Capnpugwash’s adventures continue to the Black Sea.

Today was like any other “leaving on a cruise” morning. I woke at 6am and finalised my packing by putting creasable shirts and suits in my case and labelling the case and taking them downstairs. The sun was starting to rise and quite soon it was up and a glorious morning began. It was my daughter’s 24th birthday so when the rest of the family had risen we had a brief celebration with her including her opening cards and presents at the breakfast table, very nice start to the day.

It was then time to load up the car, I drive a Mini Cooper and try as I might unless Mrs P was to travel the 90 minutes to Southampton with a holdall on her lap I couldn’t fit her two suitcases plus holdall, my suitcase and carry-on and our laptops in said Mini. So I was forced to load it all into the comparatively spacious Ford Focus that she drives. Of course it went in there with room to spare. We normally would have coffee at 10am but we had it earlier today and were on the road by 10am. In spite of the 1.6 litre engine the car has no real get up and go, but we arrived at Dock Gate 10 by 11.25 even though it was the starting day of the Southampton Boat Show. The Adonia was berthed at the Mayflower Terminal number 106 and as we approached we were struck by how small a ship she is.

She holds a little over 700 passengers and looks like a large lifeboat. We passed through embarkation without fuss and when we had our bags x-rayed the security staff went through my wife’s bag with a fine tooth comb. Eventually the girl surfaced with the smallest pair of needlework scissors and called out to the lady running the x-ray, to proclaim her success, this lady by that time was utterly disinterested and waved dismissively over her shoulder which evoked a shrug from the seeker and Mrs P was left to repack her luggage. I have never had that before and it may be a salutary lesson to us all that you should pack such items in the bags that the porters take.

We were on board by 12.10 and were directed to the Conservatory buffet on deck 9. It is a lovely airy room with the food displayed attractively and the food itself was excellent. Having consumed a nice curry we went to our cabin which was described as having an obstructed view, the only slight obstruction was a light coating of grime on the outside of the window.

We had bumped into a couple with whom we had sailed to Istanbul 2 years ago on the Artemis and it was nice to relive our successes as a quiz team. It is a very small world and at the Muster the Entertainment Officer taking it was a young girl who we have met on a few previous cruises, we chatted for a while to her and then having concluded it we took a turn around the ship.

It is not very large, there are only two stairwells with two lifts at each and they are only 50 yards apart. Bijou was a description that I heard and I thought that it was quite appropriate. Having said that, it is a lovely ship which has the feel and décor of an English country house. The only criticism that I would offer is that the bathroom is tiny and the promenade deck has a massive grey steel door at the front which seems very out of place, perhaps a nice mural would disguise it a little. Other than those niggles it looks excellent and we are looking forward to 26 days on board.

We let go our lines at 4pm and were assisted by a tug to drag our bow around to enable us to sail off the berth in the wind. We made our way into Southampton Water following the Independence of the Seas and are currently heading towards the Isle of Wight in bright sunshine, it is really warm on deck as we make our towards the English Channel. We would normally head to the east of the Island past Nab Tower but because we are such a small ship we are heading to the west of the Island and will pass the Needles which is a really rare treat. The only other time that I have sailed that way was in the 60s when I was sailing a dinghy in the Round the Island race.

I am going up on deck to see our passage fairly soon. We are on second sitting for dinner and tonight this starts a little later than normal at 8.45pm. Hopefully this is just for this evening as it is a little later than we really would normally want. As I got on deck the Needles which is a rock formation rising from the sea at the south-western corner of the IOW were about 400 yards ahead of us on our port quarter. It was great to sail that close to them although there was a serious wind blowing which made taking a photograph tricky. As we passed them the whistle sounded from the bridge which I wrongly assumed was a farewell to the port, in truth we were sailing in the wake of a couple of small yachts who seemed totally oblivious to our presence, this was soon dispelled when they heard the whistle and they scurried out of our way, perhaps not in strict accordance with the rules of the sea but certainly good sense.

The seas are quite calm in spite of the wind and that is the forecast for tomorrow, we should start across the Bay of Biscay tomorrow night or on Sunday morning so it will be interesting to see how well the Adonia sails if we encounter any rough seas.

