WG’s Summer Cruise, June 2026 – Part Two

Wednesday 10th June – Home to Southampton and to sea

Very little to do this morning before leaving home. I did have to lug my suitcase downstairs from a spare bedroom where I had been packing. Getting it in the boot is always a pain. I have realised that the older I get, the weaker I get, or the case gets heavier. After breakfast I decided I better empty the fridge of anything that will go off and stink it out. Several years ago, I came back from holiday to find had a bottle of solid milk and a green slimy half loaf. Not an experience I want to repeat. The remainder of a loaf went in the wheelie bin; a tiny amount of milk was washed down the sink and 2/3 thirds of a carton of orange juice was delivered to the LGND’s mummy.

It was perfect timing as they were eating breakfast. The LGND asked if the juice was smooth or had yucky bits in it. On being told it was smooth she demanded some with her breakfast, so it was not wasted. I had so little to do I even emptied the wastepaper basket beside my chair. I counted 9 empty cheese and onion crisp packets. Guess my favourite flavour crisps.

I gave myself an extra 5 minutes to set the car’s sat nav to take me to Dock Gate 4 at Southampton. Not that I really needed the guidance, I have done the trip umpteen times before. But I wanted to play with the sat nav. It comes with the car, and I understand it is based on TomTom. In my old car I had used Apple Maps on my phone via CarPlay. I also get free traffic warnings from TomTom. I had to register for this when I first got the car, and it does not kick in until you have done two trips over 20 minutes and I have only done one.

The TomTom voice made me jump, Apple Maps was silent. I suppose this voice will have to be called Tom. Anyway, I was surprised when 20 minutes into the journey the screen changed and showed me the location of queues at roundabouts and where speed cameras are. Now that could be handy. According to Tom I was going to arrive at 12:05 but it slipped a bit due to road works and 50 MPH limits on the A27. But I got there at 12:08 so that was pretty good. One odd thing I noted with this car was when I started out it was telling me I had enough fuel to do 203 miles. When I got to the ocean terminal it said I had enough fuel for 213 miles!

As I pulled up at the Cruise Parking Services drop off point the heavens opened and as my granny used to say, the rain came down in stair rods. Despite being under a roof, the rain was blowing in sideways. I felt sorry for the poor girl who had to take photos of the car just in case they bump it or scratch it. But she had a yellow oilskin with a hood. You get a receipt for the car, and they take it off to park it. They promise it is on hard standing in a secure compound and not in a muddy field.

Over the road to deposit the case at a numbered hole in the wall. Some poor sod has the job of looking at everyone’s luggage label and directing you to the correct numbered hole for your deck and whether it is the forward, midships or aft hole. Once free of the case it is a short walk, under cover, to the check-in desks which are up an escalator. You really cannot go wrong there are dozens of people to guide you.

Being in the Baltic level of the Peninsula club you get priority boarding and I must say it works. You bypass the normal queue, which only had a dozen people anyway, and go straight to a check-in desk. A quick look at your boarding pass and passport and with “cleared to board” stamped on the pass and handed an invitation to lunch in the main dining room. Now it is just security left to clear. Dock security is like airport security on steroids. Everything, and I mean everything from small change to belt, goes through the X-ray machine while you struggle through a metal detector arch hoping your trousers do not fall down.

Once through security it’s over an airbridge and you’re on the ship. You still must have your boarding pass scanned and your photo checked before the final bit of buggering about. You must go to your muster station and have your pass scanned once more. Sensibly, this is right below your cabin (deck 10) in the theatre on deck 2. But the theatre and my cabin is at the forward end of the ship, and my next stop is for lunch in the MDR at the stern.

Of course, I am directed to a table right in the rear port corner of the MDR but it’s a nice table for 8 by the window and surprisingly there is a menu at each place. On the same ship, at Christmas, it was a buffet. Pretty decent, but this is way better. Four starters, four mains and four desserts to select from. Tea or coffee and petite fours and free drinks, wines or spirits and a glass of fizz for everyone. I choose to start with smoked duck breast, and it was delicious. Then I had lamb cutlets in a slight curry sauce with curried smashed potatoes. Then it was sponge pudding and custard and gosh was it all good. I now have high hopes for food on this cruise.

Halfway through the meal, a tannoy announcement said all the cabins were ready, so another walk the length of the ship, up in the lift and there was my cabin with my case waiting for me. Your cruise card is in an envelope outside your door, so a quick rip of its envelope, and I’m in. I turned round to drag my case in to the room and my cabin steward has crept up behind me and is already manoeuvring it through the door.

