13. Life on board part two…and concluding remarks.

For obvious reasons this has been a very different cruise and in summing up a number of factors need to be borne in mind..

We’re travelling in a time where a pandemic has, and continues to shape our lives, (locals, crew, and passengers) both onboard the ship and in the places where we have stopped;

Brexit and supply chain issues have undoubtedly affected some of the ship’s services;

The ship has only recently been returned to service after a layoff of many months;

The ship’s service staff have also only just returned to their jobs after months of unemployment;

The entire crew are having to deal with procedures, guidelines, restrictions and protocols that they have never encountered before.

Therefore what we have experienced on this trip is not likely to be a blueprint for future cruises as the pandemic will (hopefully) ease and restrictions will (hopefully) ease too. 

On the whole the staff and crew have, as always, been courteous, helpful and friendly even when circumstances have been somewhat trying. The senior officers have, not surprisingly under Covid restrictions, kept out of sight.

Nearly all of the “party” activities have largely disappeared, eg sailaway parties, captain’s cocktail party and poolside games, similarly activities and games which normally attract larger crowds or personal contact eg ballroom dancing and the balloon drop challenge, communal jigsaw puzzle, library, book swap, morning crossword and soduku etc. Trivia, Bingo, and other games have continued but in smaller venues. The theatre and casino have continued as usual.

There is no Platinum photo studio and no chart showing the route of the voyage.

The after dinner mints are no more, as have the bedtime turndown chocolates and nibbles in the bars. Almost certainly cost saving measures.

The food has been no more than average. (It doesn’t bode well when you order a steak and the waiter says “good luck”. We soon found out why….the steaks are as tough as old boots). Generally though, the second week has been better than the first. Having said that, the buffet is no longer self service but works pretty well as dishes and portions are served in front of you before you take them back to your table. Certainly there is less waste as people are not piling their plates and then leaving half.

We’re not really theatre people so it’s hard to comment on that side of the entertainment. The one show we went to (songs from west end musicals), was good and by all accounts from those in the know, excellent. The Rock Opera was performed with gusto but there was no discernible storyline. The other musicians (strings, guitarists etc) have been very listenable.

The mask wearing indoors has been a bit of a pain but people seem to understand the reason why and don’t complain. 

I’m not quite sure about the ship itself. As I mentioned earlier it’s a beautiful vessel but we have found that it has some big faults. No real promenade deck is one and no quiet lounges where you can sit and watch the world go by is another. It’s not a full ship either, 2,400 aboard out of a capacity of 3,600), so on inclement days it’s been okay inside…fully booked it would be more of a squash although there would be enough room out on deck on warmer and sunnier days.

Our favourite lounge has turned out to be Take 5 where a jazz trio play every evening as we have tried to work our way through the cocktails menu. We’ve also found the Estrella dining room to be rather better than the Cielo in terms of service.

We’ve taken part in a number of trivia competitions, usually just on our own. Our best result was to lose a tie break but we claimed a moral victory as our competitors were a team of six compared to just us two. Some of the questions have been rather open to interpretation and we have proved at least two answers given by the host as being incorrect. But hey, it’s only a game.

I can’t complain about the itinerary either; as I mentioned before this trip has been about the journey rather than the destination. The weather on port days has been extremely pleasant and warm.

And now we are heading back to Southampton with conditions fairly typical for the region and time of year….a bit of a swell, showers and lots of rainbows. Until next time!