Tom Burke’s Blog

I’m not the only person to think that P&O have got the prices for Azura (coming into service in April 2010) wrong – they’re way, way too high. (I blogged about this before.) Looking at the current (2010/Mar 2011) P&O brochure, prices for Azura seem to be around £150 per person per night (pppn), whereas Ventura, a virtually identical ship, is coming in at about £125pppn. That £25 pppn extra amounts to £350 per person over 14 nights, £700 for two, which is a significant amount of money, especially as the actual cruise experience will be very similar on the two ships.

Of course P&O often seem to charge high prices. Next year, however, they will be under some pressure. Celebrity’s Eclipse (the third of the Solstice class) will be based in Southampton, doing a mix of cruises pretty similar to the standard P&O fare: 14 night cruises to the Baltic & western Med, 16 nights to the central Med, and 11 nights to the Canaries; and prices on Eclipse, at least at the beginning of the season, aren’t far above £100 pppn for a balcony cabin. Up at P&O price level there will two Cunard ships, Queens Victoria & Elizabeth, and I’ve heard a lot of people say that if they’re going to spend that much money they’d rather do it with Cunard than P&O.

It’s beginning to look as if this pressure is telling. I received a sales leaflet through the post today from Ideal Cruising, through whom we’ve booked several times already. This leaflet is all about Azura in 2010, and it shows some significant reductions. Balcony cabin prices are quoted as £1899 for 14 nights in the spring as against £2499 in the brochure; 16 nights in the central Med in the high season is £2269 as against a brochure price of £2899. So perhaps Azura’s inaugural season isn’t selling as well as P&O would have liked.

I’ve added some more pictures, from Athens, Naples/Capri, Kusadasi, and some more of the ship itself. They’re at the same URL as before.

These pictures were slides to begin with, and were scanned differently (larger) than the other films. The scans needed a bit of post-processing, hence the delay in getting them up.

Well, we left Solstice at about 9 o’clock on Friday morning. We were one of the last to leave – I overheard one of the team managing the disembarkation saying a few minutes earlier “we’ve got about 85% of the passengers off at the moment”. So it really is a quick operation on turnround day. Incidentally Solstice was already docked when we peeked over the balcony at about 5:30.

After disembarking, the day proceeded like a charm until we hit Heathrow, which we did at 3:30 or so. After that it turned into a slow slog, and we didn’t get home until 10:30, very tired indeed. Since then we seem to have been doing an awful lot of washing & ironing.

So what did I think of it altogether? We’ve come away thinking that it was probably our best cruise. Solstice is a beautiful, high-quality ship, the food and the company were both excellent, and the itinerary was to die for. We were also blessed with excellent weather – warm sunshine (75-85 degrees/23-28 degrees or so) which was hot enough to make you feel it but not so hot it was uncomfortable.

I think the effort that both journeys took has rather put us off fly-cruises for the time being. If we do one again we’ll look for ways to fly from an airport nearer home – there must be a way of flying to the Mediterranean from Manchester or East Midlands with a reasonable amount of luggage. However it’s not something we need to address in the near future – next year will be a P&O year, with two cruises (one long, the other short) from Southampton. Then we’ll see if Eclipse (or a sister ship) will be based in Southampton for 2011.

Today was Naples, and yet we had another great day. After a slightly cloudy start the afternoon turned out sunny and warm. We went to Capri on our own. We went there three years on the first Galaxy cruise, as part of an excursion, and liked it a lot, but on that occasion we were constrained, of course, by the excursion timetable. Two years ago on the second Galaxy cruise we wanted to go back, but because Galaxy docked in a different location we were unable to do so. This year everything turned out right.

I’d researched the times of the fast ferries yesterday, so we knew which ones we were aiming for: 08:35 across and 15:25 back. We left the ship just before 8 o’clock and probably took less than 10 minutes to walk round to Molo Beverollo, the fast ferry port. We probably could have caught an earlier boat at that time, in fact, but we stuck to the plan and bought tickets (16 euros each, one way) for the 8:35. It was already docked but not yet boarding, so as soon as they opened the gangway we were among the first group to board. The journey took 50 minutes from pushing off from Naples to docking in Marina Grande on Capri. Note that even on a weekday in October, the ferry was pretty full – I think there were various tours, not all from Solstice, on board. After disembarking at Capri the first thing we did was buy tickets for the ride back, for the same price. Then we got a bus up to Capri town, and then another bus up to Anacapri. By this time it was 10 o’clock and time for coffee.

