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2026 Feb 15; Day 3 VilleFranche, France, for Monaco.

February 17, 2026 / Captain Albert / 0 Comments

To get to Monaco, you can anchor in front of Monte Carlo (Hercule or Fontveille) harbour, dock at the cruise ship pier, anchor at Villefranche or at Cape Ferrat in France. For reasons not entirely clear we went to Villefranche, while we found out later that the downtown Monte Carlo Cruise Pier was not in use that day. The reasons for that can by myriad, especially in France when dealing with a Sunday situation. The only nice thing for the afternoon tour was, that it included for each tour a 45 minute drive, as Monte Carlo was part of the excursion.

Villefranche bay. From anchorage nbr 1 it is only 5 minutes to a very nice tender dock, right in downtown.

My Lord and Master had decreed that she now has approved Viking Cruises and had found out that there was an North West Passage cruise (partly, just in & out) in 2028. Under the well established rule, if we book now and early then we save money by speadning it ………………, so we had a meeting with the Travel Consultant. And we booked a 13 day in 2028 from Nook in Greenland, up and into Baffin Bay with the expedition ship Viking Polaris. So that takes away my pocket money for the next 3 years.

To recover from the shock I decided to forget my diet and invest in some comfort food by visiting the Pool Grill for a BBQ hamburger. That is all cooked a-la-carte and was very good. As mentioned before, the food is very good on board but somewhat limited in volume and variation, compared to the exuberiance of some other companies, like Holland America Line and Celebrity. But the quality is very good.

One of the 4 ships tenders. Well laid out and easy to operate with all the latest gadgets

For the tour we had to take our bla-bla boxes again to receive a lot of useful information while walking through Monaco. The ship has the best tenders we have encountered so far, it was just a pity that the tender drivers have not been trained very well in using the latest gadget called “the bow thruster”. That is a great gadget but you have to have a little bit of forward momentum for it to work optimaly. When going astern the pivot point of the tender goes back and that negates the positive force of the thruster somewhat. So both on arrival and depature from the Villefranche dock there was a lot of See-Sawing to get the tender alongside. With extra waiting while everybbody was seeing the show, but eventually we got there.

Monte Carlo / Monaco is very small, and downtown is even smaller. Our walking tour Started at number 19 and ended at nbr 22, and that is not more than a 15 minute walk.

The coach drive to Monte Carlo goes along some very narrow roads and a few times we were right on the edge of where we could look down an awful long way. Because the tour is included in the cruise package, we were not expecting it to be very intensive and we were right. But it was a nice walk from the coach (parked in a 5 story underground parking garage under the Oceanographic Museum) through the botanic gardens into the local Cathredral where the Grimaldi’s (The Princes of Monaco, who rule the Principality) are buried and then for a photo-op at the main palace. Then 1 hour of free time and back to the ship with a promise that the coach would do a full lap around the Formula One circuit.

The late 19th. century Cathedral. Homebase for the Royal Family of Monaco.

The Catheral is from the mid 19th. century so not so old but is very interesting with many side chapels dedicated to various Saints. The past rulers of Monaco are buried here, starting with the churches completion.

The grave of movie starr Grace Kelly, or Patricia Gratia as she was known in Monaco.

Only the direct Monarch and his spouse and those in directe line are buried there, the rest is buried somewhere else. One “mass grave” had the remains of those who ruled before the Church was completed. (So for modern times, Prince Rainier is there, so is Princess Grace and the next one will be the current ruler Prince Albert, wife and oldest child)

The main Monte Carlo harbour, called Hercule, is not the only one. Just to the West is “Fontveille” which a much smaller and quieter affair. This photo was taken from the lookout point in the Gardens just under the Cathedral.

Monaco is only 4 square kilometers in size, so if you do not break on time, you are out of Monaco and back in France. Hence Monaco has the euro and a lot of French rules & Social Security accepted. But is has local police, local taxes (only the Monegaskan Passport holders are tax exempt, who make up 20% of the population) and local driving rules.

We had to be back on time at the bus, except one couple who arrived / were found by the tour escort 30 minutes late, without much of an excuse, as it is nearly impossible to get lost in this area. “Walk down to the gardens and you cannot miss the entrance to the car park. But it brought us back 30 minutes late to the ship. But now comes the nasty part, the tour escort had talked up this full lap around the Formula One circuit. Then with great aplomb announced where the starting line was and then waffled off about underground traffic tunnels. We never did the full lap. And I was hoping for the full lap because when you go under the hotel, even a coach engine sounds like a roaring ferrari, due to the acoustics.

The F1 Grand Prix circuit of Monaco. We only saw the section V to A1. We have been here before but a pity for the guests for whom it was the first time.

Coming back to where the tender is the driver nearly ran into a leaving bus, could not handle the hand break while going uphill and then refused to make more room for the other busses coming out. Compliments to the lady bus driver of the other coach coming out, she managed to get around our coach with about 1 inch to spare. On arrival at the tender pier we had to wait 20 minutes for the next tender and then other five while the tender driver gave the “not how to dock show” by the wrong use of the bow thruster.

The main palace of Monaco. It is mainly a working palace with the direct family scattered around it in various villa’s.

We were supposed to be all by ourselves but in the aftrnoon the MSC Splendida came in. She had not been able to dock in Marseilles due to strong winds. Apart from the city being a port of call also a number of guests were supposed to disembark and embark, so after arrival a large shore tender came out to arrange that. We had fun and games with the small parking area’s with 900+ guests and 12 busses, so let alone what they will face with handling the approx. 2200 guests on board.

For cocktails we went back to the Explorers Lounge and then to dinner. The company had laid on a barbecue and dancing on the stars on Deck 7 under the Magro Dome. We went to have a look, but the barbecue was very limited so most people got extra from the buffet inside. It turned out that the dancing under the stars was not a continious party but more like a show where the various entetainers all did their own little thing. As (with the dome closed) the music was deafening we decided to go for a regular dinner. This BBQ gig did not get much of attendance as there are not many high tables around the pool, so one would have to hold the plate on ones knees. We are now spoiled by the “White Night” with Azamara, so this was a bit of a let down in comparison.

So we went for a regular dinner in the diningroom. While waiting for the Maitre to figure out a table we met an American couple who we had talked to while waiting in the show lounge the night before, and decided the share a table. Good company, as they had also travelled the world, lived in Germany, and an enjoyable time was had by all. Maybe due to the size of the ship, or the international travel experience most guests enjoy the interaction with other guests they have never seen before. It splits the crowd in a sort of 3 groups. Those who march according to the daily program and do their town thing, the second group who already travel in a group for the duration of the cruise, and a 3rd group, who are by themselves but enjoy cocktails and interaction with other fellow travellers. So one does not need to be exactly lonely on board.

Tomorrow we are in Marseilles. The weather is supposed to be windy during the night but the wind should die down on arrival, so if the captain is a luckily man he won’t have much programs in getting in. With us is the MSC Orchestra which came in early due to the expected wind during the night. Weather, overcast with rain, temperatures around 11 – 14oC / 49 – 58oF.

2026 Feb.14, Day 2, Livorno Italy.

February 16, 2026 / Captain Albert / 1 Comment

For the 2nd day of our stay in Livorno, the ship had its focus on tours to Pisa. Yesterday most guests had gone on tours to Florence and Lucca and came back completely exhausted. Public rooms and restaurants were very quiet in the evenings. The tours are on average quite expensive and when reading through them I could not see if they did anything more detailed or different than tours with other company’s. If no different than the regular ones, then I think they are somewaht over priced. We have several tours during the cruise that are included in the package and which are mainly panoramic bus tours or walking tours with free time. For that purpose each cabin has a “bla -bla-box” with ear piece for each person so you can hear the tour guide without having to be too close or the escort having to shout. We have seen these “bla-bla boxes ” (as we call them in the UK) on the river cruises and it is very a nice feature. For those not on tour, there is a local shuttlebus service to downtown Livorno.

Air photo of Livorno port. The black line is the track that most cruise ships follow, hardly any other way to do it as the port is large but very compact. Photo courtesy: Capt Alberts blog 17 Oct. 2018.

We tried room service breakfast this morning and opted for the last moment of 09.45 to 10.00 as that is normally the least busy time. They made it just after 10 am. as at 10,00the Captain had decided that this was the most perfect moment to run an unannounced safety drill. (It is a requirement to do every so often a drill that is not announced / publicly scheduled) So room service had the challenge to get their orders ready while the cooks were already trying to run-away. But it all worked out. The room service menu is nice but not much different then with other company’s. The tray is plonked on the table and that is it. Setting the table is for 6 star or higher.

