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Thursday 16th February 2017
Cruise: N703
Sea Day Location: English Channel heading towards Amsterdam
Sea Conditions: Calm
Weather: Overcast but dry
Nine o’clock!! We’d all slept in. Mum had an appointment in the Spa at 10 o’clock so no time to go down to Main Dining Room for breakfast. The buffets were all really busy but found a table out in the conservatory area by the covered swimming pool and they had set up an additional buffet station here as well. Not the best but it was quick. Not quite sure what they’d done to the mushrooms but they weren’t very nice at all. Very slimy and a really nasty taste.
Mum headed off to the Spa and I dropped off Callum and Jess at Kids Club (Callum really wanted to go as it was the Football Stadium Quiz). I had a wander around the ship and it became appararent we were travelling really slowly. At 10.15am, we were just sailing past the White Cliffs of Dover!! The plan was to meet up with Mum Costa in the Atrium before collecting the kids.
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The atrium was really busy but Mum had beaten me there and had a table. There was another lady sharing the table waiting for her husband. Husband was a seaman, and had lived in Hebburn for six weeks or so in the 70s. He went back to Newcastle a few years ago and drove back through Hebburn … and didn’t recognise the place! His haunts were Hebburn Buffs, The Albert and The Docks pubs. He had some very interesting tales to tell though!
Kids collected from Kids Club and both were thirsty. We headed to the Glass House for lunch and sadly the service was unbelievably bad. We asked for a bottle of fizzy water as soon as we sat down. Fifteen minutes later the waiter, Eduardo, came back to take the food order and also retake the drinks order. The kids by now were “dieing” of thirst! It was an age before the water arrived and the table next to us were also complaining that they were still waiting for their drinks … and food. They had ordered before we’d even sat down.
They understandably were not impressed that our food arrived before theirs and went to find someone. We wanted to order another bottle of water and two glasses of wine but the servers disappeared before you could ask them – but they probably wouldn’t have materialised for another hour! I’d foolishly ordered the garlic mushrooms, but think they must have used the mushrooms left over from breakfast as these were all very slimy and not very nice.
The waiter didn’t bother bringing the bill to sign so had to go and search this out. All really disappointing when compared to the Glass House on Azura and Aurora. Sadly, we probably won’t be back this cruise.
Callum had received a letter from the Loyalty Team – they had a hoody waiting for him at the loyalty desk and he needed to pop by today between 2-3pm. Callum had moved up a loyalty level and was now in Atlantic Tier. It was a lovely bright blue colour and but he had to go up into Small Adults size as the 11-12 would be too small!
Back to Kids Club this afternoon for Callum as he wanted to do the Logo Quiz whilst Jess took the opportunity to chill on the balcony with Granny doing a little bit of reading and colouring. Afternoon Tea in the MDR was next on the list of things to tick off our must-do list. Cup of tea, sandwiches, teacakes, crumpets and scones followed by a choice of cake. Jess and Callum enjoyed this and we planned to have dinner a little later this evening.
Service was again a little comical but came good in the end. Sandwiches were served from platters brought around but he waiters. All the other tables were given a couple of sandwiches for starters, but for some reason our table was rationed to just the one apart from the chap we shared a table with was missed completely! We did ask for more and they did come back on numerous occassions and after that we were offered plenty of crumpets, teacakes and scones so couldn’t fault that part … and served with a sense of humour too. Good afternoon tea though and good company!
Back to the cabin after that to get ready for formal night. With four to get through the shower and bathroom, this was going to be very interesting!
Gladrags on and the kids scrubbed up pretty well – and we headed up to Manhattan for pre-dinner drinks and managed to get our favourite seats just tucked away in one of the wings looking down the length of the ship towards the bridge. Callum chose a Bananaberry Crush, Jess a J2O and Mum and I had a glass of Prosecco.
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Afterwards, we headed down to the main dining room. A short wait for a table for 4 (time to order drinks but not for them to arrive at our table!). Mum and the kids went through and I waited for the drinks. We had a great table this evening – table 87 in Cinammon. Our waiters were fab. Makul was the assistant – sadly can’t remember the main waiters name. Food was fab – mum and I had beef wellington and Callum the halibut whilst Jess tucked into some Chicken Nuggets.
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The kids were tired so we had a quick wander around – saw some ballroom dancing in the atrium (two of the kids from their kids club were on the floor and holding their own against the adults). Bedtime … and peace & quiet as the kids were asleep as their heads hit the pillow.
