Black Watch Solar Eclipse Cruise - Photos

There are quite a few, so you may need a coffee / tea and biscuts before you start :-)

Faroe Islands are here

Solar Eclipse are here

Alta are here

Northern Lights are here

Tromso are here

Trondheim are here

Alesund  are here

Black Watch Solar Eclipse Cruise Review

The Ship

Fred Olsen Black Watch, 700 passengers and with a few miles on the clock, so plenty of maintenance to do. For her age she is not in too bad a nick, but does feel a bit dated along side more modern cruise ships. That said, she has lots of loyal followers, so she must be doing something right.

Cabin

We had an inside on deck 3 at the aft end of the ship. For an inside it was large enough, with plenty of wardrobe space, the bathroom has a shower only, and was not the biggest I have seen, but adequate for its purpose. When we arrived onboard, the sealant around the bottom of the shower had seen better days. But even without a complaint, it was noticed by staff and replaced without fuss.

Ports

All the ports were excellent, with the exception of the Faroe Island, as there did not seem much to do. The other ports, either on a tour or just a walk round gave a good varied selection.

Weather

The weather was as you would expect for this time of year, snow in Tromso and Alta where it snowed for nearly the whole time we spent there.

The cruise gods were exceptionally kind with the sea. When we were on Oriana this time last year, I remember 10 metre swells, but this year beside a few occasions where it got a little lumpy, it has been fine.

Entertainment

The Theatre Show company have been excellent, not only in their shows, but also with all the other activities they have performed around the ship.

Out of the speciality acts, I thought only Lee Caroll, the comedian, was worth watching 

Lots of quizzes during the day ( if you like that sort of thing ), but I have to say, our performance has been abysmal on this cruise.

The lectures on the northern light and solar eclipse were well attended and seemed to go down well withe the audience 

Food

We ate breakfast and lunch mostly in the Garden Cafe, which is the buffet on Black Watch. This is however no bun fight, with white table cloths and lots of staff. Far better than anything P&O has to offer.

We also ate there one night when they had an Asian buffet.

All good quality food, but nothing outstanding.

Of an evening we ate in the MDR, 1st sitting on a table of 6. Our table companions, Chris and Gordon and Jean and George were great company. The food, as with the buffet was OK, but nothing special, but the Lobster was not too shabby 😜

The crew

Excellent and can not do enough for you is all I can say really, well done to all

Conclusion

Putting aside that  Black Watch is not my favourite Fred Ship, this has been an excellent cruise. I think the Captain at the farewell cocktail party last night summed it up by saying, " you have done more in this cruise, than some people do in a life time".

For me the high light was the Solar Eclipse. I have seen them before on land, but to be at sea was quite magical and difficult to describe, but it will remain with me until I say goodbye to this world

Thank you all for taking the time to read the blogs, and to Sue who makes sure I do not have too many spelling mistakes

And just to finish with, a final photo from our trip in Alesund

So until Azura

Bye bye

Black Watch Solar a Eclipse Part XI

As with all cruises, we have sadly reached our last port, that of Alesund.

We were docked by 0800, with slightly overcast skies, but they did improve throughout the day.

Our tour was not until 1000, so we had a lazy breakfast before we left.

A short walk along the quay, and we boarded our Catamaran for our 3 hour cruise in Hjorundfjord, now this is not the cheapest tour we have ever taken at £85pp, however, it was one of the best.

I spent nearly all three hours on deck taking photo and video, it was breathtaking in parts.

On our return, it was a quick lunch, then as we docked extremely close, it was a walk into town.

I will leave you with just a few of the many photos I took today.

I will of course post a cruise review over the next couple of days, and will post links to the hundred of photos I have taken this cruise.

Thank you all for taking the time to read and comment on the blogs, and if I have not bored you too much, we are off again on P&O Azura in April.

So until then bye bye 

Black Watch Solar Eclipse Part IX

So after our 2 days in the frozen north, we left Alta yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) to some clear skies as we make our way south

Today, we have awoke to bright sunshine and 99% of the snow on deck has gone.

We pass out of the Arctic circle today as we make our way to Trondheim, and another lazy day ahead beckons.