Later we explored Anacapri, and after that went up to the top of Monte Solaro on the chairlift (8 euros each, return). We got off at the top and had planned to walk down but we couldn’t find the top of the path, and in any case it was steeper than I’d expected, so after exploring the mountain top we simply went back down on the chairlift. Then we had lunch in Anacapri, went down to Capri town, walked out to the Giardini de Augusto and sat down in the sun, looking down on Marina Picolo.

Eventually we decided it was time to go down to Marina Grande. Our first thought was to use the Funicular, and we bought tickets for this, but there was quite a long quere and were anxious to get down to the harbour so we found a marked path down and followed it. The sign said ‘10 minutes’, and that was indeed what it took us, but I have to say that we are fairly brisk walkers so slower walkers might take a bit longer. We found the walk quiet and cool – the path is north-facing so out of the sun and not many people use it.

At Marina Grande our strategy of getting the return ticket in the morning paid off. The harbour was heaving – there were a number of ferries to various places leaving at around that time. We found the right spot on the quayside, where the boat was waiting but not yet boarding, and joined a number of other people. A large number of people were walking past us to other docking positions, following various tour guides. Then chaos struck: a vehicle ferry arrived and started off-loading. What you need to know is that the quayside at Marina Grande is very narrow. Not a problem with only people walking along, but with vehicles trying to drive against the flow of people it becomes a complete mess. We had to press up against the wall at the back of the quay; other people had to stand right on the edge of the quay to allow the vehicles to edge their way through. The fast ferries that were in port, including ours, had to raise their gangways because they were protruding too far onto the quay. In the meantime floods more people were walking onto the quay towards the vehicles. And this is in italy, of course, so there was a huge amount of shouting, gesticulating, arm-waving, etc, going on all the time. Eventually the crew of our boat (or, Val thinks, possibly a policeman – certainly someone in uniform) decided that the vehicles would have to wait – they were going to board their passengers. So in a gap between two small trucks, they lowered the gangway and people surged forward. Even more shouting, gesticulating, etc, etc, ensued. Eventually we were able to board, feeling quite hot and bothered. The boat left on time and got back to Molo Beverollo on schedule – once again it was pretty much full. Then it was just a short walk back to Solstice before our last afternoon gelato…

Since then we’ve been packing, reviewing and wincing over the on-board account, and getting ready for our last dinner. Luggage has to be outside the cabin by 11pm.

To finish off here are a few facts & figures. First, the fast ferries: we used the company ‘NLG’, and their boats hold between 350 and 400 people. The SNAV boats looked bigger, and therefore presumably hold more. The orange buses on Capri, and the funicular, seem to have a flat fare of 1.40 Euro per person. However, the bus we got from Marina Grande to Capri at the start of the day wasn’t an orange one, so it may have been an independent bus company, and they charged 1.5 Euros each. In Capri town the little bus station is quite close to the funicular station; there’s a ticket office beside it.

Today was a sea day and we spent it very lazily around the pool almost all day – very relaxing. Tonight is the second and last formal night, and tomorrow is the last full day of the cruise. Given that we’re approaching the end I’ve begun to collect my thoughts about the cruise overall. The most important thing to say is that we’ve had a wonderful time: for me it’s been one of the best two cruises we’ve done, more enjoyable than either of the Galaxy cruises and up there with the Ventura cruise. The itinerary has been great. We enjoyed Santorini & Mykonos, the 24 hours in Istanbul was amazing, and although we had some problems with what we did in Athens, it’s another extraordinary place. The weather, too, has been wonderful: apart from some grey skies and a few minutes of rain as we left Istanbul it’s been blue skies and sunshine all the way, with temperatures between the mid 70s on cooler days to the mid 80s on warmer ones. For sun-starved Brits this has been excellent: as Mark from Milton Keynes said during the Athens trip “this has been our summer….”. Tomorrow we plan to return to Capri from Naples, and hopefully that will be as memorable a day as the others.

As I mentioned in a previous post there are aspects of Solstice that I’m not completely happy with, but to be fair these are just about my preference. I’m quite confdent that Solstice meets her design brief perfectly. Let me run down a few points that I may not have mentioned.

