Adonia cruise Part 7 - Sete and Carcassonne

Yet another glorious day as we arrived in Sete around 9am. On first impressions it was not that exciting but the surrounding area was very nice indeed. Caryll and I were on an excursion to Carcassonne, somewhere I had long wished to visit. It was a 2 hour drive through vineyards (the area is Languedoc & Roussillon) of muscat and fitou grapes to the walled medieval city.

Here we had a walking tour of around one and a half hours through the narrow cobbled winding streets lined with ancient stone and timbered houses, past the castle and to the Cathedral. Inside this magnificent Gothic and 19^th century building we were treated to a short concert of plainsong by four Russian men – such as sung in Orthodox Russian churches – it was magical. They certainly knew something about acoustics when they built these churches! Outside swallows swooped in the hot sunshine and butterflies and moths floated past – as well as a HUGE flying beetle of some sort!  We then had about an hour of free time.

Caryll and I bought a couple of salad rolls and sat around a fountain in one of the old squares. It was perfect. On arrival back at Sete the ship was delayed in sailing for about half an hour while a passenger was offloaded into an ambulance, after which we sailed into a calm, blue sea. As the cruise berth is right beside a residential street, people were out on their balconies waving at us as we departed.

Adonia Cruise Part 6 - Portofino

After the noise and heat of Rome, today’s tender port of Portofino was bliss.  It was another glorious morning as we woke to the sound of the anchor being dropped and the tenders lowered from outside our window.

After breakfast out on the stern deck again we set off ashore, this time remembering to get tender tickets! Once again this port was new to me and I was not disappointed.  The sun was shining on the ochre-coloured buildings with their faded green shutters as we motored into the harbour. 

The water was so clear that dozens of different fish could be seen swimming around in the harbour – almost like an aquarium. After a wander through the main area together,  Caryll set off to explore further round the headland and I pottered about the town, stopping for the obligatory gelato (2.80 euros) and later on a small beer at a pretty café overlooking the harbour. I bought a sun dress (I hadn’t packed for this heat!) and then round about 1pm I took the tender back to the ship. Also anchored in the harbour was Sea Cloud II – a five-star, new-build three-masted tall ship carrying 96 passengers, who were being tendered ashore alongside us.

At the sailaway they were playing music and offered a free drink to anyone who could name the 1970s commercial one tune was used for. I knew it was Old Spice and so both Caryll and I got a free cocktail of the day!  Another delicious dinner but one thing I have noticed though is that the sommelier doesn’t come around with post-dinner liqueurs.

Adonia cruise Part 5 - Civitavecchia

Wednesday 9 May 2012

We were up early for our arrival in Civitavecchia to see the other ships arriving or in port – Minerva, Norwegian Epic and Ruby Princess were already in and Sovereign arrived just after us. It is the first time I had seen Epic in the flesh as it were and what a truly hideous ship she is in my opinion.

Caryll and I took the Rome on your Own tour, leaving the ship at 9am and getting back at 6pm. It was VERY hot in Rome and we walked far more than I had planned, which was not good for my knees not to mention sunburn!  We were really lucky though as we were dropped off at the bottom of St Peter’s Square just as the Pope was blessing the crowd and touring round the audience in an open top car. He then returned to the steps of St Peter’s and a service continued. Although I am not RC, it was a moving moment and one I never expected to see. After that we crossed the Caste; Sant’Angelo bridge and headed up the Corso Vittorio Emanuel II to the Forum and Colosseum – a joint ticket cost 12 euros. Then we headed back towards the Piazza Navona and Pantheon, although we lost our sense of direction and ended up at the Trevi Fountain!!

As we had to be back at the meeting point at 4.15, we picked up a pizza and ate it in Pizza Navona, rather than find a café, before going to the Castel Sant’ Angelo. Caryll stayed to go inside the castel while I went back to St Peter’s Square, tripping on one of the many pavement hazards that litter European streets and only just saving myself from falling down. There is very little shade in Rome and with the hot sun beating down we are both a little scorched again! It was lovely to be welcomed back on board by Zak, the Executive Purser (who sent a bottle a bottle of wine to our cabin).  Sailaway was at 7pm, but ships' sirens are no longer allowed to be sounded in port any more. Minerva sailed just before us so we were able to have a good view and wave of course.

