Live On Board Arvia K316

[purplesea]

Our next two cruises are on Britannia and Azura and I opted for club dining when I booked. Hopefully things will be better on Arvia when we sail in March, I doubt it, but I can live in hope!!

[Windsurfboy]

Thank you, very interesting. My read is Arvia has some good food and a good variety of choices of types of food, also some good entertainment.  As someone rightly said above it's all the problems booking that let it down. 

[elmsliebev]

Thoroughly enjoying your blog. We visited Valencia from Oriana some years ago and loved it so much we ended up going for a week the following year. We stayed very near the Arts & Science park and there is an excellent bus that runs past there, from the old town to the beach. A very frequent service. 

Also enjoying your wine comments. We are on Azura in October so I hope they have Albarino, one of my favourites and I must try a red zinfandel as well. 

[Fionboard]

Uproar on Arcadia in June when passengers who wanted to visit Valencia were dropped a long way out at the shopping mall. Many did not get into the city as it was too far away. Not acceptable. 

[DamianG]

Just for balance in April 2022 we were on Iona for a week and used the My Holiday webpage to book our dinner every evening at various times from 7pm onwards to as late a 8:15pm. The longest wait we had at any time was around 15 minutes. The big difference is that the ship was sailing around 2/3 full with just over 3000 passengers. 

 

Pre-cruise we thought that we may have some issues trying to book for a party of 7 (compared to 3 of us on Iona) but we cannot even get onto a virtual queue to start with, never mind get to the stage where it asks you how many you want to book for.

Edited August 12, 2023 by DamianG

[alpha whiskey]

1 hour ago, Fionboard said:

Uproar on Arcadia in June when passengers who wanted to visit Valencia were dropped a long way out at the shopping mall. Many did not get into the city as it was too far away. Not acceptable. 

Yes, Valencia drop off is a little far out, but the walk through Turia park (largest urban park in Spain) to town is a very pleasant 30/40 minute walk indeed. 

If you are unable to make it to town, a beautiful spot to spend the day, visit the amazing science museum and maybe the Mall, all within easy reach of the drop off point. 

 

 

[purplesea]

2 hours ago, DamianG said:

Just for balance in April 2022 we were on Iona for a week and used the My Holiday webpage to book our dinner every evening at various times from 7pm onwards to as late a 8:15pm. The longest wait we had at any time was around 15 minutes. The big difference is that the ship was sailing around 2/3 full with just over 3000 passengers. 

 

Pre-cruise we thought that we may have some issues trying to book for a party of 7 (compared to 3 of us on Iona) but we cannot even get onto a virtual queue to start with, never mind get to the stage where it asks you how many you want to book for.

We were only 2 and had problems getting booked on Arvia although we were prepared to share!

[TigerB]

Another good read, thanks.👍

 

It was a hot day when we were in Valencia in April, and was a right trek from the arts and science complex to the town centre and back again.  We were fair knackered and wanted to get back to the ship, but couldn't leave without going to that big Carrefour in the mall for a shed load of gluten free goodies for number one daughter.  Then we had to contend with a long wait for an accessible bus; you fell lucky getting straight back on one.

 

I could be wrong but, from your description, it sounds like there have been several item changes on the 6th Street Diner dinner menu since we ate there, with the desserts at least.

 

Enjoy Marseille 🙂

[DamianG]

12^th August

 

Another sea day so we had a leisurely start with breakfast in the Quays before returning to the cabin to get our things together ready for some time out and about around the ship. We enjoyed our previous afternoon on the promenade deck so we returned there and readily found some sun beds and a spare table and chairs (which suited me as I could type up the blog) just outside the Quays. In fact we spent most of the day near that venue one way or another.

 

At lunchtime I decided to vacate my table (so that diners could use it) and take a sun bed for a while. The couple next to us quickly realised what was happening and kindly shuffled up so that I could sit with everyone else without us even asking. How good is that. Kyle was in and out of the jacuzzi with my sister and Michelle at various times and I spent a bit of time reading and just sea watching (one pod of dolphins spotted). Naturally we got some lunch from the Quays, roast beef dinner in a giant Yorkshire pudding this time, and again I found it heavy going. Despite me only having beef, carrots, stuffing and potatoes there was still more on the plate than my MDR roast dinner a few night’s back. I could have added cauliflower cheese, parsnips and cabbage but I was stuffed as it was.

