We had the last of our 5 Caribbean ports of call this cruise yesterday and it was a really good one to end on, Barbados. The passengers had so much choice with the range of tours on offer from a ‘Coast to Coast tour’, Turtle Snorkel, Beach Escape, A Submarine Experience or even a 4x4 Jeep Adventure, there were 11 tours on offer yesterday, all of them offering a great experience.
Today, as usual, my two alarm clocks went off at 8.00am, and the first thing I do after getting out of bed is put the kettle on. My wife Mandy says I am not human until I have a couple of mugs of coffee inside me in the morning! When we are on holiday she always prefers if we have a room with tea and coffee making facilities, I am a bit of a grumpy old man if I have to wait until breakfast to have my first caffeine fix of the day! How she puts up with me I do not know!
I try to be in our office by 8.30am and I can be sure the Deputy Cruise Director Nikki and Assistant Cruise Director James will be in already or soon after!
The weather is just about perfect, Force 4 to 5 with part cloud, a lovely day at sea. The decks are busy with passengers sunbathing or sat out under some shade, it’s just a great atmosphere out there. You could in fact take photographs for a P&O Cruises brochure today! People sitting reading, listening to music, having a cocktail or pint or just chilling out looking out to sea - a day like today is what cruising is all about. Our two swimming pools are also popular when a quick dip is required.
Arcadia has six passenger decks where you can enjoy the sun - it’s my sort of ship! She also has five decks of staterooms with balconies where you can sunbathe in private!
Yesterday I had a couple of shipboard meetings to attend - the first at 9.45am and then one at 11.00am. After that, I went for a stroll into the Cruise Terminal, it’s one of the finest anywhere in the world and has a selection of shops that in the main sell quality goods. There were only two other cruise ships in port yesterday, one was the same size as us and the other smaller. That means to say there were only around 4000 cruise ship passengers in Barbados. I have been in Barbados when there have been six ships in which equated to roughly 14000 passengers! The terminal was rather busy that day!
We had a Sailaway Party yesterday evening, we sailed at 5.30pm with sunset at 5.29pm what could have been better, a fantastic sunset and us sailing at the same time!
Last night’s star entertainer in the Palladium was Martin Daniels; he is a fantastic comedian/magician who always gives a high powered performance. Also last night, we had one of the five ship’s bands ‘Tropikal Vision’ with an evening of Caribbean Steel Band Music at our outside Aquarius pool area, a ‘Cartoon Quiz’ in our very own pub The Rising Sun. There were also movies being shown in The Screening Room, dancing in our ballroom The Globe, followed by our fantastic Game Show ‘Liars Club’, a Syndicate quiz in the Crows Nest and cocktail music in The Piano Bar. I wish I was on holiday; there is so much to do! No two evenings' entertainment are the same, we have choice and variety every night.
I have some news for all you would-be bloggers out there - for three weeks over the Christmas period, I will be handing over to you. If you have a favourite memory to tell from a P&O Cruises holiday, or just want to write about your history of cruising with P&O Cruises, we would love to hear from you. Please send your stories (we suggest around 500-1000 words, in a narrative style), along with images if you have them, to community@pocruises.com, with 'Blog' in the subject line. If you want to include a photo of yourself as well, that would be great. We'll choose the best stories and publish them here on the blog in December and January. Please send your entires in by Friday 10 December to be considered.
I'm looking forward to hearing about the different worlds you've discovered with P&O Cruises. Happy blogging!
See you soon
Nigel
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3 comments:
Really interesting to hear about your day Nigel. Mine is not quite so exciting! Looking out the window at the very cold weather it seems like a world away!
Kirsten Tresidder (Ents Ops & Logistics Exec for Arcadia).
This is almost unbelievable.When we were on the Arcadia's Grand Voyage in 2009,we were allocated table No 87.It was a table for 8 persons and of course we made friends with all our dining companions. After the cruise various exchanges of E Mails and cards etc,were received.
About a year after arriving home,we received a Stainless Steel table No 87 from one of our friends who had obviously (borrowed) it and thought it might be a nice reminder of the Voyage.
We placed it on our dining room table for a while. In Oct of this year our friends John & Gwen Mansell joined the Arcadia for a 17 day Mediterranean cruise and we asked them to return the table No for us.
On the first night in the dining room they looked at their table number and there in front of them was a wooden block with No 87 on.
Immediately John went to his cabin and came back with the stainless steel no. and sat it in pride of place.
How about that for a coincidence?
Looking forward to seeing James on the Aurora in January.
sincerely
Richard & Annette Hockin
Lovely pics of St Maartan.. We will be there very soon!! Can't wait. Have a nice leave.
Richard and Annette I think that was a super story. But, a bit naughty of someone to borrow the table number. I am very glad it was returned.
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