Adonia Cruise Part 4 - Alghero

Monday 7 May 2012

We woke to the promise of another beautiful day. It was to be the last sea day since we then had six ports in a row. The Adonia Uncovered event took place in the morning. This was the usual display of fruit carving, napkin folding (by Andrew, a waiter who was my table waiter on Artemis and who remembered me – how do they do that?), mechanical engineering and towel folding. I chatted to the Captain who said how much he liked our book. At 11.45 it was the Caribbean Lunch where Caryll and I were seated with Tom, the Safety Officer and two couples. He took the ship out of Gibraltar yesterday, under the Captain’s supervision. At 3pm I had a book signing in the atrium. Not the best day to be doing it with calm blue seas, cloudless blue skies and the sun shining so hot outside – still I sold a few before going to sit out myself. Then it was back to the cabin to prepare for the second formal night of this cruise – two gala meals in one day - oh dear!! At 7.15 there was a "radio" play starring officers and crew, including my friend Stephen who is Housekeeping Manager. It was hilarious and better than some of the so-called comedians. Our team won the quiz again last night - sort off. That is we won the majority of questions but as we had won the two previous nights, started with a -3 handicap so technically lost. As it was two teams came top and there was a tiebreak which, had we been included, we would also have won!! When we got back to the cabin we found our second towel animal on the bed - a seal this time – as well as our half bottle of Mumm champagne from the Peninsular Club, chilling in the fridge.

Tuesday 8 May 2012
Another beautiful morning as we arrived off Alghero in Sardinia, the first of our tender ports. The ship's tenders are very smart with panoramic windows all around so great for photographers. The tendering operation went very smoothly although the seas were a bit on the choppy side first thing – I got very wet feet at one point as I was sitting by the entrance to try and get photos. Both of us had missed the fact we were supposed to get tender tickets to board, but fortunately Stephen was on the platform and waved us on board anyway (after a grumble!).

I hadn't been here before and loved exploring the narrow winding streets of the old town. It is a pretty seaside resort and the low, pastel-coloured houses overlooking the marina and waterfront reminded me of photos I had seen of Burano. There was a church round every corner and shops selling the coral and turquoise jewellery that is the local specialty. After walking through the centre, we paused for a delicious gelato while sitting in the sun before setting off again round the town walls. These were interspersed with towers and huge catapults.

Caryll stayed ashore longer to find a Wi-Fi spot and as I came back on the tender a fast sightseeing boat swept past seeming to delight in causing our tender to rock about on its wake! The sun was sparkling on the water and it should be a beautiful sunset. My arms were by then nicely lobster coloured despite some factor 30 today.

Adonia Cruise Part 3 - Lisbon

Saturday 5 May 2012
We arrived at Lisbon at 9am, having been sailing up the river since 7am. After a bit of a rocky evening and night, the weather was glorious. Adonia was very stable and in fact it was only really noticeable how much we were pitching when you looked at the horizon.

Caryll and I set off after breakfast to explore on foot. We docked at the bottom of the Alfama District just behind HAL Rotterdam. As we set off Thompson Spirit was arriving too. The Alfama or Arab quarter area is very attractive with narrow winding streets and locals going about their business. We entered the Church of St John the Baptist where a local was eager to explain all about the church to us. Then walked to the Cathedral and into the main city centre. We found a café and sat outside, close to the Triumphal Arch at the centre of Commercial Square and had a coffee. After a bit more wandering we caught the free shuttle bus back to the ship. The sun was quite hot, although there were a few clouds around too. As we arrived back at the dockside, we walked up to the other two ships to take photos. No one was bothered which was a nice change. We left at 3.30 as we have to get round to Gibraltar for tomorrow. 

