On Monday 16 September 2019 my wife and I set sail from Southampton onboard P&O’s ‘Adult Only’ cruise ship Arcadia. We were taking a 24 night round trip to Canada and took in 8  ports of call…

 

…six of which would be new to us. All ports of call will be covered in the ‘Itinerary’ section later in this blog.

We had booked a Category EE Balcony Cabin on C Deck (C036)…

*****

…which benefited from having an  bath tub in addition to a shower…

 

The cabin was a most practical size…

…with a comfortable sitting area and desk.

The balcony was perfectly adequate considering this was to be a northerly autumn cruise with  a minimal opportunity to sun bathe…

Embarkation was both smooth and timely. As Caribbean members of P&O’s Peninsular Club loyalty scheme we were given priority check-in, and within 20 minutes of arrival at Southampton’s  Mayflower Cruise Terminal we were sitting in the Meridian Restaurant enjoying another perk of that level…

…where we remained enjoying free flowing champagne and white wine until an announcement was made that cabins were available for occupation.

Once at our cabin we were also delighted to find our luggage had all been delivered, which gave my wife the opportunity to unpack whilst I proceeded on a ship exploration to remind myself of what was available on Arcadia.

Around the Ship

Top priority and  my first destination was to identify the nearest laundrette on our deck – there are laundrettes on most of Arcadia’s accommodation decks – and I was delighted to find Deck C’s not too far away…

We had booked ‘Freedom’ Dining for this cruise and it’s always good to familiarise oneself with the restaurant. On Arcadia those opting for ‘Freedom’ dining use the upper sector of the Meridian Restaurant…

*****

More about actual dining in the relevant section later.

Arcadia’s central hub is   what is loosely referred to as ‘The Atrium’ though on this particular ship, while being practical,  it doesn’t quite match the wow factor of the more spectacular atriums on other cruise ships we have sailed on…

*****

What it does have though is a concentration, on its lowest level, of those ‘desks’ that administer a multitude of services, Reception…

Shore Excursions…

…and Loyalty and Future Sales…

The other two higher Atrium decks offered a number of bars including Intermezzo…

*****

…and on the highest of the three levels, the very popular  The Piano Bar…

*****

Other bars and entertainment venues on ‘F’ Deck include the Rising Sun Pub…

******

The Monte Carlo Casino…

The multi purpose Globe…

The Spinnaker Bar…

*****

…and the lower entrances to The Palladium Theatre…

On the deck above, 3 Deck, apart from the entrances to the upper section of the Palladium Theatre, can be found The Screening Room…

The Library and Internet Centre…

A Costa Coffee Shop…

*****

The Onboard Shops…

…and the Photo Gallery….

*****

One further excellent and popular entertainment venue can be found high up on Deck 10, The Crows Nest…

*****

*****

…while for those so inclined, below the Crows nest on Deck 8 is the ship’s Gym…

…and Spa complex including a hairdressing salon…

Arcadia does boast two swimming pools though the weather conditions and temperatures on this particular cruise meant usage was rather limited, even in the indoor Neptune Pool…

…which has a retractable roof, and the outdoor Aquarius Pool…

…which enjoys shaded seating areas on either pool side…

For those who enjoy keeping fit while at sea the Arcadia also boasts an excellent completely wrap-around Promenade Deck…

*****

Fancy your chances?…

An early morning stroll taking in Sunrise with the ship’s wake…

 

Arcadia’s Dining Experience.

There are a number of options for evening dining onboard Arcadia.

The Main Meridian Restaurant set on two levels…

…which offers an ‘open’ seating breakfast and lunch service, whilst for dinner  both ‘Club’ and ‘Freedom’ dining are available on the separate levels.

As previously stated my wife and I opted for ‘Freedom’ Dining which allowed us to arrive for dinner at our nominated restaurant between the hours of 6.00 pm and 9.30 pm each evening.

On the passengers’ arrival, the restaurant manager would enquire if they wished to dine by themselves on a table for 2,  or whether they would be willing to share a larger size table seating 4, 6 or 8 passengers. Should either option be unavailable at the time of arrival the restaurant manager would offer a pager to alert the guests when the table size of choice becomes available. Needless to say, those who needed a pager most evenings were those requesting a table for 2.

