DamianG

Yes, I see the same & it’s probably just me. I’ve looked again & the lighthouse I was using as a reference point has moved a tiny bit now.

Sat in the Crow’s Nest & I’m convinced we are not moving (i.e., just parked up floating around off the coast of Spain). I tried a ship tracker app but still not sure if I’m correct.

Caesar Salad, Tomato Soup, Pan-Fried Breast of Chicken & Grilled Prime 5oz Beef Sirloin incorporated into the main menu choices every night. These all used to be separately listed as “always available” when P&O offered more choice. I struggled to choose again tonight but enjoyed the Goan Vegetable Curry.

From gammon & chips last night to Betty’s Hot Pot, tonight’s MDR menu.

The busy Alicante beach nearest the cruise terminal.

More canoes.

Anderson’s at 9:33pm

Last night’s MDR choices.

Great food and views at El Corte Inglés

14th August We had a bit of a lie in and a leisurely start to the day. We didn’t bother with the MDRs and instead had breakfast at the Quays where Kyle has taken a liking to the pancakes on offer. From there I went to reception to ask about my glasses. The lady in front of me was doing the same so when she was presented with a tray full of glasses to choose from I could already see my case. When it came to my turn there was a fine selection but I just chose my own. Kyle later asked if I’d tried any other pairs on! We got a latte and tea from Vistas then just went back to the cabin where we spent most of the morning, bar a few visits to the launderette. After overheating in Valencia Kyle had already decided to change his mind about going to the zoo in Barcelona so instead we just had a simple plan to go to El Corte Inglés on Plaça de Catalunya for a bit of shopping and some lunch. We disembarked just after 12pm (yes, I know, midday sun again) and we were quickly on a shuttle bus that set off as soon as we seated. For any coach fans it was a brand new Mercedes, very comfortable with great air con and the best shuttle bus yet. We were dropped off near the World Trade Centre as usual and headed off towards the bottom of La Rambla. There were Tui and Costa ships in port and it was immediately apparent that La Rambla was super busy. I don’t know about anyone else but for us it has really lost its enchantment with all the crowds of tourists and so many souvenir shops at the lower end selling all sorts of tat. Doubtless it’s a much better experience in the evening with all the bars and restaurants in full swing. It was a real slog getting from the bottom to the top, very hot and we were constantly having to avoid people. Despite my best efforts one man completely walked into me, after which I said to Michelle that I was fed up of dodging round people not looking where they are going, both ashore and on board the ship. As she said, so many are walking along focusing on their phones rather than where they are going as well. By the time we got to Plaça de Catalunya Kyle was completely fed up and said that the trip better be worth it. Once inside El Corte Inglés we were hit with a refreshing blast of air con which was very welcome. We made our way up an endless series of escalators to floor 9 where the juguetes were and Kyle quickly found his collectables. Although there was a good display section the shelves were not very full and there was nothing appropriate for him. At least he showed some maturity and decided to save his money, compared to many times in the past when he would have just bought something anyway. From there we went up to the next level and braced ourselves for the cafeteria. If you’ve never been it can appear chaotic and intimidating but if you do go through and get something it’s worth every penny (or cent). It was crowded and a hostess was directing traffic. “Italiano?” she shouted at us and I shook my head and replied “No, tapas” after which she directed me to the counters on the left side. There was a long line waiting for Italian food, presumably including a lot of Costa passengers, but our side wasn’t too bad thankfully. At the tapas station I asked for calamares, tortilla and patatas bravas. There were also croquetas but we thought that we would have enough, especially as the tortilla came with some toast and a tomato dip. The chef was multi-tasking, cooking everything to order bar the tortilla where he had one already sliced and 2 more cooking in pans. From there we went to the drinks section and got a Fanta (self-serve on tap) for Kyle and a bottle of Melior Rueda white wine for us. The total bill was €33.70 and I’m certain a similar meal would have been double that on La Rambla. Kyle had secured us a table and somehow I managed not to let the Fanta and wine bottle slide off my tray. Once we were all seated Kyle launched into the calamari and potatoes and ate very well (always a relief for us). Verdejo wouldn’t be my favourite wine but this one was okay and most importantly cold (and “barato” – cheap). The calamari was good and the patatas excellent. Often we find that UK versions of the brava sauce are far too spicy and overpower your palate, but this one was just right as you would expect, very tasty with just the right amount of spice. We took our time and I enjoyed looking out of the windows which run all the way around the seating area and provide spectacular views. From the cafeteria we went down to the