black watch dec 17th-20th just back!!

[seabourndt]

just returned from the mini cruise on the black watch.

 

EMBARKATION.

VERY QUICK, I HAD NO 132 AND IT HAD JUST STARTED BUT WITHIN 30MINS I WAS ON BOARD.ON THE COACH FROM STATION I WAS THE ONLY ONE ON IT.

 

CABIN.

this time i had a bridge deck cabin on deck 8.slightly obstructed but no by much, a lovely roomy cabin with 2 windows. single bed and a sofa bed which could be made up as another. could be used as a sofa if one could find a pillow as a head rest.

 

FOOD.

one first meal was quite basic but it got better later on. the afternoon tea on day 1 was tea or coffee only no cakes or sandwiches, but on day 3 we had much more choice.

 

DAY 1 FRIDAY.

got to my cabin, found my luuage thee and unpacked, the lifeboat drill was at 1530 in the nightclub, quite well done, numbers checked and told what to do in an emergency.we left just after 1600hrs. shame it was dark soon after. went into dinner at 1830 1st sitting. i noticed the ship rocking quite a lot during dinner.the show was a comedian AL BROWN, shame it was exactly the same jokes as wheni was onto the black prince in april. after the show i went into the COVE,a cigar/pipe room to smoke my cigar. it was deserted, no staff in there. i had to use phone inthere to order a drink, and so sign of any cigars on sale. a few people came into the room, mostly to smoke their cigarettes, not very friendly, in fact not a word was spoken!

later on the last day i made conversation with quite afew.

 

DAY 2 SATURDAY.

i retired to my cabin at about midnight, and noticed the ship was lurching quite a bit. my friends angela and peter said there was a loud noise but i did'nt hear anything. i slept very well and did not awake until 0800hrs, missing my alarm going off at 7.15am. as i had bookked the disneyland paris tour. there was not time for any breakfast so i made my way to the gangway. found the coach and boarded it. only about 34 people on board. i heard the paris tour had been cancelled as not enough people wanted to do it. all they said was you could get a train there instead. shame as we passed close by paris on the way seeing eiffel tower,lourve. arriving at disneyland the tour guide said we would have to pay admission despite being told it was included. i followed the guide until she and al the group dissapeared. i made my own way to the village to get some lunch as i was hungry! had lunch in PLANET HOLLYWOOD i had a lovely LASAGNA,CREPES SUZZETTE,AND A BEER. i had planned to use my vouchers but was tols the spl menu could not be used. then i went to the studios as i had not done it before. i paid the 40 euros and went in. i saw the cinema parade which was very good, did the ARMAGEDDAN ATTRACTION, MOTORS-STUNT SHOW, AND THE TRAM TOUR.thats all i had time to do as it was 1700hrs by this time. i bought a few things in the shop and made my way out of the park to the coach park.

i was told the coach would leave at 1800hrs in bay 58, i went there but there was no coach there! i walked up and down for the next 45mins and saw no coach at all! so i decided now that it had gone without me!

i needed some euros to get back to rouen by train, got some in the village. had a light snack in the railway stn of a salami roll ansd an apple pie. i asked at the rer desk for rouen, i was told to go to the sncf desk. i queued there only to be told it was the rer desk iwanted. i got a ticket to paris after joining a long queue and waiting for the train to leave. the rain had started in the afternoon and did not stop until the next day. i train rom paris was at 8.36p,m but i was not going to make it. i found out the next train to rouen was not for 2 houirs. it was so cold on the stn even with my thick coat on. i got to rouen at 0039. a man tried to push hisway onto a taxi but he would'nt take him. anothe man told me to get into it, thank goodness. the taxi driver did not speAK any engklish, and i did not know where the ship was. finally we found out where it was, i think the driver did'nt know whee he was going as i thought we were going to drive into the water at one point. i was so glad to find the staff waitring for me at 1am.

 

SUNDAY DAY 3.

I GOT UP EARLY NOT WISHING TO MISS BREAKFAST THIS TIME.the orange juice was veryu out of the way and i did not see it.had scrambled eggs,bacon,sausage,hash browns and baked beans, lovely.

got a shuttle ticket that was not even checked. it was still raining! some shops were open despite it being a sunday, and the market stall were begining to open. i just made the 1130 bus and back onto the ship for lunch.

at 2pm we left rouen, the trip along the river was very nice. i was going to have a shower before the cocktail party but theree was no hot water!

shame the captain did not make it as he wass too busy! but the 2nd officer was there. shame he did not introduce the other staff to us as they usuall do. the formal dinner was much better, especially as the chief engineer and wife? was on our table. they were not very good at making converstion, but we were greatful for the free white and red wine we got. they paraded the baked alska which was nice.

the farewell show was better, an illusionist, and a singer was good.

the seas wer much calmer as we entered the english channel.

 

DAY 4 MONDAY.

i awoke at 0622 just in time to see us come into southampton. had a niice breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup. went to pay my small bill 8.50. and buy the pictures from the formal night, they were very good. it was only 8am but they had already started calling the cabin numbers and we were off by 8.15. found my luuage after some looking as they were not maked which decks they were. i was the only one going on the coach to the stn at this point. the driver was reluctant to go with only me onboard. but i told him i wanted to get the 9am train so he took me.

 

ALL IN ALL A GOOD CRUISE,AFTER THE CRUISE FROM HELL ON THE APRIL ONE ON BLACK PRINCE. WHICH WAS DELAYED BY ENGINE TROUBLE AND A FORCE 10 OFF THE COAST OF CORWALL, DESPITE THE PROBLEMS WITH THE DISNEYLAND PARIS TOUR.

[mancunian]

We were also on this mini cruise following our cruise from hell on Black Prince in April. This was really very enjoyable. A good break and fortunately for this time of year no really bad weather. Rouen is beautiful and we spent the day and a half just pottering round the town.

 

Black Watch is a very nice ship. We had an obstructed view outside cabin which in practice was not obstructed at all. (Was there a lifeboat missing!! - perhaps we should not think about that). We had an offer of an upgrade to an outside without obstruction on a lower deck but were glad we declined. It was really very quiet on Bridge deck. The cabin was comfortable with ample storage for a long cruise.

 

Embarkatikon and disembarkation was very good for us too. My only slight niggle is that security could be tighter. When we arrived we handed in our luggage through a hatch without any identification or ticket. Also in port they never checked your parcels when you returned on board. Most cruiselines today are much tougher about this and I think rightly so.

 

We were slightly disappointed with the food. According to the newest Berlitz guide they get a very high rating - much higher in fact that Marco Polo but there really was no comparison. As Seabourn says (we had an enjoyable trip on the same table) the first meal was actually quite poor. The menu was not at all interesting - my husband's soup with croutons contained one crouton and we both had stuffed baked apples without stuffing! No I tell a lie I had one raisin in the vanilla sauce much to my husband's annoyance.

 

For anyone liking an all british boat from a british port overalll we thought it good.