rwright261

Hello, here is the update from day 5 (Lanzarote). It was another warm night, and we woke up to lovely sunshine once again. We were not due to dock until midday, but we were up earlier than the last couple of days so decided to try the MDR for breakfast. We wanted a table for 2 so queued along the left hand side of the entrance, those wanting to share queued to the right. Id say we waited around 10 minutes for a table. When we were seated we were offered juice (just small glasses), and a pastry. I chose orange juice and a peach danish. This was the menu - We also had this on the table - I’m assuming because it was a cruise from Southampton? We both chose the English breakfast, I had mine with scrambled egg and white toast. When it came I gave DH my tomato and black pudding. I ordered some corned beef hash on the side - The breakfast was nice, it was nice not to have to wander around for a table, although DH wasn’t too pleased with the portion of bacon he was given saying he wouldn’t have chosen it himself - too stringy. As we were docking yet, we went up to deck 12 and enjoyed a mocktail whilst watching the ship pull into port. We had checked on google maps what was around the vicinity we were docking and found there was a mall around a 20 minute walk from where the shuttle dropped you off. People starting queuing from around 11.25am to get off the ship on deck 3. It’s bizzare how when we were on the Beyond last year we had to pay for the shuttles into town, but this cruise we haven’t had to pay for any. Anyway, you definitely needed the shuttle it was a good 5 minute ride from the ship to the marina where they dropped you off. We had intended to eat in one of the restaurants along the waterfront after going to the mall, but there were lots of pigeons around which is one of my fears. We decided to check what restaurants were in the mall. It was quite a straight forward walk, to the end of the marina and turn right up a fairly steep road to the mall. A few other passengers were headed that way. We did some shopping picking up a couple of bits of clothing, jewellery and gifts, and then checked out the menus for the restaurants. There wasn’t anything that took our fancy, but we were too late to eat back on the ship, so stopped at McDonalds for lunch. I ordered on the screen whilst DH found a seat. When I ordered his large Big Mac meal it automatically came with nuggets and a McFlurry! I ordered DH a beer to go with his meal which was novel and he enjoyed. This was the food - And the receipt - It was pretty standard McDonalds which filled a gap. By the time we got back to the shop it was time to get ready for the evening, after which we headed down to deck 3 for drinks, where I had a Miami Vice and DH had a wine. There was nothing on the MDR menu which took our fancy, so we went to the buffet. This is what was on offer - It seemed they had a French theme going on, so we both had beef burgignion, I had mine with mashed potato, carrots, braised cabbage and beans. In the main the meat was good quality, there were some fatty bits but not too bad. The mashed potato needed mashing considerably more with big chunks of potato in it. Overall though it was tasty and nice to have plenty of veg. For dessert I had a mix of 4 items to try - pineapple cake (nice), double chocolate cake (consistency was wet), lemon meringue pie (not so good, I just ate the meringue off the top), and chocolate mousse (my favourite- very light and delicious). DH had creme brûlée, but unfortunately didn’t enjoy this, it wasn’t firm enough and under the heated sugar was like gloopy custard. After dinner we headed up to the sky lounge where the duo from the night before were performing. This is them - They were excellent again, the lady has a wonderful voice which I could listen to for hours! Highly recommend catching them. We enjoyed some drinks whilst listening to them, then headed back to our cabin for the evening. Another enjoyable day! Thanks for reading.