First, we have really enjoyed the food on this cruise. As I’ve suggested I don’t think we’re especially ‘fine diners’ so it’s not surprising that what we’ve had in Grand Epernay this cruise has been just right for us. We’re both of the view that the food has been better this time than on the second Galaxy cruise, and possibly also better than on the first one. In fact Val’s view is that it’s been the best on any cruise. I think also that our opinion of Muranos is hardening a bit – the food there wasn’t that much better than in the MDR (or didn’t seem so to us), so it was probably something we needn’t (and shouldn’t) have bothered with. This is very much a personal thing, of course: if you’re someone who finds the MDR food underwhelming, you may well Muranos & Tuscan Grill worth the extra.

Second, there are design touches all over the ship that add to the feel of quality. Around the pool deck would be one area: the cabanas, couches and so on are a definite plus. Another area would be the Ensemble Lounge/Michael’s Club; these are both very elegant places. So too is Cafe al Bacio. We also thought the Oceanview cafe worked well; the choice of food here was wide, the quality was good, and it was good to get away from the traditional ‘buffet servery’ approach. I particularly noted the consistency of design of all the plates & dishes.

Today I walked round the ship looking at the art on the landings and lobbies. It’s easy to ignore what you’re seeing, and indeed much of it you won’t see unless you look for it: there are between 4 and 8 pieces on each floor by the main (aft) lifts, and if you never get out on any of the cabin floors except your own you’ll never see the artworks on those floors. As I said I went round this morning and looked for them, and liked what I found.

But I have to end with a question, and it’s about the Lawn Club. It’s cool concept, but it’s an awful lot of space; we’re sure that better use could be made of it. I’ll be surprised if it survives for too long, or even appears on Eclipse.

Last night we had a meal in Muranos, and this blog entry is to describe it.

We were sat together on a couch with a small round table in front of us. One of us could have sat at a chair the other side of the table but that would have made conversation difficult so we sat together on the couch. This also presented some issues, however, as the couch was a bit lower than was completely comfortable, so we ended up sitting on small cushions.

We chose the ’standard’ four-course (appetizer, soup/salad, entree, dessert) menu and selected a bottle of wine (a Californian Merlot), plus a additional glass of champagne to start. The choices were not dissimilar to those on the normal main dining room menu. We both had a goat’s cheese souffle as an appetizer, then I think Val had a lobster bisque soup while I had a salad, and for entrees Val had duck and I had rack of lamb. Finally for dessert Val had a chocolate souffle and I just had some cheese. Everything was extremely well cooked and delicious. So why didn’t we absolutely, 100% love it? Well, part of it might be the fact that a lot of the presentation of the food seemed quite fussy; the goat’s cheese soufles came with a sort lattice-work of pasta (?) in a hood over the top of it, for example, and the leaves in my salad came tightly wrapped up in strips of cucumber. Another problem was that the courses were in fact quite large; Val found her chocolate souffle just too big (to her considerable discomfort later). There were a couple of extra small ‘courses’ as well: at the beginning we were given a small helping of a chicken mousse (?) mixed with seafood and a berry topping, and at another point we were given a small sorbet. The end result was that there was a *lot* of food. And a further issue that I in particular felt was that the restaurant itself had a cast of thousands – well, at least dozens. We had separate waiters for the bread (there was bread as well – very good bread I have to say), and this waiter was able to explain all the different breads he had available. Then there was the sommelier, of course; there was certainly another waiter with the cheeses who told me all about the 10 or so different cheeses available, and I’m not sure if we didn’t have yet another waiter who did things with Val’s chocolate souffle. I was constantly waiting for someone else to pop up with something else; and of course they all kept coming back to ask if everything was alright? Everything is fine, and would be even better, I felt like saying, if people would leave us alone to enjoy the food.

Maybe the truth is that we aren’t ‘fine dining’ people – the more straight-forward Grand Epernay experience is more to our preference. It also contrasted with the few occasions when I’ve truly good food in the UK – it’s always been superb to eat but has also been cooked & presented very simply – so maybe the truth is that all the fussiness is not to my taste. So my views on Muranos would be: food, 100%; quantity, 90% (too much, not too little); and presentation, 75% (too fussy for me).

(I’ve just remembered – there was also a water waiter….)

Today we’ve been at Kusadasi, arriving at 9 o’clock. It rained overnight and the forecast for the day was for temperatures in the mid-70s with a chance of rain, and first thing this morning it was indeed quite grey. But later the clouds rolled away, the sun shone, the temperatures got up to somewhat higher than the mid-70s, and there was no rain, so the weather was kind again.