More later

Hi there Cap'n. I look forward very much to your live account of your cruise on Adonia. I enjoyed your last cruise so much, so very much appreciate you giving up your time to entertain and inform us.

Have a great cruise. :)

Hi Jim, have a great time, looking forward to reading your report. Bev

Great start, have a good trip!

Jim, happy to see your post and glad for you that Mrs. Capnpugwash was able to join you this time. Best wishes to her and bon voyage to you both!

I've always wanted to cruise the Black Sea so look forward to vicariously enjoying your adventure on the bijou Adonia.

Very much looking forward to your comments.

This is a cruise my wife and I would love to do.

Also looking forward to your comments on Adonia, the only active P&O ship we haven't yet experienced.

Have a great time!

Carl

This should be an interesting voyage - somewhat different to the QM2!

Cap'n, You and your wife have fun on your Black Sea cruise aboard the Cruise Ship Adonia :) Regards,Jerry

I shall follow your posts with great interest! As an ex Artemis cruiser I will be interested to hear how Adonia compares, and also what you make of a Black sea cruise which I am contemplating for next year. But of course I can also gloat as I shall be on the QM2 from next Tuesday!:D:D

Cap'n,

I shall be reading every post you send, have a great time, seems a very long time ago that we chatted in the Commodore Club on QM2, it was only May this year!

Very best wishes for a wonderful voyage.

Hi Jim, the Black Sea is on Eve's wish list so we will be looking over your shoulder all the way.

G.

ohhh a 26 day cruise for us to travel along with you & Mrs. Capn!

Have a wonderful time.

Captain,

I look forward to reading your posts on your trip to the Black Sea. I have been reading your posts throughout the summer of your transatlantic trips on the QM2, and it prepared us for our recent transatlantic crossing. We really enjoyed the crossing, and meeting Commodore Rynd, and his officers, and were hosted at the Chief Engineers table. Have a great trip.

Update No 1

We had a few pre dinner drinks in Andersons bar on deck 5 and then went through to the restaurant at the appointed time, we are a table for 6 at the stern of the ship by a large window overlooking the wake and the other couples are charming and a lot of fun. I think that we have a good table and it bodes well for some interesting and witty conversations.

The ship is performing well, we have quite a short sea with 2 to 3 metre swells and there is quite a lot of spray being created as we slip down the English Channel through these swells. The wind is blowing from the west at 40mph which accounts for the flying spray. We are about due south of Exeter which means that we are a little under halfway to Brest on the north-west corner of France, our speed is 16 knots and it is very pleasant, if windy on deck.

Saturday September 17th.

Overnight the ship was rolling and pitching quite a lot, not in an unpleasant way but I am sure that some passengers will have found it quite disconcerting. Mrs P and I are fortunate with our cabin choice/allocation; it is on deck 4 which is the lowest public accommodation deck and about 15 yards from the bow. In this position although we are quite close to the waterline with the sea spray flying past and sometimes onto our window, we do have the benefit of being low on the ship thus minimising the effect of the movement of the Adonia. There are only 3½decks of passenger cabins, the ½ is our deck and then there are decks 6, 7 and 8.

I woke this morning having been gently rocked all night and found that the sky is uniformly grey in the pre dawn light and the sea swells are about 15 feet, nothing dramatic but quite interesting nonetheless. The bridge information channel describes the sea state as High, with blown foam. That does sound more nautical albeit less evocative than my sea spray flying. Walking around the cabin I am finding that I have to keep grabbing hold of the table or wall to steady myself. The sun is due to rise at 8.04am which is a little over 1 hour away.

Edwina Currie, ex MP and Strictly Come Dancing competitor is on board which I think makes her a safe bet for elimination early in the show as she is supposed to be seriously practising her dance moves with her professional partner rather than swanning around the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Maybe I am being harsh and she is only on board for a few days as a guest speaker, I will have to enquire of her if I bump into her on my travels around the ship.

