Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

Reports about cruises on Adonia
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david63
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Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#1

Post by david63 »

This cruise is everything we said we would never do – a one week cruise (only because of the travelling time) and cruise on a small ship. So what are we doing? A one week cruise on Adonia!!

This all came about because P&O offered us (along with many others) a cruise on Adonia at half price due to having booked another cruise for next year – so it would have been churlish to have not accepted the offer. It also fitted in with our other holiday plans. The itinerary whilst not being the most exciting is calling at ports that we have not been to before (apart from Southampton!)

As is our normal routine these days we have travelled most of the way down on the day before and are staying once again at the Regency Park Hotel at Thatcham. I am not sure but it looks a bit as if the hotel is under new management and would certainly appear to have a new chef as the meal in the restaurant was far superior to the one that we had last time we were here (August 2016).

The journey down was uneventful and was without problems but it does not get any shorter!

Tomorrow we will set off for embarkation after breakfast and I will report again …


poole boy
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#2

Post by poole boy »

Hi David63 hope you have a great time and please look after Adonia s we are on it in September
by the way we have booked a ship visit to Azura 8th October so thank you very much for your helpful adivice


Whynd1
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#3

Post by Whynd1 »

Hope the stock issues have been resolved for you.

Have a lovely cruise.

Lindsey

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oldbluefox
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#4

Post by oldbluefox »

Have a good cruise David.

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Manoverboard
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#5

Post by Manoverboard »

Bon Voyage :wave:
Keep smiling, it's good for your well being

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qbman1
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#6

Post by qbman1 »

Enjoy your half-price jolly but look after the little ship for us - I expect to find her spick and span next Friday !

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qbman1
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#7

Post by qbman1 »

Looks like a nice day for it anyway

adonia.jpg
Have you really not been to Guernsey and Dublin before ? Honfleur is lovely but can't make up my mind about Queenstown sorry, Cobh


CaroleF
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#8

Post by CaroleF »

We had a lovely meal at a fish restaurant in Honfleur - the waiter didn't even laugh at our attempts to order in French. The fish soup was lovely. It was one of those just back from the harbour. We don't often have lunch ashore but I was determined to do so with all those lovely, inexpensive restaurants - it really was much cheaper than we expected, and they served a carafe of wine which was quite pleasant.


cruisin_duo
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#9

Post by cruisin_duo »

Have a great cruise.

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Stephen
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#10

Post by Stephen »

Enjoy David :thumbup:

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Manoverboard
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#11

Post by Manoverboard »

We enjoyed Cobh ... consider a cold pint or two of the Black stuff on the Harbour wall, walk down the neat hill with terrace houses painted in umpteen different colours, then there's the Titanic Museum and commemorations plus a few pubs where they still sing the rebel songs.

Lubbley Jubbley :thumbup:
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qbman1
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#12

Post by qbman1 »

Hey-ho, the Smurfmeister's in Guernsey today

adonia.jpg
All day Round the Island 'bus for just £1

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david63
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#13

Post by david63 »

Friday 7th July

We set off from the hotel for a leisurely hour’s drive down to the hotel. I must say that Dock Gate 20 is now my access point of choice for Mayflower Terminal. As we had priority check-in (did I mention that we got this cruise half price so we decided to have a suite?) we were on board at 12:15, cabins ready by 13:00 and all unpacked by 14:00 – having had lunch along the way.

Next was the usual “safety drill” – and yes they are scanning your cruise card when you enter, with a warning that anyone not attending will have to attend another one later. There always has to be some that don’t listen – two women turned up without their lifejackets (but in fairness there may have been a valid reason) and there was a chap sat across from us who apparently thought that trying on the lifejacket did not apply to him (note to self: must find out where to apply for these dispensations!)

We are on second sitting for dinner and it seemed a fairly well organised first night compared to others that we have had. One interesting thing is that there were many “missing” tonight – for example we are on a table for eight and only six turned up and the table next to us was for six and there were only two there. Whether this is because the ship is not full or they chose to dine elsewhere only time will tell. The meal was OK – nothing to get excited about

Being Adonia there is not a lot to do, or places to go, at night but we had a walk around the ship (that took all of ten minutes) – one thing to note is that the photo gallery has gone totally digital – all the photos are viewed on monitors.

To be continued ….

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Stephen
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#14

Post by Stephen »

david63 wrote: 08 Jul 2017, 11:53
Friday 7th July

We set off from the hotel for a leisurely hour’s drive down to the hotel. I must say that Dock Gate 20 is now my access point of choice for Mayflower Terminal. As we had priority check-in (did I mention that we got this cruise half price so we decided to have a suite?) we were on board at 12:15, cabins ready by 13:00 and all unpacked by 14:00 – having had lunch along the way.

Next was the usual “safety drill” – and yes they are scanning your cruise card when you enter, with a warning that anyone not attending will have to attend another one later. There always has to be some that don’t listen – two women turned up without their lifejackets (but in fairness there may have been a valid reason) and there was a chap sat across from us who apparently thought that trying on the lifejacket did not apply to him (note to self: must find out where to apply for these dispensations!)