Stock photo of a self service laundry; from Viking Sky, via Cruise Critic. As the ships are almost identical so are the laundries. Only thing the Viking Saturn had missing was the clothes rail above the ironing boards. When finished with ironing you can fold the boards back against the wall and give more space for the loading of the machines.

What is nice with Viking is that they have self service laundries on board, one on each deck with 4 washing and 4 dryers and 2 iron boards, free of charge. We had to hunt around for a free iron board as we have groups on board who did a pre-stay in Rome and a large contingent of chinese who seem to have been much longer on the road and now seem to live inside the laundries. (There is also a TV and couch inside so you can watch a movie while doing the washing) But I like self service laundries on board as I never get my shirts wrinkle free out of the suitcase.

Pisa ” central” from the air. The leaning tower to the top left, the chatedral (Duomo) left, the Baptism church (Baptistry) to the right and the Cementry (Campo Santo Monumentale) left under. The whole area in green (and very soggy) grass) and is called Piazza del Miracoli. (Photo courtesy, somewhere of the internet)

We went on the afternoon tour to Pisa, which is a panoromic tour with a walk to the leaning tower. The weather felt like being at home, chilly and raining. The company who provides the escorts is Italian, but they also cover Monaco and further west into France, so we will see them again. The are called Trumpy Tours but the apologetic escort advised that there were was no connection to you know who.

The bus trip lasts about 45 minutes and although it is mentioned that is was going over the motor way, it goes on the regular roads so it is quite interesting even if only for the bus drive. In Pisa they have moved the coach park to another area than before (much bigger) so it is a good 15 minute walk into town. To make things more agreeable they also moved most of the souvenirs shops to remain in line with the new “invasion route” of the coach – tourists so all was well in the world. (Before you would enter through a Gate at the top right of the photo so the first thing you would see was the leaning tower, now you first see the Baptistry)

The afternoon tour left just one hour of free time and hence not much time to visit anything beyond the square. Luckily there were no long lines, as it is off-season, and the persistent rain kept a lot of people away as well. If you buy a ticket for the Baptism church, the leaning tower, or the cementary, you get free access to the Cathedral. The church is in principal free to visit but to reduce (selfie) traffic, they charge unless you have a ticket for one of the other ones, then it is free.

As you can see, with everybody pushing, you do get the Leaning tower of Pisa almost upright. Then the tourists go away for the night and the tower reverts to its original tilt. And then the process starts again……………….).

Waking / climbing up to the top of the Leaning Tower costs 20 euro and is 296 steps. It is about 15 minutes to get to the top and 15 minutes down and the timed ticket lasts an hour. If you over stay, security will help you very efficiently to get downstairs much faster than you would have normally done. The very top of the tower is off-limits nowadays. According to our tour lady, this was for maintenance purposes but she also hinted that too many people tried “to fly” from the very top at the “leaning over” side.

There have been a lot of repairs done to the tower to stop it from further tilting over due to the swampy underground and the last repairs have brought the tilt back from 4.8 to 3.8 (or something like that). Several hundred years ago, when the then incomplete tower started to lean, the finishing architects worked it in such a way that the “backside” of the tower got a banana curve which makes it look almost straight. But nobody is interested in that, everybody wants a picture with the leaning side.

Somebody posted this on Reddit and my appreciation to the dog owner as it is not easy at all to get the perspective right with a human being, let alone with a dog. But each gentle push helps the tower to stay upright, so well done doggy.

The latest craze seems to be to have a dog -picture while pushing back the tower. Today I thought I saw a Japanese lady trying it with a small “fiffi” dog, but it is not easy to get a small dog the right perspective with a large tower.

Deck 7. All the public areas are on Deck 1,2, and 7. The Explorers Lounge is near the bow and has a 2nd level (deck 8) at the forward part which can be reached by a glass staircase. You can still hear the entertainment from deck 7 level but is somewhat quieter.

Back on the ship it was time for cocktails and we went to the Explorers Lounge on Deck 7. On the first night there was no entertainment there until 9 pm. but this time there was cocktail music by means of a guitar player, who gave quite acceptable renderings of songs by Arlo Guthrie, Billy Joel and Gordon Lightfoot.

The Explorers Lounge on the Viking Saturn. More to the left is a nice bar and a lot more seating area. (Photo courtesy Viking Cruises)

By 19.30 we were entering “The Restaurant” (yes a very original name) and because it was Valentins day all the Ladies received a red rose. That felt me quite discriminated. The Ladies are now all equal to men in society , and that is the way it should be, but it should also work the other way around. If the Ladies get a rose, why don’t the Gents get a chocolate or something ?

The show started again at 21.00 hrs. The lounge is quite spacious with ample room between the rows (so a waiter can get in with drinks) and for the evening they also open the separation doors of the two cinemas’ on either side as well, creating a show lounge for about 400 guests. Tonight was Musical night: “Stage Door” featuring musical songs from the MGM music catalogue. There are no dancers on board and thus they had cheographed the show around the pianist on center stage. Never seen that before but it worked very well.

The Viking Saturn theatre called the “Star Lounge”. As you can see in the photo a lot of pillows have photos of old movie actors on them. We recognized, Valentino, Gloria Swanson and Ingrid Bergman but there were many others.

Tomorrow we are in Villefranche at the anchorage for the Monaco call. We have an afternoon tour again with a walk-a-bout. Weather: Overcast turning to sunny with temperatures around 59oF / 15oC.

2026 Feb 13; Day 1, Livorno Italy

February 14, 2026 / Captain Albert / 0 Comments

This morning we docked at Livorno and the docks are on the industrial side of the town as they do not really have a downtown cruise terminal here. Ferries, to Sardinia etc., are more important and so are the cargo and container ships. Livorno is the 3rd largest port in Italy and hence the focus is on facilitating as many ships as possible and not leaving any dock space unused.

Opposite us, is a small dry-dock and repair company for mult million dollar yachts and Livorno is also focussing on that, as part of the old fishing port has been turned into a special harbour for mega yachts. It is supposed to open in a few weeks and if I counted the mooring bouys for the bow anchoring of the yachts correctly they will be able to park at least 40 big ones in there, maybe even more. I assume that it will be extensively used for the charter market as Livorno is not exactly known as a playground for millionaires. The owners use their yachts normally only a few weeks a year and most of them try to reduce the operating costs with chartering the yachts out for the rest of the year.

Our yacht the Viking Saturn will stay two days here, with long and short tours to Florence, Pisa and Lucca. We will be taking the panoramic tour on the 2nd day, 4 hours in duration which was included in our package. We also had WIFI included with the booking and it is the best we have had so far of all the ships we have sailed on in the last 2 years. It is not just a fast connection and includes streaming but there is also no limit to the devices that you can run at the same time. Most company’s, we have so far encountered, only allow one device so you have to log off one device before you can log on the other. Not here, so Very Impressed.

The Spa hydro pool with a very nice lay-out. It is not very big, so best to go in port when there is no crowd.

We skipped breakfast and went to visit the Spa on board, which has a very nice pool and an even better lay-out. With spacious dressing rooms (each with a cold plunge bath and a sauna) and extensive changing facilites, where you get slippers (crocs) a thin bath robe and towel all nicely waiting for you in a dedicated locker, All the lockers work with a cabin key card swipe to lock and it worked very well…. Maybe because it was a newer ship, maybe because they maintain them well.

Deck 3 portside there is a display of national costumes with extensive explanations. On the starboard side in the corner is a small museum with Viking artifacts includinOn g swords and helmets. Then in the staircases, more history is displayed by runes on stones hanging in the staircases. Then the back of each staircase has on each level a section of the Bayeux Tapestry, which makes sense as the Normans – north men – who invaded England in 1066 were Vikings who had settled down in Normandy, France.

Nordic art with runes on a slab of slate stone in the aft pax. staircase, This is copy of a real one found in Sweden. Again a very good explanation on the grey plaque next to it.

For lunch we ended up in the World Cafe again, which serves free soft drinks, wine or beer with lunch. The food is good butthe choices are somewhat limited when compared to Holland America but much more extensive when compared to P&O.

The winter garden in the center of deck 7.

When going through the daily program we found out that there was “High Tea” in the Winter Garden, which is a light and airy indoor space on deck 7 just in front of the Swimming pool. It is very nice when it is overcast but it might be a bit much on a very sunny day. We will find out. As most of the ship was on tour, we thought it would be ideal to go for tea now (we had not eating anything in the last 2 hours………….. so it was time) and within a nice relaxing atmosphere, the classical duo were playing, a large number of tea’s were available and a large tower tray (etagere), with sandwiches, scones and small cakes came to the table.