There is a fairly full programme of things to do today from 8am until 11pm; quizzes, line dancing, lectures on Conspiracy Theories, fitness classes, bridge, whist and table tennis. I am quite exhausted even talking about it all! I am in a slight quandary; I want to have breakfast, attend the solo traveller’s coffee at 10am, do a quiz with Mrs P at noon, play whist at 2.15 and fit in a session at the gym and steam room somewhere in this schedule. it sounds like a day’s work rather than the start of a holiday to me. You may wonder why if I am travelling with Mrs P that I would attend the solo coffee get together, it is a good question and in my defence I can only offer that the coffee is free, which is unusual, and you do meet some interesting people. It is something that I normally do on P&O ships. I am finding it rather strange travelling with Mrs P as it is more usual for me to travel alone so I don’t have to consider anyone’s wishes or habits, obviously I don’t mind doing so and I will become more accustomed to doing so as this cruise progresses and we both establish our on board routines.

We continue on our south-west course and are now past Land’s End about to turn to port and in a couple of hours commence our crossing of the Bay of Biscay. The forecast is for the wind to drop and the seas to reduce although there is no sign of that happening yet.

Breakfast is served in the Pacific Restaurant between 8am and 9.30am and I feel quite hungry and eager to try their offerings, last night the food was ok, I had a prawn cocktail, roast pork and some cheese and biscuits. The best parts of the meal were the crackling and the cheddar but that may say more about my selection than their presentation.

Breakfast was very nice and we sat with a couple who we have known for a couple of years, we just managed to avoid sitting with a man who had been talking at us as we waited to go into the restaurant, in the couple of minutes involved he had told us his entire medical history, that of his recently deceased father and also talked us through his mother’s three bouts of breast cancer and the surgical removal of her toes with the ensuing complications to her circulatory system. All very sad but it was not a great opening gambit to a long term conversation and we were glad to get away.

I got an email late last evening which advised me of the death of a man who I have known since 1969, our birthdays are 4 days apart and he is slightly older than me. He has had cancer for 7 years and it finally attacked his lymph glands and spread throughout his body. I haven’t seen him for a while and was unaware of his illness so it was a great shock to hear of his death. It does remind me of the frailty of human life and of course one of the saddest things for me is that I will be unable to attend his funeral next week. I did just phone a mutual friend to express condolences and apologise but it seems so very inadequate in the circumstances.

More later.

I'm also looking forward to reading your 'live' review.

I will be sailing TA on Azura but would actually love the smaller cruise ship option so am interested in what you think of the smaller ship in comparison to the larger ones.

I would LOVE it if we have the same or similar activities that you have available, especially the lecture on conspiracy theories!

I'm looking forward to reading your next update.

Thank you!

Great report Cap'n.

How sad to hear of your friend at the start of your cruise. At least you can

devote a little contemplation time on your friendship and the good times whilst at sea, to pay your respects?

Have fun at the solo coffee meeting :D

Hi Jim.

Wow, 26 days of adventure! Good for you and your wife. Looking forward to your musings. I will miss your emails though.

My sincerest condolences on the loss of an old friend. It is always sad, but even sadder when so young. I'm sure the family will get your message and appreciate your remembrance.

Jeanne

I shall follow your posts with great interest! As an ex Artemis cruiser I will be interested to hear how Adonia compares, and also what you make of a Black sea cruise which I am contemplating for next year. But of course I can also gloat as I shall be on the QM2 from next Tuesday!:D:D

As an ex Artemis fan too, and having also "done" the Black Sea, firstly the ports are fabulous and I loved every minute, but IMO Adonia is not a suitable or similar replacement for Arty. OK, many of the crew are the same now and that will give it some atmosphere, but for me I found the ship a little on the dark side and cramped in comparision. Artemis was light, airy and open, Adonia is different ! And the storage in the cabins is abysmal !! Now if only P&O could have nabbed Prisendam she would have been perfect!

Sorry to hear of the loss of your friend Jim. My condolences.

Update No 2

We have 3 more sea days until we arrive at Almeria in Andalucía in southern Spain on Tuesday and as I write the sea state has reduced a little and there is much less rock and roll going on. We are about level with Brest in Brittany and must be considered to be on the northern limit of the Bay. It is scheduled to take us about 20 hours to cross it and reach the deeper waters off the west coast of Spain and Portugal. We are only making 16 knots so our progress seems quite slow yet we have got here quite a bit quicker than normal, it may be that going past the Needles saves us about 4 hours or so compared to the longer route around the IOW.