Dinner menu examples…

*****

A few examples of dinner service,  Seafood Moneybags starter…

…and Herb Crusted Leg of Lamb…

and Chocolate and Pistachio Delice…

On a number of formal evenings a Gala Night  menu contained a selection of special dishes created by Marco Pierre White …

…an add-on to a normal dinner selection…

Chosen by yours truly, the Shrimp Tian…

…and the Beef Wellington…

 

For those who prefer a self service buffet environment the Belvedere Restaurant offers almost 24 hour dining…

…and with tables laid pre-dinner…

On the few occasions we utilised the Belvedere for breakfast – usually on port days – we found the food on offer very good, particularly the excellent selection of fresh melon and grapefruit…

…and we certainly had no cause for complaint at the odd lunch, with offerings like Asian Spiced Red Snapper…

…and a pretty mean individual Steak & Kidney Pie…

 

Onboard Arcadia there are two speciality restaurants which each require a reservation and to which there is  a cover charge attached.

Each speciality restaurant offers a choice of two menus which change on a 4-5 day basis.

As is our style we wished to sample both menus in both restaurants and as luck would have it there was a ‘promotion’ to encourage diners to try each restaurant on the first three nights of the cruise. We elected to reserve a table at Sindhu…

Sindhu is an exclusive to P&O floating restaurant inspired by the Indian style of restauranteur Atul Kochhar. It offers delicately spiced  Indian cuisine with a British twist…

The Karara Kekda…

Crisp Soft Shell Crab, Celeriac and Apple Slav and a Passion Fruit Chutney

 

The Sindhu Signature Plate…

Tamarind Salmon Curry, Saffron Chicken Korma and lamb Rogan Josh

And from Menu 2, Jal Tarring…

Hand Dived Scallops, Broccoli Couscous and Cauliflower Puree

and Kadhai Jhinga…

King Prawns, Stuffed Peppers, Green Pea Couscous and a Spiced Tomato Sauce.

 

The second speciality restaurant is the Ocean Grill…

In partnership with celebrity chef Marco Pierre White the Ocean Grill is a sophisticated fine dining experience in the style and spirit of the great London grill restaurants…

And some examples from our two visits  Grilled Scallop and Octopus…

and Main Course, Rack of Lamb for two carved at the table…

*****

and the second menu, Duck Carpaccio….

…and a 10oz Premium USDA Sirloin Steak…

No review of the food onboard Arcadia  would be complete without a mention of The Neptune Grill…

Situated close to the Neptune Pool and open 11.00 am to 5.30 pm – offering a variety of burgers, hot dogs and fish – it proved ideal for that late snack when returning from ashore or a lighter choice for lunch on a sea day.

 

What’s more the staff there were probably the friendliest onboard…

…Well done guys. 

Entertainment

Entertainment is usually subjective and both my wife and I found the ship’s entertainment programme balanced and to almost our entire satisfaction. With 24 nights cruising and 13 of those being sea days I would guess keeping all passengers happy would be a challenge.

The theatre company certainly pulled off one amazing statistic with seven production shows while the onboard lecturers on the outward journey were of such interest that on occasions one never left one’s seat in the theatre.

Much reliance is made on the standard daily entertainment fare with quizzes, games, dance classes  and spa related health talks.

On the lecture front our top marks went to…

The first three were on the outbound voyage and the latter two on the homeward leg.

Such was our interest in the ports we were going to visit that we also attended every port lecture with the exception of the Halifax talk. This was our third visit to Halifax and we had already researched our day’s event. ( described later in the itinerary section of this review).

The onboard port lecturer was…

…who was certainly very knowledgeable, though did tend to digress a little too much and was hence deserving of the nickname we gave him, Dai the Wombat.

As with the majority of cruise ship port lectures, the bulk of information is really linked to ship’s organised excursions despite the regular disclaimers of the lecturers. In all seriousness though, John’s lectures were very popular and my above photograph was taken on my early arrival and is not indicative of the true audience size.

We certainly enjoyed some of the early evening classical concerts held in The Globe…

…while our favourite venue for pre-dinner drinks and music was undoubtedly the Crows Nest…

…where we often retired to after dinner if the Palladium entertainment didn’t appeal. One particular evening we were most pleasantly surprised at the talent of two of the Arcadia’s Orchestra who  gave a jazz concert out of the ordinary…

That’s Yervand and Vlad and they were outstanding.

We also enjoyed catching the odd ballroom dance in The Globe following a late Palladium show…

…where the resident dance band, Bellisimo, were good value.

