Welcome Columbus!

Recently I was invited down to Tilbury port to spend the night onboard Cruise and Maritime’s newest ship Columbus, to enjoy the ships naming ceremony celebrations.

We took a train to Tilbury and arrived at the port fairly early, after a short time the announcement was made and we were allowed to embark.

With only 500 people attending and our early arrival, check in was super quick.

Onboard I was greeted with a glass of champagne and kindly escorted to my cabin. Unfortunately, my key wouldn’t work and neither would the cabin stewards master so it was back to reception. Luckily this only happened to me once and my key was quickly replaced. Others, however, were not so lucky and there seemed to be an ongoing issue with key cards. At one point I saw over 30 people queuing at reception for new cards only to be told the machine was broken and all they could do was wait.

My cabin was a grade 6C standard ocean view on reception deck. It had a large window, two single beds and plenty of space, however, the cabin felt dated. It seems areal shame C&M haven’t invested more time and money updating the cabins, so they are more in line with the rest of the ship. Another problem was plugs! It seems the plug sockets haven’t been changed since she was the Pacific Pearl over in Australia. We are quite an organized bunch but not one of us thought to take an Australian Adapter with us and even the hair dryers provided by the ship didn’t fit.Lunch was provided in the Plantation restaurant on Deck 11 in the form of afternoon tea so we enjoyed a great selection of sandwiches, various cakes and of course scones with cream & jam.

After lunch, we were off to explore!

At 63,786grt Columbus has 775 passenger cabins, 150 of which are solo cabins so great news for single Travellers!

She has four restaurants the Plantation buffet, The Waterfront restaurant for main dining and two specialty restaurants The Grill and Fusion

For a small ship, Columbus is not short on bars and hosts seven onboard as well as two specialty Coffee and tea shops. I know the ship wasn’t full  but its clear to see with this many lounges and bars you will always be able to find a nice quiet place to relax and unwind.

Other features include Two large pools, Outdoor Cinema, Jade Wellness centre, Library, Gym, and Casino.

Whilst exploring the ship we came across Angela Rippon in the Palladium lounge preparing her godmother speech.

After a quick change, it was time to head back to the Palladium lounge for the naming ceremony.

The ceremony was lovely and afterward, we enjoyed two great performances, I believe one of the singers was a contestant on Xfactor.

Now for the evening celebrations!

Table allocation at Dinner was strange, my party was split over seven different tables. I’m pretty social so it wasn’t a problem and the two guys I was seated with were nice and we had a thoroughly enjoyable meal. The food was fantastic it far exceeded my expectations.

After Dinner an aerial artist performed in the atrium before everyone headed to Lido deck to watch the impressive fireworks display.

The evening was a lot of fun, drinks were flowing, we had our palms read, posed for a caricature and for those with room left an impressive Hog roast was served on Deck.

This was my first time seeing a Cruise and Maritime ship and although there were a few teething problems, overall I was really impressed and would sail with them again. I’m thinking maybe a Christmas markets cruise.

If you would like to sail on Columbus or any of Cruise  & Maritimes other ships then now is a great time to book with many sailings offering Buy One Get One Free.