Well things couldn’t have gone much better. All the expected bits and pieces were waiting in the cabin, excursion tickets, internet access instructions, card with the table number for dinner, even a slip for a glass of champagne at the sail away. Anyway, I have unpacked, set up my iPad and phone on the internet, had a rest, got to here in cruise journal and I see it’s ten to eight so I’m off for dinner. I’ll add what I had later.

Well, that was a decent meal. I am on a table for eight but there were only seven last night, me and 3 couples and we all seem to be about the same age. Whether there is an eighth person allocated to the table only time will tell. When people travel a long way they sometimes opt for an early buffet meal and an early night on the first night. The menu read well and I had to think hard about my choices as I could have happily eaten almost everything on the menu.

I started with a prawn and crabmeat tian, which was just what a starter should be, small and very tasty. For my main I choose a loin of pork steak in a mushroom sauce. It came with flavoured mashed potato, but I couldn’t identify what the flavour was and fried crispy kale. Crispy kale seem to have crept onto P&O menus recently and it divides opinion, some people love it and others hate it. Well, I am in the former camp, I would like to see more of it instead of the infamous green beans. I finished with an individual lemon sponge with lemon custard which was fabulous. Then came the let down, I had given up on drinking coffee on the last cruise as it wasn’t too good. But I do like a coffee after a meal so I gave it a second chance. I wish I hadn’t, it was stewed. It will be tea tomorrow evening.

Of course, an evening at sea wouldn’t be complete without a nightcap in the Crows Nest and with it being so close to my cabin it would be stupid to go anywhere else. One of the nice things is that it is a long way from most of the other bars, and the only entertainment is a pianist tinkling the ivories, so it doesn’t get terribly busy. It’s a nice vodka and lemonade, or two, before bed to help me sleep.

Thursday 11th June, at sea, crossing the Bay of Biscay.

I woke up and the sky was lightening, my bed faces the balcony doors and at sea I never bother to close the curtains, there’s no one to see you. So, I pushed the button on my talking watch, and it said “The time is four fifty a.m.” so I turned over and went back to sleep. The next time I woke it was light enough to see it was a few minutes to seven, so I dragged myself out of bed, washed and dressed and was at the Meridian Restaurant for breakfast a couple of minutes after it opened at 8 o’clock. I was placed on a table for 8 which filled up rapidly with a friendly bunch of people.

Of course you want to know what I chose to eat, so I won’t disappoint you, of course it was Rice Krispies, but I followed it with fried egg, bacon and black pudding. A breakfast at sea wouldn’t be the same without square toast and after last night’s horrible coffee a nice cup of tea. Leaving the restaurant at just after nine I was amazed to see a horde of people waiting to be seated.

Today is the crossing of the Bay of Biscay which has a bit of a reputation for bad weather and rough seas. Today is rather nice and the sea is quite calm, as we plod on our way to our first port of call, Lisbon, on Saturday. So, I plan to do nothing today except relax, read my Kindle, perhaps keep this journal up to date, maybe write a bit of Jinnie, eat and sleep.

Well, I spoke too soon, my cabin steward has just delivered an invitation to the Baltic and Ligurian Level Peninsula Club Lunch. It isn’t until the 19th of June, which is over a week away, but for some reason you must get your acceptance in today. So, I have had to wander down to deck one to find the drop box to post the acceptance in. This lunch is usually too good to miss and on previous occasions has filled me so full that dinner consumption that evening has been reduced to a starter and a dessert!

As we head south at 15 knots the weather is improving. First it was broken cloud and when I got my lunch time snack from the Neptune Grill, so named because it is beside the Neptune swimming pool, it was warm under the retractable glass roof and rather busy. It’s the first formal night of the cruise (there are 4 scheduled) and they added extra courses to the menu, so I was very restrained and only had a hot dog and a beer. This afternoon the cloud has disappeared, and the sun is on the balcony. It is very pleasant sitting there in the sun, but I must keep out of the breeze.

Having finished reading my first book this morning, I had to decide what to read next. I suppose saying I finished reading my first book on day 2 of my cruise needs a little explanation. I had started it at home and only had to read about half of it and it wasn’t that long a tale. Quite enjoyable, if rather fanciful. One in a series about a Hindu Detective Chief Inspector married to a Muslim and living in Bradford and a bomb in a mosque.