It was the second formal night last night, and the ship was awash with DJ's and dickey bows ( and that was just the ladies 😜😜)

Not sure if I have mentioned this before, but the show team are also very active around the vessel.

Besides performing their shows, plus their individual shows, they also run two quizzes a day, plus they host a " Can we help with your mobile, or tablet " sessions.

And run Tap Dance lessons 

They also act as a tour escorts, so all in all work very hard.

And to finish today, I will leave you with a couple more pictures from our departure from Alta 

So until next time

Bye bye 

Black Watch Solar Eclipse Part VIII

I managed to tweak some of my photos of the Northern Lights with another app I had on my IPad 

Bye bye 

Black Watch Solar Eclipse Part VII

It finally stopped snowing very late in the afternoon, but still with overcast skies. We had had a note in the cabin that the assembly time to meet for the tour had been brought foward by an hour ( for the talk by Glod ). Now I know that the Black Watch came this way at Christmas, so I would have assumed that the tours department would have known that there would be a talk before the tour ?

So we all gathered in the Neptune Lounge at our new alloted time. I think the talk is the same one we had on Oriana last year, but our prediction of seeing the lights was 3. Last year it was 2 and we had a good display. 

But of course the main thing was the weather, of the three sites they use, the one in the north showed the clouds clearing by 2300, with a temperature of -8C, so that was the one.

It was about an hours drive in the coach before we arrived. It was a residential road which led down to a lake.

So the question is, did we get to see them ?

Yes we did, a bit fleeting, but at one time we did get a bit of a "dance" from them.

My photos are not the best, and when I converted them to use in the blog, they were rendered useless, so you will have to wait until I get home and can process them.

We returned to the Black Watch just before mid night and the staff were waiting as we boarded with hot sausage rolls and hot chocolate, which I thought was a nice touch.

Finally, I will leave you with this thought. Glod come on board with their predictions and take you to the site where you will have the best chance of seeing the lights. Oriana also stayed overnight, and I assume that their passengers also had Glod tours. But there were no Oriana passengers at our site, so where did they go ???

Just a thought !!

Bye bye 

Black Watch Solar Eclipse Part VI

Well today we arrived in a very snowy Alta, we did not dock where I expected us to near the airport, but further over in the bay.

The airport berth was later filled by Oriana ( I think she is stalking me ) 

We left Tromso a little later than planned, a taxi arrived at 2300 with three passengers with arms in slings. I wonder if they had been on a dog sledge ?

We took the shuttle bus into town today, and after some retail therapy in a large shopping mall, visited the Alta Cathedral 

It's been very over cast today, with frequent snow showers, so the big question is, will it clear so we can see some lights on our tour tonight ?

I think that's enough of a cliff hanger until the next episode 😜😜

So 

Bye bye

Fred Olsen Black Watch Solar Eclipse Part V

So after our two sea days, we have reached the port of Tromso, it's a pity the weather was not better as it is a magical sail in.

We arrived before our allotted time, and were not allowed to berth due to "security issues" so we circled for about an hour before making the berth.

We had booked an afternoon tour to the Planetarium, we arrived, and look who we saw 

As we left it had turned into a bit of a blizzard 

And of course there was a queue to get back on board 😜❄️❄️❄️❄️

We do not leave until 2300 tonight as there is a tour to the Arctic Cathedral for a concert this evening, before we make our way to Alta.

As we have not fancied the entertainment the last couple of nights, we went to the cinema suitated in deck 3 .

The first film we saw was " The Riot Club", not going to make much comment, other than it was not my type of film.

Last night we saw "Before I go to Sleep" with Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth. Both myself and Sue have read the book, which we both thought was excellent, and the film lived up to the billing.

So now we  go in search of those elusive Northern Lights

So until then 

Bye bye

 

Black Watch Solar Eclipse Part IV

So here we are, the big day for the Solar Eclipse. We awoke to very angry sea, a large swell and very dark skies, it did not bode too well.

But at 0830 we donned our cold weather gear and ventured out to the starboard prom deck which was already filling with passengers clutching their eclipse specs in readiness.