Hello and sorry for the delay in uploading day 4… we have just got back on the ship from a half day in Lanzarote (day 5) so I’m taking the time to update now before chilling out in the cabin for a few hours. We woke up to beautiful weather outside, you could certainly tell the temperatures were on the up! We actually didn’t wake up until 9am, which is unheard of for us! We are early risers at home, even on weekends, we’re usually up for 6am, so this was a real treat! We headed up to the buffet for breakfast and managed to snag a table outside just as another couple were leaving. The offerings were the same as usual so please refer back to my earlier photos. I decided against my usual pancakes and had ham, potatoes, beans and corned beef for breakfast. This made a nice change for me and I really enjoyed it. I also had some peaches, which were good too. DH wanted to listen to a lecture by Chris West on the Canary Islands in the theatre so after breakfast we headed there via Cafe Al Bacio where I picked up a hot chocolate and a peach danish. The lecture was actually quite interesting, and a good way to spend 45 minutes of our time, it was also very busy in there. We spent the next few hours in one of those little cabanas for two on the pool deck. We did some trip planning for our September holiday next year, I read some of my magazine, and we people watched and chatted whilst enjoying numerous cocktails. It was here when I remembered about the Miami Vice so indulged in a couple of those. We ate at the buffet for lunch and after my groan yesterday about not being able to find a seat, for the second time of the day we walked straight in and bagged one just as someone was leaving. Here were the options - When we first walked around, I saw they had little mini pies with mashed potato, veg and gravy and thought I might have that, but then I bumped into DH who was looking at the chicken tikka masala so I decided to have that too. It looked and smelt really appetising, so we had high hopes! I had rice, roti, and salad mix and sauces with it. The salad actually had a bit of a kick to it which I enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I have no idea what cut of the meat it was, but it has large and small bones in it. Due to the thickness of the sauce covering the meat, it was very difficult to pick the meat off the bones so most of it got left. It was such a shame as the sauce was very flavourful and the rest of the meal was good. Next time, I’ll seek out a piece of chicken and pour some of the sauce over the top. Having been in Portugal the day before they were serving up sardines and Portuguese tarts - a nice touch but the pastry was a little soggy and not crisp like the real ones. After lunch we headed to the solarium where our morning activities continued, and so did the drinking! At tea time I decided I needed something to soak up the alcohol, so headed to the mast grill for a cheeseburger. This was not freshly cooked, however, it was nice and DH and I shared it so it was a nice snack. I also got some water, which is served in the aluminium bottles. We headed back to our cabin for our usual siesta and to get ready, and headed back to deck three just in time to hear this fabulous duo perform. I need to look back in the celebrity today to see what they were called, but the lady had the most amazing voice - they were very relaxing to listen to. We enjoyed some non-alcoholic drinks whilst listening to them - I can’t quite remember what mine was called, but it was on the zero proof menu however there was no issue in me getting it. DH had a ginger beer. 8pm arrived and it was time for our dinner reservation. We were sat in the naughty corner again, but this time on a different table. The tables for two are so close together you may as well be on a table for 4 or 6. Mostly people tend to say hello or chat briefly, but the couple next to us (who arrived after us) did not speak a word, it made me feel a little uncomfortable as they didn’t really talk to one another, I felt like they were listening to every word we said. Anyway, this was the menu - We found it unusual that the waiter said there was a starter and main special but neither of them were on the menu… not sure we have had this before? The starter special was pear wrapped in pastry and cheese and the main was lamb rogan Josh. DH chose the gumbo and salmon, and I had French onion soup again (nothing else I liked) and the Turkey although I asked to swap the sweet potato with mash and ordered a Yorkshire pudding. We were brought bread - French stick, breadsticks and olive bread I believe along with 3 butters- Our drinks and food seemed to take a long time to come out, but eventually we got them - DH liked the gumbo and said it tasted like beef broth. My French onion soup was nice, but again it wasn’t piping hot like I’ve had in the past. Next up our mains, DH said his salmon was nice, he said the sauce was very Rich tomato sauce, which slightly overpowered the salmon. My Turkey was nice, but I wished I’d have asked for extra gravy as I found it quite dry. The stuffing in particular was very tasty. The scoop of mashed potato fell out of the little pot in one plop, and the Yorkshire pudding was that overdone I had to break it up with my hands for fear of it ending up on the next table if I used my knife and fork. Some of the Turkey wasn’t very good quality, but most of it was ok. Overall a nice meal. We didn’t indulge in too much bread tonight so left room for dessert. The app showed orange sorbet which I was excited about, but unfortunately it was mango flavour when the menu came. DH chose the peanut butter ice cream and I had the whipped passionfruit. DH enjoyed his ice cream and I really enjoyed my passionfruit whip, it was just the right portion size due to the sweetness. I don’t have the photos but we stopped for a hot drink after our meal on deck 5 and then headed back to our cabin where we watched some news before heading to bed. It was very warm in the room overnight and I changed from my long sleeve and full trouser pyjamas to my vest and short ones. We did sleep with the balcony door open as we like listening to the waves, but maybe we will have to forfeit this as we enter warmer climates. I will leave my report there, and update today either tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for reading 👋

When we disembarked at Porto we came through a tunnel like the one you use when you embark the ship for the first time, I wonder why this could not be used when we got back on? I think then there should have been more staff on hand to help passengers with mobility issues. There were 2 one at each end, but this wasn’t enough for the age demographic and ability of some of the passengers on our cruise.