Lesley and the high tea. Please note the trolley to the right above her shoulder. When fully loaded it came rattling through the whole lounge to get to an elevator. Really spoiling the atmosphere.

It all was very civilized and enjoyable…….., and then a waiter came rattling through with an empty trolley and started to load his trolley in full view of the tea drinkers. Nobody of the assembled staff took any action, so I flagged a jr. Maitre d’hotel over. He agreed that is was less than convivial for the high tea ambiance and moved the trolley out of view. He then left. So it did not deter our trolley waiter from continuing to load his trolley behind the bar, and when full, came rattling through whole lounge on his way to a lift. Well, they could have planned that better. Imagine you are having a wedding and straight through the wedding there is a gardener with a wheelbarrow pushing through. So we thought that , that was it, but no, now the Deck department showed up, in coveralls, and started checking fire extinguishers. Not in the slightest bothered by the stylish tea gathering around them. Planning is not easy sometimes, even with (lower) management being present to take corrective action…………………………………………………….

But something that did impress me, were the teapots used. Look at the table above and you see that the tea is served as leaves in a sieve. That sieve fits in a teapot and then, once the tea has brewed, you lift it out and put it in a cup provided. Very nice for high tea and never seen before. Then in the regular restaurants you get a tea bag, but the tea bag can go on top of the lid once used instead having to put it on the side of your saucer or somewhere else. I like these sorts of small great details.

pot without bag

pot with tea bag

We found on Deck 1, the panel with all the photos of the high and mighty on board and our captain this cruise is Arild Jernass. There has been no write up in the daily program yet (The Viking Daily) about him and also there has been no announcement from him yet as we sailed late from Civittavechia where he joined. Although The Viking Saturn flies the Norwegian flag, the crew is very multi national and I have not seen any other Norwegian officers or crew around the ship.

Came on board yesterday in Civittavehcia.

Although we are in port everyday, there are still lectures everyday, around 18.30 to 21.00 hrs. which is when the show starts. For this there are 2 Resident lectures on board, one is an american Colonel who is doing world war II stuff and a lady who is into food and drink. Problem is that you have to decide where your priorities lie, early dinner, cocktails, making the show on time, or going to the lectures. Our focus is cocktails followed by a 19.00 dinner, so we make the show on time. In this case I feel that I do not miss that much as there are excellent movies and clips on U-tube that cover the same topics.

The Atrium bar, alhtough they call the area around here not the Atrium but The “Living Room”.

We went to deck 1 bar again in the atrium, and I found out that they have Norwegian beer (in cans) on board, so it was time to investigate that. $ 8,– for a 330 ml. can but we have a package and it is all included. Lesley is still lamenting the lack of pink Gin, and the waiters are commiserating with her, because it is a very frequent request. There is a grand piano in the Atrium (a real top of the range Steinway) and between 18.00 and 18.45 there is first the “Munch moment” where the tunes are Norwegian while on top of the staircase the video wall shows Munch paintings. (most famous one known is “The Scream”, but Edvard Munch painted a lot of other good stuff as well, without being exactly locked into one particular sort of school). Then the piano player returns later in the evening, alternating with a classical duo.

The second place which is good for cocktails is the two level crowsnest on deck 7 & 8, called “The Explorers Lounge”. When there is no live music there is background music (musac??) but it is nice, soft and laid back and creates a relaxing atmosphere everywhere not only in the bars but in the whole the ship.

Dinner was good again, word is spreading of what my background is, and now we learn how far the Holland America family extends. Our waiter tonight wanted to sail with Holland America (his brother is there) but had to wait too long as HAL had sold 6 ships. He is now happy with Viking but was not so excited about the food in the crew mess.

David Righeschi and Alessandara Tanzi. This photo was lifted from the Internet when they performed the Opera Tosca together in Firenze (?)

The show at 21.00 hrs. was performed by two local artists, opera singers, who come on board each Viking ship that docks in Liverrno. And they were VERY good, with a nice mixture of popoular opera and some more unknown pieces all backed up with a multi media video background.. David Righeschi and Alessandara Tanzi received a well deserved standing ovation. If the rest of the week has the same high standard, then we are in for a treat. Tomorrow night we have the Cast Show with musical songs so we are hoping for the best.

Weather tomorrow: overcast with showers in the afternoon. Temperatures anywhere between 13 oC. (54oF) and 16oC (61 oF)

2026 Feb 12, Day 0, Civittavechia, joining the Viking Saturn.

February 13, 2026 / Captain Albert / 5 Comments

Today we started on our next cruise, 7 days from Civittacechia to Barcelona with the ms Viking Saturn. This is one of nearly identical series of cruise ships that Viking cruises have been launching in the last 15 years and the process is still going on. The Viking Saturn came in into service in 2023 and is thus a fairly new ship. We saw her last year when we were on board the Azamara Journey, being in the same port and now we are on board.

The MS Viking Saturn is a 47,842-ton, 983-guest ocean cruise ship delivered to Viking in 2023 by Fincantieri. The 228-meter-long vessel is designed for small-ship, It has a space ration of 49, which is very high for a middle class ship.Scandinavian-style luxury with 465 all-veranda staterooms. Elegantly casual and no childeren (Photo courtesy, internet google)

Going from England is always quite a journey as we have to fly from our local airport Norwich with the 6 am flight to Amsterdam to make the connecting flight to Rome. Thus we stay in a hotel outside this small airport the night before so we can walk over the next morning at 05.00 hrs. for check in. Flying KLM has at least the advantage that our luggage will make between flights even if the connection time is short. Hence we try to avoid Heathrow in London as much as possible. Then there is for Lesley the additional check in challenge at Schiphol as the British are now outside the EU. Luckily it was quiet at immigration and the new check in machines (photo, finger prints, passport check) were not working yet.

Viking had booked our flights and on arrival Fumencino airport in Rome, there was a rep waiting. Then with a few others we were walked through the whole airport to an obscure exit one where a few more guests were waiting. Apart from the Italians reps creating chaos where there wasn’t any (like being checked off 5 times in a row) we were speedily put on a large coach for the 1 hour journey to Civittavechia. Viking sends a nice boarding pre package before leaving. Upscale leatherette address tags, seperate luggage tags (to put on after arrival at the Rome air port), then when gathered together & checked in (5 times), the luggage is taken away, loaded on the coach, and then you find your suitcases back in your cabin about 2 hours later. All very smooth. I think that Viking is sending a coach each hour from the airport so that nobody has to wait very long for the connecting transport. Fast check in, at the cruise terminal, with plenty check instaff and then via shore security on board. It always amazes me, how few people are ready for the security check and have to create an almighty fuss and bother and delay. All ahead of us were experienced cruisers and still it looked as if they were re-venting the wheel when going through.

Coming on board we had our first laugh as we were greeted by a nice philipinna Lady in a Norwegian traditional costume. Somehow it did not gell, same as it would look strange, if we would see a blond goddess in a philipine national costume. Nice touch but it just did not look the part. Later on she was relieved by a man in traditional costume and as he was of italian / roumanian complexion, he looked more like a cossack then an axe throwing, maurading Viking. But it is all good fun.

Our cabin portside aft, on deck 3, but all cabins are outside and all have a balcony

As we had no idea what Viking was going to be like, so we had booked the cheapest cabin with a balcony (3084) on Deck 3 aft. As the ship was built in 2023 the cabin still looked brand new and everything was in working order. Our suitcases were not there of course so we went for a bit to eat in the Lido, called here “The World Cafe” which is a U-shape place on deck 7 aft. They were closing at 15.00 hrs. but then the Pool Grill, more forward and aft of the swimming pool remains open unti 17.00 hrs. It has a slighly smaller buffet but also serves hamburgers. Interesting thing here is, that the World Cafe -kitchen, is an open space in the middle, so you can see the cooks cooking. Nice to see but for the cooks more of a challenge, as they are on permanent view and cannot leave anything “floating around” as it would make the place look messy.

Most public rooms are on deck 1,2, and 7 with cabins in between on deck 3,4,5,6, and a few on 7. This is deck 1.

As we are in a cabin of the lowest pecking order, we could not pre book our speciality restaurants, so we had to visit them to make reservations. But it worked well. More about that in the coming days. Then unpacking and we found that the cabin has sufficient storage space for a 7 day cruise but for a longer cruise, I think we would have to upgrade. But we have to check if the larger cabins do have more wardrobe space. But for 7 days this was more than ample. There are no formal nights with Viking which saves hanging space. Everything is elegantly casual but we have to see what that exactly is, as a large number of guests still translated “elegantly” into jeans and a T shirt.