We are on second sitting for dinner and it seemed a fairly well organised first night compared to others that we have had. One interesting thing is that there were many “missing” tonight – for example we are on a table for eight and only six turned up and the table next to us was for six and there were only two there. Whether this is because the ship is not full or they chose to dine elsewhere only time will tell. The meal was OK – nothing to get excited about

Being Adonia there is not a lot to do, or places to go, at night but we had a walk around the ship (that took all of ten minutes) – one thing to note is that the photo gallery has gone totally digital – all the photos are viewed on monitors.

To be continued ….
Two hotel stays David. Very posh ;)

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Mervyn and Trish
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#15

Post by Mervyn and Trish »

While you're there David you get your spanners out and sort that purple webcam?

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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#16

Post by david63 »

Saturday 8th July - St Peter Port

Well we managed to get into port which in itself is an achievement. The weather started off “cracking the flags” but mid-morning it clouded over but by lunch time the sun was back out.

Being St Peter Port it is a tender port so we have the usual shambles of getting off. In the Horizon iy states that in order to use the tender that you will have to do a “step test” to prove that you will be able to get on/off the tender – where was this test? You guessed – non-existent (left hands and right hands again!). When we got ashore on the quayside was the Security Manager and this is for Qubie – you would not want to argue with her!!!!!

We decided to diy in St Peter Port as we have not been here before. Getting off via tender was no problem, although P&O do seem to have tendering far better organised these days – especially with organising where passengers sit and when they can disembark (probably to do with load balancing on the tender)

St Peter Port, whilst being a quaint and pleasant little place, did not appeal to me at all. I have never seen so many barbers shops 9no not a euphemism) in one place – not sure what the significance is! And Mrs63 has never seen so many jewellery shops (oh dear – I left my credit card in the safe !) As the weather was becoming more cloudy we decided that we would return to the ship around lunch time – the weather then improved so we spent the afternoon on the balcony getting sunburned because somebody fell asleep.

Tonight was another question of the left had not telling the right hand what was going on. Normally you would expect that the second night of a cruise would be the first formal night but due to the fact that we were tendering I had already decided that the first formal would be tomorrow. Sadly other departments did not realise this. On the list that was in the cabin when we arrived it said that the first formal would be tomorrow ( as I anticipated). So last night there were invitations to the Captain’s Welcome Aboard bash for tonight – these were quickly removed and replaced with ones for tomorrow night (I hope you are all keeping up). Tonight’s dinner menu was the “Gala Dinner” which did not have the same impact not being a “Black Tie” night – although they did have the stilton with port.

The table situation does not appear to have resolved itself so I am guessing that the ship is not full. Our table for eight was only set for six and the next table still only had two – anywat tomorrow night we will be a table of eight and the next table will be a table of none!

For OBF – there is a plaque on the wall in Anderson’s commemorating her visit to Barrow-in-Furness!

To be continued …


Whynd1
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#17

Post by Whynd1 »

Sounds similar to the shambles we had.

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oldbluefox
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#18

Post by oldbluefox »

david63 wrote: 09 Jul 2017, 00:10
For OBF – there is a plaque on the wall in Anderson’s commemorating her visit to Barrow-in-Furness!
Probably her one and only!!! There won't be many of those around. :lol:


Ray Scully
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#19

Post by Ray Scully »

Hi David
Having booked Adonia for December (albeit at the full price ;-) ) I have a particular interest in this post. Particularly if you encounter any choppy seas and how Adonia handles them. What is the age ranges of your fellow cruisers and are all in bed by 10.30 pm ;-) We chose it for the itinerary and hopefully a less impersonal experience than that now offered by the BIG ships

Ray

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Manoverboard
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#20

Post by Manoverboard »

They'll all be in bed by 10:30 so don't fret they won't keep you awake :wave:
Keep smiling, it's good for your well being


Ray Scully
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#21

Post by Ray Scully »

Moby
Thank you for your most helpful post.

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oldbluefox
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#22

Post by oldbluefox »

Manoverboard wrote: 09 Jul 2017, 19:10
They'll all be in bed by 10:30 so don't fret they won't keep you awake :wave:
After they have all had their Horlicks!!! :wave:


Ray Scully
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#23

Post by Ray Scully »

oldbluefox wrote: 09 Jul 2017, 19:55
Manoverboard wrote: 09 Jul 2017, 19:10
They'll all be in bed by 10:30 so don't fret they won't keep you awake :wave:
After they have all had their Horlicks!!! :wave:
Is the Horlicks available from room service or did you have to take trip to the buffet?

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oldbluefox
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#24

Post by oldbluefox »

When we were on it was in the buffet. No wonder the bars were empty, they were all up there on their Horlicks and stocking up on food. Where do they put it all?

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oldbluefox
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Re: Smurfy’s Short Adonia Jaunt

#25

Post by oldbluefox »

............................ and before Mob says anything we were up there in the interests of research for Smurfy's CC forum!!! :thumbup:

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