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Artemis - Hit or Miss |
| Reviewed By: Leake, Newcastle-upon-TYne on 2nd Dec 2008 |
| Cruise Line: P&O Cruises |
Times cruised before: 10+ |
| Cruise Ship: Artemis |
Sailed:
October,
2008 |
| Destination: Caribbean |
Age: 46-55 |
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We recently sailed on P&O's Artemis on it's re-positional cruise to the carribean. Embarkation was faultless for passengers arriving early but for passengers arriving later experienced selays due to a computer crash. Our cabin (all cabins on this ship are outside, some with a balcony) was smallish but adequate, the bathroom although not spacious was a little larger than those found on newer ships. The cabin was well maintained and kept spotless clean by our cabin steward Vince. The ship although the smallest in the P&O fleet is still quite large housing around 1400 passengers. The ship is well maintained although lacks some of the wow factor of the newly built liners. An example of this is that the main show lounge is not ideal for the production shows, the stage being really too small for the dance troupe to show their true colours and the stage isn't raised high enough for most of the audience to see the dancers feet, however, it is more than suitable for the cabaret artists. The ship is kept spotlessly clean, and in addition the staff (waiters, bar staff, shop workers) are all very helpful and a credit to the ship' s management team. The ship handled well in fairly rough seas with little pitching or rolling in Force seven to eight winds.
Food
We ate breakfast and lunch in the Consevatory resturant (buffet service) andm had no complaints whatsoever. There was
a reasonable choice of dishes and the food was both hot and in most cases tasty. We ate dinner in the main resturant which was tastefully decorated, our waiters were both efficient and friendly, The food was again of a high standard, although occassionally the food was a little overcooked but not so much to totally ruin the dining experience.
Entertainment
The cruise was advertised as a Maritime theme and most of the lecturers were on this theme and were well presented but as I prefer a more little variety I did attend many of these. (Note - I was well aware that the cruise had a Maritime theme, so it not did come as a surprise). The other daytime entertainment programme was limited, this was particularly noticeable on the first three days when the weather was unusally cold and windy.
The guest artists were all reasonably good although some did not offer too much variety (one show was a Matt Munro tribute, fine if you liked the singer terrible if you didn't). However, I must give special credit to the comedian Nicky Martin who was both funny and likeable. In addition the cruise director made a point of interacting with the passengers and instigated mass participation karoke singing before some of the production shows which was well recieved by the passengers.
Ports of Call
On the way out to the carribean we sailed to Maderia, Barbados (a late substitution for St Barts, we only learnt of this for a leaflet placed in our cabin on departure, Grenada, Aruba, Curausco, Margateria and finally Jamiacca. All were very good and the weather excellent.
The departure to the Airport from the ship was flawless and the flight by Thomson's was fine with reasonable leg for a charter airline, although the inflight meal was poor.
Overrall
The ship is geared to the older passenger with entertainment to match their tastes. If you like a sedate cruising experience with polite well travelled passengers this ship will tick all the right boxes, however, if you are a 24/7 party person this isn't the ship for you!
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| Quality of Food |  |
| | Entertainment |  |
| The comedian Nicky Martin was extremely fuuny | | Shore Excursions | n/a |
| | Staff |  |
| | Children's Facilities | n/a |
| | Onboard Activities |  |
| | Cabins | |
| The cabins were quite small but adequate, our cabin was on promenade deck over the show lounge and could hear the show or rehearsal clearly in cabin (P219) but as the shows finished at around 11:15pm this wasn't a problem | | Overall Rating | |
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Happy HOLIDAY's
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