The Viking Atrium with the grand staircase, Scandinavian style. More about this in the coming days.

We had cocktails in the Atrium lounge which goes 3 decks high. Cocktails are served on deck 1 around the bar and level 2 and 3 are mainly for sitting during daytime. The bar output is somewhat limited as there is only 1 draft beer (carlsberg) and no Pink Gin or low calorie mixes, which so far on each 5 star ship that we have sailed on, has had in ample quantities and variation. Dinner in the main diningroom was good with friendly and un-rushed service. We had bought a drinks package ($ 27,– a person a day, with Cunard charging about $ 75 or so) which turned out to be very good value) and then came across the peculiar situation that our favored glass of wine was included but a full bottle was not. So we solved the problem by having our class filled “by the glass” and when the bottle was empty, somebody else must like it, so the wine steward produced another one……………………

Shows and related are round 21.00 and later but we went to bed as having started at 0.400 hrs. it had been a long day. Tomorrow we are in Livorno, for a two day stop to visit Florence and Pisa. If you want to go into Livorno itself (the small downtown area is quite cute) then you can take the port shuttle.We are going to stay on board the first day, to see the ship and enjoy its amenities and then take the tour on the 2nd day.

The layout of Deck 2 with the main restaurant, Atrium, the night club, shops, two cinema’s (which can be combined with the Theatre in the evening.

Weather for tomrrow, partly cloudy with a chance of showers in the late afternoon, temperature between 13 – 16oC (56 – 61oF) and little wind, so it should not feel that chilly.

Day 12: Dec. 28; At Home, Verdict & Review of the cruise.

December 29, 2025 / Captain Albert / 7 Comments

As usual, at the end of the cruise, I do a review with our VERY PERSONAL opinion of the cruise. So if you think that Cunard is pure “Hallelujah” please do not be disappointed. If you decide to “snigger” because you do not like Cunard, please take into acccount, there is no perfect cruise company out there. If you look at all the cruises we have done in the last year, (see the write ups at the right hand side of the home page), I was able to shoot holes in each product and at the same time see things that made me go “WOW” why do other company’s not do this.

Cruising is very personal, and the bottom line for a GOOD cruise company is, did THEY deliver what they promised and did YOU enjoy it.

So we come to our personal verdict about this Cunard Cruise.

Did we enjoy the cruise YES. Would we have enjoyed it less in a lesser cabin: ALSO YES. We had a Q3 suite, that is two steps down from the top and we expected for that level for everything to be top notch and perfect. You have a butler and a cabin steward and they try to do the best job possible. But those two can only deliver the standards set by the company. And Ludmilla and Mark did a very good job within those parameters.

The Glare: As explained when blogging about every cruise we make, this is a little thing I do during a cruise. Every crewmemember I meet, officers and crew alike, I look them straight in the eyes and wait if they acknowledge me. The results can be quite striking.

Cunard scored only 75%. (e.g. 1 out of 4 did not make the cut). The crew on average scored 100%, no problems there. Even the sailors on deck. were chirpy and friendly and scored 100%. The challenge lies with the Hotel officers. The majority I met in the corridors, the Lido and the public rooms, looked away or did not acknowledge guests when walking by, or when talking to each other. 3 & 4 stripers in Hotel did not make the cut on average. And there is no excuse for that. If a lowly asst. steward can do it, then a 3 stripe hotel officer should be able to do it better. I only met two engineering officers this cruise and they were both polite, smiled and one even waited at the door, and they are normally the least customer focused.

Would I recommend a Cunard Cruise. In general yes.

It is a good product and the only negative thing I hear from other travellers, Cunard thinks it has the most wonderful product but they are slowly overtaken by a whole slew of other operators in the luxury segment.

The are not helping themselves as they send out their post cruise questionaires “ONLY” to a number of “SELECT” guests. That way you never get the raw deal that you need to improve your product.

Main thing is you have to get used to is the system that the cabin -size is connected to a certain restaurant. That is quite posh but the extra’s given are not that wide apart anymore. There is not so much difference (compared to before Covid) between the menu’s between Queens, Princess, Club and Britannia. You just have a little bit more choice when going up from Britannia to Queens. It would not warrant the extra costs, if the larger cabins were not attached to it.

Compliments:

Beautiful ship (if you like ships in a classical style) with beautiful lounges.

Beautiful cabins, as least on our level, but they should be better maintained. For this level of pricing, there should be nothing wrong.

Very attentive service, at least in the Queens Grill, with only two mistakes made in the whole of the 12 days and without any rushed service.

Very good and large cast company (12 in total), two orchestras (Stage and Queens Lounge) and entertainment everywhere. It resulted in Great Shows. This is a very hard working cast with a show every other night and a one full lenght musical “Come From Away” of 1h. 45 minutes as well. Great Christmas show. (not every company is doing that anymore)

Very good lectures (apart from one guy who was too sloppy in appearance and slissed when talking)

Formal nights (Although unfortunatelly not enforced in the lounges that are designated as formal)

Soft Ice Cream, self service machine in the Lido with the most consistent quality so far encountered during all our cruises.

Self Services Washing Machines on each Deck..

Challenges:

for Cunard to fix ( at least if it wants to anchor “floating” customers like us):

The biggest one:

” On request”. Why does the guest have to ask for anything that has been paid for?…………………………… You need to have the Cunard web-site listing for your cabin level with you to ensure you get what you paid for.

“On request” ONLY was the following in a Queens Grill Cabin:

Ice in the cabin, Fresh fruit, Fresh flowers / plant . TV program, Binoculars, Instructions of how to operate the DVD player, Instructions for the coffee machine. Extra side dishes in the Queens Grill. The waiters know it is there but do not suggest anything to make the experience more perfect.

Status of the cabin. A lot of items that I found could have been corrected with better – detailed- inspections by Housekeeping. I paid a lot of money for this cabin so I did not expect that as a guest I would have to start reporting stuff. Wrong CD player, Glass curtains loose, Toilet seat loose, Plinths broken. Vanity buttons missing on the desk lights. With the help of the Butler and the Concierge it was all fixed but I was not not expecting to find anything wrong in a cabin of such a high catagory.

You can NOT expect the Butler and the Cabin Steward to look after all of this as they are on a very tight working schedule. This is officer and petty officer level responsibility.

Lots of carpet edges (corners and vertical padding) loose in the corridors. I counted 10 of them on deck 8 only on the first day and they were still the same on the last day. How difficult is it, to send a carpenter/Upholsterer around with a pot of adhesive to glue the carpets back ??. The carpet edges comes loose with luggage handling, so it happens all the time, make it a standard job for a Housekeeping supervisor to walk the corridors once a week and make a list.

Lido Restaurant. For a 5 star cruise company the amount and variation of food on offer is quite meager. If you are a cruiser who likes and spends a lot of time in the Lido Restaurant, GO or STAY with Holland America.

Internet: It is very good in general, except when the whole ship goes on line, especially on sea days. For mobile phones it all works but with laptops you loose the signal on average between 10.00 – 11.30 and 14.30 – 16.30 on sea days, at least on Deck 6, midships staircase area. So only devices who use a small bandwidth can get on line. During those hours I can not reach my website / do my blog, as my website needs a bit more bandwith than checking Facebook.

One word of advise: If you want to sail Cunard, stay away from Queen Anne and choose one of the other 3 Queens.

The Queen Anne is a beautiful ship but Cunard has put the capacity up to 2950 and not increased the number of public rooms to handle these additional 450 guests (compared with the HAL’s Pinnacle class) so the lounges are overflowing during cocktail times. In an ideal world, the Jewellery shop would be a lot smaller in size and in its place there would be another beautiful Cunard cocktail lounge. Talking to the guests it was mentioned that the cabins are a lot smaller and the storage space varies and is smaller but not in line with the increase in cabin size or cost. We noticed that during our two cruises but it still seems to be the case even after more cabinets were added.

That is all………………………………. Nuntium ne necaveritis.

ps 1. My Lord and Master has booked another cruise for November 2026, going from Southampton to Zeebrugge, Amsterdam and Cherbourg on the Queen Victoria, as she wants to try the Q2 midships catagory. Q1 is of no interest as those cabins are in the bow and the stern and that is where the movement is worst during the winter storms.

ps 2.

It got a request from one faithful reader to explain what “yawning” is or when a ship “yaws”. So here is a quick summary.