Good morning, Heres my summary of day 3…. We were arriving in Porto today, and as I mentioned in my last update we were up at 5am booking flights for our September trip next year so it was a tiring day for us! We headed to the buffet for breakfast, and I chose exactly the same as the day before - pancakes with sugar free syrup and strawberries. Sadly once again they were only just warm, although edible. We made our way to the theatre for our meeting time of 9.15am. It was packed. There were a couple of independent options for Porto, a 10-15 min walk from the ship and you reached the seaside town of Lexious, Celebrity were running two shuttles but encouraged everyone to walk. The other independent’ option was to take the Celebrity shuttle into Porto which was approximately 45 ride, with the last shuttle leaving at 3.00pm (for all aboard 4.30pm). There seemed to be 3 or 4 trips running, but so to multiple coaches for each one. Unfortunately, they were behind in clearing into port which made all the trips leave late having a knock on effect later in the day, but more on that later. We were eventually called for our trip and had quite a walk to the coach - be aware for the else mobile if getting off at this port. This was our trip - It was mainly a coach tour where the guide pointed out points of interest, and consisted of a 10 minute stop for photos where we were given a Portuguese custard tart, and 40 minutes free time in Porto itself. This was the photo stop - And the delicious tart - And our free time in Porto - We arrived back at the ship at 1.45pm thinking there was plenty of time to hit the buffet for lunch which closed at 2.30pm, however, this is where the earlier delay caused a problem as all the coaches now arrived back at the same time, and there were literally hundreds of people trying to get back onto the ship at the same time. The ramp they had attached to the ship was the steepest I had ever experienced, and due to the age of the people on this cruise it took what felt like forever to board because some of the guests needed assistance getting up the ramp. It was very poor show by Celebrity, and not very accessible at all. Anyway, by the time we got to the buffet it was about to close so unfortunately I don’t have any photos of the options nor my lunch. I had some beef fajita mix, quesadilla, some beef curry and rice. It was ok. Again, just warm, What has become very apparent to us is the lack of seating on this cruise, every time we have gone to the buffet except for embarkation lunch we have struggled to get a seat, there are also lots of people wandering around decks 3,4 and 5 especially from 5pm ish looking for places to sit. It’s becoming quite annoying, and would be even more so if you were a group of more than 2. Anyway, after lunch it was time to catch up on some rest so we headed back to the cabin for a couple of hours. This is where we really appreciate having a balcony cabin. Deciding to get a drink after our rest we headed down to Cafe Al Bacio, where DH picked up a raspberry cheesecake. We had a few drinks before heading back to the cabin, which we enjoyed. We had checked the menu for dinner, and there was nothing we really wanted, so we decided to head to the buffet. This was after karaoke with the band in the sky lounge which was really enjoyable. Here are the choices in the buffet - I had chicken broth to start with, which was tasty and warm. For my main I had beef teriyaki, fried rice and noodles. A couple of the pieces of beef were quite fatty, but in the main it was tender and well flavoured. I enjoyed having something tasty. DH had some of the Indian curry, which he enjoyed. He said the Bombay potatos were very spicy. When I went up for my dessert, I bumped into a member of staff called Craig who I had previously spoken to at the buffet. I told him I was going for my dessert, a minute after he rushed over to me with a piece of chocolate cake and said he had kept it for someone who hadn’t arrived and he wanted me to have it. I was thankful for the gesture as there didn’t seem to be much choice for dessert as you can see from the above photos. I had the cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream which was very enjoyable. After dinner, we headed to the theatre to watch the show ‘Cosmopolitan’. The singers and dancers were very talented, however, we didn’t think the show had any story line and the props were very poor. We saw some brilliant shows on the Celebrity Beyond last year, and unfortunately this was very poor by comparison. We had another drink in the martini bar before heading to bed. We had an enjoyable day, were thankful we booked a tour in Porto as thought the independent options would have been a hassle, and enjoyed our evening meal in the buffet. It’s day 4 now and the sun is shining! I will post the update from today later this evening or tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

Hi, Here are the menus for you -

On our sailing from Southampton the limit is $12 for the classic package, but I’m not sure if this changed depending on where you sail from? I’ll try to find out.