I attended the get together and there were only 4 of us there plus an entertainment officer who is also called Jane, quite confusing but easy to remember. One lady had slipped as she was about to sit down and fallen to the floor but she said that she was uninjured but was obviously a little shaken. She had fallen on her arm and she kept waggling it around and pressing hard into the muscle on the upper part of it. After 20 minutes of this she declared that she wanted medical attention as it hurt, I thought that it probably hurt because of this continuous pressing and poking. The nurse was called and she arrived with all of her medical kit, the lady explained what the problem was and was told quite nicely that the nurse was not allowed to assess her without her attending the medical centre. It was apparent that no bones were broken as she still had mobility in the limb so the nurse was sent away and if the pain continues the lady may attend and see the doctor.

I did manage to ascertain that Ms Currie will be leaving us on Tuesday at Almeria, probably so that she can practise her dance moves. After that I went to the Crow’s Nest bar on deck 10 and listened for an hour to a book, I was joined by Mrs P and we took part in the noon Name that Tune quiz, we thought that we had done poorly but came second with 18 out of 26, so we were happy with that and even happier as we didn’t get the prize of a bottle of questionable wine.

We then went for lunch in the Conservatory and at the next table was a man with whom I did business from 1986 in the Insurance market in London. I haven’t seen him for over 10 years and here we are sitting at adjacent tables, yet more evidence of the laws of coincidence and of quite how small the world is.

We are back in the cabin now and are awaiting 2.15 when we will play whist up in the card room on deck 9. it is a really lovely spacious room which we will share with the bridge players. Normally whist and bridge are kept separate and we are consigned to some dingy area which is totally inappropriate for card playing whilst the few bridge players get treated royally and occupy the prime space. Let’s see how it works out in the end.

And it was ok; there were only 10 whist players so we were fine. Nice tables and nice chairs. We could have done with 6 more players but maybe tomorrow once the word spreads.

I went to the spa just now and discovered that the daily fee is £10 for every sea day and £6 for a port day. This allows access to a small deck area at the bow which contains a 5 foot deep and 10 foot diameter open air spa bath. Everything else is complimentary including the gym, the showers and the steam rooms. I don’t imagine that they sell a lot of day passes if that is all that you get.

Ms Currie is currently speaking and Mrs P has gone to listen to her which will be followed by an acrylic manicure which comes with a 14 day no chip guarantee, they bake the polish on with ultra violet lights which probably turns it into the material that aircraft black boxes are made from although hopefully a slightly less garish colour.

Tonight is smart jacket required dress code, no tie is required so I really fail to understand why a jacket is needed, but that is the requirement and obviously I will comply. The meal is at the usual time of 8.30 so we should be out in time for our traditional syndicate quiz at 10.30. I mentioned to you that the ship is quite small, having a few spare moments I paced off the distance between the two stairwells and found it to be 84 paces, so between 70 to 80 yards approximately, see what I mean about small.

Mrs P returned with shiny fingernails and full of praise for Ms Currie’s presentation on Women in the workplace, Edwina is following up tomorrow with her second lecture about politicians and truthfulness, which sounds quite interesting. Her lecture filled the Curzon Lounge to capacity and there are 380 seats available.

Mrs P is going to a classical concert by a young guitarist before dinner so she has dressed early leaving me to drink the remaining half bottle of champagne from yesterday, I reckon that half a bottle a day is reasonable whilst dressing so we arrived at Southampton with 12 bottles which roughly speaking will suffice for the 26 days of this cruise. Her loss is my gain. It would be nice to have champagne flutes but tumblers suffice at a push. I am sure that if I asked our steward, he would bring them for us but I can’t really be bothered and it doesn’t really matter too much.

