On dry land for a little while…

Well after what can only be described as a hectic few months… family Benidorm Holiday, Portland Ship Visit and a recent Bruges Cruise, I am now firmly back on dry land for a little while – until our Christmas Company conference, unless something else comes up before then…

So over my next 2 blogs, I would like to give my low down on my recent 2 night mini-cruise to Bruges onboard the P&O Britannia.. now, many people think that a 2 night cruise is a great introduction for anyone who has never cruised previously and a fantastic way to see if life at sea is for you…  Much as I do agree with these sentiments in the norm, I do have to say that owing to the short break and some great prices offered by the Cruise lines they do attract a somewhat different clientele to your average longer cruise with P&O.  As we pulled in to the car park at the docks in Southampton and walked towards the beautiful Britannia this was made very evident by the Hen Party Group in T-shirts emblazoned with their “Hen Names” and the Bride to be dressed as a Green Dragon ???… Not quite sure some of these t-shirts made for appropriate dress code considering there were also quite a large amount of families travelling on this sailing.

Britannia from the car park at Southampton

Check-in & Embarkation was all completed very smoothly and within half an hour of parking we were settled in having drinks in the beautiful lobby,  after not too long it was announced that cabins were now ready and myself and husband were keen to see our Balcony cabin.  We were very fortunate as I did book a saver fare obstructed view Balcony, as the best deal available booking fairly last minute, and we were actually upgraded to a beautiful clear view Balcony Cabin with sofa which was extremely spacious and well laid out.  After dropping off our coats and taking in our Suitcase, which had already magically appeared outside our cabin, we ventured up to the Buffet restaurant for some lunch before taking in a tour of the ship.

Me walking around the ship…..  The large outdoor sports court

The ship was every bit as beautiful as I remember her from attending the launch event last year and in no time at all it was time to grab our cocktails for the sail away party on deck… now this is again where you would see a big difference to a normal cruise as there were “stag party” lads doing a dance routine in the swimming pool and the atmosphere was generally much more of a “club party” than a traditional sailaway..

We were allocated Anytime dining in the Meridien restaurant and the food and service was great, on each evening when arriving at the restaurant we were given a pager and advised of a short wait for a table for 2 but this was only around 20 minutes and just allowed enough time to sit and get a quick aperitif..

A Delightful dinner… Mushroom Risotto, Posh Roast Pork, Sticky Toffee Pudding… Oh and the Chocolate pot as I couldn’t decide which to have so after settling with the Sticky Toffee my lovely waiter bough me the chocolate pot too…

We watched the “Sound of the Underground” stage show fantastically performed by the Britannia show cast and enjoyed late drinks in the Crows Nest before retiring to our cabin…  – keep following for my next blog all about Bruges…