So as mentioned previously P&O had spent a million pounds on the refit of this ship in December – the bar/nightclub called Le Club was the most obvious change as the furniture was now all lighter colours and more comfortable. Around the pool you could see they had relaid the walkways but apart from that could not see anything else was different. We asked some of the staff on board who had been there a while and even they didn’t know where it was spent.

We booked on a getaway fare and so took pot luck in where our cabin was going to be located – we had paid for an obstructed ocean view and were lucky to have been given an upgrade to a clear Ocean view cabin at the front of the ship – the only downside was our cabin E306 on deck 6 happened to be underneath the promenade walking track so would often be woken by the early joggers pounding the promenade deck or late at night when ladies in their high heels were clip clopping down the deck.  Last year we had a balcony cabin and was quite spacious, however walking into this Ocean view cabin we wondered how on earth we were going to manage living in a smaller cabin for 11 nights (155 sq ft) Our cabin was made as a double and really those cabins should be made as twins – once made into a double the bedside cabinet (normally in the middle of the twins) can not be used and is pushed against the wall. Somehow we survived living in the small cabin and wondered how on earth 3 doors down from us was managing, what with 2 adults and 2 children in there (had the upper berths down)

Freedom Dining – something new to me on P&O ships and I was soon educated by other passengers that on P&O if you require just a table for 2 then you must queue from about 5.30pm on-wards otherwise miss out, and either be seated with others or be given a pager and be bleeped when a table becomes ready which could be sometime later in the evening. We discovered on the last evening one gentleman queued from 4.30pm to be first in line to get the table he has had for the last few nights as his wife is diabetic and the waiters had become to know her requirements. No pre-booking of tables was allowed and although the Maitre D’ gets to know you, you still might not get the table you like/want. On other cruise lines you are able to pre-book your time and particular table so thought it was very odd you couldn’t do the same on P&O. Although the Maitre D’ did say they had now got more tables for 2 in the Freedom Dining restaurant due to the popularity of them.

I had many highlights on my cruise and these mainly were the ports of call (I will write about these separately and what we did) but my big disappointment was the entertainment on board – exactly the same as last year. We had the resident band Power Supply – who certainly knew how to clear the pub when they came on and although the lead singer was not bad, the guitarist certainly knew how to ruin a Michael Buble song or any other song he was lead on. I don’t think I heard one song he sang which was in tune. The other group were Protocol who drew a crowd in up in the Winners bar and sounded quite good in there – but once they were out on deck that’s when they became awful and certainly should never be allowed to sing Mambo no. 5 ever again.

The headliners are P&O’s own production team and must say on this cruise were all very high energy shows and performers however this then made the level of singing worse and sometimes out of tune/key. Out of the 6 shows they had on board we had already seen 4 of them so we didn’t go and see them again and many people we spoke to said they were disappointed to see the same shows over and over again.

Reading the last couple of paragraphs back makes me sound like I should be a judge on X Factor or that I want Simon Cowell’s job, despite not being able to sing myself. This is not the case it was just sometimes painful to have to sit and listen to a song ruined or watch as a venue emptied because of the awful noise being made.

With regards to the Bay of Biscay – going to Lisbon was like going through a pond – did not know we were or had gone through the Bay of Biscay, On the way back through the ship was rolling and certainly rocked you to sleep in the evenings. The captain had announced we were heading into a storm and he was unable to use his stablisers so to be prepared and use the hand rails etc. I didn’t think it was that bad and the following day the captain then announced it hadn’t be as bad as predicted.

What are your thoughts on freedom dining and having to queue so early?? Have you encountered any awful groups/singers that wouldn’t get passed boot camp on x factor?? How was your sailings through the Bay of Biscay?? Would love to hear your comments.

You can see this ship on the ‘Ships I have visited page’ click here

One Comment on “I survived the Bay of Biscay”

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