Maybe some of you remember a discussion I had a while back on GP about Dennis Wheatley black magic books. I read several as a teenager and enjoyed them but had read nothing by Wheatley for perhaps 50 years. In fact, I can’t be sure what books I have read or perhaps seen as a film it was so long ago. Resorting to the internet I discovered that Wheatley was a prolific writer who produced over 40 books in three main series. One set in and about the French Revolution and two other series in which he had written around a dozen based on black magic. So, I proceeded to download the first couple where he had written about black magic and see how I got on. The first one, according to the internet, to introduce black magic was called Strange Conflict so that’s the next book I am reading. I’ll report later if it’s any good, but it is not one I read as a teenager all those years ago.

Tonight I must get ready for dinner early as it is the Captain’s “Welcome Aboard” party. It is for every passenger and on many ships occurs around the ship’s atrium. But on Arcadia the atrium is not a wide open three- or four-storey venue. It is rather pokey. The party is split into two, one for those on first sitting dinner and a second for those on second sitting, and you get 30 minutes of mingling with ship’s officers, a glass of what is loosely called Champagne, and a pep talk from the Captain in the half hour before the doors open for your dinner sitting. On Arcadia the only place large enough to accommodate roughly 1,000 passengers is around the Neptune Pool under the retractable glass roof. There are a couple of things to note. There are not many seats and, as it is a formal night, everyone is glammed up, and with a thousand people it gets decidedly warm.

I slipped away early, as I remember the bun fight for the lifts down from the Lido Deck (10) to the restaurants on decks 2 and 3. I was ready when the restaurant opened for second sitting and was one of the first on my allocated table (number 82). Tonight, being a formal night, there are extra courses. Immediately I was seated, the little girl commis waiter put an amuse bouche down in front of me. It had a strong strawberry flavour, and, if I am honest, it wasn’t very nice. When presented with the menu I learnt it was supposed to be a non-alcoholic strawberry Bloody Mary. It is definitely one to refuse if there is a next time I see it on a menu. So, what did I scoff tonight? I started with chicken and ham terrine, and it was as good as the strawberry thing was bad.

Next came the soup course. The only choice here was take it or leave it. As it was pea and ham, I took it, and it was excellent. I moved on to the main. I went for crusted turbot in a seafood sauce, on a bed of leeks and little crispy balls of potato the size of a Malteser. The sauce included shrimps, mussels and crab and was most enjoyable. To finish I just had ice cream, but several on the table had Tarte Tatin, which they said was delicious. As it was formal night, the chocolate truffles arrived along with the tea and coffee. After last night’s rotten coffee, I had tea and it was hot and strong, so it will be tea from now on.

Finally, it was off to the Crows Nest for my nightcap. I wonder how long it will be before the waiter catches on. I invariably order a vodka and lemonade.

Friday 12th June, at Sea, off the North of Spain

We have changed direction slightly and are now heading due south instead of south-west. The weather is decidedly better, the temperature is rising and the sun is out. At nine this morning it was 19. The sea is described as slight and there are only the occasional white horses to be seen. I hear it is forecast to be 30° in Lisbon tomorrow.

Off to breakfast and it’s on a sharing table for eight. Of course, I ended up sat between a woman who moans about everything and a man who is stone deaf in the ear next to me. Still, I enjoyed my breakfast, orange juice, tea, Rice Krispies and a mushroom omelette. The omelette had to be cooked especially, so everyone else was getting stuck into their cooked breakfasts before mine arrived. It was worth waiting for as it was hot, on a plate that was so hot I couldn’t touch it. Of course, the moaning woman’s scrambled eggs were cold, so I rubbed it in about how hot my omelette was. One good thing, I remembered my pills this morning.

My cabin is on the starboard side of the ship, so on the way out to the Med, it gets the sun in the afternoon, and it wasn’t warm enough to sit out on the balcony in the slight breeze, so I took my Kindle and found a comfy seat in the Crows Nest. The bar doesn’t open until noon, so it was peaceful. I could have looked for a lounger by the Neptune Pool under the glass roof, but I prefer to sit in comfort.

At lunchtime I headed for the Neptune Grill and picked up a hot dog with loads of fried onions and French fries, all washed down by a bottle of Doom Bar. It was warm under the glass roof and if I stayed there very long I would have cooked. So, it was back to my balcony, which was now in the sun, and it is definitely getting warmer, and the sea is like a mill pond. So, I could write a bit of the next Jinnie, update this journal and pop into the cool cabin as necessary.

As I got ready for dinner I realised I hadn’t mentioned the shower. Being up at the top of the ship, the water pressure is not quite as powerful as my Christmas cabin, but the water is lovely and hot. Being an older ship, it has clingy shower curtains. I much prefer cubicles, but beggars can’t be choosers, as my granny used to say.

