| I bought a drink and kept the glass then went back to the cabin. I had no idea where Juanita had got to but guessed she may have gone back there. She had. Apparently she'd tried to get to the gym observation area after she'd seen me from above but they wouldn't let her through. As we neared Calshot, we spotted a stalker. |
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| Dinner in the Silhouette was at 6.15pm. We hadn't received our table allocation card so had to queue to ask the Maitre d'. We were told it was 528, which was on Deck 4, and led up the stairs. The steps were a very disappointing Royal Caribbean influence, since they and others by the shops, were the green frosted glass they use on their own ships. It really made them stand out against the other decor. No sooner had we sat at this table for four than I went to put my card in my bag, pulled the zip and it came off in my hand! I'd only had it twenty-seven hours and it had been in use for a mere eight. Since I was now away there was no way I could take it back to the shop until the 21st. So much for Zara bags! As we were looking at the menu, we were asked which table we were allocated and could they see the card. They reckoned a family of four were at that table so we were moved over to the one for two by the window, 527. It actually worked out better for photos. |
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| The meal itself was a bit of a disaster which shouldn't have happened after all the preview cruises as well as the previous one. It all took ages to come at all! Juanita ordered a shrimp cocktail but rather than cocktail sauce, was gived a small teaspoon's worth of tomato sauce! I was glad I hadn't ordered it. I made prawn cocktails in a hotel kitchen and you don't put peppers in the salad. I'm increasingly pissed off with peppers in so much, even things which it's not meant to be in. RCCL is the WORST for this, and getting worse each year. I'm allergic to them, people don't like them and they DON'T list them on the menu. Meanwhile for the main course I'd ordered a steak well done (at least you can have it like that on Celebrity whereas RCI it's up to medium-well done if you're lucky unless in a speciality restaurant) but not given a steak knife. |
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| Thankfully I ended up with a rather pleasant distraction as Oceana came into view through the window as we neared the Leaning Tower of Nab (which was doing a very good job of being upright). Juanita had an easier view than me, since the ship was behind me, so I've left the photos exactly as taken to show how difficult it was getting them at that angle and then with the sun in my eyes. |
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| While we were chugging along at 8-9 knots to Le Havre, Oceana picked up speed after dropping her pilot and headed down to the Med. I wish we'd been going in the same direction instead of to a port just across the water like a cross-channel ferry. I wonder if the itinerary planners in Miami realise that and Cherbourg are so close since usually it's the ships from Dover, Harwich, Amsterdam calling at them? One of those ports plus another like Le Verdon would have been much better. |
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| We were beginning to think we'd never get the dessert menu, especially since many people had finished and left the dining room. Waiters not knowing who ordered which meal, no dessert. It was just silly. Eventually we had our very nice dessert. |
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| We decided to go to the second show at 8.45pm called Welcome Aboard Entertainment Extravaganza. Our cruise director was Nick Weir, probably best known to UK passengers as the bloke who replaced Roy Walker on Catchphrase. I knew the face but couldn't think where I'd seen him before. The video ship footage was Solstice, which was so obvious with that stuck on X. Nick came on singing and was very good. But even he said Solstice! Turned out he'd come over from that so perhaps he'll go to Eclipse. The show itself was a small preview of the music they have such as the Ukranian girl four-piece Inspirational Strings, A capella group Sound Decision and a short excerpt of the show to be performed two nights later. |
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| At the end of June, I'd emailed the Captain's Club to request bookings in the Silk Harvest and Tuscan Grille. I was told at the beginning of July they can only do one so she put forward the 8pm on the 9th August request for the Silk Harvest. I was to contact the Maitre d' once onboard to confirm the booking since they were unable to. Juanita and I couldn't remember the time, only the date, so decided to check only to discover no booking had been made. I knew I should have printed off the emails but after having no problems with the Ocean Liners on Constellation, had no reason not to trust them. I rechecked my emails upon returning home and saw the first one had written Solstice, so perhaps she sent the request to the wrong ship. The second was Equinox. Since our original time had been taken, we opted for 7pm. Juanita's excursion would be returning after then which is why we wanted 8pm so she could clean up before dinner. Then we went over to the Tuscan Grille to book for the 16th when we were in Barcelona. Again it was a 7pm slot. Mine that time would be after first sitting started. We were told we'd expect a card as a reminder. As we headed back to the main part of the ship, we popped into Michael's Club, the piano bar, which was empty. The piano player was Lloyd Baskin, who spent a lot of time talking to one of the bartenders. It's such a lovely room but stupidly tucked away, unlike on the Millennium Class. If we hadn't been down that way we'd have missed it completely. |