Another excellent dinner of barramundi after a cocktail in Andersons and a couple of dances.  After dinner Caryll and I went to the syndicate quiz and won again - 19/20. Then to bed as the clocks were being put forward that night.


Sunday 6 May 2012

We woke at 8am to a beautiful bright morning and an announcement from the bridge that a pod of well over 100 dolphins were on the starboard side. Suffice it to say they had disappeared by the time I had thrown on some clothes! After breakfast out on deck again Caryll went to the church service and I found a chair on the prom deck. We were in the Straits of Gibraltar approaching the narrowest point with our arrival due at 1pm. There was lots of shipping to watch and a few more dolphins.

After berthing, Caryll and I walked into town. We had an hour or so to explore before meeting a friend in Casemates Square. Despite being here a couple of times before I had always done tours so have never actually walked up the main street, which was very nice. We looked in a church on the way and I bought some perfume, before we headed back to enjoy a leisurely coffee and chat in the sun with Anthea. As we returned to the ship, Rotterdam and Brilliance of the Seas had arrived. As we were the first to leave, the sailaway in the sun was brilliant, watching the two other ships fade into the distance as we headed off round Europa Point towards Sardinia.

Adonia Cruise Part 2

Thursday 3 May 2012

It was a very calm night. We were then just off Brest  and had two days at sea before we reach Lisbon. The weather was amazing – calm seas since we left and blue sky with occasional clouds. After the weather at home for the last month this was wonderful. We passed Aurora earlier heading homewards. I found the service excellent so far. A lady asked where the water was for example and was asked where she was sitting and it was brought for her. The travelling alone meeting had about a dozen ladies – one of whom was on my table on Artemis on one cruise – 2008 I think. I also went to the Battle of the Sexes quiz in the Crow’s Nest.  Again many more ladies than gentlemen! The Crow’s Nest is beautiful with a striking tartan carpet. All long the front windows are low padded leather benches which make excellent foot stools if you position the chairs correctly. You can then recline with a fabulous view forward. There are also two binoculars on stands at each side, in case you spot something you need a better view of.

Friday 4 May 2012
Another calm night and we are through the BoB. The sun was shining through the cabin, although there are some black clouds on the horizon to port. Last night's Welcome Party was good, with plentiful drink and canapes. We chatted to the doctor for most of the time - hopefully the previous night's Code Alpha (which came through to all cabins at around 1am) was not too serious if he could attend the party. The dinner was the usual good offering - lobster for me but there was a good variety including chicken, sea bass and beef.

As Adonia is WiFi, I was able to type up my journal and reports in the cabin.

We headed up to breakfast in the Conservatory, where we ate it throughout the cruise – and until the last two days in the BoB again, we ate it outside on the aft teak deck with a fabulous view of the wake. Since breakfast is served until noon, it means fruit juice is available free until then as well, which is good. We were by then in dolphin waters and there was an announcement earlier from the bridge that there was a large pod on the port side - I leapt to our window, but I suppose, as usual, they had dived under the ship by then. As the sun was shining, I sat on the prom deck but there was a chilly wind and the spray was being blown up. The nice thing about Adonia's prom deck is its closeness to the water, but conversely, it mean you get wetter! The not so nice thing is that it is not wrap-around and has a nasty composite surface, although if you sit with your feet on the rails the chair doesn’t slide backwards!  The other downside is that it is not that long and when the tenders are in use, is closed.

There are lots of 175 Celebration touches about the ship such as special badges worn by the crew, a large 175 flag flying from the mast and gratifyingly, our book prominently on sale in the shop.

Although I do like the ship, she is not a replacement for Artemis and I have a few reservations. The main sun deck has plenty of sun beds (quite close together though) and teak tables and chairs, but if you want a reclining chair (as I do), you are restricted to the promenade deck only, unless of course you resort to my tactics of learning how to fold up one of the teak prom-deck chairs and carry it up in the lift to Deck 10!  Trouble is, it disappeared every night back down again! The service is definitely a star up on the other ships, as are other touches such as linen napkins everywhere, not paper ones, and a waiter was in the Conservatory to make your tea and coffee etc.