When we arrived we counted the coaches lined up for excursions – just over 40 of them. Let’s say 40 coaches, each one holding 50 people – that was 2000 passengers on excursions, and not surprisingly the ship did indeed feel empty. We came here two years ago on Galaxy and visited Ephesus then (I blogged about it here), so we decided not to go there again. After a leisurely start – late-ish breakfast, morning coffee in Cafe al Bacio – we went ashore and explored the town. We found the bazaar, and Val actually did some shopping; a scarf and 3 pashminas for 45 TLira (we had some lira left after Istanbul). Then we explored some more, and quickly identifed that we’d strayed into an area of town catering to holidaying Brits – lots of cafes advertising ‘Full English’ breakfasts’. “Ah, the real Turkey” I thought when I saw a sign for an ‘All Day Belly-Buster Breakfast!’; but there was enough of the old town underneath the modern tat to make it enjoyable. At the end of the morning we took one of the bars up on its offer of a big bottle of Efke beer for 4 TLira; and that (with a 1 Tlira tip) was the last of our Turkish money. Incidentally, whereas in Istanbul we only ever saw prices in TLira, here in Kusadasi everything is priced in Euros first, and Turkish Lira second; I think we were quite unusual in paying for Val’s shopping and the beer in TLira. The exchange rate in all the shops, cafes & bars was 2:1 – 2 TLira = 1 Euro.

We lunched in Bistro on 5 today, and we were almost the only diners. We each had a crepe and a dessert, and to be honest we came out quite full; on reflection I think the crepe on its own would have been sufficient. The crepes were a good size, and well-packed with filling, and in addition we each got a small pot filled with cold vegetables (pieces of carrot, cucumber, tomato, onion, lettuce) in a sauce – mine was in a vinegar dressing of some sort, Vals was in a sweet’n’sour sauce. Very tasty, but we shouldn’t have had the dessert.

After spending an hour sleeping off lunch and the beer we went ashore again, and this time explored Pigeon Island. This is actually connected to the mainland by what looks like an artifical causeway. I suppose the causeway is 250 or 300 yards long, and at the end of it the island rises up. Perched on the island is an old fortress or blockhouse, and there are paths around the island so you can explore. We wandered around here for quite a while taking pictures and just relaxing. Afterwards we walked further along the road for a bit but turned round fairly quickly as we didn’t see anything especially interesting. We did however pass the sites of several ‘beaches’, and they really aren’t – just loungers & sunshades set out on concrete areas next to the sea. However we didn’t get as far as Ladies Beach, which is reputed to be the best beach in the area and which looks, from the pictures I’ve seen, like a proper beach. We also saw several dolmus mini-buses going to and from Ladies Beach and the town, and I think the fare was 5 euros per person.

Tonight we’re eating in Murano’s, so I’ll report on that during our sea day tomorrow.

We’ve just come to the end of 24 hours in Istanbul. I’ll remember this city for a long time. It’s very busy, full of life, not pretty – in fact quite the opposite in places – but distinctive and of course has a stunning number of truly great sights. We appreciated its layout first of all: built on three stretches of water, the Mediterranean, the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, the sea is at its heart and there is a continual stream of ferries in all directions, plus occasional larger vessels passing along the Bosphorus.

We docked at Karakoy, on the european side of the city (we didn’t get to the asian side at all, in fact) near the northern end of the Galata bridge. Our cabin was on the seaward side so from our balcony we had a view of some of the sights of Istanbul across the water, including the buildings of Topkapi Palace coming down near to the water’s edge, Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the new Mosque, Suleymanye Mosque – all on the skyline and demanding attention. We’d decided we wouldn’t do any excursions, so we went ashore at just before 2pm on the first day looking for the tram station on the northern end of the bridge. Those first few minutes ashore are always a nervous time, as you politely rebuff the calls of “Taxi, sir, madam?”. The dock area ls like all dock areas in the Mediterranean – quite run-down and scruffy. I had a general idea of the direction we needed to go in so we zig-zagged along a few streets before hitting the main road just before the bridge, where we spotted the tram station. At this point the tram lines are in their own carriageway in the middle of the road, and the station, with its two low platforms is clear to see. Next came the job of getting tickets. We’d obtained Turkish currency before we left home so I got a 5 Turkish Lira note ready, walked up to the ticket booth at one end of the tram station and asked for two tickets – holding up two fingers (politely of course) to reinforce the point. The attendant duly gave us two little tokens – “jetons” – and 2 TLira in change. Then it was just a matter of walking a few yards further to the turnstiles, inserting our jetons, and walking onto the platform. A few minutes later the tram came and we boarded.

