The Italian Job

Thursday 1st June - Malta to Birmingham to Martlesham Heath

paulfirman — Sun, 4 Jun 2017 05:31:00 GMT

Overnight we have arrived back in Malta, from where we will fly home later today. It is an early start for us as we have to be out of our room by 8am. However our suitcases have already been taken and the next time we see them will be at Birmingham Airport. We enjoy a delicious breakfast before sitting on the promenade deck for a while, enjoying the Valletta sunshine. P&O certainly have things very organised for us, they use the theatre as a holding area for hand luggage so we do not have to keep that with us all day.

As we are not flying home until much later today, we leave the ship and immediately see a lady selling Malta City Sightseeing, Hop on, Hop off bus tickets. We buy 2 tickets and get seats right at the front of the open topper bus. We spend three hours on a most delightful tour of the north of the island, visiting many small villages and large, very touristy towns in the very hot sunshine. We were surprised at the cost of this €7.50 each, this must be the best value excursion of this trip. We return to the ship for lunch and to await our time for leaving.

The very efficient P&O machine works well and we are soon on our way to the airport, to learn we have a 35 minute delay, and no food or drinks will be available on the flight. But we come prepared as we have made our own sandwiches from the buffet on the ship. We cannot believe the third coincidence of our trip when, at Malta airport, we meet two friends from Kesgrave, the next door village to Martlesham Heath. They were returning from a holiday in Malta, but not on our flight.

It is 10pm before we land at Birmingham and have to collect our car from Airparks, with the prospect of a three hour drive home ahead of us. Martlesham Heath comes into very welcome sight at 2.30am and we fall into bed at 3am.

Summing up our trip, the cruise took us to lovely places that we have always wanted to visit - Rome and Pisa especially. The food on board ship was excellent, well on par with Cunard and all the other cruise lines we have used.

On the other hand, the original stateroom we were given was definitely not up to the standard we expect, and we were very disappointed with the time it took to get us moved to the beautiful state room that we should have had from the beginning. The ship itself is in great need of a complete update and renovate, if it wants to survive in such a competitive market.

Every day the sun shone, every day the sea was calm. What more do you need in life.

Well that's it for now, until our next adventure, where will take us?..................

Wednesday 31st May - A very welcome day at sea

paulfirman — Thu, 1 Jun 2017 07:15:00 GMT

We awoke very late this morning and had a leisurely breakfast before a few laps of the promenade deck. Whilst sitting on our balcony we had several Sea Turtles come past us enjoying the warm sunshine and calm seas. It is almost eerie this morning as the sea is so calm with no wind, but mist all around us. Gradually several small islands appear out of the mist which, we understand, are volcanic islands, a few of which are inhabited.

The mist clears during the morning and, after another delicious lunch, we gradually see the coasts of both Southern Italy and Sicily begin to appear. As we get closer, we take a Pilot on board to guide us through the Messina Straights, the narrow waterway splitting Italy from Sicily. We can clearly see Mount Etna to the right of us.

The afternoon ends with us packing our cases for the final time. We enjoy our last hot tub and our last dinner. We have been very lucky with all our fellow diners on our table. During our first week we had Richard, Sandra, Bob and Ann and they were all good company. The second week was a laugh a minute with Janet, Pauline and Hazel (mother and 2 daughters) and Doreen, Julie and Meghan (mother, daughter and granddaughter). We said all our goodbyes and went to bed.

Tuesday 30th May - Now we can see why Rome was not built in a day!

paulfirman — Thu, 1 Jun 2017 07:12:00 GMT

We got up fairly early this morning and were greeted with yet another glorious sunny warm Italian day in the port of Civitavecchia, the port for Rome. After a good breakfast it was soon time to join our tour "Rome On Your Own". On the bus was Veronica who would be our tour guide for the one and half hour bus journey from the port to the heart of the city of Rome. Veronica chatted all the way giving us background information about this iconic city.

When we arrived in Rome we were then on our own to do our own thing for 5 hours. We had prepaid our tickets for the Vatican Museum and The Sistine Chapel so we got a taxi to take us to The Vatican Museum which was a fairly long journey and only cost us €12 including tip. When we arrived the queue for tickets was very, very long. We were so pleased that we had booked online. Even so there were people near the entrance trying to "con" you into spending more money with them all posing as officials from The Vatican - They were not- We joined a small group and within a few minutes we were in and started the very long walk through the museum. We had been advised to speed along these many long corridors glancing at the painted and gilded ceilings and the works of art on the walls. Even though we sped along it still took us about twenty minutes to reach our goal - The Sistine Chapel - It was worth the walk. It was amazing to see the paintings on the walls and ceilings that took Michael Angelo many years to complete. What really surprised us was that they looked liked they were painted a few days ago. They were all so well preserved. There was no fading, flaking paint work or discolouration.