We’re back from our excursion so I’ll catch up with last night before having a nap 🤪 After a few hours in the cabin we decided to head for a drink before getting ready for our 8pm reservation in the MDR. We headed to sky lounge where 99% of people were dressed for the evening, queue some very odd looks as we were still casual from the day. Nevertheless we enjoyed a strawberry daiquiri and a beer there. We decided to get one more before heading back and ended up in the craft bar. We met the most interesting couple of the cruise so far in there. I doubt they read here so will tell you she was very tipsy, told the story of how she was 75 on this sailing and had been married 8 times! She had had all the names of her husbands tattooed onto her body and then saved £8,000 to have them all removed! It’s a shame they had to go for their dinner reservation as we could have chatted to them for hours. Deciding it was time to get ready for our own reservation we came back to the cabin to get ready for formal night, or evening chic as it’s called. We had 40 minutes or so to kill before our 8pm reservation so headed to the martini bar for a drink. We sat at the high top and again got chatting to a couple who were telling us their experience of P&O cruises and Princess. It was another interesting conversation. They thought like us the atmosphere on the ship seemed a bit flat and put it down to the age demographic. Anyway, it was 8pm and we headed into the MDR and led to the left and all the way to the back where we had a table for 2 in Leo’s section. We described it as the naughty corner. It was quite dull there. This was the menu - We were brought a bread bowl of French Stick, breadsticks and chiabatta with tzatziki, garlic butter and regular butter. DH ordered shrimp cocktail and lamb t bone (with a side of veg) and I ordered French Onion Soup and steak dianne with a Yorkshire pudding. DH said his shrimp cocktail was nice, he couldn’t fault it. Leo explained the lamb might be a bit tough and was that ok, he said it was. DH’s meal came up hot, with the extra veg, and said it wasn’t any tougher than a lamb chop usually is. The French onion soup was warm but not piping hot how they usually are. My steak dianne was nice, the steak was good quality, but again it could have be hotter. My Yorkshire pudding wasn’t even warm. We had eaten some of the bread before our meals came out which was probably a mistake as I was too full to finish my meal and we completely skipped dessert. We called into the theatre to see what the show was like, but deciding it wasn’t for us we found two seats in Cafe Al Bacio next to the glass and watched the band playing and the couples dancing below. We had a latte and a hot chocolate and DH had a piece of carrot cake. He said this was amazing and tasted the same as what he had in the Lawn Club Grill. After sitting for a while we decided to call it a night. We had set our alarms for midnight to call Virgin Atlantic Flying club as we were booking premium reward flights for next September which came out today. Sure enough we called but were told we were too early so set another alarm for 5am, and after a 20 minute wait got through and booked the flight we wanted. We dozed off after that task was completed and got up in time for a quick stop at the buffet and being at our meeting point for 9.15am this morning. I’ll leave that there and post the update from today later on tonight or tomorrow when we have another sea day. Thanks for reading 👋

Yes, I will post that at some point for you 👍🏻

There were waffles - in the photo they are under a covered tray. I’m yet to try them, maybe tomorrow!