The trams are very modern and have on-board announcements and indicators. The announcements weren’t easy to follow – for example that the actual Turkish pronunciation of the word “Gulhane” isn’t what I would expect it to sound like. But the name of the next station is also shown on the indicators, and there are tram route plans inside the tram, so it was easy to know when to get off. That said, we got it wrong – we were going to Topkapi Palace and should have got off at Gulhane but instead stayed on one more stop, to Sultanahmet. No problems – we just walked back back along the line. To leave the stations, by the way, there are exit turnstiles at the ends of the platforms. All in all we were very pleased at how well our tram experience went – we were off the tram before 2:15, about 20 minutes after disembarking. It took us a few minutes walking to find the entrance to Topkapi Palace, but once we did it was easy to navigate. Entrance was 20 TLira each, and they were only taking Turkish Lira. Once inside we bought an illustrated guide book for another 10 TLira, and that was 50 TLira gone.

I won’t right too much here about the palace – there is a lot of information available about it – I’ll just say that we had a wonderful afternoon. We didn’t see everything in that time – specifically, we couldn’t go into the Harem – and I’m sure there were buildings that we missed out while other buildings were closed. But we felt in the end that we had been right to do it on our own: we saw several excursions, including some from Solstice, being herded along with no chance to slow down, or take a break. Then it was back to the tram route and back to the ship by about 6 o’clock or just before.

One thing I ought to explain is the ‘Turkish Landing Card’ system. Before we docked we were told that we had to complete a Turkish Landing Card. These weren’t available until after we’d docked, so I assume they were supplied by the Turkish immigration authorities. Basically we had to give our name, the name of the ship and its port (or nation) of registry. We had to do one each, and we had to take them with us when we disembarked. We got ours from Guest Relations, but they were also handing them out during the disembarkation procedure. Then after disembarking everyone had to go through a Turkish border control point, where a bored-looking Turkish soldier/police office briefly looked at the landing card as we waved it at him. We kept the same landing cards for both days, and had to leave them at the foot of the gangway when we returned to the ship after our last trip ashore. But that was on the second day, not the first; and as this post is getting a bit long I’ll restrict it to the first afternoon’s experiences. The next post will include the first evening and the second day.

Not much has happened since the last blog, so here are a few thoughts about Solstice itself, now that we’ve been on her for a few days. This takes the form of a comparison with Ventura, the only other ship of approximately the same size that we ‘ve been on, and which we’ve booked again.

Solstice is an imposing ship alongside the quay – the many decks of cabins rise up above you. Inside, also, there are a number of very impressive spaces. Chief among these must be the main atrium, which rises through 11 decks, I think – from 3 to 15 (there’s no deck 13). It’s the heart of the ship, with two banks of glass lifts, port & starboard, offering panoramic views of the whole atrium. Several of the smaller spaces alongside it offer views into it – the library and the card room are among these. In the middle of the atrium, suspended at about deck 6 level, is the tree – I gather that this is in fact an art exhibit. The top of the atrium is glassed, so during the daytime the space is sun-lit. This is a hugely impressive space, and Ventura has nothing to begin to equal it. My only problem with it is that it draws the eye inwards, to the heart of the ship, and not outwards to where the ship meets the sea. More on this concept later.

The main dining room, le Grand Epernay, is also very impressive. There’s a tradition of dramatic multi-level dining rooms on Celebrity – I remember the equivalent room on Galaxy. If you have a table out in the middle of the room then you get the full benefit of the whole room, with a dramatic silver lighting feature on the ceiling and the two-level metallic wine store. The decor is excellent, too – the ‘white & chrome’ combination looks very stark when the room is empty, but it’s different when it’s full of diners. This was especially true on formal nights, when the gentlemen’s dark dinner suits provided a simple contrast with the decor, and the ladies’ gowns providing splashes of colour. An excellent effect, and again far better than anything P&O has to offer with the three small dining rooms on Ventura. That said, there are a few truly awful tables – there’s one on each side right in the middle of the two entrances, so diners sat there will have every other diner walking past them, and there were several close to the waiting stations. As others have noted, there’s very little space between the two-top tables; and if you have a table on the lower level under the upper level you don’t get the full effect of the room at all – you might as well be in a small dining room, because that’s the effect you’re getting.

