Day 3 and another sea day as we sail south off the coast of Portugal. The weather was nice and warm this morning so after another gym session and a reasonably healthy breakfast (if you ignore the cheese and ham croissant) we headed to the Terrace Pool at the aft of the ship for a spot of sunbathing. The sun loungers right next to the pool were already taken (this was about 9:30ish) but there were plenty available on the higher terraces overlooking the pool.

By about 12:45, my pasty, white Celtic skin was beginning to cook so we retreated to the MDR to try lunch in there. Lunch is available in two of the dining rooms and I’m not sure whether or not they have different menus but we tried the Oriental restaurant as it was the only MDR we hadn’t been in yet. I decided to go for a light option of Butternut Squash Soup and a Jerusalem Artichoke Salad followed by Peach Melba for dessert.

Following lunch, we had a stroll around the ship to get our step count up before managing to find chairs and a table and eventually loungers right by the Terrace pool. By 4pm, we were again feeling the heat so we decided to cool off with our first dip in the pool. It was very cold as they’d had to drain them (although I think they’d pretty much drained themselves!) during the choppy weather on the first 2 days. It was nice and refreshing though.

After drying off, we headed back to the cabins to get changed for an early dinner. Again we ate in the MDR, arriving at about 6:30 and managing to get a table for 3 with no waiting. Dinner was again very tasty – I enjoyed a Duck Rillette with orange and walnut salad and beetroot ketchup followed by Miso Glazed Tuna with stir fried vegetables, pickled ginger and jasmine rice. For dessert I chose Blueberry Cheesecake which, unfortunately was disappointing and I didn’t finish it (I am a bit of a cheesecake connoisseur though) so I’m pleased that I’d had the foresight to ask to try the coconut ice-cream too which I’m happy to report was delicious!

We went to post-dinner drinks at the Blue Bar at the top of the atrium and were pleasantly surprised to be served with some tasty Thai Chicken canapes. I was still full from dinner but I tried them in the name of research and I’m pleased to report they were very tasty.

Our choice for the evening’s entertainment was a comedian by the name of Rudi Lickwood in the Manhattan Lounge. His set was short at only about 45 minutes but he was pretty funny and apparently is doing another couple of shows later on in the cruise including an adult only show so we’ll probably go to see him again.

We finished the night in the Glass House wine bar where I enjoyed one of my favourite wines – Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc – before heading to bed early-ish ready for our first port day tomorrow when we will visit the Spanish city of Cadiz.

Thanks for reading,

FFF

Day 2 of this cruise sees us sailing down past France towards northern Spain.  In the morning, the sea was still a bit rocky although less so than it was last night. The wind had dropped quite a bit and it was ever so slightly warmer.

Starting as I mean to go on, I got up early to get a gym session in before breakfast, even though the clocks went forward an hour last night to bring us in line with Spain. The gym on this ship is open 24hrs, although you can only use the treadmills between 8am-8pm as there are cabins below. They also ask you to take care with resistance machines and weights outside these times.

After breakfast, I woke up my shipmates (well, only Mr FFF as MIL was already up and about!) and we went for breakfast in the buffet. It was about 9ish by the time we got there and again, although it was busy, we soon found a table. The selection was very good. I chose a freshly made omelette with cheese, tomatoes and onions with tinned tomatoes and mushrooms followed by fruit and a croissant – I find breakfast pastries so hard to resist!

There was a cooking demonstration being given in one of the speciality restaurants at 10am so Mr FFF and I went along to that whilst MIL went to look around the shops (we were slightly worried we’d never see her again!)

The demo was hosted by the Executive Chef, Andy Yull, who hails from Glasgow. It was held in Sindhu which is the Indian specialty restaurant on board that has Atul Kochar’s name associated with it. Andy was very entertaining giving us facts and figures about food on the ship (285 tonnes of it were loaded yesterday!!!) whilst talking through the dishes that various chefs were cooking from the different specialty restaurants. We also got to try a chicken tikka bite whilst we were watching – it was delicious though not photogenic. There was also the opportunity to sample some Crepes Suzette afterward but I was too stuffed from breakfast and Chicken Tikka! As a foodie, I obviously found the talk interesting and, although I’d already got 2 speciality restaurants booked for the cruise, I was impressed to find that there was no hard sell to book any. That said, I’ve ended up booking Sindhu as well (at Mr FFF’s insistence, honest!) and Mr FFF is also very keen to try the steak in the Glass House which I’m more than happy about as it will mean I’ll get to sample both that and whatever I choose from their menu.  Yum!

