or introductions. I really appreciated his pianistic talent but he attempted to sing every song in a bass voice which didn’t really work for me. Waterloo Sunset sang solely in bass would be a tough gig for anyone.

 

First impressions of the Crow’s Nest itself were that it had a very pleasant, relaxed and seemingly more formal atmosphere than the other venues. Everyone seemed smartly dressed, or so I thought, and I briefly wondered if they were applying some dress code rules. Then I noticed a chap in shorts and t-shirt, and another gentleman in a luminous green Leinster rugby shirt complete with club badge and full sponsor details so bang goes that theory. We were all tired so just had one more drink before taking the long walk home to our aft cabin just after 10pm again.

Dessert.jpg

Brilliantly written blog as usual Damien - such an enjoyable read.

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