pet section but didn’t find anything for our cockapoo Teddy. After that we went all the way down to the basement to pick up some shaving gel for me and some cabin snacks for Kyle. As luck would have it the wine section was next to the toiletries isle and my eyes were immediately drawn to the stickers quoting 50% and 70% off. Now you may not have noticed that we like our wine (“no way, really?” I hear you say….) and I was absolutely spoilt for choice. I’m used to prices being higher in the UK but some of those I saw were astonishing, with the lowest being €1.58 for a 75cl bottle. Even the Australian wine 19 Crimes which costs anything between £7.50 - £9.99 at home, was just €3.00. I could have filled several shopping trolleys but in the end chose La Luz Va, Valpincia Crianza, a 100% Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero that should suit us nicely, and a bottle of Castelblanc Brut Zero Cava, more of a risk as often they can be a bit too dry but fingers crossed. Shopping done we set off back to the ship but this time we avoided most of La Rambla by going down Carrer de Rivadeneyra as far as the Cathedral in the Gothic Quarter then cutting across. It was busy but nothing like La Rambla and the journey seemed far quicker. There were plenty of passengers heading back to the shuttle buses but no queues. Michelle saw a teenage lad with his shirt off (walking along with his family) who was stopped by a policeman and told to put it back on. Inevitably the family got on the same shuttle bus as us (which was the nice Mercedes again). The temperature gauge on the coach stated 34 degrees. There were multiple scanners for security checks in the cruise terminal and just like supermarket checkouts at home I picked the wrong line. I didn’t realise that a wheelchair user had gone through with a bag on his lap and caused a hold up. A family had bustled through behind him before the security guard had a chance to see them, so he subsequently sent them all back. It was too late for me to switch lines as my rucksack had already passed through the scanner. The security team then had to look through the wheelchair guy’s bag and found several things which had set off the scanner, including a pair of walkie talkies. Lord knows why his companion doing the pushing hadn’t put the bag on the conveyor belt like everyone else. Once through we had to dodge around someone looking at the their phone rather than where they were going Back on board we spent time in the cabin and on our balcony. Lots of passengers were at the Sunset Bar deck 8 aft and for once there was some decent music playing. We waved off Tui’s Mein Schiff 2 and lots of their passengers were out on deck waving and cheering. The time passed quickly and it was soon 6:45pm when our ship was getting ready for departure. I now regretted agreeing to meet everyone at 7pm and stayed outside on the balcony as long as I dare before eventually rushing through a shower and getting ready for dinner. There were still loads of passengers in the jacuzzis and around the Sunset Bar in general, but it never occurred to me that this would have a positive affect on our dining experience. We’d already decided that we didn’t fancy the MDR main course choices. Since when has gammon, eggs, pineapple and chips been considered fine dining? We therefore called in the Olive Grove on our way down to the Amber Lounge and were attended to straight away. The receptionist gave us a pager and said that the wait could be anything between 20 and 40 minutes, which we said was fine. 20 minutes later the pager buzzed at 7:29pm. We were seated at a table for 2 and a table for 4 pushed together. Our tables were opposite the entrance so it wasn’t as good as last time but we were happy to be in and seated. I had the Italian Antipasti for starters which I really enjoyed. Michelle had Bolinhos de Bacalhau which she thought were good too. She also had a well presented Italian Salad to go with it. For main I had Middle Eastern Beef Kofta Gyro Pittas (more beef) which tasted better than it looked. Michelle had Moroccan Slow-Cooked Lamb Shank Tagine which was a popular choice and went down really well. Her mum had Spaghetti Carbonara which I thought looked a bit too wet. Michelle had Sicilian Lemon Tart which was very good, and I chose badly with Piedmont Torta Gianduia. I expected it to be rich (which is fine for me) but it was far too dry with a very dense sponge and just a thumbnail of cream on the side. I threw in the towel after a few spoonful’s. Service was extremely slow (not that it really bothered us though it took several attempts to request more drinks) and we left at 9:29pm, exactly 2 hours after being paged. We went to the library side of Andersons and were shocked to find that it was completely empty. Michelle then suggested that maybe Brodies was packed full of passengers watching the Monday night football, not that any of us were bothered enough to go check. We also thought that perhaps lots were still outside on the open decks. We stayed in Andersons until 11:15pm then returned to the cabin. Kyle’s movie finished just after midnight and whilst flicking through the TV options Michelle noticed a warning message about temperatures reaching as much as 40 degrees in some of the ports. It also said that it was still 27 degrees which we were really surprised at.

