Queen of the Seas

I have just returned from a mini cruise on the Queen Elizabeth visiting the beautiful city of Bruges and what a wonderful time we had! I organised the trip for ten of us from my bookclub to have a little outing and Cunard fulfilled our need for a two night trip.

We travelled in style in First Class on the train and partook in some fizz as we started the way we meant to go on and negotiated an easy check-in at the Queen Elizabeth Terminal at Southampton docks, before we knew it we were on board making our way to the buffet restaurant for a spot of lunch before exploring the ship further.  After the compulsory muster the ship set sail soon after 5pm when the storms were starting to pick up here – I am delighted to say our sailing out was very smooth.  We even passed the new Norwegian Encore ship making her maiden voyage with lots of my colleagues on board, just after the Isle of Wight – they were making their way back in early due to the impending bad weather!  We all had balcony cabins and although the weather was not great, at least we could regulate the temperature in the cabin which always seem run a little high.

We all enjoyed a lovely meal, and even better was the Show which consisted of four ex-West End performers called the 4Tunes who were excellent entertainment regaling us with songs from Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera and Jersey Boys to name a few.  I know I had seen them before when I cruised on the Ventura a few years ago and was impressed then.

We all slept well and had a healthy breakfast – we split into two groups, and the first headed from our ship in Zeebrugge into Bruges in a pre-booked taxi to watch England play rugby in the World Cup Final.  We were deposited at an Irish bar which was packed to the gills with rugby supporters of all nationalities determined to make as much noise as possible!  As we all know, the result did not go our way and we emptied from the pub to meet up with our friends and see what else Bruges had to offer, namely chocolate, Belgian beer and waffles!

We headed back to the ship when the weather started to get very blustery, so we could get ready for another busy evening. The food was enjoyable once again and then we made our way to the Royal Court Theatre to see the second offering which was the musical ‘Top Hat’ – also excellent entertainment particularly the tap dancing.

We had an early disembarkation the next day straight after breakfast but we all agreed we had thoroughly enjoyed ourselves – even the cruising virgins amongst us,  now to plan the next trip!

Cunard rarely do mini cruises compared to other cruise lines in fact the next mini cruise available seems to be on the Queen Victoria – sailing 28 March 2020 for 2 nights from Southampton to Hamburg with flight included back to London from £349 per person in a balcony cabin!  Contact me for more details.