 

Mid-afternoon the sun moved round to our side and it was far too hot for us so we moved to the shady (starboard) side of the promenade desk and took some seats in front of the conservatory mini suite cabins looking directly onto a jacuzzi. Kyle had more time in there and I spent the rest of the afternoon getting football score updates along with lots of grumbling from my friends back home.

 

We arranged to meet in the Amber Lounge for dinner at 7pm. Whilst waiting I noticed on the My Holiday webpage that the online booking for Zenith would open at 6:30pm. At that time I kept refreshing the page which showed the same message then at 6:31pm it defaulted to “no availability.”

 

We met everyone then I went straight to the Meridian to book for later. I took a pager and got the standard “around 40 minutes” advice. We waited and waited until finally running out of patience at 8:15pm when we all just walked round there anyway. No apology or explanation from the gentleman on reception at the Meridian who just said “Your table is ready sir.” On the plus side we got the best table yet, number 350, which had 9 seats and was right up against the aft windows.

 

Our senior waiter was quickly to hand to take our drinks order then our dining choices. I chose a Greek Meze Platter which I’m sure was better on Iona last year. Michelle chose Asian Chicken Salad which Kyle subsequently ate most of. The starters were delivered at 8:45pm but our wine hadn’t arrived (despite everyone else around the table getting their drink choices). Thankfully our Silk and Spice red turned up just before the main course, Roast Lamb for Michelle and I, which we both enjoyed. Kyle's pasta and tomato sauce was made with spaghetti (which he argued isn't pasta) and he is convinced that only the Meridian restaurant serves it that way. For dessert I chose Limoncello Pana Cotta which I really enjoyed, and the for the first time in living memory Michelle double downed with that and Cherry Cheesecake. She enjoyed them both and couldn’t pick a favourite from the 2. We left the Meridian at 10:15pm.

 

From there we went to Andersons and just had one more drink along with some more rounds of Uno. We called it a day not long after 11pm and yet again I have no idea what time Kyle switched off his latest movie choice in our cabin.

 

Edited August 13, 2023 by DamianG

[DamianG]

Waiting for the virtual queue to open....

 

 

 

Which then auto-defaults to no availability:

 

Edited August 13, 2023 by DamianG

[DamianG]

Around 40 minutes Sir...

 

Edited August 13, 2023 by DamianG

[DamianG]

Michelle's double down desserts

 

Edited August 13, 2023 by DamianG

[DamianG]

Misty start to the day in Marseille. 
 

 

 

Edited August 13, 2023 by DamianG

[DamianG]

Marseille’s somewhat industrial answer to the Hollywood Hills. 
 

[DamianG]

Celebrity Silhouette’s sideways thrusters working well. Good job.

 

 

Edited August 13, 2023 by DamianG

[CarlaMarie]

2 hours ago, DamianG said:

Waiting for the virtual queue to open....

 

 

 

Which then auto-defaults to no availability:

 

 

That must be so frustrating, and increasingly so as the cruise goes on. Understandable why you are losing patience with it, and I think you've handled it very well! 

[Presto2]

Thanks for all of the updates and the photos of Silly .. not the app thingy, the ship that is! Hope you manage to suss out the freedom dining to pass on your tips to is all.

Keep enjoying your cruise and family time 😀

[Fionboard]

23 hours ago, alpha whiskey said:

Yes, Valencia drop off is a little far out, but the walk through Turia park (largest urban park in Spain) to town is a very pleasant 30/40 minute walk indeed. 

If you are unable to make it to town, a beautiful spot to spend the day, visit the amazing science museum and maybe the Mall, all within easy reach of the drop off point. 

 

 

People wanted to see Valencia and expected to be dropped at city entrance as it used to be. Not at a shopping mall too far out for those with mobility issues. I once walked from city to science park. Could not do it now. Very disappointing for many. 

