Christmas Cruise 2018 Part 1

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Jan Rosser
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
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Joined: January 2013
Location: South Wales

Christmas Cruise 2018 Part 1

#1

Post by Jan Rosser »

For anyone interested in hearing about my Christmas cruise I’ve tried to make this report as short as possible and truthfully didn’t make many notes so most of it is what I’ve managed to remember - I’ve split it into two parts.

My Christmas break started on Thursday 20th when I drove up to my son’s so that I could fly with them from Manchester Airport on the Saturday. Usual hold ups on the M5 and M6 due to the ongoing roadworks but thankfully no accidents so the journey wasn’t too bad. My son and family finished school on the Friday so had done nearly all their packing the previous weekend.

The news about drones affecting flights from Gatwick did bother us - we were concerned there may have been a knock-on effect but out of our control so we set off at 7 am on Saturday morning and arrived half an hour later to join the ever growing queue for check in. Once that was over we went through security etc. and it seemed no time before they called us to the departure lounge. We did have an hour’s delay but compared with some flights we were very lucky. The flight was okay - watched a film - had free drinks, lunch then tea and more free drinks - something which was exclusively for premium passengers before but for some reason TUI now give them to economy flyers too.

We arrived at Barbados and this is the bit I love straight onto the buses waiting for us - no struggling with suitcases - they would be delivered straight to the ship. Check in at the sheds was very quick probably because the Gatwick and Birmingham flights were delayed so not the usual long snaking queue and we were on the ship within 20 minutes. Lots of trees in the atrium plus a gingerbread village and a display of Christmas cakes. Our cabins were on E deck aft end - I had a balcony cabin and my son and his in-laws inside cabins just opposite me. Our cabin steward was Camilo - he looked after us on Aurora in August 2017 and we recognised him straightaway - quite a shy young man - very hardworking and helpful - unbelievably he looked after 21 cabins.

The safety drill was delayed because of the late flights and no sign of the cases so we signed the girls up at the kids’ clubs and explored the ship. The captain was Wesley Dunlop - quite a character - his broadcasts were very amusing - everything was tickety boo - he was pleased to tell us that instead of a day at sea on the Sunday he had spoken to head office and we were staying in Barbados although we had to move to the opposite berth. The itinerary wasn’t affected - we would still be going to Dominica on the Monday.

Dining:

We were on Freedom dining and could use either the Meridian or Peninsular restaurants in the evening. We always breakfasted in the Oriental dining room which was at the aft end directly below us. We sat at the same table in the Meridian restaurant every night except Christmas day and New Year’s Eve when we had been allocated a table on the opposite side of the restaurant - both these meals felt rushed - 5.45 pm start and had to be finished so they could set up for the later sitting.

The food throughout the cruise however was generally good - plenty of choice and we had two lovely waiters who really looked after us well bringing two desserts when we couldn’t make up our minds or an extra main course and getting one scoop of ice cream was almost impossible. Almost every night Phoebe my youngest granddaughter was given some choc chip cookies to take away - they obviously miss their children at home and like to spoil ours. The wine waitress was delightful - I have to say the crew were very happy and helpful on this cruise. We used the buffet at lunchtime and always managed to get a table for the 7 of us. I think it is the most efficient and well spaced of all the buffets on P&O’s ships and there is a good choice of food. We didn’t use any of the speciality restaurants.

Ports:

After Bridgetown we sailed to Dominica - we docked in the town rather than the sheds but there was a market full of the same stalls along the quay side with the usual tatt for sale. As it was Christmas Eve the captain read a story to the little ones down in the atrium and then we waited on deck for Father Christmas to arrive - all the usual build-up to his arrival - lovely atmosphere helped by a glass of bubbly. As you can imagine with Wesley Dunlop as Captain and not Paul Brown there was no Neil Oliver either so instead we had Giovanni who just didn’t have Neil’s enthusiasm or experience in how to work an audience - more about Giovanni later. Probably unfair to make comparisons with our first Christmas cruise but the girls are three years older and the magic isn’t quite the same for them or us.

Christmas Day was at sea and we all met up in my cabin and opened the presents we had brought with us - P&O’s gift was a canister of shortbread biscuits - not quite up to the standard of our last Christmas cruise gift - the P&O monopoly set but I’m sure they will go down well. Spent most of the day on deck but had to change earlier than usual as the first sitting for Christmas dinner was at 5.45 pm and it was formal. The tables were laid with hats and crackers but unfortunately slight mishap - we had the Christmas Eve menus and even worse - no wine glasses!!! All sorted out but as I said previously bit rushed - menu was the usual - turkey dinner plus other options - I went for fillet steak which was beautifully cooked. We all left the table feeling really full - ended the evening in the Crow’s Nest.

Arrived at St. Maarten the following day and it was so busy - there were actually 5 ships docked and one tendering - we took the water taxi across to the port - it is still showing some signs of the storms from 2017 - shops empty/boarded up but the coffee shop I have visited for at least the last 10 years down one of the side streets was still trading although had changed ownership and had been refurbished. We had intended to go on the beach but quite honestly it was too busy so returned to the ship. I took a photo of the front row of ships - they were monsters - much bigger than Britannia - several RCI and Celebrity plus MSC - you can only imagine how many people were on board.
Janis

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