Pinky and Perky World Cruise #2 on the Arcadia Blog

[Pinky and Perky]

These photos are not coming out.
Will try tomorrow.

[Pinky and Perky]

Photos have now come out.

Queen Mary 2 is now some way behind Arcadia as we approach the separation channel north of Vigo.

Not sure where Queen Elizabeth is?

[Pinky and Perky]

Arcadia is now just off Brest entering the English Channel.

Last night was a rough one.
We had 3 glasses slip off our bar and smash and 1 coffee cup jump off the coffee/tea area.
Other cabins also suffered.
Butlers and Stewards have spent hours cleaning/hoovering and replacing broken items.

We slept through it!!

Queen Elizabeth is ahead of us and Albatros to her starboard side.
Then Arcadia and the Queen Mary 2.

Well it is nearly over.

Southampton 27th April 2012.

Some days with my mother and then back to Thailand.
I will write a final report later and include logs and a look at a menu.

[Pinky and Perky]

Our last photo from Arcadia on 27th April 2012 on a grey rainy windy day.

Queen Mary 2 in front, which had just completed a similar cruise, but through the Suez.

And Queen Elizabeth in the distance.

A seagull and for Chris the "fluff" that has been in and out of my pathetic attempts at photography for the past 2 and a half months!!

Oh how l can still learn.
Or do l have to  buy a "fluff" blower".

[Pinky and Perky]

I will write a review on Arcadia later.

But first a look at our voyage.

We did the round the world last year so we were looking for a cruise that would pick up some of the ports that we really now wanted to visit.
Arcadia a ship we liked very much was doing a Grand Odyssey 2012 and covering ports on our "wish" list.
The full 109 nights was too much for us so decided to join Arcadia in Hong Kong for the passage back to Southampton.

Comments on our ports of call.

China, Shanghai and Beijing were first time visits for us.
Shanghai a fantastic modern city.
Beijing a very busy city, but the high light of walking some of the "Great Wall of China", really truly wonderful, amazing.
Pity it was so very cold but this was still winter in China.
A memory we will not forget and a once in a life time experience.

Japan, Nagasaki and Osaka, what a lovely country, nice people and so clean and disciplined.
It was not as expensive as we were expecting, loved Japan.

Rabaul, Papa New Guinea, a desperately poor country ravished by volcanic activity.
But still the people appeared outwardly happy.
You could see, smell and hear the volcano bubbling away, not a place for me to feel comfortable.
Arcadia did give something back to the community not just in our tour revenue but a gift to the local hospital, 2 incubators for new born.
Well done Arcadia crew and passengers.

Australia, Cairns, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Fremantle.
Brisbane was a surprise to us as we visited Surfer Paradise on the Gold Coast.
Wonderful day out and a "must return" for us.
Sydney is a fantastic city and did not disappoint on this trip, we love Sydney.
Last year we had the Opera House as a back drop from our cabin, this year we had the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Wonderful.
Melbourne, Adelaide and Fremantle were on our wish list to visit.
Fremantle/Perth stood out as being outstanding.
A definite revisit for this port of call.

Indonesia, Bali.
Wonderful day, loved Bali.

Singapore our favourite Asian city.

Port Klang is Port Klang, nice but not too exciting for us.

Langkawi was a jewel in hiding.
This was truly a wonderful Island and on our list for a revisit and very soon, being so close to Thailand.

More to come.

[Pinky and Perky]

Seychelles was a missed call.
This was a great disappointment to most of the passengers.
I had always wanted to visit the Seychelles and little chance to visit again unless we fly.
The rumor room had pirates, advanced warning of an attack, no Royal Navy cover to astronomical insurance costs for Arcadia to sail in these waters as reasons.
All the Captain would say was security concerns.

Mauritius and Reunion nice to visit but nothing too exciting.

South Africa, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.

Durban was the substitute for Seychelles, poor choice and a not very nice place.

Port Elizabeth we had a great day in the wild.

Cape Town was the surprise.
Great city full of fun and wonderful bars and restaurants, very inexpensive.
What a bonus, a view from our cabin of Table Mountain for 2 nights, unbelievable, we wanted more, more please.
A MUST to revisit and soon, loved Cape Town.
If l was not already committed to Thailand l could see myself living there.


Namibia, Walvis Bay.
The port would put you off for starters.
Coal and fish (smell!!) everywhere.
But we had a terrific day on the sea watching seals, dolphins and the sea wildlife.
Return is possible.

Saint Helena.
Weather prevented a landing but nice to see from a distance although touring this small British Island would have been nice.


Tenerife,Maderia and Vigo.

Tenerife and Maderia nice calls, Maderia being our favourite.
Vigo was a little boring for us and not on our revisit list.

All in all we enjoyed the ports on this Grand Odyssey voyage.

[Pinky and Perky]

Here is a look at a menu from our cruise.