After sitting and eating our sandwiches in the Vatican gardens it was time to go out of the museum and follow the walls of The Vatican, at least half a mile, until we came to St Peter's Square, another unbelievable place, a massive square with St Peter's Basilica as the centre piece. This is the area where the Pope lives and where he appears at the window every Wednesday and on special religious days.

It was then time to find a Hop On Hop Off bus. There are numerous to choose from but we find "City Sightseeing" a good reasonable service. Again beware of men posing as representatives of this company - they are NOT - we only buy tickets on the bus or at the official office. We got on and spent a good hour and half visiting various iconic sights in Rome. When we got to the Colosseum we both agreed that we had to get off and visit another one of The Seven Wonders of Medieval World. Two Wonders in two days. What a gigantic, enormous place this is and has to be seen to be believed. The dilapidated state of it is all part of its charm. We walked back to our meeting point via the Piazza Venezia (The Wedding Cake). Again the military were out in big force throughout the City, especially at the popular tourist places.

The journey home passed very quickly in the still bright sunshine.

We were very tired after a hectic four days, but the hot tub was very welcome and dinner again was superb. Pheasant was on the menu tonight along so many other delights. Our fellow diners persuaded us to join them at the Footlights Theatre to see 'Someone Like Me - A Tribute to Adele' performed by Helen Ward-Jackson and she was brilliant and we were pleased we went.

Monday 29th May - Coincidences and The Leaning Tower of Pisa

paulfirman — Tue, 30 May 2017 04:56:00 GMT

Again the sun was shining as we woke up in La Spezia, in the Ligurian area of Italy between Genoa and Pisa. What a surprise we had when the phone rang just after breakfast and it was Norma and Bernard, two very dear friends of ours from Bolton who we meet regularly in Tenerife. They are on another P&O ship, the Arcadia, which has docked right behind ours!! We met up with them and their friends just outside the port for coffee. As we had a trip booked for the afternoon we spent just an hour with them but it was lovely to catch up with all their news. We had a quick walk around La Spezia admiring the shops built under the arched walkway and lots of lovely rose gardens before returning to the ship for a quick lunch.

Early afternoon we left for a ship's tour to Pisa. Our guide Carla gave us a lots of information as we drove along the A12(!),through Tuscany to Pisa. We passed the Tuscan Alps which are mountains from where they take marble, which has led to many marble factories in the area and gives a great deal of employment to local people.

Carla gave us a lot of information about Pisa, we learnt that the Leaning Tower was started in the 1100s but, realising it was not straight, they gave up after three stories. A hundred years later someone else built on two more stories but then gave up. In all it took 300 years to complete, but had a lean of 5 degrees. In 1990 they realised it was leaning 6 degrees so closed the tower for 11 years whilst they shored it up a bit, back to 5 degrees and made it safe. The Tower was actually built as the bell tower to the Cathedral next door and there are seven bells at the top of the tower. We also learnt that Pinnochio was made from pine wood from this area and the pine nuts from those trees, and wonderful basil that grows here, make this the home of pesto.

We had pre booked our visit to walk up the 251 steps to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was a long way up but the views from the top were magnificent. Then we had to walk down again! We took the usual photos of us each 'holding up' the Tower, made a quick visit to the Cathedral and then it was time to do the one hour return trip back to our ship. What a sad reflection of our times to again see lots of army men with their guns patrolling the area with heavily armoured vehicles around the Leaning Tower.

The sun was still shining when we had our hot tub, followed by another lovely dinner accompanied by a bottle of Italian Rose. This was followed by a visit to the Footlights Theatre to see the ships company perform Killer Queen, a brilliant, slick song and dance routine, tribute to Queen.

A wonderful day, a wonderful visit to one of the Seven Wonders of the Medieval World, and the sun shone all day.

Sunday 28th May - A Nice Day in Nice

paulfirman — Mon, 29 May 2017 07:55:00 GMT

By the time we woke up at 7.30am we had already dropped anchor in the bay of Villefranche, and 900 passengers from our ship were on their way to the Monaco Grand Prix taking place nine miles down the coast. We decided to head in the other direction!

