P&O Arcadia weekender September 2013

My review of our short little cruise on Arcadia

Ports

We called at Zeebrugge ( for Bruges ) and an overnight ( until 1am ) to Amsterdam

Both ports we have been to many times before, so at Zeebrugge, we just took the shuttle bus to Blankenberge, a little sea side resort for a walk. 

Last time we went here was in December a few years ago, and was a tad quiet, but this time the place was really alive with people in the main high street and along the sea front, even for a Sunday

So we spent a pleasant couple of hours ashore walking, but it was soon time to walk back to the shuttle bus and return to Arcadia.

From there the next stop was Amsterdam, and as I have already said, we have been here quite a few times before ( if you look down the blog you will see we came with Fred a couple of months ago ) 

Even with all these visits, we had never visited Ann Frank's house, so this time we decided to put that right.

It is much better to take a organised tour from the ship, unless you don't mind a long wait, as the queues here go round the block.

Now I know in our day to day lives, we can sometimes think that the whole world is against us, and we have such a terrible time. Well, visit here, and then think again.

So made it back to the ship by 4pm, just enough time for a drink or two, and a quick bite in the buffet, before we where off again for a night time canel boat ride.

But no coach trip this time, we walked out of the passenger terminal walked 100 yards ( sorry it has to be old money, it's my age) and on to the canel boat.

We have often taken boat tours around cities as it gives you a different perspective, and this night tour was a first for us ( have done many in daylight ). I have to say it was a charming tour, and Amsterdam does look great at night. The cheese and wine on the canel boat were not too bad as well.

It was quite a barmy night, which allowed to go to one of our favourite places on Arcadia, the aft deck

This was not something we thought we would be doing on this cruise

Conclusions 

I know a lot of people do not like these shorter cruises, but as Sue and myself both still work, these help pad out the year, and we enjoy them.

The staff on board were excellent as always, we even saw a few faces from April when we went to the Caribbean on Arcadia.

As it was only a short cruise, we did not bother with the MDR, so ate in the buffet of an evening, with one night in the Ocean Grill, which of course as this was a shorter cruise the price was raised to £17.95. I felt the standard of the food in the OG was a little below prt, and the salt marsh lamb ( one of my favourite meals) was overlooked IMHO, but they would not cook it rare.

So all in all, a good break away, but as always too short.

Arcadia will soon ( end of November ) be off for her refit and new cabins to be added, it only seems a little while ago she had this done before.

Not sure when we will get to see the changes, as next year sees us on Oriana and Adonia plus a Fred cruise, then in 2015 we have another Fred cruise booked.

So, until the next time, happy cruising 

Northern Lights

Well, the good lady and I have just sat down and been through the shore excursion for our Northern Lights cruise next year. As I said in a previous blog, some of the tours were a tad expensive. However you don't do this sort of cruise very oftern, so we have booked a Husky Sledge tour in Tromso and a tour to try to find the Majical Lights in Alta, which starts at 10:30 pm, so that will be a late one. 

So all we need now is to win the lottery to pay for the tours :-) 

Will blog soon about our upcoming P&O Arcadia cruise 

Health and Safety ?

We are lucky enough to have booked a cruise for March 2014, that goes up into the Arctic Circle to see ( hopefully ) the Northern Lights. 

Today we received an email from the cruise line, informing us that it will be extremely cold and to pack warm clothes, which was just as well, as I was going to pack T shirt and shorts. 

#healthandsafetygonemade 

We did it

Yep, we booked a Fred Olsen cruise to Spain and France for 2014.

There was quite a few pluses which swayed our decision. The main one that it is a round trip from Harwich in Essex, which is only 20 minutes from home. It also only has one port on the Itinerary that we have been to before, so lots of new places to visit.

So today it was a call to Fred to book the cruise, only to find that the upgrade to to all inclusive was only £6.99 pppn, so it did not take long to take that option.

Where to next for 2014 ?

Although we already have a couple of cruises booked for 2014. I have looked at my annual leave for that period, and I think I can just about squeeze another in.  So last night it was time to pull out the brochures and see what was about.

The Ipads also came into there own as both Sue and I searched the web as well.

Well we found a cruise leaving from Harwich, with only one port that we have been to before, so I just need to check at work today that no one else has that time off already booked.

And we shall be going to.............

Well, you will just have to wait until we have booked it to find out

Happy Cruising 

New DJ

Now I don't normally do advertising, but some time ago I made a purchase from  An on line shop, and so ended up on their mailing list. A recent email showed that they have a very good sale on DJ's (the wearable type) and dress trousers, for £39.99. Well, always up for a bargain I purchased the same, and I have to say excellent product for the price, so if you are in the market for one, then I can recommend.

http://www.mytuxedo.co.uk/

This of course is my old DJ