Of course the main centre for evening entertainment is the Palladium Theatre and amongst the many visiting guest entertainers  those that stood out for us were the two shows given by Electra…

…and that outstanding entertainer…

******

And finally before we leave the Palladium, to the Headliners. Some of their shows, albeit revamps, we recognised the titles of,  and some just didn’t appeal. Having said that, the majority of the shows we did attend were excellent. In particular, and in no particular order, these included…

*****

…and the all new…

…which certainly ranked as one of the best production shows we have seen with P&O…

*****

Well done the Headliners and thank you for a great show…

 

Itinerary

 

So we finally come to the itinerary – the singular reason we booked this cruise.

We departed Southampton on Monday 16 September 2019 and spent 5 sea days crossing the Atlantic whereupon, on Saturday 21 September we arrived at St John’s, Newfoundland…

Our research had given us the idea that after taking in some of the Jelly Bean houses, for which  St John’s is famous, we would attempt to climb Signal Hill before crossing it to Quidi Vidi Creek, taking in as many of the historical sites as possible…

Needless to say we were undaunted even by the view of Signal Hill from Arcadia’s berth…

On our route we were spoilt for choice with the Jelly Bean houses…

…and before starting our ascent we had the added bonus of finding St John’s famous dogs…

*****

The joy for us of the walk up Signal Hill was the fact we could leave the roadway at will and take in numerous sites of interest including, Deadman’s Pond, The Observation Deck, The Visitor Centre, Gibbet Hill and Queens Battery…

*****

*****

…before finally making it to the peak and Cabot Tower…

…and that memorial plaque commemorating  Marconi’s first trans Atlantic wireless signal…

Continuing from Cabot Tower we continued across the top of Signal Hill in the direction of Cuckolds Cove…

…and Quidi Vidi Creek…

…and the home of the Quidi Vidi Brewing Company, where we took onboard many samples of their delightful offerings…

….before walking back into St John’s via the Quidi Vidi Lake scenic path.

NOTE: Such was the number of interesting sites along our route that I will certainly do, when time allows, a full “One Way to do St John’s” review.

There was a sea day between St John’s and our next port of call, Halifax, Nova Scotia…

This was our third visit to Halifax in six years and on a previous visit I had purchased a book that detailed the events surrounding the disastrous ‘Halifax Explosion’ in December 1917…

…which was only surpassed in its magnitude when a nuclear bomb was dropped on Japan in 1945.

So having covered most of what Halifax has to offer visiting cruise ship passengers our plan for this particular visit was to take in as many of the 23 Explosion Heritage Sites dotted around Halifax as we could manage…

Armed with our map and a few notes we disembarked promptly and took a taxi ride to the furthest  site (No. 21 on the above map) which was at Regatta Point, Anchor Drive where the shank of the ‘Mont-Blanc’s anchor came to rest, having been hurled some 3.8 Kilometres…

The rest of our search was undertaken on foot and we eventually made it to 17 of the 23 sites including Mount Olivet Cemetery...

 St Stephens Memorial Park (16 on the map)…

(that’s the fragment from Mont-Blanc set in the soil bottom left)

The Explosion Memorial Bell Tower at Fort Needham (No 2 on the map)…

…and the City Hall Clock…

…which is permanently stopped at 09.05, the time that the original clock stopped as a result of the explosion.

Our final planned memorial site (No. 12 on the map) was to be the CSS Acadia, a ship that was in the harbour on December 6th when the explosion happened, and is now permanently docked at the waterfront museum: but not before we took on liquid refreshment at Murphy’s on the waterfront boardwalk…

We’d had an excellent day and were well pleased with our achievements: certainly Halifax with a  different twist, particularly when one considers the different areas we also walked through. For the record my wife’s Fitbit recorded that we covered…

Yep, 12.95 miles

On leaving Halifax we had two sea days as we sailed to Quebec…

We were now experiencing a change in our original itinerary. We had been scheduled to visit Charlottetown on Wednesday 25 Sept and Corner Brook on Thursday 3 October.

The official line was that due to weather and reduced speed limits imposed by Canadian authorities (Coastguard) to protect endangered marine species ( North Atlantic Right Whale), our projected call to Charlottetown would be rescheduled and our call to Corner Brook was to be abandoned. By way of compensation (?) we would have an extra night in Quebec.