There are 6 ships movements officially recognized:

Heaving: vertical movement (the whole ship lifts up)
Swaying: transverse movement (lurching from left to right)
Surging: longitudinal movement (pushed forward and then settles back)
Rolling: longitudinal rotation (leaning/ listing from one side to the other)
Pitching: transverse rotation ( bow goes up, bow goes down, sometimes slams on the waves)
Yawing: vertical rotation (You make a sort of round movement that combines 3 or 4 of the separate movement one)

Some ships are more affected by one or the other movements than others. A ship like the Queen Mary 2, has been designed with a ships length that “rides the average length of the North Atlantic waves” and thus pitches a lot less then a smaller ship. It sort of barges through or over the waves. But without stabelizers in use she would still roll. Also her stern design makes her less prone to surging. But she also “yaws” when she gets the swell 3/4 quarter on the stern.

The newest cruise ships, that look like a barge with an apartment building on top, “yaw” less because of the “box in the water” design. But in the wrong wave length, they can pitch considerably, so the best thing to do is then either to speed up or slow down so it hits the waves differently. The cruise ships constructed between 2002 and 2014 of which most have similar hulls as the Queen Victoria tend to be prone to yawning and swaying as the stabelizers have a hard time handling that movement They are gyroscope controlled and that needs a change of horizon (leaning away from the horizontal) and movements other then rolling do not do that.

My personal solution to all these movements is to sit in the bar, recognize the sort of movement that is going on and then insure that my beer glass counteracts that move perfectly and thus does not spill any it’s contents.

I pinched this off the internet. A big thank you to FFQQ.com. There is not much difference between a cargo ship and a passengership if both are properly ballasted, so the center of gravity sits in the right place. The only difference is that most cargo ships do not have stabelizers.

Day 11, 2025 Dec. 27; At Sea, day 3.

December 28, 2025 / Captain Albert / 10 Comments

With the Christmas festivities behind us we are now on the 3rd sea day, on the way home to Southampton. Around lunch time we will pass the most North westerly point of Normany and sail through the Traffic Separation Zone for ships at Ushant. Hence we are seeing more and more ships in the fare distance and sometimes really nearby. As was expected yesterday the sea is more lively than before.

Weather today around noon time. We are at the edge of the yellow part – waves 3 to 4 meters, but are turning away from it now heading into the English Channel.

A last sea day is always somewhat akward for a lot of cruise passengers. It is the last day and everybody has to pack, or if one is doing a back to back finding the lounges half empty. Thoughts are about going home by half of he ship , while the other half mentally gears up for the next cruise. The Queen Victoria’s next cruise, is a new years cruise 7 days to Zeebrugge, Amsterdam and Cherbourg with docking overnight in Amsterdam for New Year’s Eve so there are quite a few on board who will stay for the next one. Then the next one after that is a 35 day voyage to the Caribbean, a so-called no-flight-cruise as it starts and ends in Southampton. That is twice crossing the North Atlantic but at both times with a route so far to the south that most likely they will be able to avoid most of the bad weather.

We followed the last talk / lecture of the Police Officer talking about Drug enforcement. This is a quite a interesting topic and as he also is a good speaker he can tell interesting anecdotes. It turned out that while defending King & Country in that business, it is not always plain sailing, nor do things always go right, nor is there always a very professionally ending. Hence great anecdotes to tell.

At noon time the Captain made his navigational announcement, ending with a very plastic Cunard Head Office Message, with advising that ONLY a few SELECTED guests would get a post cruise questionaire (I wonder what sort of selection they make ?……………..) and hinting very strongly that if we enjoyed the voyage then that we should give a 10. Normally that sort of thing is left to Cruise Director’s on the stage and thus leave the captain’s dignity in tact.

The shops had another sale going, with extra – extra discount, and either the prices were very good, or there was still a lot of On Board Credit floating around but it was busy with even a tussle between two ladies in the hand bag section.

Quick lunch and then it was time to pack. Luckily we did not buy very much this cruise but why is it always more difficult to get the same quantity as you packed at thome, back in the suitcase when on board?

Then last night we got an invite for another Captain’s party in the Queens Room, but without an explanation about why we were invited; but if there are free drinks and maybe even nibbles, who would say no? With our invitation card in hand (to be presented at the entrance) we marched towards the Queens Room at 17.15 (start of the party) and found at least a 100 people ahead of us inside (free drinks ??) We bypassed the Captains line and grabbed a drink and watched the proceedings on the dance floor.

Again the officers were lined up around the dancefloor and again they waited for the guests to come over. Some guests did go over but it means that all those guests who are sitting on the side and in the wings are obviously not entitled to the presence of an officer. One would expect that the officers would be roving the area being the gracious hosts. The party was called the Sr. Officers party, although there were numerous junior officers present, so one would expect that the Officers would make it a point and fan out from the center to chat with all those highrolling guests who have to sit, and who pay their salary. It was never explained to us, why we all were there, but we think that they invited the Queen and Princess Grills and the and Diamond members.

To be honest, this was a bit of a damp squidh affair, although there were canape’s, which were missing from the first party. No speech from the captain but near the end a guy in an off-white suite popped up and made a short speech, which seemed to be the moment that all the officers were allowed to disappear and they did. He then wished us a good continuation of our party, which had now turned to a Sr. Officer Party, without any officers. The captain was still there, gathering up his wife and 3 children. He saw me and we were thus able to say goodbye and thank him for his hospitality. He said he had been reading my daily blog and agreed with my weather charts. I hope he also agreed with the cabin repairs I enacted.

We decided not to go to the last show as it will be an early morning tomorrow and we had to pack the final items to make sure that all suitcases had the same weight. Weather in Southampton tomorrow calls for partly cloudy skies, with a temperature of 7oC but with a windchill factor that might bring it down to 5 or 4oC. But as long as I do not have to de-ice the car windows, I am already a happy camper.

This is the one but last blog of the cruise. On Monday, my “Final Verdict & Review”, will follow. However with coming back to Southampton this 12 day cruise will have ended. Our next cruise will be in February 2026 with Viking Cruises, so I hope that you will be following us again.

In the mean time: A very happy New Year and Lesley and I wish you all a prosperous, healty and peaceful 2026.

Day 10, 2025 Dec. 26; At Sea. Day 2.

December 27, 2025 / Captain Albert / 3 Comments

This morning we woke up to a slighty moving ship with a movement that a sailor calls “gentle” but a landlubber calls “annoying”. But the weather chart stays positive and the Bay of Biscay and surroundings remained very gentle, or -blue- on the chart. So happy campers all around today.

Weather / sea forecast for today.

This is our second day at sea since leaving the Canaries Islands. 2nd Day of Christmas, called Boxing Day, as in England that used to be the official day of opening the “boxes” with the presents. Most of the crew finds this very funny as in their cultures they open their presents during Christmas Eve. So the joke of the day was, “have you been boxing ?”

As a reference to last night for those who do not know what Christmas “crackers” are. These are paper tubes and you pull at each side, with the person opposite to you at the dinner table. They then come apart with a “crack”.. Inside there is a paper crown (referring to the 3 kings of bethlehem) and the idea is to wear them during the christmas dinner. Inside is also a present, the quality depending on how expensive the cracker is. We had a honey stick, a wooden stirrer to get the last honey out of a honey pot & and a small steel cake form to make christmas cookies. Then there is the (rather naff) Christmas joke. “What sort of nut can you use to hang something on the wall ?……………. a wall-nut.

After breakfast we went for a walk-a-bout and ended up with a Q&A interview from the Cruise Director with our Lady Orchestra Conductor. Which was interesting to listen to as not many of us really know what goes on inside an orchestra. Unfortunately, no “juicy” anecdotes to liven it all up, but still very interesting. One could see that she is a real conductor and not an entertainer.

We made it early to lunch to day as we were sort of pressed for time as at 13.30 hrs. we had the 4th. and last recital of Robin Colville the piano player and we did not want to miss that. After that there was a full 1h.45 min. musical show in the Theatre at 16.00 hrs. which Lesley did not want to miss. I never know if my “cultural time span” can last that long, so we investigated first if we could find some places to sit, where she had a good view and I could slip away if to all got too much.

The Maestro explaining his first piece and on the balcony two saiors (the dark shapes in the corner under the saffolding) tying up the steps. Life is never dull on a cruise ship.