After another delicious breakfast we set off with our bottles of water and sandwiches, onto the tender taking us to the port. We asked at the information desk and discovered there was a train to Nice leaving in 20 minutes so we hot-footed it round the bay to the station and, once we had deciphered the ticket vending machine, boarded the train. We were hoping for lovely views of the French Riviera, but went through a long tunnel and jumped off the train when the station said Nice. It only took us a few yards down the road to realise that we were in the suburbs of Nice and nowhere near the main part of the city. So we retraced our steps and got on the next train and this time successfully got to where we wanted to be. What an enormous, lively and vibrant place Nice is. We purchased our tickets for the 'Hop on, Hop off' bus and went two stops to the sea front. Here we had a long walk in the very hot sunshine along the promenade. What a sad reflection of the time we are living in when you have the Army, holding sub machine guns, patrolling the beach and the promenade. Oh, dear, we do hope, when this book/ blog is read in the future the cruel world we are living in at the moment will be a distant memory. We stopped for a coffee at one of the many cafes along the front. Three times today we have bumped into the three ladies who share our dinner table, if we had been looking for them we would not have found them! On the third meeting we were all heading in the same direction - to the Hop on, hop off bus, our companions to return to the ship, and us to going the other direction and complete our tour of Nice. From the top of the open topper bus we had great views of Nice and the surrounding area and saw the hotel where Queen Victoria stayed when visiting here and many other interesting landmarks. The hotel looks as good today as it did in her day! We kept on the bus and it took us along the whole coastline back to the port area for the tender to return to our ship, where we sat on our balcony, enjoying a cup of tea, and watching the many helicopters leaving Monaco after the Grand Prix.

A superb dinner was followed by another visit to the theatre to see Manuel Martinez perform his second show. Another brilliant, laugh a minute comedy magic routine.

Saturday 27th May - Ajaccio, Corsica or should that be Napoleonville?

paulfirman — Sun, 28 May 2017 08:33:00 GMT

We arrived very early into Ajaccio, the sun shining on the stone buildings around the port. A delicious breakfast and we were on our way to explore a little bit of Corsica. The first thing we saw was a big, yellow, double decker, open-top bus offering Ajaccio Sightseeing Tour, so we hopped aboard, to the top of the bus and off we went. The streets were very busy with lots of people shopping at the Saturday market, and we soon realised that nearly everything is named after Napoleon, who was born here. There are streets, restaurants, buildings etc all named after him, and enormous statues all around the town, on nearly every street corner. We were soon out of the town and along the coast road with beautiful sandy beaches and crystal clear sea, next to us. We went past a cemetery where every family has its own burial 'house', we found this very unusual. We had a short photo stop and then returned to the town. We walked through the market and found a typical street cafe for our morning coffee. Another couple of hours exploring around the backstreets of Ajaccio, which is what we enjoy, then back onto the ship for a late lunch.

Ever since we first saw our allocated cabin on board Oceana, we have been very disappointed as we had two bunk beds and two more stacked away above us, and very poor decoration and furniture. For several days we have been asking to be moved and today our wish has come true and we now have the most gorgeous, double bedded light and airy stateroom so we are very pleased and believe that we now have exactly what we were promised.

Having sorted out our new stateroom and had a bit of a rest, we had our usual hot tub and another lovely dinner. We then went to watch the resident dancers 'The Headliners Theatre Company' giving their performance School Dayz, dancing and singing to The Monkees, Madness, Bay City Rollers, Kylie and many others. A brilliant and very slick performance which we thoroughly enjoyed.

Friday 26th May - Another Day At Sea

paulfirman — Sat, 27 May 2017 07:51:00 GMT

A bit of a slow start today as it is a day at sea and we have no rush to go ashore. Again, as every morning, so far, the curtains were pulled back to reveal a glorious sunny day with a calm blue sea. Marco's breakfast of Poached Eggs Royale and Buttermilk Pancake with Fruit Compote lived up to our high expectations.

Our first lecture of the day was by the Port Presenter giving a talk on the four places we will be visiting over the next four days, and two of these we are really getting excited about as they are both places we have long wanted to visit. As her talk drew to a close at 11am, an announcement was made throughout the ship that we would all observe a minutes silence in memory of the victims of the Manchester Concert bombing, such a vile and wicked thing to happen to all those young people.