[TigerB]

22 hours ago, DamianG said:

Marseille’s somewhat industrial answer to the Hollywood Hills. 
 

 

I was amused by that when we sailed there for the first time.😄

 

I hope you had a good day in Marseille.

[DamianG]

13^th August

 

3am and a loud bang woke me up. Obviously it was a shock but I was pretty sure it was nothing to do with our cabin so I turned over and tried to get back to sleep. A few minutes later there was another bang, and this continued every few minutes for the next 50 minutes or so. Then there was a series of bangs at quicker intervals finishing with some even quicker hammering before it stopped around 4am. I thought Michelle had slept through it and she thought the same of me when I mentioned it later. We can only assume there was some maintenance going on somewhere aft, maybe?

 

I was up and dressed just after 8am with a plan to go Catholic mass in Marseille along with my mum and sister. Unfortunately the service times for the Cathedral smack opposite the shuttle bus drop off point weren’t suitable for us so instead we got off the ship at 9:30am with the intention of walking round to the promenade area of the old town and trying to find Eglise Saint-Charles on Rue Grignan (near Vieux Port), which I estimated was a 20 minute walk from the drop off point. I was sat solo on the shuttle bus and was soon joined by a friendly chap who had a similar accent to me. He shared a few tales about DIY days out off the ship including a really good plan for Gdynia which hopefully will come in handy one day. I asked where he was from and he said Leeds, Bramley (THE Big Apple according to folk who live there) and I told him that I knew a few people from that area from my rugby playing days in nearby Pudsey. Typically he named a father and son who I used to know fairly well back then and we had a good chat about how we knew them and what they were up to these days.

  

The shuttle bus dropped us off just after 10am and not long after we started walking we saw an available taxi but decided to carrying on walking instead. It soon became clear that we should have taken that first taxi opportunity as mum was struggling to keep up even though we were going really steadily. We ended up getting a taxi with just 500 metres to go at a cost of €5.70. The driver insisted that there wasn’t a church on Rue Grignan even though we had looked this up online then also checked at a tourist information point. The driver dropped us off on a narrow street still saying there was no church, and as he drove off we turned around and were right in front of the church entrance. It wasn’t a grand church exterior so I understand how it could be easily missed but I’m still surprised that our driver didn’t know it. As an aside, I was quite pleased how my O Level French came back to me when I was in the Tourist Information Point and when trying to talk to the taxi driver. Amazing that I could recall the vocabulary when most of the time I can’t remember where I left my reading glasses. Once inside the church there was a good congregation in attendance and it was a sung mass in Latin that everyone fully participated in, including mum who remembered a lot of it (i.e., Latin) from years ago. It was a very reverent service and I was glad that we’d made the effort, even if we nearly had a disaster when my sister half tripped on the steps near the alter at communion.

 

After mass mum needed the loo so after failing to find one in either Burger King or McDonalds we just went into a nice looking restaurant and bar and asked if she could use theirs. I was going to sit down and buy a small beer (as I didn’t want to be cheeky just using their loos) but a large queue had formed waiting to be seated so I gave up. After that I said my goodbyes to mum and sister then made my way back to the shuttle bus pick up point. It took me 15 minutes to walk back with a few photo stops, including one of a Viking Cruises ship which had a prime berth near the Cathedral. Way out of our league in terms of cost but one day you never know.

 

A queue had formed next to 2 buses parked up with the P&O Shuttle notices in the front window. I unconsciously joined the queue but wish I hadn’t as the actual shuttle bus pick up point was the same place we had been dropped off over the road. Silly beggar, not like me at all to blindly join any queue ever and serves me right. (You can all make a baa noise at my expense now, thoroughly deserved). A P&O staff member came over the road to redirect us and then we had a bit of a wait for the next shuttle bus. Eventually we were on our way and as the coach turned around the nearest roundabout I spotted mum and sister approaching the queue which by now had trebled. It was 12:30pm and of course passengers probably wanted to get back on for lunch, so despite my mistake I guess that I didn’t do too bad in the end. They had a long wait (circa 30 minutes) in the hot sun.