Down to dinner and it’s only an ordinary casual attire evening. We have an extra diner joining us this evening. I went out of my way to say good evening to him, but I was totally ignored. I don’t know if he is deaf or ignorant! Anyway, here is the bit you are reading this for, what I had for my dinner. I started with cream of asparagus soup. Then it was a toss-up between an individual steak and ale shortcrust pie and mash or a sirloin steak and skin-on fries. The steak won and I didn’t regret it, it was a perfect medium rare. To finish it was just vanilla ice cream. A lot of people on the table had apple strudel and custard and said how good it was. Not for me, I hate cooked apple.

Oh yes, the new man is deaf and struggles to hear even the man sitting next to him and the waiter trying to take his order. Anyway, we all sat chatting for a long time after finishing our tea and coffee, with the restaurant rapidly emptying out and our waiters clearing the table around us. I wondered if anyone was going to make a move and, in the end, I had to be the first. So, off to the Crows Nest for my regular nightcap.

Saturday 13th June, Lisbon, Portugal.

My phone told me it was 06:20 and, from the view out of the balcony door, we were heading up the Tagus River to Lisbon on a fabulous morning. I was washed and dressed and was ready as we passed under the “25 April Bridge” and on to the new cruise terminal. The bridge was originally called the Salazar Bridge but was renamed the 25 April Bridge after the date of the revolution in 1974, which overthrew the Portuguese dictator General Salazar.

As it’s a port day the restaurants open 30 minutes early for breakfast. I was there just after 07:30 and shown to a sharing table for 8. Just about everyone on this cruise seems to be regular sailors. I have yet to speak to anyone on a first cruise and today was no exception. Anyway, down to the food. I so enjoyed yesterday’s mushroom omelette I decided on a repeat of yesterday. Orange juice (to take my pills), tea, Rice Krispies, a mushroom omelette and, of course, square toast. Since my Christmas cruise they have done away with another thing, toast racks. Now a toast man comes around with a basket of brown and a basket of white and serves the requested number of slices onto your side plate. But if anyone asks for thick toast or square toast, he has to return to the kitchen to fetch it and, consequently, it is warm, unlike the stuff in his baskets!

I’m off on a “shore experience” this morning, so it’s 09:30 on the dockside for my trip entitled “Leisurely Lisbon”. Not a bad trip, but it was 36° out there and I was shattered. First we went to the Statue of Christ the King on the opposite side of the River Tagus to Lisbon. The plinth is 80 metres tall and the statue of Christ another 30 metres. Mind you, the views of Lisbon and downriver to the sea are magnificent. Then it was on to Belem, which is fast becoming a cultural centre. It used to be just the Belem Tower and the Monument to Henry the Navigator. Now there is also the National Maritime Museum and a planetarium. I don’t know how you are expected to do it all justice in a 30-minute stop.

The final stop was to sample some ginjinha, a drink I had never heard of. It turned out to be a sweet, tart sour cherry liqueur typically poured in a shot glass. Well, I gave it a try, and it was not for me. All I could taste was sweet. I, and a lot of others, didn’t finish their sample. So, it was back to the ship, where hundreds of Yanks were arriving to board the Viking Mars tied up next to us. It made the terminal a bit of a bun fight. I headed straight up for some fodder as it was now 2 o’clock and I was hungry and thirsty after being out in the heat. Today it was a burger with onions and a pint of Pepsi Max to rehydrate me.

We sailed at just after 17:00 hrs. Although the sun is still strong, out in the middle of the river the wind has got up. Sitting on the balcony in the sun is chilly. I am determined to stay here as I want a picture of the Belém Tower from the water and not the land. As I said before, I don’t understand the ways of P&O cabin stewards. I now have two hand towels and two bath towels and four flannels.

Down to dinner and a perusal of the menu reveals one of those nights where there are lots of things I like. After an internal debate I finally ordered chicken liver pâté. It came with Melba toast and various pickles. One very strange one, about the size of a marble, absolutely packed with seeds. Needless to say, I didn’t eat it, but the pâté was damn good. For my main it was Moroccan spiced lamb, which was excellent. Then the best was left till last, baked treacle tart served with a scoop of clotted cream ice cream and a ramekin full of squirty cream. Best dessert so far. Of course, it was a cup of tea before a trip to the Crows Nest.

The clocks go forward an hour to European Time (Portugal is on UK time), at two in the morning, ready for our next port of call, Alicante, Spain, following a sea day tomorrow. I don’t mind sea days in the slightest.

To be continued in Part Three
 

© WorthingGooner 2026