It was a bit of a cruise ship fest, as there was a Carnival ship close by, and another further out. We were also joined by Braemar 

It still did not look very promising, although there was just the slightest glimmer in the dark clouds.

Then slowly, very slowly the cracks in the cloud get more and more as we moved towards totality 

And slowly it got darker and darker, which was quite magical and eerie at he same time.

It was then that the cruise gods smiled upon us, the clouds parted, and there was the totality in all its glory 

With many "Oh's" and "Ahs" from the passengers.

Was it worth coming all this way to see it ?

You bet !!!!

I have to apologise for the quality of the above photos, but it's the conversion from RAW files to JPEG on my IPad.

I will of course post links to all my photos once I get home, which will be of much better quality.

So now we are on our way to our next port of Tromso, but not before we have a quick RV with Braemar and Boudicca 

So until then

Bye bye 

Black Watch Solar Eclipse Part III

Well our two sea days have passed and we now find ourselves in Runavik in the Faroe Islands.

The gods of cruising have smiled upon us so far, as we have had calm seas. The weather however has been a bit hit and miss. Day 1 was foggy all day, but it improved yesterday and we did see a bit of warm sun. 

The entertainment last night was a magician, now you will know that I do like a bit of magic. But this guy left me cold, now I don't know if it was just his style, but IMHO he was just a bad children's entertainer, but Sue  enjoyed his show, so not all tastes are the same.

I've not mentioned quizzes so far, but that because we have been rubbish,  I think we have missed Pat and Michael from our last cruise.

Just a note about our cabin.

If you remember from our last cruise on Black Watch, we were deck 4 mid ships, right next to the opening for the gangway, and that became a tad noisy.

We are now on deck 3 aft, now if you think P&O's Oriana has a few vibration issues, it's nothing to what our cabin can do 😝😝 you could churn butter in there some times.

This morning I was up on deck at 0640, and yes I was still wearing my shorts, but it was a bit chilly

The Pilot boat

We left the ship for a stroll around town at about 1000. The weather by this time, was dark grey clouds and that drizzle that soaks through your clothes. If you have not been here before, the town centre is very small, and in this weather, it was not a pleasant walk.

So all in all, not the best port we have ever visited, and if we did  pass this way again, we would do a tour.

So we were back on board by 1100.

You can see how low the cloud was

And finally the old girl herself

And so tomorrow, we have one of the main events of the cruise, " The Solar Eclipse ". The weather does need to improve though, else the spectacle will be a bit of a damp squid.

After that, we are on to Tromso, and Nothern Lights territory.

So let's all hope for some clear skies for the next few days, and you may even get a picture of the total eclipse, then some green skies

So until then

Bye bye 

Black Watch Solar Eclipse Part II

So here we are on our first sea day, calm seas and sunshine as we sail up the east coast of England onwards to our first port of call of the Faroe Islands. The sail away was slightly delayed as there was a "code alpha" call just as we were leaving the muster drill.

The crew had been unloading large sheets of MDF and other assorted items from the aft deck, and it seems one sustained an injury, so the Captain waited to see if he required to be off loaded. I assume it turned out to be not serious as no one left the ship.

Our meal ( first sitting ) along with our table companions was a pleasant affair.

As we were onboard last November for the mystery cruise, there are lots of familiar faces amongst the crew, plus some who had just started, and did seem to struggle with my order for a large Bells with ice. But I'm sure they will get the hang of things soon.

We have a couple of speakers on board to talk about the eclipse and the northern lights, so I'm sure we shall pop along to some of their talks.

Today has been a first for me in that I have purchased an on board Internet package. Now I normally wait until we dock and purchase a " bolt on" package for my iPhone.

But at £30 for 24 hours of access ( 2p per minute) I thought that was very good value.

As I said at the beginning, it's a lazy sea day today, and you can tell that a fair amount of the passengers are new to the Black Watch, as they walk up and down trying to find their bearings. Not sure how they would manage on Britannia.

We had been on a wait list for a tour on a train in Alesund, but have now given up with that, so we are going to book a cruise on the Hjoundfjord on a catamaran instead.