With the weather still not that great and having tracked down MIL, we grabbed some coffees from the café, Java (Costa coffee – £2.60 for a small latte) and went to the theatre to hear the presentation about Barcelona. Having been there 3 times before, I didn’t really learn a great deal about Barcelona itself although it looks like I’m going to have to visit again after this cruise as I now quite fancy going to visit the monastery at Montserrat. MIL seemed to enjoy the talk though and is quite excited for this port.

By the time the talk finished, the weather had started to improve slightly so we headed out to the Terrace Pool at the aft of the ship to relax. I made some good progress with the book I’m reading before we had a sudden rain shower. The closest inside place to this pool is the buffet and so we decided that the best thing to do was to eat lunch! I again went with the healthy option of soup and salad.

The afternoon saw us relaxing with a book in Planet Bar before heading back to the cabin for a quick siesta before getting ready for our first ‘Black Tie’ night. There was a Captain’s Gala with free fizz, red & white wine, whiskey, G&T or fruit juice, scheduled for 6pm and 8pm. We managed to time it just right to grab a drink on the way in to dinner at 6pm, beating the dinner crowds, and were out just in time to grab a drink and experience the 8pm Gala – every little helps when you haven’t got the drinks package!

Dinner was a menu devised (apparently) by Marco Pierre White, although there were also other options to choose from. However, we all went with the Marco option. All of the savoury courses were delicious although the dessert was just ok. I find this is often the case with cruise desserts but I keep trying them in the name of ‘research’! We also enjoyed a very nice bottle of wine – Cannonball Cabernet Sauvignon from Sonoma Valley, CA £23ish – which went very well with the Beef Wellington. As we only drank half of the bottle with dinner, we asked the wine waiter to keep the rest for us for the following night. It is possible to do this at all of the restaurants and, I think, most of the bars.

Following our second round of free drinks at the gala, we headed to Malabar Lounge where we thought there was going to be a country singer but actually it was one of the house bands – a Caribbean band called Accent. They were very good and managed to get a few people up dancing – quite an achievement on a ship full of Brits so early in the evening!

When they took a break, we went to the Manhattan Lounge where the country singer was actually performing and were there just in time for her second show. Her name was Laura Austen. She’s from Wales and had a fabulous voice. She said that she is going to be playing the young Tammy Wynette in an upcoming Netflix film so I’m definitely going to look out for that.

After a good old country sing-a-long, it was time to head to bed before another sea day tomorrow.

Thanks for reading,

FFF

Although we had an early night last night, it was still a bit early to be woken up by a phone call from my MIL at 6:58am to say that she was up, showered and ready to go for breakfast! It’s her first cruise and I think she’s a bit excited so we’ll let her off.

We were soon dressed and downstairs to fill up at the buffet to set us up for the day. Breakfast was not included but is pretty good value at about £9 per person. There were all the usual cereals, fruit juices, tea, coffee, breads, pastries, fruit, yogurt and, of course, all the elements needed for a full English. Mr FFF & MIL both went for the full English option whilst I went for a bagel, yogurt and fruit – I’m intending to make more healthy choices than I ordinarily would on this cruise whilst still having some treats.

After breakfast and with time to kill before we could go to the port, we had a wander around Southampton and stopped at some shops for some last minute purchases. We walked down to the port to see the other ships that were in – P&O’s Britannia and Oriana, RC’s Independence of the Seas and Sapphire Princess. It was very windy and with the forecast stating it’s going to get worse, I wasn’t hopeful that we’d be sailing on time.

At 11:30, it was time to check out and drive to the port. It was only a 5 minute drive and we had valet parking booked. Although busy, the parking was efficiently run and we only had to queue for a few minutes before being able to unload our luggage. Once inside the terminal building, we were given a coloured and numbered card and told to sit down in the lounge and wait to be called to check in. We arrived at the terminal at approximately 12:15 (after unloading luggage) but it took nearly 2.5 hours to actually get on board. This was disappointing after experiencing quick and seamless check-in on our 3 previous cruises with Royal Caribbean and Princess where each time we were on board within 30 minutes of arriving. Oh well, it was time for the cruise to begin.