The piano recital was very good as usual but as it had been pushed to 13.30 it sort of interfered with the ships routine. While the Maestro was explaining the background of his first piece, above him on the balcony, suddenly “swish-swish’ could be heard caused by two sailors securing a scalfolding with pulling ropes through. Luckily they saw the light and did not start working, while below Griegs Solveits Song burst out of the piano. Then half way through the concert a steward came by with a trolley with rattling crockery. He had to go in the pantry in the back to prepare for English High Tea at 15.00 hrs. After the plates had been transfered to their locker, he switched on the pantry light (luckily there was a pole between the pantry and the stage so the performance was not affected). And then he switched on the heating cabinet (I think for warming up the teapots). Now all of us in the back could listen to Griegs First Piano Concerto accompanied by electric humming from a pantry. This was most likely a worlds first: ” Variations on Grieg’s Piano Concert no.1 by a Heating Cabinet”. ……….. I love to be part of World First premieres…………………………….

After the concert we walked past the shops and suddenly they were busy. This occurence happens near the end of the cruise and is called “The On Board Credit Effect”. If you got spending credit with your cruise and have not spent it, then now is the chance. The shops responded accordingly with 15% extra discount on certain items. We have run out of on board credit already, courtesy of cocktails every evening and the daily internet cost, so my bank account will take another hit when we leave the ship.

For the latter we got the luggage tags today. Cunard has the system that you have to pull off the old tags and then you get new ones and hence new ones were delivered. There are also companies who tell you to leave the tags on, as it incorporates the disembarkation color. Disembarkation time depends on what sort of cabin you have, or if you are independent or have scheduled transport. With our cabin level we can leave at any time, so we will aim for 08.03 off the ship, with the taxi waiting to take us back to the hotel at 09.00 to collect the car. Then I hope to be on the way by 10.am as it is a 5 hr. drive home, plus stopping for petrol and groceries.

The poster being used in the UK for this musical

Today we had a special cast / stage performance of a musical/play called “Come from Away”, telling the story of the little Newfoundland town of Gander that suddenly had to host 7000 air plane passengers when the USA closed its airspace when 9/11 occured. Doubling the size of the town when a large number of planes deviated to their old airport. The whole effort lasted1h.45m, and there was a full house. One at 16.00 hrs. and one at 20.00 hrs. And it was really, really good, with a well deserved standing ovation at the end.

This picture comes from a website advertising the musical in the UK. There is a scene in there, “Kiss the Fish”, which is a tongue in cheek ceremony to become a “NewFoundlander’. The town of Gander granted “membership” to all stranded passengers who were there and agreed to “kiss the fish”.

According to those who had seen the performance in London with “real professionals” and paid a high ticket price for the privilige, advised that this one here on board was soo much better. And I am not amazed as with the plethora of (large) cruise ships out there, the stage shows and its actors are getting better every year as the supporting teams behind them are getting more and more professional and better financed. Again no photos from the show itself, as somebody will get upset when you do so……………..

Then it was cocktail time and we met Pamela Curtis. This was the Lady who was the highest repeater this cruise with 1250+ days. I posted the photo on day 3 when she got the flowers during the Captains Loyalty party. That photo was seen by my blog readers in Los Angeles, who then contacted Mrs. Curtis to let her know that she was now world famous. She then contacted me to meet for a drink and a chat. Hence tonight. This is for my readers in Los Angeles.

Cocktail Time in the Commodore Club with the highest day repeater on board,

Tomorrow is our 3rd sea day, passing the coast of Normandy and then entering the outer reaches of the English Channel (or La Manche in French, as we are on the French side). Looking at the weather chart and knowing the way a Vista Class ship behaves, I think we will get some more movement. Not really rolling or pitching but more of the yawning movement that we also had south bound. It should not affect anybody very much as we all had enough training southbound.

Day 9, 2025 Dec. 25; At Sea.

December 26, 2025 / Captain Albert / 5 Comments

On departure the Captain announced that we would have a smooth ride home, only somewhat marred by a strong wind on the bow. In general he was right. The sea swell was not predicted to go above 3 meters and that is something a Signature/Vista class ship can handle without too much issue. However where there is 3 meters, there is also 3.5 meters and 2.5 meters and hence the ship was not completely still in the water. I think the guests who occupied the cabins at the stern, did not completely agree with the captains assessment as there was some movement; and around lunch time today the ship was even pitching But compared with going south at the beginning of the cruise we are having an easy ride.

The sea state expected today. It is still mainly blue. and that is good.

We opened our Cunard presents this morning and found two nice christmas balls for the tree at home and two christmas crackers with inside white and brown truffles. And the card from the company. Lesley and I have stopped giving each other presents a long time ago as after so many years of marriage we already have everything and if not, the wish is so electic that both would buy the wrong present. Hence you could say that this cruise was our christmas present. And a very nice one, albeit a very expensive one.

The presents we found on our bed last night. Nothing “big” but nice to receive as a souvenir. The teddybear on the christmas ball is dressed in a Cunard Bell-boy custome.

After breakfast in the cabin (not that we are so posh but it is the best way to stay away from a very calorific breakfast), we had a walk around and were just in time to see Father Christmas arriving in the Atrium. This ritual is nearly the same on every ship. Santa Claus suddenly pops up out of the funnel greeted by as many screaming children as possible (we do not have that many on board this cruise but they still were capable of making a lot of noise). Then it goes in parade into the ship, at a distance followed by the parents, as not every little Johnny stays with the group. Some of them see this as a chance to explore somewhere he has not been yet and then needs to be scooped up by Pa or Ma.

Santa Claus in the Atrium, flanked by his elf and two “snow persons”.

Cunard uses the Atrium for these occasions as Santa can sit on top of the stairs and thus can be approached that way by the childeren but also a lot of guests can have a look down from one of the 3 levels and at the same time do not need to stay for the whole “procedure”. Also adults were invited to have their photo taken with Santa Claus, an Elf, and two “snow persons”. Quite a few still felt like children at heart……….

At 10 am. The captain hosted the Festival of The Carols and Lessons in the main Theatre. This is a typical english thing, grounded in the fact that the King is the head of the English Church. On the ship the Captain is his representative and thus assumes that title of head of the church as well. Therefore it has been a long tradition on the British ships that the Captain leads the Sunday Morning church service on board. On the British cruise ships this tradition is still here and the Captain still heads the service, at least when sundays are at sea. For Christmas, this service had been padded out somewhat with carols and the Master of the Vessel reading “The Lesson”. There is a merchant navy prayer & sermon book out there, so if there is a Captain, who is not so familiar with the spiritual side of life, then there are templates that can be followed.

That was as much christmas as we could find, the rest of the morning had the standard items, with dancing in the Queens Lounge, Shops sales, Casino open, etc., followed by the next music recital by Maestro Robert Colville, who did not disappoint and even did two encores (Highland Chatedral and Variations on Lambeth Walk) so he over ran the alloted time. That caused several of the audience to leave because when it is time to choose between culture and lunch, …………………………………….guess what wins.

His Majesty the King, Charles II of Great Britain & the British Commonwealth. The general focus of his speech was on working together and reconsiliation.

By 15.00 hrs. a lot of guests were assembling in the Royal Court Theatre to listens to the “Kings Speech”. For me of dual persuation, feeling British after 32 years but still having a Dutch perspective on life, I always feel it necessary to follow both.

His Majesty King Willem Alexander of the Kingdom of the Netherlands spoke about cherishing of what connects us. Our mutual responsibilities, Our Democracy, Our Rights of Law and Our Environment. And the need to instill these values into our children.

No doubt the other Kings and Queens of Europe had similar messages for their loyal subjects in a world that is getting ever more polarized and less repsectful of each other.( I do not know if there is a International Queen & King conference before christmas but it would make sense as most of the contents of these speeches were similar but with a local tweak)

So with these Royal Reflections, I hope 2026 will be a better year.

The crew had their christmas downstairs, also received presents from Cunard, and had Santa Claus downstairs for photos. Upstairs the afternoon was the regular seaday routine with offerings from all the concessionaires and then by 17.00 hrs. cocktail time geared up again. Tonight was formal night with a theme of Red & Gold. Looking around the ship, quite a few of the ladies, including my Lord & Master, had found a dress with red & gold. I could join in with a red jacket and gold cumberbund & bow tie, but in general the Gents where less brave than the Ladies. (Although I saw a few gentlemen in very fancy jackets). As mentioned before, we normal go to the Commodore Club for cocktails and 99% were in formal, and about 60% color themed. The amplifier challenge from last night had been fixed and tonight we had a Duo, called the “Radio Duo” with smooth songs.

Christmas dinner was a variation on the christmas dinner but (I assume) re-imagined by Top Chef Michael Roux so a lot of the trimmings were not present. But we had fancy christmas crackers to pull.