To add insult to injury we were informed that our berth in Quebec would not be one of the ‘prestigious’ one’s in the Old town below the Chateau Frontenac but a 10 minute drive to the north on a commercial port, seen here from the Plains of Abraham…

…which would require, for most passengers at least, a shuttle bus ride into the Old Town. This is what we chose to do on day one and spent most of the first morning exploring  Old Quebec, the Citadel…

…and the old ramparts with their famous gates, this one Porte Saint Louis…

….before the heavens opened and we were forced to retire to one of the many excellent pubs to be found a stone’s throw from  the l’Hotel de Ville…

…and sample the local version of French Onion Soup after which, with continuing heavy rain we headed back to the shuttle bus point at Place Royale…

…for an earlier than expected return to the ship.

Day two in Quebec and we had booked one of the ship’s excursions, a twelve hour full day trip to Montreal, highlights of which included a visit to the Montreal Olympic Tower…

…including a ride to the top on its funicular…

…where we enjoyed the amazing views over the Olympic complex…

*****

 

…as well as over the St Lawrence River and Montreal’s downtown areas…

Following the visit to the Olympic Tower we headed into Montreal’s Little Italy for lunch at an amazing Market…

…more oysters…

…before continuing across the city to Mont Royal and the rather spectacular Saint Joseph’s Oratory…

A bit of a shame that our visit coincided with works to the gardens leading to the Oratory however, the views from the Oratory steps were excellent…

For our third day in Quebec we decided to give the shuttle a miss and walk the 15 minutes or so to the set of steps that leads up to the Plains of Abraham…

I say set of steps, there are actually 393 steps to the top. The climb was well worth it for the views over the St Lawrence River…

…and considerably more scenic than the overcrowded Cap Diament bandstand view point with its coach loads of tourists.

From here we headed to the Observatoire de la Capitale…

…where from the  31st floor we enjoyed breathtaking 360 views of Quebec…

*****

 

Once again we came under threat from the weather and so headed in the direction of Port Saint Jean…

…and the Place de l’Hotel de Ville…

…where we knew we could find a hostelry should the heavens really open. As it was there were only light intermittent showers and we enjoyed the Saturday pre-Halloween festivities…

…before heading back to the ship ready for her 5.00 pm departure.

The following day we arrived at Saguenay, well at least at the La Baie Cruise Terminal…

…which just happens to be some 19 Kilometres (12 miles) from what is considered Saguenay’s main attractions at Chicoutimi. (Saguenay is the umbrella name for 14 communities; the major ones are Chicoutimi, Jonquière and La Baie)

There were no P&O shuttles though a local bus company operated a HoHo service at a cost of $20.00 per person. Having been amongst the first to disembark and with the HoHo shuttle not due to commence for almost another hour we opted for a taxi into Chicoutimi which dropped us conveniently at our first point of interest, La Petite Maison Blanche…

…or The Little White House…

The house became famous when in 1996 an upriver dam overflowed due to heavy rains and the destruction was widespread, wiping away every other building surrounding the small white abode…

The Little White House stood for four days while raging waters ran all around its base. When the flooding stopped the house was still standing tall and acted as a bright symbol of perseverance for the water-logged town. It now stands as a tiny museum to the flooding…

…and we were the first visitors to the museum that day.

After a walk of about  20 minutes we arrived at the second of our planned visits, La Pulperie de Chicoutimi…

La Pulperie is a designated historical site located at the heart of Chicoutimi, surrounded by a huge park, and lodged within the old mill of the Compagnie de pulpe de Chicoutimi…

It features the history of the Compagnie de Pulpe de Chicoutimi and highlights the significant part this company played in the development of the city and the region at the beginning of the last century.

Here we spent a number of hours exploring the many buildings, not all restored…

*****

…and admiring the remains of the water ducting that once powered the mighty mill…

On completion of our visit we spent a further hour walking along the town’s picturesque waterfront boardwalk…

…before returning to the Grande Baie area for a planned visit to the Pyramid  Ha Ha…

Erected in memory of the 1996 floods, the Pyramide des Ha! Ha! consists of 3,000 “yield” signs affixed to an aluminum structure with a 21 metre internal  viewing platform.

The following day we arrived at our 5th port of call, Sept-Iles…

…where we planned to spend the morning walking along the seafront in the direction of Vieux Poste…

 

…which appeared to feature in the majority of ship’s excursions. The Old Trading Post is a historical interpretation site that presents daily life in a 19th-century fur-trading post. It offers a surprising experience based on the meeting of the Innu and Euro-Canadian cultures over time.