This menu cover marks P & O's 175 years of "Tracing our roots back", really nice menu covers of the ones used during that period of time on these 2 ships.
This cover is an example from the P & O ships Strathnaver and her sister Strathaird.

I will be during a brief report covering our views of Arcadia (second time around) covering accommodation, food, entertainment and facilities.

[Pinky and Perky]

Arcadia's daily paper the Horizon, which listed everything that was going on onboard Arcadia for that day.

A small history of our Master Captain Ian Walters can be seen at the bottom.

He was our Captain from Hong Kong to Southampton and last year from Southampton to San Francisco.

[Pinky and Perky]

                                                                               ARCADIA GRAND ODYSSEY 2012.
                                                                                        CRUISE REPORT.

This was our second cruise on board Arcadia.
We felt the Grand Odyssey cruise had a little less "buzz" feeling for us compared with the Round the World cruise last year.
We put it down to 2 factors.
Firstly Arcadia was not "new" to us, we knew every corner of her and nothing new had been added.
That excitement of "exploring" was not there this year.

Secondly last year the number of passengers completing the full World cruise was around 900.
That is nearly 50% of the passengers.
We had lots of Round the World special events exclusive for those passengers completing the full voyage; this included special lunches, parties and gatherings.
You knew most of the passengers over time; some were first timers around the world as we were and others had been once and some more times.
Most were very excited about the voyage, ports of call.
This year we joined in Hong Kong part way through her voyage.
The number of passengers completing the full Grand Odyssey was around 400.
As last year they enjoyed exclusive events.

We got to know a lot of the passengers who joined in Hong Kong from the queue at check in time.
There must have been some 350 passengers checking in.
Many were from the UK who had flown in to Hong Kong and a number from Australia sailing back to Sydney.
When we got to Sydney the next sector, most of the Hong Kong passengers left and new passengers boarded, some from the UK and mostly Australians sailing to Singapore and Cape Town.
The same thing when we got to Singapore and finally Cape Town, a large turnover of passengers.
We thought this turnover of passengers at sectors contributed to a different "bonding" factor.
Please do not get me wrong we really did enjoy the cruise very much, but we could not help compare it to the World cruise.

ARCADIA.

She did show some signs of wear and tear from the year before.
Rust streaking on the balconies, the lovely wooden hand rails in need of fresh varnish.
We did note that some of the carpets were showing wear on the stairs and stair wells/ landings.
At Singapore a team of carpet fitters from Southampton boarded and replaced all stair carpets.
It was inconvenient as lift landings were closed while they worked up/ down each deck.
No problem for us but those with mobility difficulties had to walk down/up stairs to find a lift they could use.

The computer situation had improved dramatically.
It was still slow compared with "home" broadband.
But connection was much more reliable; l had only one dropped connection.
The best improvement was WIFI throughout the ship including your cabin.
Cost still WOW, do not remind me!

CABIN.

Very nice as last year with plenty of space and all the amenities we wanted.
Large bathroom with separate bath (with whirl pool) and shower.
Butler service very good and Steward spot on with the making up of the room on demand.

FOOD.

A little disappointing compared to last year.
Quality excellent but the menu was lacking some meal times.
Lamb shank, lobster and rack of lamb excellent, but did not appear often enough for us.

We got the impression they wanted people to dine in the "cover charge" restaurants to recover more revenue.

SERVICE.

The service in the restaurant was excellent last year and we wondered if it could be repeated this year.
Under the leadership of John Willard, Meridian Restaurant Manager, the bar was raised even higher this year.
We cannot praise our table waiters and wine waiter enough.
They were so very professional with an eye to your personal likes and dislikes.
Nothing was too much trouble.
My wife loves to eat rice at least once a day if possible.
One night no rice dishes were on the menu, knowing Kanya would be a little disappointed, the head waiter for our table sent the assistant waiter up to the Orchid restaurants galley(8 decks up), which always has rice dishes, and collected some for her.
We did not ask, it just happened and we only learnt about it much later. No fuss just excellent service.




ENTERTAINMENT.

Very good shows as last year.
Full program of events to satisfy most folks on a daily bases.
Cruise Director Leon de Sainte Croix (with a name like that he has to be British!) was fantastic.
Leon was always full of energy and the life and soul of the entertainment team.


WHATS NEXT.

We have our sights on 2 more cruise areas on our wish list.
Around South America and North America west coast and east coast.
Arcadia is doing South America next year.
Having had 2 long cruises in the last 2 years we do not think we are ready yet for Arcadia and a 99 night's cruise next year.
We could stay local in 2013 and cruise Star cruises from Singapore or Hong Kong.

Although we like Arcadia very much we would consider trying another cruise line.
One that l have started to look at and interests me is Silversea cruises.

                                                   WELL I THINK THAT IS ME DONE NOW.