Cruise excursions

I will make this the last post of our trip away on the cruise ship. I don't want to make you any more bored than you are with this blog.

So, excursions from the ship. P&O cruises do there own excursions of course when you get to a port. And I have put the link there for those who might be interested. We had booked with Planet Cruise, and they had a link for excursions to cruising excursions.

The first post of call was Madeira, a pretty little island. We were met by a driver and mini bus for the tour which was meant to last four hours. It turned out that these trips were not that well booked as most of the time no more than six were on the bus at any time in any of the tours. But we had a run around and stopped for a bit of shopping etc which is part of all of these trips. So what did I think of Madeira? Well it was nice enough, but I would not bother going back for a holiday. As with all these trips the islands were volcanic and all would go up into the mountains. Below are a couple of photos from the trip.

The next stop was La Palma. On this one it seems that we were not offered an excursion, and as the ship was quite close to the main town we just walked in and had a look around. As you can see from the photos below, it is pretty enough, but just a small town. Would I go back? No thanks, it was not that special.

After that we stopped in Tenerife.I have been there before on the other side of the island, near Los Christianos but this time most of the trip would be into the volcanic area and Mt Teidi. I found this fascinating and enjoyed the whole trip. I had been to the area before the last time I was here, and this time I had a better view coming from a different part of the island. Would I come back? Definitely, I like Tenerife and enjoyed the whole trip around it.

After that the next stop was Gran Canaria, another very pretty island but not with quite so many hills and mountains. We were taken to a botanical gardens and given forty five minutes to look around. It would have taken most of the day for a true look at this very pretty little place, but it was very nice anyway. And then onto a small village called Teror which was well worth going to and I could happily go back again. So all in all, a very enjoyable trip, and would I go back? Definitely, it is well worth seeing.

For the next one it was Lanzarote. The trip was to the 'Fire mountains'  
Denise did not want to come on this one as she had seen quite enough of mountains by this time, and had been up there on a previous holiday. For me it was a very enjoyable day. We had a guide who spoke excellent English and had in fact lived for a time in my home city of Cardiff.  The tour included a trip around the extraordinary area of volcanic lava and after that to a vineyard. You can see from the photo below that they grow the vine in a very unusual way, protected from the wind by small curved walls. With no natural water on the island, they have to get theirs from desalination. All in all a great and very interesting trip. Would I go back? Maybe, but I am sure that Denise would not want to.

And for the last for anyone that has had the fortitude to read this far, Lisbon was the last stop on this trip before heading home. This was a day and a half sail from the last stop. Lisbon is of course the capital of Portugal and once again we had a very informative guide who really knew her stuff. A VERY busy city, and as someone who has driven in many parts of the world, I would not want to drive in that city! They have many churches and this trip took in quite a few of them. To be fair the churches are in the main very beautiful and worth the visit. We were also taken to a shop that specializes in the small custard tarts they make there, and believe me they were fantastic! Also a few of the other well known sights, and once again a very worthwhile trip. Would I go back? Probably not, but I did enjoy the time there.

So to end. All in all a very enjoyable cruise. I have seen places that I had not been before, and met some lovely people. Would I do it again? Well no, as I said in an earlier post. Just because I prefer to get somewhere quicker and get on with the holiday. But for those who like the relaxation and the excellent service, this would be a great holiday. But I am glad that I tried it.

 

On board entertainment

Cruises of course to not want you be feel bored under any circumstances at all. If you are bored you might well decide not to go back to them or to cruise with another operator. Which is why there is a variety of things to keep you entertained all day long.

Every day on  the P&O ships there is a paper delivered to your cabin detailing the next days activities and a suggestion of wear for the evening meal, perhaps a black tie evening or casual dress code.

And then there may be an art exhibition, (yes they have their own art gallery that you can purchase from) or a talk perhaps on WW11, (very well attended). Maybe a seminar on jewellery, dancing lessons, Yoga, indoor cycling, tennis, a bridge game, shuffleboard, quoits, acupuncture, bingo, and everyday a film in one of the theatre venues, and they would be modern ones from this or last year.

In the evening of course the entertainment is built up even more. On the Oceana there are two main venues, the Spotlight and Footlights. The Spotlight is a more of a nightclub with comfy chairs and Footlights is more of a retro theatre that can seat getting on for a thousand I would think. Both of course have waiters hovering to make sure you have drinks while watching the acts.

The acts on the whole are first class. Not everyone was to our taste of course, but they were all good from comedians and magicians to singers and classic piano players etc.

And if that was not to your taste there was always something else and other places you could go to on board pubs and a casino and more music in the Atrium. All in all, keep the punters on the go at all times.

And of course as well there are the on board shops, selling clothes and watched and jewellery just in case you had not bought enough. Cigarettes and spirits as well as sweets etc. Anything to get you spending.  