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| We popped into the photo shop to find the boarding photo. Juanita went from not wanting it to ordering a copy. Unfortunately the crew member was a bit dopey doing everything, even handing me the wrong copy of the receipt. We had a little wander around outside and it gave Juanita a chance to experiment with her new camera. There was also a gorgeous moon we were desperate to capture, which wasn't easy in the strong wind. |
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| Juanita decided to go back in because it was cold but I carried on going around for a little while. It was quite strange walking on damp grass in the middle of the English Channel, but for some reason seemed like the most normal thing in the world to be doing. |
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| Then it was my turn to go back to the cabin. We'd be losing an hour and it was an early start. So after doing the room service menu, it was bed. The alarm went off at 6.45am. We were due for 7am but we were already there when we woke up. It was pitch dark, one of the not-so-great things of being on Central European Time when you ought to be on UK time. Those pushing for the UK to adopt it to prevent accidents later in the day haven't a clue about the dark European mornings in France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands. The electrical sockets had stopped working, both US and the European one. That was not good but the mini fridge was attached to that power point, as was probably the telly. Not good! We also had no hygiene bags in the bathroom. |
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| We reported the sockets to Frederick on the way to Celebrity Central, the cinema where our tours were meeting. Juanita was on Mont Saint Michel at 8.45am while I was the Walking Tour Le Havre fifteen minutes later. Hers was ten-and-a-half hours compared to my mere two hours. She had originally wanted Giverny & Rouen but the Mont Saint Michel at Cherbourg was only to the village. As we waited we chatted to a couple of Canadians from Vancouver called the Wongs who were on Juanita's tour. There were many Americans and Canadians on this cruise. Thought there was a recession and no one could afford anything! One by one the tours were called. If we had an escort, I couldn't see one. The gangway was stupidly located on Deck 4 which had a steep incline. The tour was okay, guide chatty enough and we had a toilet stop before we started. But Le Havre really is a boring port and many things we saw were really of no interest. |
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| We returned with the guide to our starting point and had to catch a shuttle back to the ship. Meanwhile in another part of France, Juanita was enjoying Mont Saint Michel and met an American lady from Washington State called Alex on the tour. |
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| Once on the shuttle, the driver then made a detour to a bus station where about twenty Italians or something hopped on our already full bus, some with luggage, some without, after some conflabbing. They were shouting to each other through the journey as well as pushed in front when people tried to get off at the terminal. Upon returning to the ship at 11.45am, the stupid gangway was more of a steep climb than it had been a couple of hours ago due to a higher tide. This really was ridiculous and incredibly dangerous since the steps had become sloped. You would have thought they would use a lower entrance like on Deck 2 or 1 as other ships do, including some Royal Caribbean (not there apparently though). I had intended to explore the ship since so many were out, but was too tired. I just took a few photos en route back to the cabin, ordered room service and had a kip for a couple of hours. |
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| Room service was a turkey club sandwich with no mention it came with bacon, some french fries and a bit of onion and tomato. The crusts had been cut off the bread, which was toasted. It was nice anyway. Also I'd ordered fruit punch, which I'd had on Royal Caribbean. Since I'd done it via the TV, as soon as the order went through the phone rang. The voice the other end asked me to confirm how many of each thing. I had a pounding headache, despite taking some Solphadeine. It had helped slightly but then returned with a vengeance. After Patrick had phoned and asked if there was an air freshener in the room it got me thinking. I remembered the dreadful headache the one in his crew cabin caused both of us a month earlier on Jewel of the Seas, which went when it did. This was only really bad in the cabin so as soon as I saw Frederick I asked him. He thought it may be the chemicals they use to clean the bathroom so wouldn't use them for a couple of days to see how it went. Frederick is a real star, bless him. Since Juanita's excursion was ten-and-a-half hours, I made my way to the Silk Harvest to wait. I know how much she loves Asian food so it was my idea we try this. She would help me with the menu since I knew nothing and have never been keen on it. When I was a child, my parents had the takeaway from Hollybank estate while I had the prawn crackers. But at $20 per head, would it be worth the money? I'd done four speciality restaurants up to this point. Ocean Liners on Constellation was fabulous! Chops Grille on Jewel was fabulous! Portofino on Jewel was dire and East on Ventura was a waste of money. Time ticked on but the waiters were all wonderful. Ours helped me instead, making a few suggestions as I'd had a text from Juanita telling me to order since I'd been waiting almost half an hour. |
