|
| Member Cruise Review |
This was our first cruise with P&O. We opted for Artemis partly for the tinier and because she is child free. We had an excellent cruise and visited some fantastic places. Everything ran like clockwork. We used Eavesway to travel from Yorkshire to Southampton, we arrived at the port at just after 2:00 pm and were unpacked and exploring the ship by 3:00. First impressions were very good. All the information we needed was in the cabin. The cabin was fairly spacious with plenty of storage capacity. Jonalyn our cabin steward introduced herself and made us feel welcome. The cabin was comfortable with a queen sized bed. We had a small kettle with a good selection of tea coffee and milk, the homemade biscuits, especially the priory crumble were to die for, Jonalyn seemed to replace them as fast as you could eat them. The bathroom was the best we have had with a small bath and 2 shower units. The water was always hot with a good supply. There was a good selection of toiletries supplied, Molson and Brown which I am led to believe are very good. We did find that although we had asked for a table for 6+ we had been allocated a table for 2. So we popped down to the restaurant to change, the manager was most suprised we wanted to change as seemingly tables for 2 are greatly desired, we only got it because we had booked early. We were allocated a table for 8 which we were very happy with. We believe that cruising is about the people you meet, again we were lucky and got a good table, we all got on great. Unfortunately the elderly couple on our table were taken off ship on the second day as she was ill. We were all disappointed as they were a great couple, Dick was 91 and Dorothy 87, they had been married 67 years. Dorothy had won 2 Olympic gold medals in the 1936 Olympics when she was 16. They both stilled played golf and cruised regularly. You had to take your hat off to them. We subsequently found out Dot was Ok and had been flown home. We had a new couple; Colin and Lorna on day four. As the other six of us got on well we said we would ensure that we made Colin and Lorna feel welcome, as we were wary that they could feel uncomfortable joining an established table. By the soup course you would never have known we had not been together from day one. The quality of the food was excellent with a variable menu. It was also always hot. Our waiters Pillay and Jeslie were very efficient and friendly, we had a wine waiter Mary Jane who had the most fantastic smile and was very bubbly. Our head waiter Reggie was always about and regularly came for a chat, you usually only see the head waiter on the last couple of nights. It was also nice to have a proper cheeseboard again rather than a small plate with a couple of crackers and someone else's selection of cheeses. The little things can make a lot of difference. The entertainment overall was very good, the cruise was a themed classic music cruise which isn't our thing so we gave most of that a miss. The stage shows were very good, the show team was a professional stage group rather than ships own entertainment. Albeit we have had some very good shows on other cruise lines these were the best. We also had Roy Walker on for 2 nights who went down well and a very good singer Siobahn Phillips who had a similar voice to Alison Moyet. During the cruise we had mixed weather with 2 days off fog, these were both sea days. We also had some cloudy weather, but warm. We had several days which were very warm and sunny, especially in St Peterberg. We managed to sit out every day at some stage and were in the pool (heated) most days. The ship was clean and tidy with the continuous cleaning and polishing. We were suprised when we were told that the ship is going in for a refit this autumn as some parts looked like they were new. For a small ship the facilities were very good, all the equipment in the gym was working all the time (take note Thompson)Trumps was well supplied with board games and playing cards, which were renewed regularly. The library had a good selection too. The shops had well stocked with a good selection of clothes, toiletries, gifts, sweets, etc. There were more than enough quiet area's for a read or chill out. The ports of call were brilliant everything we expected and more. I won't go into detail as Nick C has recently posted a good review of the ports. Plus I would take all day to put everything good down. This was our 14th and best cruise to date. We will definitely cruise with P&O again. Finally I would like to express my thanks to Nick and Ali Castle who sent me their Baltic diary which we found very informative and well written, we used this in conjunction with the ports of call information packs supplied. |
P&O Cruises Artemis May 2007 by Yorkshire Phil Baltic |
| CRUISE RATED OUT OF 5 (1=lowest, 5=highest) Cruise Line = P&O Ship Name = ArtemIs Date of Sailing = May 2007 How many cruises have you done = 14 Ship Facilities = 4 Entertainment = 3 Dining Room Service = 4 Spa Facilities = na Food = 5 Sports Facilities = 4 Cabin Layout = 4 Bars & Lounges = 4 Kids Facilities = 0 Ports of Call = 5 Cabin Number = c deck Cabin location = c Type of Cabin = standard inside Cabin Steward = Jonalyn Overall cruise rating out of 5 = 4.5 |