So until next time

Bye bye

Fred Olsen Mystery Cruise - Photos

As promised here are my photos from the cruise

Vigo

Gibraltar

Malaga

Cadiz

Lisbon

Leixoes

Lorient

Misc


Enjoy

Fred Olsen Mystery Cruise Review

The Cruise

A14 night mystery cruise onboard Black Watch, sailing from Tilbury, London

The Ports

Vigo

Gibraltar 

Malaga

Cadiz (overnight)

Lisbon 

Leixioes 

Lorient

I think Fred played "safe" with their choice of ports, and we did hear one or two complaints of "I have been here before", but when you go on a mystery cruise, you can't mind where you go.

Having said that, Fred's USP, is smaller ships that can get into ports that the big ships can't. So why with the exception of Lorient, why did they pick major ports ? As I said, playing safe IMHO

The ship

Black Watch had just left Hamburg from a refit, where beside planned maintenance, added extra cabins on the Prom deck. Now I mentioned this in my blog, and IMHO a bit of a daft idea.

This is only our third Fred cruise, the first for 3 nights on this ship last year, then 12 nights on Braemar earlier this year, and I have to say out of the two ships Braemar is my favourite as the flow of passengers, and the space  works much better, and feels a better ship. Having said that we are back on the Black Watch in March for the Solar eclipse cruise. But I don't think we will cruise on Black Watch again after that.

Shore excursions 

This was a subject I blogged about before we left. Fred sent us a shore ex brochure, and it was very difficult to choose a tour, not knowing where you will be. 

Having said that, if you had the time, you could compare the description in the brochure to that on Fred's website and work out where you were going. I think Fred could take a leaf out of Saga's book who have been running mystery cruises for some time ( and yes our first mystery cruise was with Saga) and include a shore ex within the price.

As always some shore ex were better then others, with the winery and flamenco dancers the best.

Entertainment 

When we saw the first show by the theatre company I did think they were quite poor. They have however gone from strength to strength and are well worth watching

The Magician Peter Wardell was excellent, but I do love magic

The Singers, we did not go to see as they do not appeal so can't comment

The talks during the day, on all things Mystical given by Mei Trow and Prof Terry Keefe were well worth attending, both factually and entertainment wise.

A note of course has to be made for the "Crew Show" with some very talented people. 

As always, quizzes featured a lot, and the evening quiz saw us team up with Pat and Michael from our table, and Val and Brian. We saw a lot of second places, but did manage to win a name that tune one night, by a sterling effort by my good lady Sue. The chilled bottle of Cava the following night ( our prize) tasted even better for all the effort.

Murder Mystery Evenings

Run by Brad and Tamara from Black Watch Entertainment, they also ran  some acting workshops as well. Due to the intimate surroundings required for a murder mystery, they were held in the garden cafe, which limited the number of people who could attend. The original plan was just to run two evenings with two different murders. This caused some disquiet amongst passengers, so they soon had to double up on the evenings. Now I'm not bragging, but after solving a murder mystery at our local before we came away. We were also in the winning team on both evenings on board.

The food

We were 1st sitting in the MDR on a table for 6, and it's fair to say we had some interesting evenings 😜 I will say no more.

There has been nothing that has stood out food wise. It's been hot and adequate, but I have not said " I really enjoyed that" after a meal.

Breakfast we mainly took in the buffet in The Garden Cafe, and lunch in the MDR, but they did have a buffet there, and the Sunday Roast Beef for lunch was the highlight.

The crew

Excellent as always and a credit to Fred

Conclusion

It's been an OK cruise, but I think Fred could have made it a lot more exciting and interesting. I know it's wrong to compare, but as I said above, we have cruised with Saga on a mystery cruise, and left saying it was one of our best cruises. Sadly I will not be saying that this time. 

Fred, you need to improve.

And finally

I would not normally add this to a cruise review, but felt I did have to mention it. On our last sea day (Friday) in the afternoon, we were in the Lido lounge taking part in a music quiz. The Lido lounge is on deck 6 and overlooks the aft deck. Mid way through the quiz, the CD announces that there is a medical evacuation about to take place by helicopter. 

Now when you see this on TV etc., it does look spectacular, but watching in real life, it was amazing. I hope the person who was evacuated makes a full recovery. But this is just a vote of thanks to the men and women who risk their own lives  to help people who are ill.