As luck would have it by the time we reached the site the morning ship’s tours had already been and we almost had the site to ourselves…

*****

*****

*****

Following our visit to the Vieux-Poste we planned to seek out a seafood restaurant and sample the delights of Sept Iles fishing industry’s main catch, Snow Crab. Regrettably of the 3 restaurants we had listed not one was open for lunch. The best laid plans…and the closest we got to anything to do with snow crab was this stack of the crab traps on the dockside…

The following day, Tuesday 1st October we dropped anchor off Gaspe…

…which was our one and only ‘tender’ port.

This was also the port of call for our second ship’s excursion – or ‘Shore Experience’ as P&O now like to call them –  to Percé…

…a mainly  tourist location of particular scenic beauty and well known for the attractions of Percé Rock and Bonaventure Island…

The scenic drive of around an hour took us past a number of points of interest including this particular rock formation known locally as Indian Rock…

…until eventually arriving in Percé.  We made a number of stops that offered alternative views of the Percé Rock…

*****

*****

This excursion also included  lunch at a local waterside restaurant with free time to explore the quaint nature of the town…

*****

On our return to the Gaspe Tender dock  there was just enough time to walk over the bridge into the town and visit a number of the sites with monuments to Jacques Cartier whose arrival at Gaspe in 1534 earned the town the distinction of being named the ‘birthplace’ of Canada.

First up on the small headland was the Musée de la Gaspésie…

…a regional history museum that preserves and promotes the history and heritage of the Gaspésie region and  in whose grounds stand the Jacques Cartier monument…

*****

…while back in the town on the opposite side of the bridge was the…

…site, an historic  reconstitution of the Gaspé village core as it was in the 1900s with attractions including a heritage house, warehouse, naval base, general store, and the Jacques Cartier Cross…

*****

There was one further sea day between our visit to Gaspe and the next port of call, Charlottetown…

…which is the capital of Prince Edward Island and in 1864 William Henry Pope (above) became one of the fathers of the Canadian Federation.

We had come well prepared with a map of what we wanted to see…

and we kicked off our route at Confederation Landing…

…where we discovered this  metalwork panorama sculpture, a circle with three tableaux celebrating the events surrounding the confederation.

 

We continued our walk passing Beaconsfield Historic House…

…and eventually reaching our furthest goal, Victoria Park and ‘The Battery’…

(From the above photograph one can just make out the Arcadia central top.)

We returned to Charlottetown centre ticking off those sites we had earmarked for our visit and once completed it was time to make up for our seafood disappointment at Sept Iles.

Interestingly I had noted that one of Arcadia’s ‘shore experiences’ at Charlottetown had been a ‘Local Flavours Walking Tour’ that included a visit to ‘The Ghan House Brewery’…

…which seemed to us a good place to start. So after a visit to the downstairs brewery…

…we tucked into our first course, mussels and beer…

Our next stop was the Olde Dublin Pub and Claddagh Oyster House…

…where we turned up the anti with…

…Scallops and Oysters. And we are not finished yet, as we head off to Dave’s Lobster Shack…

to sample his fare

The famous ‘Half & Half’ Lobster Roll…

…all washed down with an excellent bottle of Rose.

And we still weren’t finished. Within site of the ship we settled for   Peakes Quay…

…and their delightful 7 Nut Pie…

…and a final ‘Moosehead’…

…before a final photoshoot within striking distance of the ship…

Charlottetown had proved an all-round excellent day out.

And so to our final port of call before we returned home across the Atlantic, Sydney, Nova Scotia…

…home of the world’s largest fiddle!

During our pre-cruise research we had become interested in a visit to the Fortress of Louisbourg…

…a National Historic Site of Canada and the location of a one-quarter partial reconstruction of an 18th-century French fortress twice ransacked by British forces.

Interestingly, for such a major historical site, P&O had no organised ‘Shore Experiences’ scheduled there. Such was our interest that we set about organising a ‘private’ tour and duly booked with a local tourist guide, Anna Marie Cormier.

Anne Marie was waiting for us as we disembarked in Sydney and whisked us immediately to Jost House…

…where she had arranged a private tour.

