Day 10 June 8th At Sea warm, sunny and clear,no wind sea flat calm!
We need a day at sea after a full on cruise with a port a day so far. Time to reflect on the ship which we generally love. Good points are: the best indoor pool of any ship we have been on,
nice cabin,
nice buffet area and food, well laid out theatre,good dinner menus and food and a feeling that the ship is not crowded. We hear that although the ship's capacity is 2800 there are only 2200 on this trip. Today at sea the ship has never felt too full and there is never a problem in the pool or surrounding areas, unlike P and O Azura and Ventura.
We also like the central lifts which are glass backed and go through an open atrium the full height of the ship to a glass enclosed area at the top.
Although we do not have Coffee and tea making in the room like the British Cruise lines, there is easy access to drinks stations form our cabin which is actually easier than making it ourselves in the room. Here is one on the deck below us by the glass lifts at a place called the hideaway ( is this IT Pat and Steve?!). We actually use one which is nearer by the Solarium pool which is only a very short walk and up four floors by lift.
On the down side is the lack of a proper promenade deck, just a bit of deck partially down each side with life boats blocking the view. This is countered by the fact you can walk around the entire upper decks and at the front ( should we say bow!) the glass panelling is only waist high and you can see the bow which somehow makes the view much more interesting.
Food is good, and served nice and hot. Our waiters Lesmee from Chile and Bernadette from the Philippines (who won't see her children aged 12 and 10 till her contract ends in December) are excellent and have a nice sense of humour. We are getting on well with the two American couples on our table.
Today we have had some pool time but also have been to a talk on navigation by the Captain which was very interesting and we found Captain Pagonis both informative and humorous. He told us about a transatlantic voyage in 2006 when one of the passengers fell while the ship was mid Atlantic and had an open fracture which required immediate surgery, A nearby US Navy ship with 6 operating theatres returning from the Lebanon was diverted to pick up the passenger and he was transferred mid Atlantic. We also saw a cooking demonstration which was also most enjoyable.
Last formal evening: only three on this cruise as the Americans are not so keen on dressing up. Posh menu with Lobster, Chateaubriand (which we both had), baked Alaska and white chocolate cake. Jack could not decide between these two puds so had both! She is now regretting it. Our fellow table companions are in higher class cabins which have wine supplied and they shared it with us tonight so we are not only over fed but over drunk as well! Long chat with our waiter who is a lively Chilean with a great sense of humour. He said that crew are much happier on smaller ships where everyone helps each other out: this does not happen of the larger ships. Lionel Ritchie Tribute in the theatre,lasted half an hour before going back to watch tele in our cabin – Euro football.
No comments:
Post a Comment