 

Back in the cabin Michelle and Kyle shared the story of their morning and the time they’d spent using the jacuzzi aft (which is usually permanently busy). Anyone remember the Fast Show on BBC? Kyle could certainly say “Today, I will mostly be in the jacuzzi”. Michelle asked about the old port and promenade area and I said that it wasn’t any good for Kyle but back in the day we’d have been out there having some lunch in a nice restaurant and a few drinks.

 

It was still fairly quiet around the Sunset Bar deck 6 aft so we returned there and I surprised Kyle by joining him and Michelle in the jacuzzi for a while. After that I made the trek up to deck 16 to get some burgers and fries from Taste 360. I mentioned to Michelle that they also had a traditional Spanish stew on offer and then she tells me that yesterday they had paella! So I’d struggled through another roast dinner when I could have been eating paella? Gutted. Hopefully it will be available another time.

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon aft around the Sunset Bar whilst Kyle had more time in the jacuzzi with his aunty. We enjoyed a couple of Mai Tais and Pina Coladas, and waved off Celebrity Silhouette (which looks really good by the way, again out of our price range but fingers crossed). Our in-laws were on an excursion and Captain Brown announced that our departure would be delayed as one “shore experience” coach was delayed having had a puncture. He said that the delayed departure would not affect our arrival time in Barcelona (no surprise there then). He also gave the usual cringeworthy speech that taking shore experience tours was always your best option for any port as the ship would never leave behind anyone on an official tour. Anyway we weren’t sure if it was the in-law’s coach so just in case we decided to meet everyone a little later at 7:30pm (with Kyle doing the organising by voluntarily telephoning both cabins).

 

So on to today’s dining story; pay attention because this is the best yet. At 7:22pm I checked all 4 MDRs on the My Holiday webpage and unsurprisingly there was no availability in any of them. As we were going down the aft staircase I decided to break off and try Zenith. Love Joy welcomed us and advised that there was no availability in Zenith but that she could see a possibility of being seated straight away at Meridian if we went and asked there. We went down to Meridian and saw the same gentleman on the reception as yesterday. When I asked for a table for 7 he immediately reached for a pager and said that I would need to take one and wait. I agreed and then asked if it was possible to request a specific table. He asked which one so I replied “350”. He looked again then said “Oh! You can have that one straight away!” I’m repeating myself but you really couldn’t make this up. I said that we would need to gather together the rest of our party so he told us to be back in 5 minutes then we would be seated. Fortunately, everyone else was already in Andersons and we were able to make the 5 minute cut, just. Yet again credit to Love Joy who took the trouble to check Meridian even though she was in Zenith, and saw an option for us that the other receptionist couldn’t see without a prompt. Every MDR needs a Love Joy.

 

We were seated at 7:45pm and our senior waiter (same as last night) greeted us. This time he was a lot more relaxed and friendly. When we were placing our orders I asked if the pasta and tomato sauce option for kids was always made with spaghetti in the Meridian and he confirmed that this was correct (so Kyle was right all along). I asked if it was possible to request penne instead and he replied that he would ask the chef. I had the Asian platter for starters which was great. For fun we decided to score our courses and I gave it 4 out of 5. It would have been 5 but could have done with some raita (or just more sauce, as Gregg Wallace on MasterChef often says). Michelle had fried Iberico Pork Cheeks with Patatas Bravas, 4 out 5 as the latter consisted of the smallest diced potato squares ever seen.

 

The main course choices didn’t really suit me apart from the beef but in all honesty by now I was a bit beefed out and tired of roast dinners. I took a chance on roasted bream but it was quite overcooked so 2 out 5 for me. Myself, sister, and mother-in-law all dowsed it in butter then added salt and pepper which rescued it a little. Our senior waiter presented Kyle with a grown up looking dish of penne pomodoro, by far the biggest portion he’d had all week. 5 out of 5 from the toughest judge sat at the table. Later our waiter said that the chef had sent a runner to a different deck to get some penne so we again told him that it was much appreciated. Michelle had rice pudding with cherries for dessert, almost too sweet but 4 out of 5, and I had cheese and biscuits again, 3 out of 5. I asked for a glass of port to go with the cheese and it was swiftly delivered.