There has been a connectivity issue today on board, with my history I naturally assumed that it was me, so at 6.30pm I finally relented and went up to the library on deck 10 where the computer man is based, as I approached with my laptop he immediately apologised and explained that there was a problem with dilithium crystals or the warp drive or some similar unknown thing, I was almost delighted to be able to not take the blame so I returned to my cabin via the lift. As I descended from deck 10 it stopped at 8 and a lady boarded and regarded me as you would something stuck on the sole of your shoe in a park. In an effort to make conversation as the time for first sitting was approaching, I said sweetly “Are you going to dinner?” She looked at me as though I was crazy and replied “I have no idea!” She reminded me of the wedding guest in 4 Weddings and A Funeral whose brother Charles had died years before and was equally dismissive to Hugh Grant attempts at conversation.

We had a great dinner, our table mates are really very nice and the evening flew by. Afterwards Mrs P and I went to the quiz and teamed up with the couple with whom we had quizzed before plus another couple who just wandered by, we really gelled as a team and won with 17/20. We all arranged to meet up again tomorrow evening when we will start with a one point handicap as previous winners. Unfortunately there were only about 10 teams playing tonight and hopefully this number will increase as the trip progresses.

We lose 1 hour tonight as we advance onto European time at 2am.

More later.

Thank you for taking the time to post, I'm enjoying reading your experience.

How rude was that woman in the lift! :eek:

Also enjoyed the Startrek reference for reasons my fellow TA Azura travellers will understand! :D

I'm afraid I would have to ask for the Champagne flutes, it's not the same drinking it out of a tumbler.

I'm not a great lover of Edwina Curry - don't like women (or men) who kiss and tell just to sell a book, but that's JMHO!

I look forward to reading your next instalment!

Update No 3

Today is Sunday September 18 and we are through the Bay of Biscay, having passed Cape Finisterre at around 6am this morning. I woke at 8.15 to smooth seas and a watery orb in the sky which if I remember correctly is the sun.

We dressed and went to breakfast in the Pacific restaurant, the ship is so neat that it is only a 3 minute walk, I had a lovely bowl of porridge and as a treat indulged myself with a couple of bacon rolls, unfortunately the bacon arrived but the rolls were conspicuous by their absence, rather than let it go cold I ate the bacon and accompanying mushrooms after which the rolls arrived. They were soon despatched with a spread of marmalade and I was equipped for the rigours of a day at sea.

Mrs P went off to do things and I went to the solo travellers coffee meet, I was the only person there or 15 minutes and was joined by a lady from Lymington near Bournemouth who had met and been ignored by the lady who fell over yesterday. 10 minutes later the lady in question arrived and lectured us both on the delights of the Greek islands and the perils of Athens. I made my apologies and my escape and went to meet my wife in the Crow’s Nest. She wasn’t there but in spite of that I made myself comfortable by the vast panoramic windows overlooking the bow and listened to an hour or so of my book. This task being completed I went outside and saw that there are tiny wavelets on the surface of the sea and we have a 20 knot wind from astern; this means that it is really very pleasant on deck and the sun beds and sunbathers are out in force.

We continue our south-westerly course and having passed the Atlantic coast of Spain are now level with Porto and approaching the mouth of the River Tagus and Lisbon. We will continue upon this course at 16 knots and having rounded Cape St Vincent tomorrow should enter the Straits of Gibraltar late tomorrow afternoon, although we will be taking the southern lane of this very busy strait so we will be quite close to the coast of North Africa.

I realise now why I am somewhat opposed to buffets, my wife wanted some lunch and I stupidly agreed to go with her. The first thing that I spotted was steak and kidney pie, one of my absolute favourites. A portion of that with the rich gravy and a few chips was almost idyllic. Of course that is only half of the story. We were sat on the stern deck outside the restaurant with a wonderful view of the wake of the ship in the very pleasant and welcome temperature of 16/61 degrees and I thought that I would fetch a cup of coffee, I almost made it but was waylaid by a bowl of steamed plum pudding and vanilla custard, absolutely lovely, too lovely really.

Having dealt with that I made a speedy escape past the strawberry blancmange and other very tempting offerings put there by Satan to trap the morally weak passers-by.

We have whist this afternoon again and Mrs P will then go to part two of Edwina Currie speaking while I plan to actually go to the gym and then have a steam and a shower prior to putting on my finery and watching the pre recorded rugby match between England and Georgia, it is on at 7pm which fortunately will prevent me from going to the welcome aboard cocktail party as the timings clash.