Our next lecture was by a guest speaker Clive Steeper entitled "Behind the Wheel - A Racing Driver's View". Clive gave an insight into the preparations a racing driver goes through before a race, and gave us some amusing tales of his time as an instructor at Silverstone.

Lunch was followed by a lazy afternoon.

Every meal we have had on Oceana has been exceptional and tonight was no different. We bumped into the Executive Chef whilst we were walking around the ship today and we congratulated him the very high quality of the meals.

Dinner was followed by a visit to the theatre to see Manuel Martinez, a "comedy and conjuring sensation from Cuba". He gave an excellent and very funny show which we thoroughly enjoyed.

Thursday 25th May - Out and About in Valletta

paulfirman — Sat, 27 May 2017 07:49:00 GMT

Before 6am we had docked in Valletta, Malta. When we pulled back our curtains the sun was shining on the honey coloured stone walls in Valletta Harbour. After breakfast at Marco's we met up with Sam and Stuart to say our goodbyes as they travel home today, together with many other passengers from the ship. It has been fun meeting up with them and we shall miss them.

We now have another influx of new passengers again tonight. Will there be any surprises in store for us this week?

But our day is our own to do as we wish, so 10am saw us leave the ship and find the lift which transported us high up to the city centre. Having visited Malta last year, we had a good idea of the layout of the city and so made our way to Marks and Spencer where we knew we could get a good cup of coffee and a good wifi connection.

We had a lovely walk all around Valletta visiting many shops and admiring the varied architecture of the city and how the amalgamation of ancient and modern works so well here. Our last call in the city was for Paul to have a much needed haircut from a local Maltese hairdresser who was very proud to tell us that her stepson was a reporter for the local Maltese Observer newspaper and his specialist subject, which he was lecturing on in London at the moment, was Brexit. Though this was a small shop there were a lot of people coming and going or just coming in for a chat.

Late afternoon we returned to the ship, just in time for afternoon tea and some rest and relaxation. We again followed our usual tradition of a hot tub before another magnificent dinner and bed.

Wednesday 24th May - Rest and Reflection

paulfirman — Thu, 25 May 2017 07:27:00 GMT

Today is a day at sea. We really need a restful day after the last few hectic days. The day started with a cup of coffee on the balcony watching the sun on the Adriatic Sea, cruising towards the Mediterranean Sea. A leisurely breakfast at good old Marco's was followed by a lecture on our port of call tomorrow, together with some good ideas for things to do there. During our stroll around the promenade deck a huge pod of dolphins came alongside and gave us a show. These animals will never cease to amaze us. They leapt out of the water just like the ones you see trapped in zoos.

Today would have Paul's Mum's 104 birthday - also Queen Victoria's Birthday and Empire Day. What would Mum have made of all this lovely food. She would have loved it. As a young girl she had to prepare meals like these for "Upstairs." Just like we are enjoying today.

Before lunch we went to a Magic Workshop given by Adam Heppenstall and learnt some secrets and tricks of the trade. Lunch was another treat Scotch eggs and Tuna and cucumber rolls. Lovely.

A relaxing afternoon was followed by hot tub and of course dinner which as always was delicious. Goodbyes were said to our fellow diners who are all returning home tomorrow. Adam Heppenstall gave another great performance at the evening show.

Tuesday 23rd May - Sightseeing and Strolling in Split

paulfirman — Thu, 25 May 2017 07:24:00 GMT

Our ship glided quietly under the cover of darkness through the crystal clear waters of The Adriatic Sea. The sunrise brought another beautiful morning as we arrive back in Croatia on the Dalmatian Coast at Split. A lovely breakfast and we were soon on our way to explore. Just outside the port we spotted a bus advertising a sightseeing tour so we hopped on that and set off with Dolores our guide and a bus full of people. We had a very interesting and informative tour of the local area seeing many of the lovely sandy beaches and dense Mediterranean Pine Forests. We also saw the grand shell-like City Stadium built for the 1979 Mediterranean Games and now used by the local football team. We also learnt that Zinfandel wine originally came from this region and the Wimbledon tennis player, Goran Ivanisevic is their most famous resident.

Our bus tour finished but Dolores then gave us a conducted walking tour of the Diocletian Palace, an ancient, originally Roman Palace built approximately 2000 years ago. We walked through many original areas which have now been transformed into shops, businesses and cafes and today many people live in 250 flats built into the original walls of the Palace. We saw the Emperor's Mausoleum, which later became St Duje's Cathedral.