Already warm just before 8am & we have a canoeist chasing us down on our approach into Alicante.

Just after midnight & according to the TV information screen it was still 27 degrees. We’ve never seen a weather warning like this before either.

Presentation of the photo (i.e., not sideways) would help! 😉

Funny enough I thought of you both @Presto2 and @Ardennais on our current cruise (especially I think the latter commented about paying more for a school holiday / peak time cruise but receiving poorer service). Michelle and I cruised before we adopted our son and are very much “real cruisers” so that comment would have really got to me. We’d rather cruise than take other holiday options but this latest version on Arvia has been a real turn off for P&O for us when we’ve always been advocates for the company in the past. Sure, we do find fault at times but overall the positives usually far outweigh the negatives. Maybe it will again in due course for this cruise but for the first time ever I will be writing to P&O post cruise about our dining experience this time. Incidentally, the Captain advised that there are approximately 2000 Peninsular Club members on board, which therefore means that there are circa 3,800 new clients sailing on this cruise alone. I guess that this means P&O are reaching their target customers, in the school holidays at least.

With your children in mind Cartagena seems a much more suitable port with no shuttle bus requirement to get there which also means you can quickly get back on board if you need to. If you break off the main thoroughfare Calle Real and head towards the military compound Arsenal de Cartagena you will find a small square surrounded by some nice, less busy restaurants and a small set of climbing frames and typical park attractions for the kids. It’s a few years back since we’ve been but hopefully won’t have changed too much.

A busy day in Barcelona today with a few different cruise ships in port. Costa are like me, carefully reversing into the parking space so they can drive straight out, whereas Tui just bunged it in & reversed it out later.

Bream, not sure what the onions are meant to add.

Great starter, please can I have some raita.

Spot the patatas bravas

Not the best photos but the main course menu choices are all getting a bit samey for me.