More later.

Mrs P returned with shiny fingernails and full of praise for Ms Currie’s presentation on Women in the workplace, Edwina is following up tomorrow with her second lecture about politicians and truthfulness, which sounds quite interesting. Her lecture filled the Curzon Lounge to capacity and there are 380 seats available.

Must be something she's read about somewhere Jim.

Ratty

Thank you for taking the time to post, I'm enjoying reading your experience.

 

How rude was that woman in the lift! :eek:

 

Also enjoyed the Startrek reference for reasons my fellow TA Azura travellers will understand! :D

 

I'm afraid I would have to ask for the Champagne flutes, it's not the same drinking it out of a tumbler.

 

I'm not a great lover of Edwina Curry - don't like women (or men) who kiss and tell just to sell a book, but that's JMHO!

 

I look forward to reading your next instalment!

Agree with you about Edwina Curry - ghastly woman - just hope she exits Strictly quickly:eek:

Update No 3

 

Today is Sunday September 18 and we are through the Bay of Biscay, having passed Cape Finisterre at around 6am this morning. I woke at 8.15 to smooth seas and a watery orb in the sky which if I remember correctly is the sun.

 

We dressed and went to breakfast in the Pacific restaurant, the ship is so neat that it is only a 3 minute walk, I had a lovely bowl of porridge and as a treat indulged myself with a couple of bacon rolls, unfortunately the bacon arrived but the rolls were conspicuous by their absence, rather than let it go cold I ate the bacon and accompanying mushrooms after which the rolls arrived. They were soon despatched with a spread of marmalade and I was equipped for the rigours of a day at sea.

 

Mrs P went off to do things and I went to the solo travellers coffee meet, I was the only person there or 15 minutes and was joined by a lady from Lymington near Bournemouth who had met and been ignored by the lady who fell over yesterday. 10 minutes later the lady in question arrived and lectured us both on the delights of the Greek islands and the perils of Athens. I made my apologies and my escape and went to meet my wife in the Crow’s Nest. She wasn’t there but in spite of that I made myself comfortable by the vast panoramic windows overlooking the bow and listened to an hour or so of my book. This task being completed I went outside and saw that there are tiny wavelets on the surface of the sea and we have a 20 knot wind from astern; this means that it is really very pleasant on deck and the sun beds and sunbathers are out in force.

 

We continue our south-westerly course and having passed the Atlantic coast of Spain are now level with Porto and approaching the mouth of the River Tagus and Lisbon. We will continue upon this course at 16 knots and having rounded Cape St Vincent tomorrow should enter the Straits of Gibraltar late tomorrow afternoon, although we will be taking the southern lane of this very busy strait so we will be quite close to the coast of North Africa.

 

I realise now why I am somewhat opposed to buffets, my wife wanted some lunch and I stupidly agreed to go with her. The first thing that I spotted was steak and kidney pie, one of my absolute favourites. A portion of that with the rich gravy and a few chips was almost idyllic. Of course that is only half of the story. We were sat on the stern deck outside the restaurant with a wonderful view of the wake of the ship in the very pleasant and welcome temperature of 16/61 degrees and I thought that I would fetch a cup of coffee, I almost made it but was waylaid by a bowl of steamed plum pudding and vanilla custard, absolutely lovely, too lovely really.

 

Having dealt with that I made a speedy escape past the strawberry blancmange and other very tempting offerings put there by Satan to trap the morally weak passers-by.

 

We have whist this afternoon again and Mrs P will then go to part two of Edwina Currie speaking while I plan to actually go to the gym and then have a steam and a shower prior to putting on my finery and watching the pre recorded rugby match between England and Georgia, it is on at 7pm which fortunately will prevent me from going to the welcome aboard cocktail party as the timings clash.

 

More later.

How do you listen to your book? Is it on CD, Ipod, Kindle ????

I ask because I have started to use my old CD Walkman again on cruises to listen to audiobooks (eyesight playing up) and I have one book downloaded to my Ipod but I am considering a Kindle as there is a 'listen' option on most of the books you can download.