After our very worthwhile tour, we enjoyed a coffee sitting on the Promenade in the sunshine, watching the world go by. We made contact with our friends Sam and Stuart and joined them for a wander around the local market and a repeat of the Palace Tour with Guide Firman repeating much of the knowledge he had learnt earlier from Dolores. A necessary wine and beer quenched our thirsts, again sitting on the Promenade, before returning to the ship and getting together again for a very late lunch.

6.00pm saw us leaving a still very sunny Split and make our way back into the Adriatic Sea towards our next adventure.

Last night, as we were about to leave Venice, several urgent calls were made for a lady passenger to contact reception. Eventually the Captain announced that, as we had a strict time schedule to keep, we had to leave without her. This evening he announced that she had made her way to Split and had now rejoined the ship. "Time and tide wait for no man (or woman)".

Another superb evening meal in the Adriatic Restaurant - Prime Rib of Beef for Janet and Stuffed Red Leg Partridge for Paul and an early night after four busy and hectic days.

Monday 22nd May - A Surprise Awaits Us In Venice

paulfirman — Tue, 23 May 2017 08:04:00 GMT

7 o'clock this morning saw us both on our balcony as we very slowly edged our way into Venice. The sun was shining brightly as we passed St Mark's Square and we thoroughly enjoyed the slow journey through this iconic city to our berth for the day.

Another superb breakfast, and we were on our way. We walked from the port into Venice - a ten minute walk - Having visited Venice last year, and doing all the compulsory touristy things, we decided today that we would have a leisurely walk around the side streets, over the bridges and along the canals. Our first port of call was to our favourite restaurant, a trattoria that we found on our last visit, for a coffee.

Then it was off in the direction of the Rialto Bridge, one of the most famous bridges in the world. Four steps up the bridge and we literally bumped into two good friends from Martlesham Heath. Unknown to us Sam and Stuart are on the same cruise as us - they knew we were on the cruise but had sworn Lucy, our daughter, to secrecy, knowing they would bump into us at some point, and what a place to meet them!! We enjoyed a very pleasant hour with them, with wine and beer in hand ! It took us quite a time to stop laughing about the unbelievable coincidence of us both being on the same trip. Whatever is the chance of meeting like this among the millions of people in this city.

We then went our separate ways and we visited St Mark's Square, admiring the very ornate St Mark's Basilica. We continued on our way slowly back to the ship, again enjoying all the sights of this totally unique city. As we wandered through the back streets you could hear piano music filling the air as you passed by. One of the highlights of the day for us was a trip across the Grand Canal on a 'standup' Gondola. These are called Traghettis and for two euros they transfer you across the Grand Canal whilst the passengers standup! A great experience.

We collected our afternoon tea to enjoy on our balcony and enjoyed the slow journey in the afternoon sun, as we leave Venice heading for our next port.

Dinner this evening was another joy. Especially a wine that we found hidden on the wine list, an unusual Shiraz Rose from Australia. Another visit to the Starlight Bar to see the Take That Tribute band called Beautiful World and what a highly polished and very professional show they gave. What a wonderful day - we do appreciate how lucky we are, enjoying such wonderful days together amongst the turbulent days there are in the world these days.

Sunday 21st May - Hvar, Croatia & Salt & Vinegar Ice Cream

paulfirman — Mon, 22 May 2017 06:56:00 GMT

Hvar in Croatia is our port of call today. We understand from literature we have been given, that Hvar is the new St Tropez, and is becoming the home of the rich and famous. It certainly is a very pretty and modern port, but does not yet have the facility to takes a ship as large as ours. So as we are waking up and greeting the morning from our balcony, our ship's tenders are being gradually lowered into the sea and our ship is at anchor off the coast.

We again visited dear old Marco's for breakfast. Poached Eggs Royale are again the breakfast order for us both, after which we got our things together and made our way to the tenders to be transported to Hvar. A very smooth 10 minute journey and we are walking along the harbour side. We make enquiries at the local Tourist Information Office but learn that there are no sightseeing trips for us to take. We get the impression that Hvar is new to making the most of the great influx of tourists that a cruise ship brings.

High, in fact very high, above the city we spot The Fortress, and never ones to shirk a challenge, we begin to make our way up the hundreds of steps, followed by a never ending zigzag path and we finally arrive at the Fortress. We get out our euros and credit card for the entrance money, only to be told that they only take Croatian Kuna, the local currency! The Firman Charm comes into action again, pleading that we have walked all this way up and the man behind the desk says "oh just go in".