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| When Juanita arrived she came straight from the gangway so didn't even have time to take her coat off. I'd left her a couple of the spicy wraps I'd had as a starter so she could eat something without waiting too long. I was already on the main course of orange chicken curry. That was nice but a little heavy on the orange sauce. Desserts were amazing. This place definitely had the thumbs up, even though it doesn't serve authentic Asian food, and a place I would go to again if I did a long cruise. |
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| I went up for our 9pm sailaway and we were already on the move by the time I got up there. Disappointingly, for a maiden call, nothing was going on to mark it! A few people turned out and there was a little pilot boat which parped at us so we blasted back but that's all. |
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| I went back in twenty minutes later since nothing was happening. Then we took the sea lane to Cherbourg, a closer hop and jump than Southampton! Since we were heading south, it would have made more sense to call at somewhere like Brest or Le Verdon. In fact, there is no need regardless to have consecutive calls at ports so near. Would be faster to walk! Does anyone in Miami know anything about the ports and distances from each other on these itineries they plan? |
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| We hit the shops, collected the boarding photo copy, bought some Nurofen as I was rapidly running out of Solphadeine for my headaches. Since they don't sell postcards with the ship on, I had been told the day before by the girl in the souvenir shop to try Guest Relations. I did that and there was no queue. The girl found the twenty six I'd asked for. I do like free!!!! Back to the cabin. Juanita ordered a jug of hot water from room service so I had some tea. This was the beginning of the jug debacle. You want hot water, you expect hot water. These jugs REEK of coffee and the water tastes of it too. Then it was bed since another early start. We arrived in Cherbourg sometime. We were up at 6.30am and were already there. Then the phone rang, saying breakfast was on the way. One thing - I didn't have the headache! Frederick must have been correct about the chemicals. Juanita was on the D-Day Beaches & Bayeaux Tapestry tour while I was on Cap de la Hague. She had to go for 7.30am while I was 8am. The beaches mean nothing to Anzacs because they weren't involved and she wasn't happy the tapestry had been lumped in with it. I can't help but agree. The choice of excursions was really stupid and similar at both ports, another reason for them to do one or the other instead of both. |
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| Our guide Dominic was very nice and reminded me of a bearded Tim Curry. We drove through leafy lanes which could have been home apart from being the wrong side of the road, while Dominic pointed things out he thought was of interest along the way. |
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| We stopped at the village of Grenville, home to some painter I'd never heard of. Dominic explained all little villages were names after the richest person, in this case someone called Gren. We had about twenty minutes here which was really too long since there wasn't a lot to see. |
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| We made a couple of other stops, the first to Port Racine which was very nice, and said to be the smallest port in France. We again had a few minutes to take photographs. |
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| The next stop was to Goury. Several people went to the toilets which weren't that great, as Dominic had warned. I kept watch for a lady because there was no light so the door needed to be ajar, then she did the same for me. She said if she could go in China she could go anywhere. We saw the lifeboat then were able to have a wander for about half an hour. In the miserable distance near the lighthouse was Alderney. |
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| Dominic, in his wisdom, decided he wanted us to go off schedule (for the second time) and see a view. But then we had to turn around and go back the way we came. |
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| As we turned the bus around, we heard a noise. Dominic and the driver got out to check for damage. Thankfully it was just a scrape when the back touched the wall. Then, as we went back the way we came, a motorhome came along. Tight squeeze but no damage! We passed the radar station at Joburg which provides shipping information for the AIS as we made our way to the tip of Normandy called the Nez de Joburg. Here we had over an hour and followed Dominic up the long path to the end. There wasn't really a lot to see and it was very windy. The cafe was nice but you waited a bit for service so I walked back down and bought a packet of crisps for one euro then waited a while before heading back to the bus. As I neared the bus it began to spit. |
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| People were dropped off to do shopping while the rest of us were taken back to the port. It was such a gloomy old day and since my feet were still not fully recovered from the problems on Jewel I would be glad to get back to the cabin and relax. It was in interesting terminal, unlike at Le Havre. |
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