We spent last night at the Premier Inn in Sandhurst so that we were on hand for boarding today. It was absolutely fine and we took their meal package for £27 which included a 2 course dinner with a drink chosen from their menu plus a full hot and cold breakfast this morning.
Thus, suitably refreshed, we set off for Southampton at about 11am and got to Airlynx Cruise Parking at 1215. It was painless to park and then they ran us to the berth in their minibus. Poesia was berthed at the City Cruise Terminal which was a new one for us. Nice. Modern. Hardly any queuing. I’m sure the ship cannot be full.
Being Hallowe’en there is quite a bit of spooky decor around the ship and tonight some Hallowe’en themed quizzes and discos.
First impressions are that it was in very good condition, paint white and clean. We were welcomed on board by various crew stations along the route and we made our way up to our cabin on deck 9 midships. The public rooms are spacious and quite blingy. There are quite a few large bar areas and a 3 tier theatre at one end and a show lounge at the other.
Our cabin was ready and our cruise cards were hanging in a bag on the door. We are very happy with our cabin. It’s plenty big enough and has everything we need, including a kettle and tea and coffee tray. This is apparently unusual on MSC ships but generally included on the ones sailing out of the UK.
We did go out on our balcony and enjoyed a bit of fresh air and sunshine. Then we went up to the buffet area on deck 13. This is also the pool deck and I did spot one brave soul in the pool although they then beat a hasty retreat to one of the jacuzzis.
The buffet was far, far better than expected. My expectations had been a bit low but the food looked amazing. Lots of different cuisines including of course a fresh pasta station and pizza bar. We had really only gone up for a cold drink but Bob spotted some pork pies which he couldn’t resist with some pickled onions (!!!!!) and I had a tiny bit of fish.
Our bags then arrived at the cabin and we unpacked and relaxed a bit. Lifeboat drills these days are largely digital. You watch a film on your cabin tv and then you have to physically go to your muster station where they scan your cruise card as proof of attendance. Wowzer the muster stations were adjacent to exits to the promenade deck and they had all the doors open with a howling gale blowing through. Freezing! It was a bit chaotic to be honest and Bob remarked that he wouldn’t like to see them doing it for real. It reminded me of watching the Ferrari pitwall imparting strategy to their drivers over the radio ” Charles Plan A Plan A” … “No, Plan E1 Plan E1″ …..”No no.. no…. Plan D3….” I’m sure you get the idea.
Fellow passengers seem to be largely Brits with some Americans, Italians and Germans. There are some children on board but not a lot at this time of the year.
we went to the early show in the theatre tonight as we have dinner at 8pm. The show was the resident dancers and singers performing a range of songs around a theme of Hollywood movies.I have to say it was very good and we really enjoyed it. The theatre is quite glamorous – purple and silver.
After dinner we had a cocktail in one of the bars and then went into dinner. We had been allocated a table for two. If we’d wanted to share, we could have asked the maitre’d to change us onto one but we were happy to eat alone. The menu was good and you could have as much or as many courses as you liked. I started with octopus sashimi with a little mango/coriander salad. Bob had beef rolls and asparagus. Both were very nice. Then I had roast lamb with veg and a small dauphinoise potato, Bob had pumpkin risotto with prawns. We noticed that other people were having a pasta course between the two. Might do that another night but the portion sizes were fine for us. We both had dessert. Bob had Stracciatella ice cream and I had a chocolate mousse tart and we shared an extra portion of chocolate ice cream. Yum.
After dinner we wandered around the atrium and the bars soaking up the Hallowe’en atmosphere. Quite a lot of people had dressed up and also the entertainment team were in full and elaborate costumes. There was a late night party but we had been up very early this morning and we turned in at about 10.
There’s a bit of movement in the ship but it’s more of a little wobble than anything else and I think that comes with the territory of being on a high deck. So far we have been very, very pleasantly surprised with MSC. We feared it might have been like Carnival which we ventured on once some years ago (blog on here if you want to read) but it’s nothing like that. It is a lot more casual than Cunard and P&O but the food is really good and there is a lot of live music of all different types in the bars and lounges and there’s plenty of space. The cabin service is a bit weird. Haven’t seen a steward yet, there is no night time turndown service, no pillow chocolate….
Will look forward to a sea day tomorrow and what that brings.