We wander around and visit the museum and go down into the prison dungeons, which are very creepy, but it is the views from this vantage point which are outstanding and make that long hike up worthwhile. From on high, we can see that all the buildings are built of sand coloured stone and all have red roofs. The walk down is much easier followed by a leisurely stroll around the coastal path, admiring the many magnificent and very expensive privately owned yachts, perhaps this is the new St Tropez. The wind began to pick up a bit so we decided to jump on a tender and go back to the ship. Oh, yes, another trip to Marco's for what can only be described as an outstanding lunch. A lay down and can you believe it - time for an afternoon tea!

Shortly after 5pm the anchor is lifted and we are off again, heading out into the Adriatic Sea towards our next port of call.

G&T time was soon upon us followed by dinner. After some extremely interesting courses it was time for dessert - we just had to try "salt and vinegar" ice cream. That was a bit different! Next was cheese and biscuits - sticky toffee cheese. Yes you read both of them correctly. We are certainly going off piste as far as food is concerned. A good bottle of Pinot and our thoughts begin to drift to our next very romantic port of call. A visit to see a magician rounded off the day.

Saturday 20th May - Walking Dubrovnik

paulfirman — Sun, 21 May 2017 05:50:00 GMT

We awoke to another beautiful cornflower-blue sea and a very sunny morning as our enormous ship was edging it's way gently into the port of Dubrovnik. Our breakfast this morning was taken at the Marco Pierre White restaurant where we enjoyed Poached Eggs Royale (delicately poached eggs, smoked salmon and lashings of hollandaise sauce on top of a soft bap) - delicious.

We could have taken a bus to the old town of Dubrovnik, but we decided to walk there instead. It took us about an hour to walk right through the port area with lots of market stalls, through a residential area, up a great big hill with fantastic views at the top and down the other side towards the old walled town. Having visited here last year, we knew our way around and soon found a good coffee stop with good wifi. The town was extremely busy as there were two other cruise ships visiting today but it was very enjoyable wandering round this iconic place. We thought that as we had spent lots of time in the old City last year, it might be good to look beyond the fortified walls. On close inspection of lots of the houses, you can still see the scars of the senseless war that took place here only a few years ago. Sadly there are many houses that are derelict. Maybe complete families were lost in that war, hopefully some distant relatives will come back one day and restore these large majestic houses.

We hopped onto a little sightseeing bus which took us around the outskirts of Dubrovnik, with many stops for photo opportunities. Some of our fellow travellers left the bus when we called into the port area, but we sat there for the whole 90 minutes enjoying fantastic views and seeing many different houses and hotels as we travelled through the back streets of Dubrovnik. We then set off back towards the ship. The walking was much easier this way as it was mostly down hill. A couple of stops en route to stock up on a few necessities and we were back on board. We were so pleased with ourselves that we had walked over 5 miles today, so we decided we deserved a reward of afternoon tea and cakes!!

After a swim and a very well earned relax in the bubbling hot tub it was time for another gastronomic delight thick cut beef and skate wings a good bottle of Pinot and a visit to watch a show. After such a busy day we slept very well.

Friday 19th May - Hand Jivers and A Day at Sea

paulfirman — Sat, 20 May 2017 06:52:00 GMT

We woke fairly early, pulled back the curtains and was greeted by the sun dancing on the flat calm Mediterranean Sea. We sat and had a coffee on our very private balcony.

Breakfast was, again, a culinary delight containing all the usual suspects from a cruising era long forgotten. The smoked haddock with lightly cooked poached eggs was delicious.

As, with our previous cruises, we are delighted to find ourselves at the "younger" end of the passenger list.

We attended an informative lecture after breakfast about the ports of call for the next week. We then went on a discovery tour of the ship and found Marco Pierre White's restaurant. This is on the to do list. After dodging walking sticks, Zimmer frames, wheelchairs and even motorised wheel chairs we made our way safely back to our stateroom for a relax on the balcony, before facing more food for lunch.

After lunch a walk around the Lido area seemed a good idea. There was a duo playing sixties and seventies music. We watched on as a collection of the more senior people were really getting down to it with some serious hand jiving!! These people know how to party. Thank goodness they were all sitting down - mind you I don't think they had a lot of choice.