We have slightly different views of the cabin. I like it a lot, and I’d rank it as at least as good as the Ventura balcony cabin. Val prefers the Ventura cabin – in particular she preferred the long, open full-length hanging space on Ventura. Val also thinks that it’s narrower, and that as a result we get in each other’s way more than we did on Ventura. Neither of has any problems with drawer space – underwear, sock & small items have all gone in the drawer unit, and I’ve used the ‘over-the-bed’ locker space for a stack of day-shirts. I simply remove tomorrow’s shirt from the pile and hang it in the wardrobe over night, and this works for me.

We’re disappointed at the lack of a real promenaingde deck, and the opportunities to walk around it. This brings me back to the ‘divorced from the sea’ point: one of the things we’ve enjoyed in the past is the closeness to the sea that the promenade deck has given us. I remember times spent on Ventura’s aft promenade hanging over the rail savouring the sound and smell and experience of the ship’s wake – look at the chaos in the water and even, occasionally, getting some spray in our faces. Not on Solstice – there’s nowhere you can see the wake actually emerge from underneath the ship, and in fact the first point at which you can even see the wake is deck 14, from the Oceanview Bar terrace. Which is very good as far as it goes, but not the same. The other thing we’ve noticed is that the position of the lifeboats & tenders, which are not nested, obstructs our view downwards from our cabin to the sea. Again, a small point I suppose, but there have been occasions when we enjoyed standing on our balcony on Ventura looking straight down at the water. We can’t do this on Solstice. All in all, the effect is to separate passengers from the sea, and we rather dislike that.

Now it’s 11:30 and in 90 minutes we will be arriving at Istanbul, so we must get ready for that – probably by eating again….

At the risk of sounding repetitive, this has been Another Perfect Day.

We docked sometime before we woke at 7:30 – certainly, when we looked through the curtains Solstice was already moored in Tourlas harbour. An early breakfast revealed Ruby Princess also at Mykonos, but anchored in the bay in front of the old harbour. We took the Celebrity shuttle bus ($10 – grr….) into town, then walked around for a bit before we found our way to the bus station at the southern end of town and got a bus to Platy Gialos, where we arrived at about 10:40. (Buses to Platy Gialos are on the hour and half-hour, buses back are at 10 and 40 minutes past the hour, and the fare is 1.40 euros. We bought all our tickets at various mini-markets. We also bought water at the same time – a litre of water cost just 1 euro.)

So we spent a couple of hours on loungers at the beach (cost 10 euros), during which time I did the Mediterranean Total Immersion thing (i.e. I went swimming), followed by lunch in a restaurant above the beach. We had garlic mushrooms, greek salad and a pasta & chicken dish, all of which we shared between ourselves. That, and a large bottle of sparkling water cost 26 euros; but because we had used the restaurant that owned the loungers, and had also spent more than 20 euros, we got the 10 euros we’d spent on the loungers knocked off the lunch bill.

After bussing back to town we found Katerina’s Bar and had a bottle each of Alfa beer on the terrace over the sea and facing the windmills – it was as beautiful as the last timne we were there. One rather strange thing, however – it turns out that not all of the buildings along that street, all of which face the water at the back, have been turned into bars/restaurants. The building next door to Katerinas looks like it’s still a private residence, with small balconies over the sea. We were surprised to see a middle aged Greek (presumably) lady appear in this balcony wielding a fishing rod on which was a lumnp of bread. She cast the line into the sea, and we watched as multitudes of small fish attacked the bread. This was repeated several times. The we saw that the line had gone tight, and she was reeling something in; this turned out to be a small flat-shaped fish which she took off the hook and dropped into a plastic carrier bag eside her chair. The carrier bag continued to shake and vibrate for quite a few minutes before the fish had expired. The whole performance was repeated at least once more with another fish a few minutes later.

We were back on the ship with plenty of time to spare before going back on deck for the sailaway, after which we visited the Sunset bar for a couple of glasses of red wine (Malbec, since you ask, and at $6 a glass not too bad a deal). Now all we have to do is drag ourselves down for cocktails & dinner….