Good morning! I think I have a whole days worth of photos to post… We slept well on our first night and headed to the buffet for our breakfast. It was quite busy, but we did find a place to sit quiet easily not far from the window. Interestingly we hadn’t been sat down long when we saw a helicopter approaching us. It flew past once forwards, once backwards and then very low down to the ship. We later read on our social media groups page that it was French authorities doing surveillance. IMG_4956.mov IMG_4958.mov That was certainly a highlight of breakfast! I took some buffet photos for you - I had an orange juice, and pancakes with sugar free syrup and strawberries. It was nice enough, just could have been warmer. We spent the whole morning in the solarium, testing out the hot tub (lovely and warm), reading and chatting. It was very relaxing. During the morning a waiter came around with a cocktail, but I can’t remember what it was called. Think it had vodka in it, it was nice and refreshing. I also picked up some noodles from the spa cafe, which were very flavoursome. It had a strong flavour of coriander. We really liked it. We headed to the buffet for lunch and it was absolutely crazy! We walked around for a good 10 minutes before finally asking a couple if we could join their table. As it turned out we spent a very pleasant time talking to them, overhearing from others how they had never seen the buffet so busy. As we were sat with others, I didn’t take a photo of my food, but I had chicken breast, baked potato, Asian slaw and salad. It was nice, again could have been warmer. DH had southern fried chicken, ribs and salad. Our group is being called for our trip now, so I’ll continue this later 👋

I’m so sorry I don’t know why I keep getting random pictures at the be end of my posts! If anyone can shed any light, please let me know!

Good morning from our first sea day! We slept with the balcony door open all evening and this is my view this morning - We didn’t stay very long in the sunset bar after I had uploaded part 1 yesterday as despite DH picking up our jumpers and not finding it too cold, they were playing the most awful music and the atmosphere was very flat. Searching for something inside we headed towards the craft bar via the shore excursions desk to check if our 4x4 trip in Tenerife was still running (answer yes but just not going ti Mt Teide), and to stop at Guest Relations to upgrade the wifi. The basic package is good for nothing, so we both purchased the upgrade to premium for $70.50 each. We sat at the bar at the Craft Bar and chose a Samuel Adams and a sea breeze cocktail. Both very enjoyable as we sat talking to the barman for half an hour. We had a table booked at the Lawn Club Grill at 8pm, so we decided to get ready and go to the sky lounge for a drink before our meal. No issues getting ready for the evening, the shower was much more powerful than the one in the Leonardo, and plenty of towels. We spent a pleasant hour in the Sky Lounge, which was quite quiet, although still a nice atmosphere with some good music playing and nice lighting. You could occasionally feel the ship rocking in there. Here’s the menu - We chose a red wine (Malbec) and strawberry daiquiri. I have to say that the daiquiri’s have all been well laced with alcohol, no skimping of that. It was time for our reservation for dinner so a quick hop out the door and we found ourselves at the Lawn Club Grill. There were three other couples in when we arrived, two of whom were sat on tables next to one another and seemed to be enjoying chatting together. We wanted a more private experience, and the waiter put us on a table for 4 right underneath two heaters. Despite this, I still grabbed one of the blankets which kept me warm throughout the night. Here was the menu - We have watched YouTube videos of people eating here, and knew from our research it wound be unlikely we would be able to eat flatbread, salad, mains and dessert, so we decided to skip the flatbread in the hope we would do the rest justice. We were told when ordering it was no problem to order two main meal items if we wanted, so I ordered the filet migion and tandoori chicken kebab, and DH ordered the salmon and prawn and scallop kebab. We both went for a baked potato, and ordered dirty rice and creamed corn to share. First up though we went to the salad bar, which all looked very fresh - This was DH’s bowl - And mine - The salad was as fresh as it looked and was a lovely start to our meal. It was lovely to watch the food being cooked in the open kitchen, and whilst we were waiting the three other couples left and three more came into the restaurant. We were brought some butter and sour cream for our baked potatoes, and some sauces for my steak. The waiter brought us very hot plates, and then served our mains from a serving dish onto them. This was mine - And DH’s - Here were the sides - The food was exceptional. The steak was very good quality, and cooked medium well just how I’d asked. My knife sliced through it with no issues. The tandoori chicken wasn’t dry at all and had just enough spice to taste the tandoori without being overpowering. DH is currently still asleep so I can’t ask him for detailed info on his, but he enjoyed both at the time! The sides were just enough with the baked potato being very soft inside, and the corn and rice hot and tasty. The maitre D came over to check we were enjoying our meal and told us not to rush and we could spend as long there as we wanted to. We made the right decision not to have the flatbread, as we still had some room for dessert. DH chose the carrot cake and I had the warm chocolate chip cookie. We just started to eat our desserts when this was brought over accompanied with a lot of whooping from the chef and banging of his pans! The desserts were delicious, DH’s carrot cake was very moist and tasty (I’d say the proportion of cake to cream was a bit off for me, but he enjoyed it), and the warm cookie and ice cream were fabulous, the ice cream was bubbling from the heat of the cookie when it was first brought out. The anniversary cake was very rice! It was a chocolate mousse with a sponge bottom, it was a lovely gesture, but we couldn’t eat too much of it favouring our chosen desserts instead. Overall a very delicious dinner, and a lovely way to spend our first night and our anniversary. We would highly recommend it. When we came out it was raining so we farted for the inside getting a bit wet as we left. We headed towards signing we could hear and ended up sitting at a bar on deck 3 (I don’t know the name of it). Here we chose our usual red wine and strawberry daiquiri. This was the menu (sorry for the glare from the flash) - I’m not sure if it was the first night, or the age demographic of the passengers but the atmosphere seemed very flat, especially after the singers took a break. We took our drinks up to the martini bar, but that wasn’t much better, although at least they were playing some music. We swung past the silent disco, but it was dead so decided to call it a night. When we got back to the cabin, we were greeted with swan towels and an anniversary sign, and chocolates on our pillow. Overall a really lovely first day. Boarding the ship was nice and easy, the food and drink have all been good, service also great so far. Atmosphere a little flat, so we’ll see if that improves as the cruise continues. Thanks for reading, and thank you if you also take the time to comment. If anyone has any questions or would like me to find something out for them, please let me know. The plan today is to go with the flow, no alarms have been set (although obviously I’m already awake), we will most likely hit the buffet for breakfast and lunch, and MDR tonight.

