| While the Michaelangelo restaurant was open, both the Da Vinci and Botticelli were firmly firedoored! Why??? There was the same problem on Ventura yet no other class of ship whatever cruise line. It's really annoying. |
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| The Vista Lounge was off limits due to a film being shown - helpful! I sat outside and got chatting to a lady called Fay for about an hour because it turned out we had so much in common. What are the chances of that? Her hubby Glynn took the grandsons into town. Finally the Da Vinci restaurant was open because they were cleaning it but I very nearly was told in no uncertain terms to bugger off. |
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| I went to get a Coke refill then planned to head to lunch but Ed Larkin from Facebook finally spotted me and we, with his brother Steven, ended up sat at the Crooner till gone 2.30pm. Steven was ordering BBCs, which had been Rowan's favourite on the QE2 but Cunard no longer do so it was clearly a Princess menu. They had both flown over from Belfast for this trip. Ed gave me some Titanic stuff, because it's their business, including a leaflet about the new experience in Belfast which, even though I'm not into the Titanic, does look an interesting place to visit. They went their way and I went to order room service which took sixty-five minutes! The girl turned up, brought it in and when I asked if I should put the arrival time, she said I didn't have to bother. I did anyway. |
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| I decided to grab a couple of hours kip since both ships were listed to sail at 8pm. Robert came into the room about 6pm then quickly left again. I had the alarm set for 7pm so I could get onto the deck and relax. It was even colder and AIDA passengers arrived late. The security guard was having a fag which he hid behind his back when our passengers were coming through. |
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| Again there was no pre-sailaway announcement from the Captain. Instead, we just singled up, the little men sitting in their car for ages and getting a huge round of applause and cheer when they got out to do their job. Because we were docked the wrong way round, we had to go up to turn and, as we did, the AIDA slipped out! |
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| Dinner and it was Italian night, although the menu was again pretty dull. The soup was more thick vegetable broth than any relation to minestrone. We had been warned in advance about pasta being cooked in the dining room so there'd be a strong smell. We could have it as a starter or main course so I asked for some with my chicken. The travel agent was moaning again. First of all, she said Costa own AIDA. Nope! P&O owned AIDA until swallowed up by Carnival and now Costa run AIDA like P&O run Cunard and Holland America runs Seabourn. Next she said AIDA are the German version of Costa and she wouldn't want to go on either of them. With an attitude like that, I'm sure they're very thankful! She prompted her sister to tell everyone about her Regent Seven Seas trip, which she did, explaining they changed the itinerary from twenty-one to thirty-five days so they cancelled it. When asked by the Manchester daughter which ship, the reply was, "Regent Seven Seas" and her sister never corrected her! It really was no wonder I was sceptical about their stories the entire trip. Then she tried to put the Manchester people off buying any of the photos by wrongly stating some cost $35! I had a quick chat with Aad and Nicoline then took their photo before leaving. |
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| I looked for my dockside photo and saw Fay again briefly as well as the Manchester people and they agreed not one photo was $35. I dumped it in the cabin then went back down for the show in the Princess Theatre which was Berni Flint. My friend, Neil Crossley, had told me he was excellent after I'd received an email from Princess listing the entertainment. He had seen him on a few years ago on his cruise to the Caribbean on Aurora apparently. Well he was right. I laughed so much it hurt my back. |
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| The cruise director was talking about Le Havre afterwards - being shut and wondering why since it was Monday! Funny the alleged travel agent made no mention of that during dinner when telling us they all went into town. Back to the cabin and more pillow chocs awaited. I liked these little touches from Princess, such as the farewell note. Disembarking would be different on this cruise. They generally catered for walk-offs, a they called it, but you could put out your luggage for collection if you wanted. I opted for walk-off, my cabin being an 8.30am meeting in the Michaelangelo, because my case was only small. Since it would be an even earlier start to get El Fatso - aka Queen Mary 2 - hopefully up our flat bum as we came home but I didn't get to sleep till gone 1am so reset the alarm for 4am. |
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| I checked the AIS when I woke up and yep, the big fat pudding was right behind us - excellent! I had got QE2 ahead in June 2008, which although great to be so close, was no fun really because a bum isn't as good an angle as a bow. December 2010 was Queen Victoria stalking us on Black Watch which was quite fun despite being freezing. We were both due to dock for 6.30am while Mein Schiff 2 was behind Mary and 7am. The main reason I was up so early (despite the obese one) was to get some of the places people had ruined my shots and also those I'd missed since it would be quiet. Well apart from a couple heading to bed at 4.30am and arguing! Annoyingly EVERY outside door was taped off even though the wind hadn't been as bad as the previous nights and were heading for shelter so, with the aid of the cleaner in the photo shop, I ducked onto the Prom deck. Later they opened some. |
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| By now I had been joined by Aad, another early riser for the ships. At least it was becoming lighter as the German ship arrived, contrasting Le Havre a day before because this 6.30am would be 7.30am there so it really is time the pro-CET lobby went in colder months and realised how dark it is. |
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| Back to warm up and change from jumper to T-shirt and cardie then down to breakfast after telling Robert I'd do that then grab my stuff. I thought I'd try the Botticelli for a change and we were offered pastries, which was nice. Orange the usual gunk but at least not as diluted as P&O has it. A couple from Maidstone in a suite were moaning they were told they had priority disembarkation but someone else said they had to go about 9.45am. The Vista Lounge clearly stated Elite and Platinum Captain's Circle members and Suite guests. The other couple were from Bradford, the wife a travel agent who didn't even try to claim she knew things she didn't, having only been one night on Ventura previously. They had a few gripes and this had been their first cruise. |
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| And so time to leave, which was fairly painless apart from afterwards. So many people had enormous cases despite only being a short trip and the lifts were full. I missed a gap in one because an elderly couple were faffing about to see if they could get in. I went down before 8am, intending to wait in the Michaelangelo as stated only saw people going and was told to join them. Princess let you keep the card - yay!!!! So that leaves P&O/Cunard in a minority and yet again makes their 'security reasons' for taking it an absolutely joke when the company they once owned hand them back. Only P&O/Cunard force you to sign the back as well, which actually makes it MORE safe to have it in your own hands off the ship. |
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I caught a taxi to Town Quay to try out my return ferry ticket and the driver was really disappointed it was such a short fare. What if I'd come over from the Island? So the verdict? Loved it! Grand has things I like on a ship which are sacrificed on bigger ones - space! Her rooms are gorgeous and I love the areas you can walk around outside which have been removed on the later ones in the class. There weren't that many negatives apart from the ones already mentioned and I wrote them in my email questionnaire to Princess. I would definitely go on Grand or one of her handled sisters (assuming they aren't decapitated too!) some time in the future. Marie and Mark, however, definitely will. The day after returning, they cancelled their original honeymoon plans for March 2012 of a rail trip around Italy and booked a two week Caribbean cruise on Grand! To see more photos of the ships during the trip, click on the Other Stalking index and for Mary and Mein Schiff 2 click here. |
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