 

Dinner finished around 9:30pm and afterwards I dragged us all into the Club Lounge on Deck 8 for the Summer Vibes party with Pulse featuring. We ended up in a far corner where we couldn’t really see the stage but we had a speaker right next to us and TV’s showing the band so though it was a little noisy it was okay. It was quite funny occasionally seeing passengers dancing flit onto the TV screen, including a Doctor Marwan Koukash lookalike. There was also a small window with a view of the Sunset Bar area aft and we were really surprised when we noticed that the bar there was still open with a lot of passengers in attendance. My sister went out to investigate and reported that there was music playing and it wasn’t affected by the sound coming out of the club lounge whatsoever. Pulse’s 2^nd set finished at 10:15pm with a rousing performance of Pitbull’s Fireball and I especially loved the part where the drummer abandoned his kit to get up and dance then returned to pick up the beat with perfect timing. That signalled a mass exit for lots of passengers, maybe heading for the fully booked Neil Lockwood (ex-ELO lead singer) concert in the Headliners Theatre. I’d have quite fancied that but didn’t want to commit to anything pre-cruise or even during the first few days as I’m always conscious of what will suit Kyle and to a lesser extent the rest of our group.

 

We moved to better seats and by the time their 3^rd set started at 11pm the Club Lounge was at least half empty. They were excellent again and this time the keyboard player got her chance to shine during Madonna’s “Holiday”. They finished with a great rendition of Summer of ’69 by Bryan Adams where the lead singers took turns to sing verses and were perfectly synchronised. Most of our party had already said their goodnights so just Michelle and I stayed to the end at 11:45pm when we returned to the cabin. Then I realised I’d lost my glasses.

Edited August 14, 2023 by DamianG

[Presto2]

10 minutes ago, DamianG said:

13^th August

 

3am and a loud bang woke me up. Obviously it was a shock but I was pretty sure it was nothing to do with our cabin so I turned over and tried to get back to sleep. A few minutes later there was another bang, and this continued every few minutes for the next 50 minutes or so. Then there was a series of bangs at quicker intervals finishing with some quicker hammering before it stopped around 4am. I thought Michelle had slept through it and she thought the same of me when I mentioned it later. We can only assume there was some maintenance going on somewhere aft, maybe?

 

I was up and dressed just after 8am with a plan to go Catholic mass in Marseille along with my mum and sister. Unfortunately the service times for the Cathedral smack opposite the shuttle bus drop off point weren’t suitable for us so instead we got off the ship at 9:30am with the intention of walking round to the promenade area of the old town and trying to find Eglise Saint-Charles on Rue Grignan (near Vieux Port), which I estimated was a 20 minute walk from the drop off point. I was sat solo on the shuttle bus and was soon joined by a friendly chap who had a similar accent to me. He shared a few tales about DIY days out off the ship including a really good plan for Gdynia which hopefully will come in handy one day. I asked where he was from and he said Leeds, Bramley (THE Big Apple according to folk who live there) and I told him that I knew a few people from that area from my rugby playing days in nearby Pudsey. Typically he named a father and son who I used to know fairly well back then and we had a good chat about how we knew them and what they were up to these days.

 

 

The shuttle bus dropped us off just after 10am and not long after we started walking we saw an available taxi but decided to carrying on walking instead. It soon became clear that we should have taken that first taxi opportunity as mum was struggling to keep up even though we were going really steadily. We ended up getting a taxi with just 500 metres to go at a cost of €5.70. The driver insisted that there wasn’t a church on Rue Grignan even though we had looked this up online then also checked at a tourist information point. The driver dropped us off on a narrow street still saying there was no church, and as he drove off we turned around and were right in front of the church entrance. It wasn’t a grand church exterior so I understand how it could be easily missed but I’m still surprised that our driver didn’t know it. As an aside, I was quite pleased how my O Level French came back to me when I was in the Tourist Information Point and when trying to talk to the taxi driver. Amazing that I could recall the vocabulary when most of the time I can’t remember where I left my reading glasses. Once inside the church there was a good congregation in attendance and it was a sung mass in Latin that everyone fully participated in, including mum who remembered a lot of it (i.e., Latin) from years ago. It was a very reverent service and I was glad that we’d made the effort, even if we nearly had a disaster when my sister half tripped on the steps near the alter at communion.

