It had only been just over a year since my last Cruise, but I was in need of a holiday, as between working and caring responsibilities, I was ready for this.
It was the fourth time we had booked an Iceland Cruise, the others had all been cancelled, the company sold the ship, COVID and I can’t remember the third reason but we were so excited for this Cruise.
We like to Cruise from Southampton as Cruising from an overseas port hasn’t worked out that well for us, with the wheelchair.
Our Cabin was a Suite, mid-ship, so it was lovely and stable. There Suite, was great, lots of storage space and there was a curtain to separate the lounge from the bedroom. I think some of the suites have a wall to separate.
We had travelled to Southampton the day before and stayed overnight there. It always seems to risky to travel down the same day. We have tried staying at all different hotels over the years, but Hilton at the Cricket Ground is now our hotel of choice. They do Park and Cruise, which suits us fine.
We started with a Sea Day on this Cruise, which gave us chance to get into the swing of things. They have talks on the Sea Days and we did attempt to attend one, about the performers on-board, but people from the previous talk stayed in theTheatre, so we couldn’t get in, result was we went for a lovely Ice-Cream instead and listened to the music quiz. We faired better at the next talks, which were from an Ex-England Footballer, perhaps it helped that the talk before him didn’t seem that interesting, so there weren’t many people in the theatre to begin with 😀
We had four ports in Norway, which were all interesting and you really cannot beat the Fjords for breathtaking scenery.
We had another Sea Day as we made our way to Iceland. We had four ports in Iceland and somewhere along the way we crossed the Arctic Circle and we have a certificate to prove it.
The first night we had dined in Sabatini’s which we had loved on a previous Cruise, but it wasn’t like we remembered it – what do they say never go back!! Anyway despite Dave being allergic to some fish and not liking many others we tried The Catch and what a catch it turned out to be. We were brought Sparkling Wine and offered different berries to put in it. We were offered water with added Lemon and/or Lime. The Amuse Bouche was so big it was almost like a main course. I took the opportunity to try out different fish dishes, as I don’t often cook fish for myself at home.
The highlight should have been the Chef’s Table Meal but it was a bit of a let down, down get me wrong the food was fine but not exciting and there was less wine than last time. The meal was only made by the company, we met a couple a few days earlier and they were seated next to us and we wouldn’t have enjoyed the meal, if it wasn’t for them and they felt the same about it.
You meet some great people on Cruises, we have made new friends on every Cruise and we are still in touch with a few people we met on our very first Cruise.
If you are in a Suite, the Concierge Lounge is a great social hub.
We have met some great friend on Cruise, they know who they are but now we are home, where is my daily champagne and my husband wonders where his French Toast is!!