By the time we got on board, our cabins were ready so we went straight to them to drop off our carry-on luggage and found our other luggage already waiting for us. We then headed straight to the buffet as we were all pretty hungry after our early breakfast and now late lunch. Although it was busy, we managed to find a table straightaway and were all able to find something tasty to eat.

After lunch, we spent a couple of hours exploring the ship. First impressions are pretty good – the décor is very smart; much better than Crown Princess and I would even give it a slight edge over RC’s Navigator and Independence.

Muster was at 4:45 and I was pleased that they’ve changed the procedure and you no longer have to take your life jacket with you to your muster station. We waited until we heard the alarm sound before heading to our stations, although it appears we were some of the few who did as we arrived to a packed station. It did mean we weren’t waiting very long though – I think we were dismissed at about 4:55.

We then went back to the cabins to unpack. Shortly after, a message came over the tannoy system to say that we would soon be sailing away. We ended up watching sail away from our balcony as it was still pretty windy before heading up to the Planet Bar for pre-dinner drinks and to continue watching as we sailed past the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth.

Feeling peckish, we decided it was time to try out the main dining room. We’ve chosen the ‘Freedom Dining’ option for this cruise meaning we can turn up at the restaurant any time between 6pm-9pm. There was a very short queue and we decided that we would be happy to sit with others if that was quicker as we could see some people waiting nearby with pagers. We were seated immediately with another couple who were very friendly and we had a very pleasant dinner with tasty food and good service.

MIL decided she was ready for bed straight after dinner but Mr FFF and I decided to go to another bar for a final drink. We originally chose the Blue Bar which is at the top of the atrium and has a cocktail pianist, however, they couldn’t make the drink I wanted so suggested we go next door to the Glass House. Here I had a very tasty flat white martini which it was worth moving for. Mr FFF had his cocktail of choice – a pint of Peroni. The bar was very quiet which we think was because there was quite a bit of ‘motion in the ocean’ tonight due to the gale force winds.

After our drink, we headed back to our cabin where we were pleasantly surprised to find that although they no longer offer a turn-down service on embarkation day on P&O, our room steward had still left us some chocolates with tomorrow’s Horizon events programme.

All in all, a pretty good embarkation day and we’re now looking forward to having 2 days to relax and explore the ship as we sail towards our first port of call.

Thanks for reading,

FFF

After a morning’s work for Mr FFF and nails and facial appointments for me (I needed to relax after 2 days of packing!), we set off from the midlands to drive down to Southampton at about 1pm.

The journey was largely uneventful, although I did feel some strong gusts of wind pulling at the car and we drove through a few downpours. We made pretty good time though and arrived in Southampton to sunny weather at about 3:45pm.

We’re staying for one night at the Premier Inn West Quay as unfortunately my first choice of hotel, the Holiday Inn, was fully booked. The hotel seems pretty comfortable although it doesn’t have its own car park which is a slight headache due to all the luggage we have (you’d think we were going on a grand tour with the amount we’ve got. And I was thinking we’d packed light this time!). However, there is a reasonably priced public car park at the back of the hotel so I’m sure we’ll be fine.

The location of the hotel is good – right next to the docks and the West Quay shopping centre. After a quick coffee, we went for a wander around the shopping centre so that MIL could buy a necklace for one of her formal night outfits and Mr FFF could buy a pair of black trousers for black and white night as someone forgot to pack his (who is to blame for this is still in dispute).

Next we wandered down to the Dancing Man Brewery for food. Mr FFF and I found this place before our last cruise but the restaurant was closed due to a wedding. They serve their own and other craft beers and ciders as well as some commercial stuff. Mr FFF had an IPA and a couple of San Miguels whilst I tried their saison and lager. MIL stuck to diet cokes. All of their food is home cooked and they have a wide variety of options for meat eaters and vegans. MIL & I both had pies – her chicken, bacon and cheddar, me beef & stilton (I was going to go for the healthier fish option but I was far too hungry for that), whilst MR FFF had the smoky short rib and brisket. Everything was delicious and the service was good.

We had intended to stroll back to the hotel via Mayflower Park but the wind whipped up and the rain started pouring so we went via the sheltered back streets instead but got to see parts of the old city walls and other historic buildings. We’re going to spend the rest of the night relaxing in front of the TV in the hotel room and trying not to be too excited to sleep!

Thanks for reading,

FFF