Also next time you pass someone shaking a tin for these brave people, please put your hand in your pocket and be generous . 

And finally, 

Disembarkation was fine, but 200/300 passengers with luggage waiting for the coach to take them back to the long stay car park was utter chaos. Not enough coaches, took us 1.5 hours 😁😁😁😁

Until next time, bye

Fred Olsen Mystery Cruise Part IX

So we arrived at our last mystery port, most of the speculation had been on La Rochelle, but no, we arrived into a very foggy Lorient, in Brittany. It's a port we have never been to before, and also a port I have never heard of before.

After breakfast the fog started to lift so we took the shuttle bus into town. We had also bumped into Pat and Michael on the bus, so it was the dynamic foursome again 😄

As we all alighted the bus, there were some local guides offering a 1 hour walking tour for €5 per person. Now when we do walking tours as part of a shore exe it's normally £26 per person, and if you are a regular reader, you will know that this price does get under my skin.

So off we went on our walking tour. It's seems Lorient was the largest of submarine pens for German U Boats during the Second World War. As they were so fortified ( 12 foot reinforced walls) , the only way the allies could find a way of disrupting the U Boats was to bomb the town of Lorient, which ened up totally destroyed. 

Our first stop on our walking tour was a bomb shelter from WWII.

From there we moved onto to some windmills and watch tower, some of the only buildings to survive WWII

We made our way back to the pick up point for the bus, via a cafe for some hot chocolate as the temp is now down to 10C, only to find it had stopped for lunch.

 

However, a band of us intrepid explorers managed the 20 minute walk back to the ship.

So tomorrow is our last sea day, and we are back in Tilbury on Saturday.

I hope you have enjoyed reading the blog, and I will write a cruise review and post links to my photos once we get home.

I found an app to convert my RAW files, so I hope they are better now .

So until then, bye

Fred Olsen Mystery Cruise Part VII

Firstly I must apologies for the quality or lack of, of my photos on my blog.

As I said,I have a new camera for this cruise with an upgraded sensor 24Mb, plus I shoot in RAW format so the files are very large. They import into my IPad OK, but it seems my blogger app can't deal with the large file. I will have to look for an app when we get back so I can re format them to JPEG on my iPad. I will of course post a link to all my photos once we are back and I have sorted them out.

So did you guess from my clues yesterday where we were going .

Well today we are in a very sunny and warm Lisbon.

Our shore exe firstly took us to Sintra the old town being a World UNESCO site 

We spent a pleasant hour walking around the old town, where cork and linen seemed to be the major items for sale, and I never knew cork could be made into so many different things.

From there we went on to Cascais, a sea side resort, which also housed the rich and famous by the look of some of the Villas we saw on the shore line.

By now it was wall to wall sun shine and quite warm, and there was also some local art

So now we only have two more ports to call at, plus another country to visit, so it could be another port in Portugul and one in France, to just two in France.

But as always on this mystery cruise, we will have to wait and see.

So until next time, bye

 

Fred Olsen Mystery Cruise Part VI

Well here we are, a hazy Sunday morning and still in Cadiz. We sail at 1 pm today, as we make our way back to the UK.

We still have three ports to go, two countries, and a capital city to go. So I would not think any bookies are taking bets on our next port 😄

Back to our excursion yesterday, it was a short coach ride to a local village to visit a winery  that makes fortified wine.

But first our tour guide, excellent English, a very dry wit, and so so funny. You know you have mastered a foreign language when you can tell a joke and have a coach full of passengers in uproar. He had also mastered a few profanities, but all were within context, and again a coach in uproar.

One of the best tour guides we have ever had.

So we arrived at the winery, not a tourist attraction but a working building, so after a short talk on its history and how they make the wine, we were shown into a flagstone covered courtyard where we were plied with 5 different wines to taste, along with some tapas. All the while being entertained by a small group of very talented flamenco dancers

The tour was chalk and cheese from our tour in Malaga, and a great afternoon was had by one and all. We did not get back to the ship until 6pm, so it was the buffet for us last night.

As we were here overnight, I took the opportunity to take some long exposure night shots on deck.

