There are obviously differing views about Select vs Getaway type deals and it is certainly not my intention to start another war about the benefits of either system but I do actually believe that there may be some of our Members out there who are concerned about booking cheapo deals ... this report is not intended to be the panacea of cruise booking.
So ....
We always start our holidays the minute we shut the front door, we generally set off with one’s Chauffeur / Airport & Cruise Terminal Transfer Service Provider / Chum called Neil. He suggested an earlier than usual departure time because of the likely congestion travelling through Southampton on Saturday the 25th April following a truly agro experience on the preceding Thursday but as it happens we whistled through the Dockyards and arrived at the QE2 Terminal at about 11:30. By 12:15 we were on-board tucking into a half way decent curry with another hitherto unknown couple, after the main course I zoomed off to book Sorrento plus Ocean Grill for the three Jacket Required evenings as is our want.
Our cruise price was listed ( I recall ) at approx £2,350 after OBC discounts in the earliest brochures for a mid ships balcony cabin, a good choice by the way. The cheapest balcony cabin range, that of partly obstructed, were priced from release date to departure date at various figures between £1,349 and £1,899. I believe that we finished up paying virtually the same amount by booking 7 weeks-ish prior to departure as that which was available with discounts at the launch date but we each had in effect six free excursions, three free evening meals with occasional supplements and wine plus included gratuities and 12 bottles of in cabin water as a consequence of the savings we made buying the cheapo deal.
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However, there were a few differences.
* We paid in full at the time of booking
No problem, one has to pay sooner or later and it is of course a tad foolhardy to book a cruise without the funds already being in place.
* We had no choice of cabin location but knew it would be a balcony variant.
It was a partly obstructed one on ‘ A ‘ Deck. These cabins are virtually identical to all the other balcony cabins, including the mid-ship ones, but there was certainly more roll being on the higher deck during the BOB transits ... this however I blame on Foxy as he had deliberately hexed us. We needed wibbly wobbly pills on several of the sea days but hardly an issue we concluded.
* No choice of dining sitting.
We were allocated to second sitting, not a problem as this is our usual choice.
* No choice of table size.
We were allocated to a table of four but there were only the two of us, brilliant as tables for two are generally as rare as hen’s teeth. Because of this we had incredible attentive service from our waiting staff ( duly rewarded ) and better still one of them was in charge of table allocation during the breakfast and lunch time periods so if we went to the MDR for these meals we invariably finished up with a table for two next to the window. ( also duly rewarded )
* No shuttle buses
Not a problem because we booked an excursion ( free ) from every Port.
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Itinerary ....
Lisbon .... we went to Obidos, again, but enjoyed it, again, and especially so the cherry brandy chocs that they are deservedly famous for.
In Portimao we opted for a trip to Lagos, a first time visit for us. Sadly we were to discover later in the day that one of the crew had had a heart attack whilst returning from Portimao, we had been chatting to his wife only the day before. P&O were great and sent somebody out to escort her back home to take care of the arrangements etc.
Seville .... brilliant sail up the river to the City, it was a bit like arriving in Southampton but sailing on to Salisbury. Not our first visit so we did a guided tour of the Bull Ring, visited the ceramic factories and then the rest of Terana which was the old gypsy area and home of Flamenco dance. We also did the Cathedral, Citadel, Jewish Quarter plus the Parks of Marie Louis with the Plaza Espania and Place Des Americas-ish. Two days and an overnight stay in Seville, well done P&O.
Tangier .... was a trip to Tetouan, a great choice with superb scenery en-route but there were security concerns regarding this destination.
Villagarcia de Arusa .... signalled our second visit to Santiago de Compostela, the first time having been spent in the rain. It bloody well rained again !!!!
Bordeaux ... a City trip via another river but this is certainly a City that is easy to do DIY, we were very happy with our choice however. It was an ok destination but not as awesome as we had hoped for and indeed anticipated, the wine villages are a good alternative to the City Tour.
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New experiences and changes ...
We sailed shore side past the Isle of Wight and had a stunning view of the Needles.
The wine waiter must have been of Japanese ancestry as when I gifted him an envelope at the end of the cruise he bowed low and shook my hand, ditto Mobietta but instead of a hand shake he kissed her gently on the cheek ... a lovely gesture we thought at the time.
The wine list had changed since our last P&O cruise in 2013, many of the finer wines had been replaced by cheaper, albeit entirely acceptable, choices.
The Menu on the two Captain’s Nights were split into two. The right hand side page displayed a decent selection of meals but the left hand page displayed all those special choices like Lobster Thermador, Beef Wellington and Baked Alaska etc as being new and exciting as suggested by Marco Pierre White ... wot a load of old tosh. My concern was that these choices may become chargeable at a later date.
The first sitting kicked off at 18:15 and the second at 20:15, a small change and a first for us that was very well received.
On this Adonia cruise there were six, possibly more, themed buffet nights. We attended those relating to Tandoori, Asian and Indian Curry .... shlurpppp.
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It was a great cruise and we thoroughly enjoyed everything, even DTM’s book, up until the time it came to disembark.
It seems like some of the wheels must have come off the escalator type gismo that carries the cases on ‘n’ off the ship to the terminal building which resulted in a short delay of about 15 minutes but we also had to park a goodly distance from the terminal building entrance because Azura was in our intended spot which meant walking in the rain for a couple of hundred yards, or so it seemed, with crew and entertainers coming in the opposite direction on a pathway that was obviously designated for one set of passengers who were all going in the same direction. No big deal I guess until we got inside, it was chaotic to say the least. Passengers from both ships were like headless chickens not knowing if the cases they were seeing in the umpteen piles related to Azura or Adonia. The signage was completely useless and there was a total lack of co-ordination by the staff on duty, they couldn’t even identify if there were any trolleys to be found nor indeed from which direction they may arrive if they did eventually conjure some up.
Well ok, we all got out eventually and courtesy of the country roads in these ere parts we got home in one piece ready to search out another cheapo deal for later in the year.