 

After mass mum needed the loo so after failing to find one in either Burger King or McDonalds we just went into a nice looking restaurant and bar and asked if she could use theirs. I was going to sit down and buy a small beer (as I didn’t want to be cheeky just using their loos) but a large queue had formed waiting to be seated so I gave up. After that I said my goodbyes to mum and sister then made my way back to the shuttle bus pick up point. It took me 15 minutes to walk back with a few photo stops, including one of a Viking Cruises ship which had a prime berth near the Cathedral. Way out of our league in terms of cost but one day you never know.

 

A queue had formed next to 2 buses parked up with the P&O Shuttle notices in the front window. I unconsciously joined the queue but wish I hadn’t as the actual shuttle bus pick up point was the same place we had been dropped off over the road. Silly beggar, not like me at all to blindly join any queue ever and serves me right. (You can all make a baa noise at my expense now, thoroughly deserved). A P&O staff member came over the road to redirect us and then we had a bit of a wait for the next shuttle bus. Eventually we were on our way and as the coach turned around the nearest roundabout I spotted mum and sister approaching the queue which by now had trebled. It was 12:30pm and of course passengers probably wanted to get back on for lunch, so despite my mistake I guess that I didn’t do too bad in the end. They had a long wait (circa 30 minutes) in the hot sun.

 

Back in the cabin Michelle and Kyle shared the story of their morning and the time they’d spent using the jacuzzi aft (which is usually permanently busy). Anyone remember the Fast Show on BBC? Kyle could certainly say “Today, I will mostly be in the jacuzzi”. Michelle asked about the old port and promenade area and I said that it wasn’t any good for Kyle but back in the day we’d have been out there having some lunch in a nice restaurant and a few drinks.

 

It was still fairly quiet around the Sunset Bar deck 6 aft so we returned there and I surprised Kyle by joining him and Michelle in the jacuzzi for a while. After that I made the trek up to deck 16 to get some burgers and fries from Taste 360. I mentioned to Michelle that they also had a traditional Spanish stew on offer and then she tells me that yesterday they had paella! So I’d struggled through another roast dinner when I could have been eating paella? Gutted. Hopefully it will be available another time.

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon aft around the Sunset Bar whilst Kyle had more time in the jacuzzi with his aunty. We enjoyed a couple of Mai Tais and Pina Coladas, and waved off Celebrity Silhouette (which looks really good by the way, again out of our price range but fingers crossed). Our in-laws were on an excursion and Captain Brown announced that our departure would be delayed as one “shore experience” coach was delayed having had a puncture. He said that the delayed departure would not affect our arrival time in Barcelona (no surprise there then). He also gave the usual cringeworthy speech that taking shore experience tours was always your best option for any port as the ship would never leave behind anyone on an official tour. Anyway we weren’t sure if it was the in-law’s coach so just in case we decided to meet everyone a little later at 7:30pm (with Kyle doing the organising by voluntarily telephoning both cabins).

 

So on to today’s dining story; pay attention because this is the best yet. At 7:22pm I checked all 4 MDRs on the My Holiday webpage and unsurprisingly there was no availability in any of them. As we were going down the aft staircase I decided to break off and try Zenith. Love Joy welcomed us and advised that there was no availability in Zenith but that she could see a possibility of being seated straight away at Meridian if we went and asked there. We went down to Meridian and saw the same gentleman on the reception as yesterday. When I asked for a table for 7 he immediately reached for a pager and said that I would need to take one and wait. I agreed and then asked if it was possible to request a specific table. He asked which one so I replied “350”. He looked again then said “Oh! You can have that one straight away!” I’m repeating myself but you really couldn’t make this up. I said that we would need to gather together the rest of our party so he told us to be back in 5 minutes then we would be seated. Fortunately, everyone else was already in Andersons and we were able to make the 5 minute cut, just. Yet again credit to Love Joy who took the trouble to check Meridian even though she was in Zenith, and saw an option for us that the other receptionist couldn’t see without a prompt. Every MDR needs a Love Joy.