This morning we took a short walk into town, and are now sitting in the sun on the prom deck, looking foward to roast beef and Yorkshire puds for lunch. Not a bad Sunday, even if I do say so myself

So until mystery port 5 ( have you worked out what it will be yet ?)

Bye

PS I have a new camera for this cruise, and when I put them into the blog, they look a bit pixelated to me, I'm hoping it's just the app on my IPad and they are OK for you 

Fred Olsen Mystery Cruise Part V

Well here we are in our fourth mystery port, and it's  not the one I expected. I soon realised this yesterday when I looked at the map, and saw it was too far to reach there over night. 

My guess had been Barcelona as it all seemed to fit, plus we have an overnight stay in port 4.

I had expected us to go further into the Med. But when lights were seen on the shore on the starboard side last night. It became obvious that we had in fact turned back and today docked at Cadiz.

Lazy morning today, hence the blog, and this afternoon off for a shore exe to see some national dancing, and a taste of the local tipple.

If I have time tomorrow I will update you  on that, but if not it will be a couple of days as we have a sea day when we leave here.

It was interesting yesterday afternoon, as we sat out on the prom deck as the crew performed a lifeboat drill of lowering the lifeboat. The interesting part was the fact that none of them were seaman, but one was from the galley, another a waiter and so on. The whole point being that in an emergency with no seaman about for what ever reason, then they knew to operate the lifeboats for the passengers.

Something I had never thought about.

And for no other reason than I like the picture I took yesterday

Until then, bye

Fred Olsen Mystery Cruise Part III

Day 4

Another dark morning greeted us as the alarm went off at 7am, a quick look out the window confirmed  that my research had been correct, and our second mystery port was in fact Gib.

Now in all the years we have been cruising, and our many calls at Gib, we had never done a shore excursion. So today we put that right.

As we docked today we saw what can only be described as a rather large craft

You can see its size, docked next to Black Watch. It is named Kismet and a quick google showed that it is a charter yacht, with six cabins, taking a max of 12 passengers and 28 crew.

It's all yours for €1,200,000 PER WEEK 

So we w ere soon on board our small coach ready for our trip. We were soon driving across the Gib runway up to the border with Spain, and then off to Europa point, which is the end of Europe. As I said at the begining it was a dark morning that greeted us, and the day continued to be very overcast. Europa Point then added some wind and rain to the overcast sky making it a very bleak spot today. We then made our way up the rock to St Michaels caves.

And of course we had to say hello to the apes

On the way back we popped into Main Street but managed to spend £0

So all in all a very good day 

We do not leave until 11pm tonight, so I don't think we are going far

So until then bye 

Fred Olsen Mystery Cruise Part II

Day 3

Clocks went forward an hour last night, so it was still dark as we approached our first mystery port. I was fairly certain what the first port would be, and I was correct, it was Vigo in northern Spain, a port we had been to many times before, but not for quite a few years.

If you have read my previous blogs, you will know that Fred did indeed send out a shore excursion brochure for this cruise, and we had booked one for this port.

All we knew was that there was just over an hours drive, then two hours walking. 

I assumed that once we docked, or at least on the coach, then we would know where we were going.

But no, the tour remained a mystery, or should I say a pilgrimage.

And yes, we arrived at Santiago de Compostela for our walking tour of the old quarter and a visit to the cathedral where the remains of James the apostle are interred.

We finished our tour at a hotel in the square by the cathedral which is one of the oldest in the world. It also used to be a hospital for the pilgrims in times past, but today it served up some very tasty wine and nibbles.

The weather had been overcast all day, with a cold wind, but it had kept dry and the rain kept off until the journey back to the ship.

The evening saw us attend our murder mystery dinner, which took place in the Garden Cafe. Which for the evening had been turned into Wimlington Manor for an auction of the late Hortense Thornley Cruttocks jewellery.

The evening saw many characters introduced to us as events unfolded, such as Arthur Chance, Cilla Bus, Heidi von Osterhagen and many more.

I'm not boasting, but our team did solve the puzzle and win the bottle of bubbly.

And just between you and me the guilty person was....