A very relaxing afternoon was interrupted by the arrival of 4.00pm - Afternoon Tea Time! Finger sandwiches, toasted tea cakes, fruit scones with jam and cream and a good selection of home made cakes and pastries together with bottomless cups of tea. All lovely. We will start the diet when we get home!

At 6.00pm we made our way up to a now deserted Lido. The hand jivers had long gone - we suspect they were now sipping their cocoa and getting ready for bed. We had all the area to ourselves and enjoyed soaking in the hot tub looking up at the sky watching the fading sun setting in the west. The pool was also nice and warm. After a shower and a G&T on our balcony we were now all set up for a Black tie evening and "Meeting the Captain reception."

El captain was a grand fellow especially as he was footing the drinks bill. We did a selfie with him and we drifted into another fabulous three course dinner. The milk fed calves liver and venison kidneys were out of this world as was the poached salmon. A very nice Chardonnay. Followed by watching a "Take That" tribute band. Now time for some shut eye as our ship cruises through the nighttime waters heading for Dubrovnik.

Thursday 18th May - Birmingham to Malta

paulfirman — Sat, 20 May 2017 06:49:00 GMT

Thursday 18th May - Birmingham to Malta

We awoke to a beautiful sunny morning in Birmingham. We were so impressed with our meal at Manor Farm last night that we decided to return there for our breakfast this morning. The only problem was that it took us longer to drive the 3/4 mile in the rush hour traffic, than it did to walk there last night. But it was worth it and we were full after our Traditional Breakfast. We again ran the gauntlet of Birmingham rush hour to find Airparks, where our car was going to live for the next two weeks. The extremely efficient service saw us whisked off to the airport in no time at all, checked in and ready for our 3 hour flight.

We arrived in sunny Malta after a very pleasant flight. The 'Firman Charm' had worked well at Birmingham airport check in, and we had seats with extra legroom in the centre of the plane. But this meant that we were some of the last passengers to disembark. However, considering the age group it did not take us long to "overtake" lots of passengers on the walk to immigration. When we got to immigration most of the passengers were forming one queue, we noticed that there was one immigration officer with just a small queue, we joined that queue and got through very quickly and were on one of the first coaches to leave the airport heading for the Port of Valletta and our P & O cruise ship Oceana. We were soon onboard and found our stateroom. We poured ourselves a G&T and sat on our private balcony admiring the view across the bay.

It was soon time to attend the compulsory lecture on safety procedures. As our cases had not yet arrived, for the first time ever, we went to dinner in jeans and trainers!! What delightful dishes were presented to us. There were so many wonderful culinary delights to choose from. Just the starters were a problem. So we ordered three!! Smoked trout - prawn cocktail - game terrain. We then demolished lamb shanks and thick cut loin pork, sticky toffee pudding, a deconstructed pavlova, cheese and biscuits all accompanied by a very acceptable bottle of Chenin Blanc. It was then time to return to our stateroom, we were pleased to see our cases had arrived, and proceeded to find a home for everything and then we were ready for bed.

A very enjoyable, if at times a bit stressful, day. Now we look forward to a relaxing two weeks.

Wednesday 17th May - Martlesham Heath to Fort Dunlop, Birmingham

paulfirman — Wed, 17 May 2017 11:45:00 GMT

This adventure was only put together a few weeks ago. Whilst looking at some options on the internet we stumbled upon the one we are about to take. There was a slight problem - Paul being Paul delayed in booking it as the price kept dropping! So, when we finally decided to pounce the agent informed us that all London flights were sold out so we would have to fly from Birmingham airport!

We started out fairly early on a sunny Suffolk morning but, as we travelled along the A14, the weather got progressively worse and it has rained continuously since then!. Three hours after leaving we arrived at our hotel at Fort Dunlop. The hotel has been joined on to this massive iconic land mark on the outskirts of Birmingham. We were soon booked in and whizzed up to the 9th floor to a splendid room with a fantastic view across the suburbs of Birmingham. Our afternoon was spent around the Fort Dunlop Shopping Centre, where we picked up a few necessary bits and filled up with petrol before spending a relaxing couple of hours in our delightful hotel room.

We had done some research at home before we left and set off towards Manor Farm, a local pub with a very good reputation, for our evening meal. Luckily it had actually stopped raining before we left so we had a very pleasant walk before enjoying a superb meal and a bottle of Zinfandel, and a slightly slower walk back !!

We are now ready for a good sleep before an exciting day tomorrow.