Sorry for the random photos at the bottom of the post… I don’t know how that happened!

Hi from the Sunset bar! I think the free wifi may be hit and miss so thought I’d upload part 1 from today whilst I still have 4G. We had a good nights sleep at the Leonardo. We were in room 307 and it was quiet, the bed was comfortable and not too hot/cold. The shower wasn’t much to speak of, more of a drizzle than a shower but that was our only complaint. We headed down to breakfast which was included in our Wowcher booking. This should have been £14 each. Here are some photos of the menu and the choices available- After breakfast we had another little walk into town, as we didn’t need to check out until 11am and check into the ship until 1pm so we had some time to kill. I picked up another strawberry açai refresher and we enjoyed a walk around the park. We checked out of the hotel around 10.30am. I took a photo of the cute Halloween decorations in the lobby. We picked our car up from the Grosvenor Square car park, these were the charges- We decided to try our luck and head to the port to see if we could board early. Sure enough we walked onto the ship at 11.30am! A whole 90 minutes before our embarkation time! We headed to the buffet where I took a lot of photos of the choices available for you. Hopefully you can zoom in to see more detail: We both had the beef curry. I will say a couple of pieces of the beef seemed like they had a lot of fat / grissle in them, but overall the taste was nice, and it was a little spicy. The rice seemed like it had been sitting out a while as was quite dry. However, it was a pleasant lunch I had not cooked myself! We enjoyed a strawberry daiquiri and a red wine (Merlot) with our meal which was very pleasant. For dessert we had some ice cream (peanut butter and chocolate for DH) and sorbet (passion fruit for me) which had been under the freezer for far too long and was rock solid! Whilst it melted I had some Black Forest cake and red velvet cake, both lovely. We checked into our cabin at 1pm with two cases already waiting for us (the third came around 90 mins later). I will say there is a distinct lack of storage in the cabin, and the top drawer of the sink unit is absolutely filthy. We haven’t met our cabin steward yet. A quick stop at Cafe Al Bacio for a hot drink, and we’re now in the Sunset bar enjoying the sail away. That’s all for now as we sail away, hopefully I’ll be able to pick up some wifi later to update our meal at the lawn club grill. Thanks for reading!

Apologies I don’t know why there’s a second photo of our lunchtime starter at the end of my post! 🤦🏻‍♀️