 

We were seated at 7:45pm and our senior waiter (same as last night) greeted us. This time he was a lot more relaxed and friendly. When we were placing our orders I asked if the pasta and tomato sauce option for kids was always made with spaghetti in the Meridian and he confirmed that this was correct (so Kyle was right all along). I asked if it was possible to request penne instead and he replied that he would ask the chef. I had the Asian platter for starters which was great. For fun we decided to score our courses and I gave it 4 out of 5. It would have been 5 but could have done with some raita (or just more sauce, as Greg Wallace on MasterChef often says). Michelle had fried Iberico Pork Cheeks with Patatas Bravas, 4 out 5 as the latter consisted of the smallest diced potato squares ever seen.

 

The main course choices didn’t really suit me apart from the beef but in all honesty by now I was a bit beefed out and tired of roast dinners. I took a chance on roasted bream but it was quite overcooked so 2 out 5 for me. Myself, sister, and mother-in-law all dowsed it in butter then added salt and pepper which rescued it a little. Our senior waiter presented Kyle with a grown up looking dish of penne pomodoro, by far the biggest portion he’d had all week. 5 out of 5 from the toughest judge sat at the table. Later our waiter said that the chef had sent a runner to a different deck to get some penne so we again told him that it was much appreciated. Michelle had rice pudding with cherries for dessert, almost too sweet but 4 out of 5, and I had cheese and biscuits again, 3 out of 5. I asked for a glass of port to go with the cheese and it was swiftly delivered.

 

Dinner finished around 9:30pm and afterwards I dragged us all into the Club Lounge on Deck 8 for the Summer Vibes party with Pulse featuring. We ended up in a far corner where we couldn’t really see the stage but we had a speaker right next to us and TV’s showing the band so though it was a little noisy it was okay. It was quite funny occasionally seeing passengers dancing flitting onto the TV screen, including a Doctor Marwan Koukash lookalike. There was also a small window with a view of the Sunset Bar area aft and we were really surprised when we noticed that the bar there was still open with a lot of passengers in attendance. My sister went out to investigate and reported that there was music playing and it wasn’t affected by the sound coming out of the club lounge whatsoever. Pulse’s 2^nd set finished at 10:15pm with a rousing performance of Pitbull’s Fireball and I especially loved the part where the drummer abandoned his kit to get up and dance then returned to pick up the beat with perfect timing. That signalled a mass exit for lots of passengers, maybe heading for the fully booked Neil Lockwood (ex-ELO lead singer) concert in the Headliners Theatre. I’d have quite fancied that but didn’t want to commit to anything pre-cruise or even during the first few days as I’m always conscious of what will suit Kyle and to a lesser extent the rest of our group.

 

We moved to better seats and by the time their 3^rd set started at 11pm the Club Lounge was at least half empty. They were excellent again and this time the keyboard player got her chance to shine during Madonna’s “Holiday”. They finished with a great rendition of Summer of ’69 by Bryan Adams where the lead singers took turns to sing verses and were perfectly synchronised. Most of our party had already said their goodnights so just Michelle and I stayed to the end at 11:45pm when we returned to the cabin. Then I realised I’d lost my glasses.

I love reading your daily review ... you should make it a career change unless you do it already. Love the dry humour ...

Have to say I have just let out a loud "Oh noooo!" when I read your last sentence! Woke hubby up but we are both sympathising and hope you have found them. !

[DamianG]

Not the best photos but the main course menu choices are all getting a bit samey for me.

 

 

Edited August 14, 2023 by DamianG

[DamianG]

Spot the patatas bravas 

 

[DamianG]

Great starter, please can I have some raita. 
 

Edited August 14, 2023 by DamianG

[DamianG]

Bream, not sure what the onions are meant to add.