13th August 3am and a loud bang woke me up. Obviously it was a shock but I was pretty sure it was nothing to do with our cabin so I turned over and tried to get back to sleep. A few minutes later there was another bang, and this continued every few minutes for the next 50 minutes or so. Then there was a series of bangs at quicker intervals finishing with some even quicker hammering before it stopped around 4am. I thought Michelle had slept through it and she thought the same of me when I mentioned it later. We can only assume there was some maintenance going on somewhere aft, maybe? I was up and dressed just after 8am with a plan to go Catholic mass in Marseille along with my mum and sister. Unfortunately the service times for the Cathedral smack opposite the shuttle bus drop off point weren’t suitable for us so instead we got off the ship at 9:30am with the intention of walking round to the promenade area of the old town and trying to find Eglise Saint-Charles on Rue Grignan (near Vieux Port), which I estimated was a 20 minute walk from the drop off point. I was sat solo on the shuttle bus and was soon joined by a friendly chap who had a similar accent to me. He shared a few tales about DIY days out off the ship including a really good plan for Gdynia which hopefully will come in handy one day. I asked where he was from and he said Leeds, Bramley (THE Big Apple according to folk who live there) and I told him that I knew a few people from that area from my rugby playing days in nearby Pudsey. Typically he named a father and son who I used to know fairly well back then and we had a good chat about how we knew them and what they were up to these days. The shuttle bus dropped us off just after 10am and not long after we started walking we saw an available taxi but decided to carrying on walking instead. It soon became clear that we should have taken that first taxi opportunity as mum was struggling to keep up even though we were going really steadily. We ended up getting a taxi with just 500 metres to go at a cost of €5.70. The driver insisted that there wasn’t a church on Rue Grignan even though we had looked this up online then also checked at a tourist information point. The driver dropped us off on a narrow street still saying there was no church, and as he drove off we turned around and were right in front of the church entrance. It wasn’t a grand church exterior so I understand how it could be easily missed but I’m still surprised that our driver didn’t know it. As an aside, I was quite pleased how my O Level French came back to me when I was in the Tourist Information Point and when trying to talk to the taxi driver. Amazing that I could recall the vocabulary when most of the time I can’t remember where I left my reading glasses. Once inside the church there was a good congregation in attendance and it was a sung mass in Latin that everyone fully participated in, including mum who remembered a lot of it (i.e., Latin) from years ago. It was a very reverent service and I was glad that we’d made the effort, even if we nearly had a disaster when my sister half tripped on the steps near the alter at communion. After mass mum needed the loo so after failing to find one in either Burger King or McDonalds we just went into a nice looking restaurant and bar and asked if she could use theirs. I was going to sit down and buy a small beer (as I didn’t want to be cheeky just using their loos) but a large queue had formed waiting to be seated so I gave up. After that I said my goodbyes to mum and sister then made my way back to the shuttle bus pick up point. It took me 15 minutes to walk back with a few photo stops, including one of a Viking Cruises ship which had a prime berth near the Cathedral. Way out of our league in terms of cost but one day you never know. A queue had formed next to 2 buses parked up with the P&O Shuttle notices in the front window. I unconsciously joined the queue but wish I hadn’t as the actual shuttle bus pick up point was the same place we had been dropped off over the road. Silly beggar, not like me at all to blindly join any queue ever and serves me right. (You can all make a baa noise at my expense now, thoroughly deserved). A P&O staff member came over the road to redirect us and then we had a bit of a wait for the next shuttle bus. Eventually we were on our way and as the coach turned around the nearest roundabout I spotted mum and sister approaching the queue which by now had trebled. It was 12:30pm and of course passengers probably wanted to get back on for lunch, so despite my mistake I guess that I didn’t do too bad in the end. They had a long wait (circa 30 minutes) in the hot sun. Back in the cabin Michelle and Kyle shared the story of their morning and the time they’d spent using the jacuzzi aft (which is usually permanently busy). Anyone remember the Fast Show on BBC? Kyle could certainly say “Today, I will mostly be in the jacuzzi”. Michelle asked about the old port and promenade area and I said that it wasn’t any good for Kyle but back in the day we’d have been out there having some lunch in a nice restaurant and a few drinks. It was still fairly quiet around the Sunset Bar deck 6 aft so we returned there and I surprised Kyle by joining him and Michelle in the jacuzzi for a while. After that I made the trek up to deck 16 to get some burgers and fries from Taste 360. I mentioned to Michelle that they also had a traditional Spanish stew on offer and then she tells me that yesterday they had paella! So I’d struggled through another roast dinner when I could have been eating paella? Gutted. Hopefully it will be available another time. We spent the rest of the afternoon aft around the Sunset Bar whilst Kyle had more time in the jacuzzi with his aunty. We enjoyed a couple of Mai Tais and Pina Coladas, and waved off Celebrity Silhouette (which looks really good by the way, again out of our price range but fingers crossed). Our in-laws were on an excursion and Captain Brown announced that our departure would be delayed as one “shore experience” coach was delayed having had a puncture. He said that the delayed departure would not affect our arrival time in Barcelona (no surprise there then). He also gave the usual cringeworthy speech that taking shore experience tours was always your best option for any port as the ship would never leave behind anyone on an official tour. Anyway we weren’t sure if it was the in-law’s coach so just in case we decided to meet everyone a little later at 7:30pm (with Kyle doing the organising by voluntarily telephoning both cabins). So on to today’s dining story; pay attention because this is the best yet. At 7:22pm I checked all 4 MDRs on the My Holiday webpage and unsurprisingly there was no availability in any of them. As we were going down the aft staircase I decided to break off and try Zenith. Love Joy welcomed us and advised that there was no availability in Zenith but that she could see a possibility of being seated straight away at Meridian if we went and asked there. We went down to Meridian and saw the same gentleman on the reception as yesterday. When I asked for a table for 7 he immediately reached for a pager and said that I would need to take one and wait. I agreed and then asked if it was possible to request a specific table. He asked which one so I replied “350”. He looked again then said “Oh! You can have that one straight away!” I’m repeating myself but you really couldn’t make this up. I said that we would need to gather together the rest of our party so he told us to be back in 5 minutes then we would be seated. Fortunately, everyone else was already in Andersons and we were able to make the 5 minute cut, just. Yet again credit to Love Joy who took the trouble to check Meridian even though she was in Zenith, and saw an option for us that the other receptionist couldn’t see without a prompt. Every MDR needs a Love Joy. We were seated at 7:45pm and our senior waiter (same as last night) greeted us. This time he was a lot more relaxed and friendly. When we were placing our orders I asked if the pasta and tomato sauce option for kids was always made with spaghetti in the Meridian and he confirmed that this was correct (so Kyle was right all along). I asked if it was possible to request penne instead and he replied that he would ask the chef. I had the Asian platter for starters which was great. For fun we decided to score our courses and I gave it 4 out of 5. It would have been 5 but could have done with some raita (or just more sauce, as Gregg Wallace on MasterChef often says). Michelle had fried Iberico Pork Cheeks with Patatas Bravas, 4 out 5 as the latter consisted of the smallest diced potato squares ever seen. The main course choices didn’t really suit me apart from the beef but in all honesty by now I was a bit beefed out and tired of roast dinners. I took a chance on roasted bream but it was quite overcooked so 2 out 5 for me. Myself, sister, and mother-in-law all dowsed it in butter then added salt and pepper which rescued it a little. Our senior waiter presented Kyle with a grown up looking dish of penne pomodoro, by far the biggest portion he’d had all week. 5 out of 5 from the toughest judge sat at the table. Later our waiter said that the chef had sent a runner to a different deck to get some penne so we again told him that it was much appreciated. Michelle had rice pudding with cherries for dessert, almost too sweet but 4 out of 5, and I had cheese and biscuits again, 3 out of 5. I asked for a glass of port to go with the cheese and it was swiftly delivered. Dinner finished around 9:30pm and afterwards I dragged us all into the Club Lounge on Deck 8 for the Summer Vibes party with Pulse featuring. We ended up in a far corner where we couldn’t really see the stage but we had a speaker right next to us and TV’s showing the band so though it was a little noisy it was okay. It was quite funny occasionally seeing passengers dancing flit onto the TV screen, including a Doctor Marwan Koukash lookalike. There was also a small window with a view of the Sunset Bar area aft and we were really surprised when we noticed that the bar there was still open with a lot of passengers in attendance. My sister went out to investigate and reported that there was music playing and it wasn’t affected by the sound coming out of the club lounge whatsoever. Pulse’s 2nd set finished at 10:15pm with a rousing performance of Pitbull’s Fireball and I especially loved the part where the drummer abandoned his kit to get up and dance then returned to pick up the beat with perfect timing. That signalled a mass exit for lots of passengers, maybe heading for the fully booked Neil Lockwood (ex-ELO lead singer) concert in the Headliners Theatre. I’d have quite fancied that but didn’t want to commit to anything pre-cruise or even during the first few days as I’m always conscious of what will suit Kyle and to a lesser extent the rest of our group. We moved to better seats and by the time their 3rd set started at 11pm the Club Lounge was at least half empty. They were excellent again and this time the keyboard player got her chance to shine during Madonna’s “Holiday”. They finished with a great rendition of Summer of ’69 by Bryan Adams where the lead singers took turns to sing verses and were perfectly synchronised. Most of our party had already said their goodnights so just Michelle and I stayed to the end at 11:45pm when we returned to the cabin. Then I realised I’d lost my glasses.

Celebrity Silhouette’s sideways thrusters working well. Good job.

Marseille’s somewhat industrial answer to the Hollywood Hills.

Misty start to the day in Marseille.

Michelle's double down desserts