For us, well we did go to a lot of the evening venues, but on the whole stayed away from the rest. Shuffleboard and quoits did not do a lot for us. But we could not complain about the choice as there was always plenty to. When we go to a port we had excursions booked at just about all, so were out and about anyway.

I will post about the excursions next time I think.

Food on board

Cruise ships I have discovered have a whole range of food that I for one had never tried and in many cases had never heard of! We had a table booked on one of the large restaurants and once you had been shown to the table that was yours for the cruise. The table was for eight, although only six of us were there for the meals. The waiters come around with a menu each and then pour a glass of cold water for all to help the meal go down.

Silver service of course, and the napkin is carefully placed on your lap as you sit. Of course as well the chair is pulled out and in as you site down. All very civilized of course. (Nearly all the staff on the ship are from Asia and I do wonder what they think serving, what to them must be rich people)

The menu has at least four and sometimes five starters and mains and dessert choices. Many of the choices on the menu I had not heard of, and for the most part left alone. But to be fair the greatest part of the meals that I tasted were very good indeed. The desserts especially were wonderful.

I did send a few back though and as they just do not want you ever to be disappointed, you are offered another choice straight away. The most memorable one I think was the lobster. This was a menu by Marco Pier White and was supposed to be spectacular. I had never tried lobster, and as it was on the menu, well of course I had to have it. It was quite frankly disgusting. I have to say that I have not got the palette that others have for this fancy food, and I will never try it again.

Another was Sea Bass. Ah! I thought I am on a winner. I like sea bass and have had it several times. But this came in some sort of orange coloured sauce and far to much of it. Horrible and back it went.

And three of us one day tried 'homemade faggots'. A specialty of Wales if you are down this way. Sold in many South Wales cafes, so what could go wrong. Well quite frankly everything. They were more liver than anything and not cooked enough. Three ordered and three sent back.

I do not want to give the impression here that I sent most of the fine grub back because I did not. The greatest part was wonderful, but perhaps a bit to wonderful for my simple taste.

There was also a 'buffet' type dinning room on the 14th floor open to all. You just turned up grabbed a plate and chose what you wanted out of a huge choice. And very nice it was as well, even if it did get a bit crowded. But as it was at the front end of the ship you had a nice view as we were sailing along.

To get from our cabin which was based at the stern of the ship to the buffet dining which we used occasionally, we had to walk up the corridor to the other end. I have put in a photo of the corridor to show how long it was.

And then deck 14 outside.

On board costs

For this page I am going to concentrate on the costs on board the cruise ship. One of the biggest scams are the photos. Of course most of us will take some sort of camera, maybe your mobile phone, or a small pocket camera, or like me, a large SLR type.

But we all want that special memory, and one taken by a professional of you and your partner, is just a bit nicer. And you are offered various ways to have them with different sizes. So far so good. There are about five or six pros on board and they will come around at ships evenings such as a 'black tie' evening, or will take photos as you disembark to go on tours.

What I have issues with is the prices. We bought for ourselves a photo memory book. Just three photos of 8"x10" and a couple of standard stock photos. The quality was pretty good, but that cost was just under £45. Quite pricey for what we got.

A standard 7x5 photo was around £6 and a 8x10 was just under £12. You of course are paying extra because of the ones that do not buy them. Have they not thought that by reducing the price by half about three times more passengers would buy them?

One of the biggest stings I noticed was on a canvas print offer. A 16" x 20" canvas print was on a 'special offer' of 5p short of £70! You can get this anywhere at £40. Below is a copy of the professional photo taken on board. It is only a 'photo of a photo' so not quite as good as the real thing.

Enough about the photos. Also on offer was a 'behind the scenes tour of the ship. Down to the engine room and up the bridge, that sort of thing. Don't forget this costs the ship nothing, just an officer to walk around and point out the places etc. I was interested so asked about it. Yes I could go but the cost was £75 each! No thanks was the quick answer!

The tours were also quite pricey, although I cannot give the prices here as I had organized my own with another company.

And of course there was the Wi-fi. That was a little gem. As you are on the high sea the internet is the ships own and not what you could expect back home. But it was OK for the odd email etc or surfing Facebook.  They wanted £62.50 for 250 minutes! That works out to around £15 an hour. Needless to say I did not bother. I stayed out of touch for a couple of days until I could get to port and find a free Wi-Fi spot.

So that is today's moan about the cost. Of course you did not have to pay it, and I did not for most of it. But it just seems they want to get that little bit more out of the customer, even though you have already paid a great deal to be there in the first place.

What I did like however was the cashless on board payment system. When you board you are asked to present a credit or debit card. They will take the details and then give you a card used to open the cabin door. This is also used to pay for all items on board from a large item to a packet of sweets. This does mean that you do not have to carry around cash or credit cards etc. At the end of the trip your on board spend is calculated and taken from your card. You can ask for a print out at anytime of the spend so you can keep an eye on it.

And then just to finish this off nicely, a photo that I took with my own camera, just of a flower we noticed while on a trip.