The Lavelles. Three British Ladies who gave a very nice show. They will do another one later on in the Queens Lounge. (Photo Courtesy from somewhere on the internet, a poster of when the Ladies were performing)

The show tonight was a group of three Ladies “the Lavelles” who sang Motown hits from the 1980’s etc. And they were very good. Motown is not my first choice but the songs were belted out on “full volume” and high energy. This was followed by a short performance from the cruise staff and cast with the 12 days of Christmas. The nice thing of this song is, that if it is done right, it goes completly wrong and ends up in complete mayhem. We were not disappointed………. and it was good fun to watch. Unfortunately I cannot show photos as there was this voice on the Tannoy again, advising everybody that recording was strictly forbidden. As mentioned before, I will never understand that.

Tomorrow is our 2nd day at sea, and the weather looks very good. Smooth seas, hardly any wind and with only a low swell running. Tenperatures are slowly dropping and by the time we reach Southampton, it will be down to 6 or 7o Celcius.

Day 8, 2025 Dec. 24; Arrecife de Lanzarote, Spain.

December 25, 2025 / Captain Albert / 7 Comments

Christmas is coming.

The more south we go, the less swell there is, and apart from an occasional bump, the ship sailed quietly through the night. Ending up at Arrecife harbor by 07.30 in the morning. With us again the ms Ventura and we were joined later by the Mariella Explorer, sailing for TUI. The Ventura was at what they would call here the cruise ship pier as it is the closest pier to town. Tui is sometimes doing change over’s here but uses the end of the sea wall, where they have a large marque for handling guests and luggage. We were at the same pier but slighlty further in.

Today the marquee which acts as a cruise terminal was in use for screening the returning guests of both the Mariella and the Victoria. The harbour is a considerable distance from the town of Arrecife and hence there was a shuttle service available to reduce the 30 minute walk to an 10 minute bus ride. The Ventura guests did not have a shuttle as they only had a 15 minute walk from their ship directly into town. The shuttle ran very frequently (waiting time limited to loading time) and dropped everybody off at “The Marina”. From here it was another 8 minute walk to the boulevard where the first restaurants, bars and small hotels were located. From there, walking alone the waterfront, it was another 5 minutes to the main shopping street. “The Marina” turned out to be made up of bars and restaurants, (and a Burger King) and a few souniver shops. There was a small Arts & Crafts market outside so those for whom it was too far to walk into town, could still do some shopping thearapy.

The shuttlebus transfer is charged at $ 10,– a person, but is included for Queens and Passenger Grill guests and those on full fares. They scan your cruise card when boarding the coach and, if applicable, the $ 10,– gets charged to your account. It works the same way for the crew, who travel free of course, and the “Traffic Controllers”, who control the guest flow to the coaches, shove a few crew onto each coach. That is something I can always appreciate as crew cannot always wait until “all the guests are gone” as they simply do not have the time. Not that many crew went ashore, the distance & time is simply too much if you only have a few hours off. Those who went, ended up in a super market again (same chain as yesterday) to stack up with whatever a crew member needs.

The ground cut open for further development. No sand, no flowers no greenery, apart from some mosses. Barren as far as the eye can see,

Drving into town, is basically driving over an asfalt road with on either side lava as Lanzarote is a volcanic island that only recently (million years ago or so) became extinct. Long time ago I did a tour around the island which was facinating and beautiful as long as “stark” is what you like. What I remember mostly is how hot it was, so when in later years I could see more lava and rocks in Iceland with a much more gentle temperature, it shifted my focus point somewhat. But today (cold for local standards as all the old locals had thick coats or vests on) it was a perfect day to take the tour. But we went into town.

In case you wonder what Santa drives in Spain ? It is not a sleigh, it is a VW bus.

At the entrance to the town was a christmas fancy-fair, similar to the one we saw yesterday in Las Palmas. I wonder if that is a sort of Christmas tradition they have one in each port during the festive season on the Islands. Fully focussed on the younger clientele of course, but a Ferris Wheel and Bumper cars also get adults excited. It was still closed but it might have opened up around 17.00 hrs. as that happened at Las Palmas last night. The little pubs & terraces were by 11.00 hrs. already full with eager clientele and it was interesting to see that the menu’s were in Spanish, then German and only occasionally in English or French.

The main shopping street, at a quiet moment. This was lunch time so all the tourists had moved on to the pubs and restaurants.

The main street was a very nice and clean shopping street, full with christmas decorations so it seemed that here, they kept restaurants and pubs outside of the main street environment. I do not know how it works retail wise but for the flow of traffic (several 1000 cruise guests marching in and out) it worked very well.

The main view when coming off the shuttlebus. All that is white are small hotels with restaurants and bars under it. German is more widely spoken here than English.

We were back by 13.00 hrs. and decided on lunch in the Lido Restaurant as they had Spaghetti Bolognaise on the menu, cooked A-la-minute and that is something even a Queens Grill Chef cannot beat. Disappointing was that the soft ice machine was for 50% out of order and the other one was in ” cleaning mode” and thus lunch did not have a perfect ending. Hopefully they have a technician who will understand the “grave emergency” of getting this repaired ASAP, otherwise I will get withdrawal symptoms.

The Queen Victoria Officers Choir on the Atrium staircase. One of the cast members was conductiong and also leading the rehearsals of the Guest Choir on the ship. I did not recognize many of the officers but the gentleman in black on the top left of the photo is our Maitre d’Hotel of the Queens Grill.

The ship is gearing up for Christmas and that started today, more christmassy tables started to show up with candy houses, we now also have one opposite the Grills Bar, and the officers and crew are walking around with santa claus hats.

Latest edition to the christmas displays. The square thing in the right hand corner is a traditional Christmas Cake. which is a very dense cake, so you only get/take a small sliver and then eat it with very thick cream.

Tonight at 17.00 and 19.00 hrs. there was the christmas choir performance of the officers of the Victoria but at 17.00 hrs, it was solely made up of Hotel Officers as Deck and Engine were still on full standby as we also sailed at 17.00 hrs. At 18.15 hrs. there was storytime, read out by the Captain.

The rest of the evening had the same program as normal with the exemption of: at 23.30 there was the Christmas Eve service for protestants in the Queens Lounge with a Reverend and at the same time the Roman Catholic service in the Royal Court Theatre with a priest in attendance. For the Jewish, the Channukah candles were lit at the entrance of each restaurant and the Pursers desk (last candle, last night) but I do not know if we have a Rabbi on board this cruise as well.

When I was Captain in the past I always encouraged it, when all three were on board, with the request if they could not do something together especially for the crew. One year, the 3 of them organised a-get-together with the crew and announced themselves on the posters as : “The Holy Trinity” . Inviting all Officers and Crew for a service without boundaries in the Crew Mess”. That was such a success that it was repeated a day later upstairs on request of the guests , when they found out about it from the crew. It did not always work as sometimes some of them were too rigid in their convictions but when it did it was always a great success. Even groups of the muslim community showed up. I think the first year it worked was, when the protestant representative was a Vicar of the British Seamans mission, “The Flying Angels” and they are known not to take things too seriously, most of them being ex sailors themselves.

The main show was focussed on Christmas as well, with a Cast performance called “Deck the Halls” with christmas songs made popular by various artists. In the Queens Lounge the regular dancing was going on (every night by orchestra or recorded music for squence dancing) but tonight the two singers and orchestra had everybody ball room dancing to christmas tunes.

Back in the cabin. we found a Christmas card from the company, two Christmas “crackers” with chocolates and two baubles to hang on the christmas tree at home.

From Lesley and I:

Merry Christmas to all my readers and we hope that all your christmasses will be as bright as the star of bethlehem.

As you can see below, Santa Claus would prefer to be somewhere else at Christmas.

For Santa Claus himself though not all his own wishes are coming true……………………………………

Day 07, 2025 Dec. 23; Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.

December 24, 2025 / Captain Albert / 4 Comments

Aerial view of the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The cruise docks are to the left at the inner part. (Photo courtesy: unknown drone photographer on the internet)

And thus we sailed through the night a bit further to the south to the largest island in the group and that is called Gran Canaria. The whole name of the town, Las Palmas de Grand Canaria, is really a mouth full, but as there are so many ” Las Palmas” towns and villages out there a bit of specification is necessary. Most people think (when hearing the name) about the town on the island of Ibiza and that they do not like very much over here. This Las Palmas has a very big port, as apart from serving the island it is also a transit hub between Africa, Europe and the Americas and a home port for a large offshore fleet and fishing fleet. The off-shore fleet is involved in cable laying, windmills, oil operation and a lot of scientific research for future exploration of the seabottom with all its minerals. It was an important navy port in both the world wars and during the cold war as well. Hence there is still a considerable (Spanish) navy presence.

