Search for a Bargain
| 'Virgin Cruising' positively delicious |
|
|
|
| Cruise News - UK Destination Reviews | ||||||
| Written by Peter Godliman | ||||||
| Wednesday, 21 January 2009 | ||||||
 WE SAILED from Southampton on a lovely, sunny Saturday evening, knowing that we had this first evening and all the following day at sea, to acclimatise and familiarise ourselves with Sea Princess, own by Princess Cruises.Being virgin cruisers I have no idea what sail-aways are like, but I feel that sailing along Solent Water, skirting the eastern side of the Isle of Wight, before entering the English Channel, is a delightful start to a cruise. It took a good two hours to clear Isle of Wight and truly be in open water. Sea Princess was the third ship to leave Southampton at 5pm and as we weaved along the channel we had superb glimpses of both Queen Mary 2 and Navigator of the Seas, as they picked their way along, ahead of us. Cruise date - September 2007 Duration - 14 Nights Southampton - Southampton No. in party - 2 previous cruises - 0 Ages: 53 & 43 My wife and I went on this cruise to celebration our 25th Wedding Anniversary. This was our first cruise and we did not really know what to expect because we did not know anyone who had cruised previously. I think it would be fair to say we had a thoroughly enjoyable holiday, with many things surpassing our limited expectations, and only very few failing to meet them. After a peaceful first day crossing The Bay of Biscay, some gentle rolling, which fellow passengers assured us was really smooth - not that my wife believed them! - we arrived in Vigo early morning, where we stayed until 5pm. The next morning we awoke in Lisbon, berthed very near to the 25th April Bridge. When we rose and opened the curtains to the sun we observed this wonderful bridge, quickly moving to our private balcony, to watch P&O's Aurora and Oceana, sail past, heading for their berths. Lisbon lasted 7am - 2pm, which we found was too short to really appreciate this remarkable city! A day at sea preceded our next port, Barcelona, where we undertook a walking tour of the old Gothic Quarter, using personal "iPod" type headsets. This was great because we were able to set a pace that suited ourselves without having to wait for stragglers in a large party. However, we were over one hour late arriving in Barcelona and the time set for returning the headsets was inflexible! A SPECIAL NOTE: We had prebooked all our shore excursions many weeks before the cruise and this Walking Tour - self guided was far from satisfactory. Excursions have designated coaches to take you to and from the area to be visited - right? In this instance WRONG! We tried to find a collection point on board only to be told that we had to join the queue of non-excursion passengers. it took 35 minutes to get off the ship - we then had a 20 minute queue to pick up and sign for our headsets, whilst hundreds of passengers who were doing their own thing filed past to the coaches (that were not complimentary.) To our dismay we were then informed that we had to join the queue for these coaches as we were treated as non-excursion passengers because we were self guiding. By this time we had lost 1 hour due to late arrival plus another 1 hour 20 minutes and we were still dockside. Suffice to say our leisurely walk became excessively hurried. We had to return the headsets to the port terminal by 3pm, and as we were now hot (28 centigrade) and tired we decided not to take the coach back into the city - resolving to visit Barcelona again for a longer stay! We complained to the shore excursion desk that we felt treated like second class passengers, when we had committed to and prebooked an "excursion", and that the chosen excursion was very unsatisfactory. To Princess' credit they agreed to refund 50% of the excursion cost. The next port was Cannes, but our captain informed us that there was a nasty weather system enroute and that he had decided to miss Cannes, for the safety of both ship and passengers. We diverted south of Corsica and Sardinia, having an extra full "at sea" day, arriving at Civitavecchia, for Rome, on schedule. With the exception of one Australian couple, with whom we dined that evening, who had taken this cruise solely because it called at Cannes, I think everyone understood the captain's decision. (We heard and saw evidence, in Civitavecchia, that the expected force 8/9 was an actual force 10, and some ships caught in it took slight damage.) From Rome we sailed overnight to Naples, where my wife took the excursion to Sorrento and Pompeii, and I stayed on board, where I sampled the self-indulgence zone and had a sumptuous massage therapy session. After Naples we knew were heading for home again and the next port was Ajaccio, Corsica, where Sea Princess is too big to enter the port, so we tendered ashore where we took a delightful excursion to see a family run perfumery, a family run vineyard, and an extremely amusing display on the art of making Nougat. Another day at sea followed and then we arrived at our final port, Gibraltar. We took the almost obligatory cable car to the top of the "Rock" and observed Africa, The Mediterranean, and Spain - some quite breathtaking views, and saw and photographed the resident apes. The cruise ended with a two day at sea sail back to Southampton. Shore excursions taken: Vigo: Santiago di Compostella - 1 hour plus coach each way, with only 2.5 hours there. (a little disappointing) Lisbon: Tram ride through old city region and coach tour of other main sights. (Very enjoyable, but a little rushed at the end) Barcelona: Self guided Walking Tour - discussed previously (The walked tour was great but the organisation/treatment was dreadful!) Naples: Sorrento & Pompeii - my wife says it was very hot but absolutely fascinating. (Strongly recommended) Ajaccio: A 3 visit tour as mentioned above, with a very knowledgeable and entertaining guide. (Very good) Gibraltar: Cable car to top of the Rock, followed by SHOPPING!!! - Spectacular views and our first lengthy opportunity for retail therapy (Good) As I stated at the beginning we were cruise virgins and, on reflection, I feel we overdid the shore excursions, which do tend to be rather pricey. On future cruises - and there will be some - we will almost certainly be more selective about shore excursions or self-exploration of ports. I know I went on at some length about Barcelona (I really am a most relaxed and easy-going guy) but this was unacceptably poor. However, it did not upset the overall balance of enjoyment of the cruise. On board: The bars, restaurants, quiet areas, shops, theatres (there are two) were all always clean and tidy. The crew were pleasant, smiley, hard working, and made us feel welcome and special. We opted for the freestyle dining whereby we would be seated with new and different passengers each evening, choose when we wanted to dine, between 5,30pm and 10pm, and be served by different wait staff almost daily. The meals were always good to very good, with the extra cover cost Steakhouse restaurant, excellent. We breakfasted and took lunch(on sea days)in the 24 hour Horizon Food Court, Although it could be very busy at certain times, the crew were always attentive and helpful - if help were required. Our favourite spot on the ship was the aft bar and sun deck on deck 13, where we struck up a fine relationship with the resident bar steward. After only a few days he instinctively knew when we needed another cocktail! I know many people feel that on board art auctions are a bad thing but I did pick up a nice little bargain, and I won the auction for the only cruise sea chart, signed by the ship's officers and captain. The chart was given to us by the captain on the bridge, and we were given a bridge tour by a junior officer. I believe that visiting the bridge is a rare event nowadays and, for me at least, was a true highlight of the cruise. (My avatar is a view from the bridge.) We did not see the shows in the theatres so I am unable to comment on standards. There was always plenty to do onboard during sea days, if you wanted to that is. Our balcony cabin (stateroom) was not large, but was adequate, and sitting on the balcony watching the world pass by is positively delicious. We will be cruising again in June 2009 and I will review it here soon afterwards. I really hope you have found this review useful and maybe as enjoyable as I have found writing it to be. Please post comments, and I wish you many happy days cruising, wherever in the world that may be.
Only registered users can write comments!
Powered by !JoomlaComment 3.26
3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved." |
||||||
| Last Updated ( Thursday, 22 January 2009 ) | ||||||
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|