After dinner we went to the syndicate quiz up in the Conservatory. We joined a table with some of the previous night's winners so we had to start with -1! Despite our handicap we managed to win a bottle of Olly Smith specially selected wine – which we put to chill in our fridge.

Cruise on Adonia to Western Med - Day 1

Not in real time but I will be posting "daily" reports here of my recent cruise to the Western Mediterraean on P&O Cruises' smallest vessel, Adonia. About half of the nine ports were new to me so it was interesting and fun exploring these new places.

Day 1 - Southampton

Wednesday 2 May 2012

I arrived at 11.30 at the Queen Elizabeth Terminal. Grand Princess, Independence of the Seas and Queen Elizabeth were all in port as well as Adonia and as I was walking to check-in I noticed a car with all the luggage unpacked and a CPS car sticker for QE on the windscreen!!  They had to reload it all and drive to Ocean Terminal. I bet he wasn’t very happy. (On my return I noticed they had put a big sign on the luggage hole-in-the-wall that this was for Adonia NOT Oriana or QE, which were in port that day.)

I was first to check-in as I was able to use the Caribbean desks and then there was a short wait in the terminal, where I picked up a couple of the free magazine to read on board. My friend soon joined me. There was a separate area with drinks and newspapers for Ligurian members. The two top levels and suite passengers were called first, then Caribbean. It was lovely to be back on a small ship. We headed for the Curzon Lounge for the free champagne etc! It was nice to find that instead of the plate of dry sandwiches and crisps, there was a hot and cold buffet with canapés  (including smoked salmon with salmon mouse and caviar), hot and cold wraps, delicious pies and pastries (eg. Scottish pie) as well as deserts. They are still smartening up the ship and on boarding day two people were measuring up for new carpets in the Curzon Room - which looked fine to me!

When the cabins were ready we headed off up to Deck 6 and to C36.  We had an outside obstructed cabin. In fact it was between a lifeboat and a tender so we could see the view quite well. The layout was long and side-ways on so the two beds had the heads forward with our feet pointing aft. The storage was OK, but was mostly cupboards and quite a lot of it was low down. There were two bedside cupboards with one shelf inside and a lamp fixed centrally on top. This was a good height for reading in bed though. The flat screen 19 inch TV was in a corner unit with two cupboards below (one with a safe inside). There was one large wardrobe with full height hanging and a small wardrobe with half height hanging and four small drawers. The dresser had a fridge one side and another cupboard with single shelf the other. There was 10 inches clearance under the beds so our cases fitted under opened out in half. The bathroom had a corner cupboard with mirror door and three shelves, there were three corner open shelves and two corner racks in the shower. A full length shelf was under the basin but this held the bin as well. There were the usual free toiletries of Molton Brown shower gel and White Company shampoo, conditioner and body lotion, a shower cap and Elemis sewing kit. The hairdryer is in the bathroom and has to be used standing, so I was glad I have packed a travel dryer. A nice touch is that one of the two UK-style power sockets over the dresser is mounted upside down – great for some of those those larger transformer/chargers that won’t fit if the socket is too close to the surface.

Our Peninsular Club badges were on the bed together with a free pair of blue P&O Cruises slippers each – one size fits all – not – and a voucher each for our free sailaway champagne
After muster drill we went to the small prom deck for our drink and to listen to the band – yes we had a band! We were going to sail through the Western Solent. As we reached Calshot a large black cylinder was raised on the last to indicate our direction and we stood watching Grand Princess and IOTS having to go the long way round - so for the first time I saw the Needles Lighthouse just as the sailing ship Royalist was coming in under full sail.

It is lovely to see so many ex-Artemis officers and crew on board and catch up with some of them. Our Captain was David Box, not Capt. Perkins as listed in the Peninsular Magazine.

Below is the classic Queen Elizabeth Terminal and the Needles Light