Sorry, if I told you, I would have to kill you 😜

It was a very enjoyable few hours, and you can find out more at www.blackwatchenterainment.co.uk

On the quiz front, we do seem to be the Cinderellas as we came second once again 😠 

Today, Wednesday is a sea day, after which we have a few ports in a row. I'm still certain we are heading for the Med, and my clue to where I think I our next port will be is "its a bit of a pinch point"

Until then, bye 

Fred Olsen Mystery Cruise Part I

So the day had arrived, and it was time for our short journey down the A12 to Tilbury dock to board Black Watch for our 14 nights of mystery.

I had done some extensive research to try to get a clue on the general area for the cruise. It was only when we received the shore excursion brochure that I managed to piece together that I think we are going to the Med. I think I have worked out three of the first four ports, but stopped my research at that point, as I still wanted some mystery.

So after brunch, we packed the cases and made our way to Tilbury. Having never sailed from there before it was another new experience for us.

For those of you that have cruised from Southampton and are used to the slick parking and boarding process, then Tilbury is a bit behind. After dropping off our luggage at the terminal you then have quite a drive back to the main port of Tilbury for the long stay car park, and then you are bussed back to the cruise terminal.

Fred must have had problems with their IT, as check in was a manual process with lists on sheets of paper etc.. This caused a queue or two and few frustrated "priority" passengers who felt they should not have to queue 😜

But finally we boarded and found our cabin, only to find no key to be able to lock same, but a quick visit to reception soon solved the problem. I'm not sure if these issues were a hangover from the refit she had just had.

One thankful note, was that at muster, we were not made to process " crocodile style" out to the lifeboat as by now it was dark and it could have been a receipe for disaster.

Going back to boarding, I can only assume the port staff were trying to lessen the queues, but we were waved past the security screening and x-ray of hand luggage to board, which IMHO was not good.

We have a table of six for dinner, and for a first night it was pretty lively, we teamed up later with Pat and Michael from our table and another couple to tackle the evening quiz, we managed a resonable 17/20, but were pipped at the post by the winners who had 18/20.

The red herrings by the crew have started already as the daily news paper stated the clock would go forward, but the CD later announced it was a fishy tale, and it would be a sea day.

So here we are the first day at sea, and lots of passengers trying to work out where we are going. A quick squint  of the sun today, and I think my prediction still holds true.

We have a talk this morning from the group that have been bought on board to run a couple of murder mystery dinners, so looking forward to that.

First formal night tonight, with the Captains welcome party.

If my research is correct, tomorrow will be another sea day, before we dock the next day at...........

Sorry,  but you will have to wait for my  next blog to see if I am correct

Day 2

It's another sea day today, so I thought I would add a small piece  to the blog. It's been a tad lumpy overnight, and still is this morning, which by my reckoning means we are in "the bay" and our first port of call tomorrow (Tuesday)

As you may know, The Black Watch had been for a refit in Hamburg before we boarded. The major part of this refit was the addition of 27 cabins with balconies on deck 7, which happens to be on the prom deck.

I have to say that it's the strangest configuration I have ever seen as the balcony is just part of the prom deck, and it looks like someone has just put up some railings and called it a balcony, all very strange.

But back to yesterday, as I said above we went to a talk about the murder mystery dinners which are being hosted by a group called "Black Watch Production" who specialise in these events. They are hosting two dinners to be held in the Garden Cafe, a small area which normally is the buffet for breakfast/lunch etc. 

Because of its smaller area you have to "book" to join in. We heard last night that the first dinner was fully booked,with 100 on the waiting list, so obviously very popular, but we did manage to bag our seats, so I will report later as the dinner is Tuesday evening, which just so happens to be the good lady and mine's wedding anniversary  (42 years)

We also attended a talk by Mei Trow, an historian and crime writer on the Mary Celeste (and according to Mei it is Mary and not Marie)

It was an interesting talk on various scenarios on what have could happened, and there was also a big clue to our second port of call IMHO

We did better in the quiz last night, and got to a tie breaker (height in metres of the Eiffel Tower) but we lost out on that.

Today will consist of some more talks, with the odd cookery demonstration thrown in. 🍕🍔🍟🍜🍲🍝🍖🍟