Cunard has been going here for a long time. It even sent the Queen Mary during her twilight days of North Atlantic service when even unsuitable ships (air conditioning….) were sent cruising.

For the cruise ship guests it is a good port as the town is very close to where the cruise ships dock. Yesterday a shuttle service was available (not free) from the gangway of the Queen Victoria as it was a good 30 minute walk to get to the first shop in town. Today, it is just a quick walk out of the ship and dock and you are there. Hence it is very popular as a day -stop but also as an embarkation port and the big terminal can handle two large cruise ships on one day for a change over. I have seen photos with 6 big ships in port and all their guests are let over the pavement through the one terminal gate into the town and back. Return security is provided in the terminal building so you are not bothered with it when stepping back on board and as we saw today it all ran very smoothly.

Most of our morning was taken up with a visit to the Guest Laundry. The Queen Victoria has one on each deck, with on average 3 washers, 3 dryers and an ironing board. All free of charge. Modern front loading machines with digital menu’s, which on occasion create challenges for the older Americans cruising who are still used to “open the top & turn the dial” machines. I love laundrettes on board as it is a great service to the guests when a quick wash is needed. Big stuff can be sent to the ships laundry; but be careful with lace & ruffles as most ships laundries seem to have a challenge understanding that standard pressing is not a solution to spruce up that sort of fabric. What is very nice is the soap now comes is in small sheets (looks like a slice of cheese in thickness) so no more messing around with soap cups or pushing a soap dispenser “at the right moment”.

Machines on the Queen Victoria.

On Holland America the self service laundries were not installed on the Vista Class and later ships, much to the annoyance of the guests. But there is a nice anecdote about that. With all the HAL ships in Alaska in the summer time, each ship had about 150 to 300 guests joining in Juneau or Skagway who were coming down from the overland tour in Alaska; some of them having been on the road for over 25 days. They all wanted to do their laundry of course but whatever the ship tried, there is no way you can handle 300 guests who all want to spend most of the day in the laundry, getting through 3 or 4 suitcases of clothing.

The guests of course did not understand why they could not get access to a machine “while the others keep beating them to it” and thus it rained complaints and the Comment On Board Form (COB) rating for the self service laundries was very low. It also dragged down the overall cruise experience rating. (One 1 on the rating takes ten 10’s to get it back to a 9 average) In the end the CEO, President and later also Chairman, Mr. Kirk Lanterman decreed “NO MORE LAUNDRIES” on the ships. We on board tried to change his mind with the suggestion “why not take the laundries out of the COB paper” but that was not a good idea. Since then no more laundrettes on the HAL ships. I think the Prinsendam was the last ship who still had them until 2019. Cunard still has them and also on the new -Pinnacle Class- Queen Anne, there are 2 of them of quite a reasonable size.

So while the ship was exercising the emergency procedures, we went through the intrecacies of 21st century digital washing machine menu’s. Of course there are no instructions on the walls and hence it is all a bit experimenting but we have something complicated like this at home, so it all worked.

Life boat drill impression by a famous Dutch cartoonist Jan Sanders. In the 1980’s he made a whole series of these sailors cartoons for a Dutch paint company “Holland International” who specialized in ships paint. Originals now sell for 500 – 1000 euro’s.

The ship had the “full Monty” today with the weekly emergency drill;, full crew participation and all 3 stages of the drill. Starting with a fire in the technical library outside the Engine Control Room. This is a very small space and thus very easy to extinguish a fire but it requires to re-locate the Enging Control Room – Control to the bridge,. Nowadays with networked computers is not so difficult but it can still give a chief engineer palpitations when having to do it.

Extracting a crew member from a ballast tank. All ships have one of these tripods on board together with a small winch. When safely possible a volunteer is used, which most often is ………………….. the cadet. As he/she “has to learn ti al”. (stock photo from the internet)

The Captain decided to make it even more exciting by simulating that somebody was stuck in a Ballast Water Tank no. 6 (that is down on D deck/tanktop) and that meant that the crewmembers who are part of the “Confined Space Rescue Team” had to go through the motions of getting somebody out. (Not so easy as the entrance man-hole to the tank is not that wide) The medical department is part of this team and had then the pleasure to be called not too much later to Deck 9, that is 12 decks up from the entrance to Ballast tank 6. The rest of the crew (there are 985 of them on board) was by then assembling at the muster stations.

Here they got an additional treat as 150 of them (143 + 7 crew) had to exercise filling up the lifeboat to the legal capacity. There is a routine for this and the commanders need to train this, so everybody gets queezed in at one of the 140 spots. But it has to be done in about 20 minutes. As we still have the required maximum time of lowering down to the water of 30 minutes. With 140 crew this works, with 140 guests, not necessarily. Especially if they are the size of 3 crewmembers. But that is why the ship has soo many liferafts on board. The law prescribes that 140 occupants should fit with a lifejacket but they do not have to exceed the weight of 75 kg. (For the newest ships out there, this has been raised to 85.2 kg, and for some offshore installation – with very burly roust-a-bouts – to 95 kg.) The crew normally enjoys doing this as it so different for the normal routine. But it is also often the first time that the Ladies among the crew realize that there are no toilets on board a lifeboat.

The shopping center seen from drone height. The brown ramp is route into the shopping mall and from there to town.

Then it was time to walk ashore and to have a look at downtown Las Palmas. The local authorities had, had the clever idea of building a large shopping center just outside the cruise terminal and to get into town , the shortest way is to go through it. So 7000+ guests marched ashore that way and then marched back the same way. The shopping center was not completly full with shops yet and I do not know where they still in the opening process or if it was matter of recession. But the crew was in heaven as it had a big supermarket inside. And indeed most of the shoppers were crew, returning to the ships with bags full of washing powder, shampoo crips/chips and other essentials to survive below decks.

I was somewhat disappointed in down town. When I came here in the 1980’s the main street was full of little resturants and cafes spilling into the street and having a great atmosphere to deep in the night. Now many of those localities had been taken over by discount shops and places that sold trinkets. I think that with the Canaries now being so popular with package holidays, the emphasis of going out has moved to where the large hotels are along the beach, and not necessiarily in down town any more. ………….. Another Youth Dream shattered………………..

Back on board it was time for cocktails, this time without music, in the Commodore Club as they could not get the entertainer of the evening hooked up to the sound system. 4 experts searched, tried and scratched their heads, for 45 minutes and still nothing. When we left we saw a very gloomy looking performer standing behind the piano (not what he was supposed to play a piano) and the bum of an electrician sticking out of the amplifier box. The show tonight was Duo Lyodi, which was a telling of a chinese fable by poetry , acrobatics etc. but without words.

Her Ladyship was more interested in reviewing Cunards price list as she has set her eyes on a larger cabin but for a 7 day cruise next year. I am still busy with getting this cabin uptodate. We had the saga with the DVD player that could not be connected( the new one now is), but the remote control does not work with this set, we had a broken plinth repaired, a toilet seat fastened, an also glass curtains rehung and rehooked.

Now I am creating a checklist of what we should have in the cabin. A lot gets listed on the website under amenities but when you then come on board, it seems that the Cunard policy is “on request”, but if you do not have that list in your mind, how do you know ?

We now know that fresh fruit is “on request”, fresh flowers / plant is “on request”, The TV program is “on request”, the binoculars are “on request”, the “pillow concierge menu” is “on request” but nothing is listed anywhere in the cabin. You have to remember it from the website. Then there are no instructions of how to operate the DVD player or the coffee machine. (we got the instruction for the coffee machine but also “on request”. And all that “on request” is very irritating because all those things should be there when you step on board as you have paid for it. Now you have to ask/ “beg” for all these items and the concierge or the butler has to run for it. Also they do not offer it to you either, when you come on board during the initial meet and greet in the cabin; no…………………. the guest has to take the iniative.

It does not stops us from enjoying this cruise but as Queens Grill Guests this should not happen at all. Most company’s have a “perfect cabin set-up” which comes with a checklist of what should be in the cabin. A Housekeeping supervisor can then quickly check if it is all there. But maybe this checklist is also “on request” for the supervisor from the boss.

Tomorrow we are in Arrecife de Lanzarote, our last stop before our 3 days at sea to return to Southampton. At the moment the weather looks good. Windy but with low swells so we might have a comfortable christmas at sea.

Weather: Partly Cloudy with temperatures going up to the tropical temperature of 19oC / 660F. and very little wind.

Below the swell in the North Altantic as of today.

Weather. As you can see the red line goes mainly through and a light yellow colors and that means that the swell does not go higher then 3 meters. That the ship can handle to ensure a smooth ride.