The house is one of the oldest wooden structures in Sydney and was originally the home of ship owner and merchant Samuel Sparrow from 1786. The building illustrates an important local theme of change in this area of the city: an evolution from commercial use to commercial/residential and then to purely residential use. Period dressed staff gave a guided tour with fun explanations of the significance of each room…

The basement has been restored to his original 18th century kitchen with a cooking fireplace, a separate beehive bake-oven…

On completion of this visit we headed out for the forty or so minutes drive to the Louisberg Fortress…

…where we commenced our visit with the King’s Bastion…

*****

…and, under Anne Marie’s stewardship,  a fully guided tour of the King’s Bastion (above) and its restored rooms…

*****

…plus the ‘fortress’ area outside the Bastion…

…also restored to mimic its original layout…

*****

One of the greatest pluses of our visit to The Fortress was the fact that for many years Anna Marie had been a member of the guide staff and she certainly hadn’t lost any of her amazing knowledge.

 

On completion of our Fortress visit Anne Marie took us to the opposite side of the bay to visit the now preserved Louisbourg Lighthouse…

*****

On our return to Sydney Anna Marie  ensured we were dropped off close to another landmark that I had indicated I wished to see, The Merchant Mariner Monument…

I can only add that we were most fortunate in finding such a wonderful guide for our day in Sydney. Nothing was too much trouble for her, and her knowledge of the area was second to none. Thank you most kindly Anna Marie for making our day such a success…

Anne Marie can be contacted by email…

cormierannamarie@hotmail.com

We set sail that evening and headed for home – 5 sea days before arriving back at the beginning, Southampton.

 

Summary

This cruise was chosen purely on the basis of its itinerary while in the full knowledge that we knew exactly what to expect with P&O. Needless to say we were not disappointed and enjoyed a more than satisfactory cruise.

So much of course depends on one’s attitude and as experienced P&O cruisers we called it absolutely right. The choice of food in all dining venues was good and the standard and quality of the dishes was pretty good. It was most pleasing to be offered a proper cheese board at the dinner table and not the pre-sliced, pre-plated, dried at the edges  selection offered on a number of other cruise lines.

On the odd occasion we used the Belvedere buffet we found it perfectly acceptable and were delighted to see hot beverage table service at breakfast and the introduction of the ‘Can I Help’ staff system for those less mobile…

…not us, I would add!

Evening entertainment was as good as it gets and there was also certainly plenty of variety to suit most tastes during the day. While we fully intended to purchase two wine packages while onboard we were initially disappointed with the lack of choices of New World wines. Being ardent Brexiteers we are currently on a moratorium of European wines. However, there was plenty of choice on the main wine menu and we were most pleased with the quality of what was on offer even when sold more cheaply than through one of the packages…

Indeed the Sula sauvignon Blanc on offer in Sindhu was so moreish that we drank 3 bottles on our two visits. Funnily enough we had met this ‘Sula’ previously on our Ganges River cruise last December.

Other pretty reasonably  good wines we sampled were…

and…

 

We were also delighted at the standard of dress on the 7 Formal evenings, with the vast majority enthusiastically adhering to the code. Cunard should take note.

We certainly didn’t notice any reduction in the standard of service from staff as this was our first occasion on P&O where gratuities were included. Actually we had booked prior to the change in policy and felt obliged to pass extra on to certain staff members.

We did miss one port which obviously wasn’t an unmitigated disaster, though I personally found the reason and logic for its removal not entirely satisfactory.

So overall a very good and enjoyable cruise that took us to six new destinations in a manner that was not superficially over priced: We find P&O offer good value for money which is obviously reflected in the fact that out of just over 2,000 passengers only 195 were new to P&O while there were some 729 members onboard representing the top three tiers of P&O’s loyalty Peninsular Club.

 

If you have enjoyed this review of P&O’s Arcadia cruise to Canada and would like to be amongst the first to hear of new reviews, including a cruise on Saga’s new ship, Spirit of Discovery,  plus Solent Richard’s next guides to Port Victoria, Seychelles and Manila in his ‘One way to do…’ series, why not join over 500 followers by clicking on the ‘Follow’ link on the front page.

You will be alerted by email immediately a new post appears.

 

©2018 – 19 * Solent Richard’s Cruise Blog * All Rights Reserved

Duplication in part or whole without prior written consent is prohibited by international laws.

 

Disclosure to potential conflict of interest:

It is common throughout the travel industry for travel journalists and many cruise bloggers to be provided with complimentary cruises for the purpose of their reviews.

Solent Richard has no ‘conflict of interest’ as he is not an accredited journalist, he pays for his cruises, and is happy to confirm that all his reviews are his own given without fear or favour.

 

This cruise was booked through The Cruisline, Hurstpoint, West Sussex (www.cruiseline.co.uk)