Where have we spent the last 24 hours??

[jojo67]

:confused: Hoping that someone who enjoys tracking the ships can tell me where we've been on Oceana for the last 24 hours?? Following our aborted call to Amsterdam, we were told that we had spent the night anchored off the Belguim coast. The captain then advised us that he would attempt to dock later that day, but we never did. Awoke on New Years Day, not in Amsterdam as we should have, but to the sight of the white cliffs of Dover! We then didn't dock in Southampton until the early hours of this morning!!! Even the DJ in Starlights joked last night, that if anyone had a GPS system onboard, could they please tell him where we were as having passed Dover at 9.00am that morning, he had no idea. Last night the ship rolled more than any other, despite us supposedly not being able to dock in Amsterdam due to the weather :confused: Bit of a nightmare trip from start to finish.

[BrianI]

I was following your progress on AIS. You did anchor off Zeebrugge overnight and then the following day set off west towards the UK and then turned around towards Amsterdam. The ships destination said arrive Amsterdam 1900hrs. However the ship carried on sailing past the entrance to the canal then turned around and headed west back towards the channel. Went passed the Isle of Wight yesterday continuing down the channel and then turned around and back to Southampton.

 

I believe strong winds prevented the pilot boat coming out and sailing down the canal would have been difficult with strong cross winds.

 

Brian

[AlisonH]

We were always going to be at sea on the morning of 1st Jan as we were due to leave Amsterdam at 1am - we continued down the channel and then turned so we could be at the pilot station for our scheduled time of around 3.30am - I doubt there were any changes to plans for 1/1/13

[Somerset Cruiser]

:confused: Last night the ship rolled more than any other, despite us supposedly not being able to dock in Amsterdam due to the weather :confused: Bit of a nightmare trip from start to finish.

 

I thought the ship was very stable throughout the cruise. Had no nightmares only dreams:) disappointed to miss Amsterdam but that is the nature of going to sea. I also thought the new year party made up for it to a degree. Overall a good cruise.

[jojo67]

We were always going to be at sea on the morning of 1st Jan as we were due to leave Amsterdam at 1am - we continued down the channel and then turned so we could be at the pilot station for our scheduled time of around 3.30am - I doubt there were any changes to plans for 1/1/13

 

Somehow even leaving Amsterdam at 1.00am I doubt we should have woken to the sight of the White Cliffs of Dover onthe 1st January 2013!

 

I thought the ship was very stable throughout the cruise. Had no nightmares only dreams:) disappointed to miss Amsterdam but that is the nature of going to sea. I also thought the new year party made up for it to a degree. Overall a good cruise.

 

It certainly seemed very stable on the first 3 nights, especially as we were supposed to be experiencing bad weather! But definatley not so last night. Our cabin was right at the bow of the ship, deck D & our glasses, coat hangers & anything else not secured were rolling & banging most of the evening. Standing in our cabin was almost impossible. Perhaps I just hadn't had enough to drink ;)

 

New Years Eve in Amsterdam was the sole purpose of us booking this cruise, we've done Bruge many,many times before, but never Amsterdam. I especially wanted to take my 3 children to see Anne Franks house as all are studying History at GCSE. For a cruise during the school holidays & on a 'family friendly ship', there was nothing organised suitable for family entertainment during our extra enforced day at sea. Footlights stood empty most of the day and the only film shown yesterday was at 4.30pm, useless if you were on early sitting dinner like us. Where were the entertainments team, I assume they were all on holiday?? Sunday evening & Tuesday evening were the exact same entertainment acts, Mercury Rising & Soul Kinda Wonderful. I also thought it was very penny pinching not to have had a Captains Cocktail party on New years Eve, I know that they have been gradually phased out now on shorter cruises, but felt an exception could have been made for NYE. We were on Ocenana for 12 nights in July this year & felt there were a lot less staff on board this trip than there was in the summer, service was much slower everywhere. Overall we were very disappointed with the trip & it has made me question if we would sail with P&O again.

[jojo67]

I was following your progress on AIS. You did anchor off Zeebrugge overnight and then the following day set off west towards the UK and then turned around towards Amsterdam. The ships destination said arrive Amsterdam 1900hrs. However the ship carried on sailing past the entrance to the canal then turned around and headed west back towards the channel. Went passed the Isle of Wight yesterday continuing down the channel and then turned around and back to Southampton.

 

I believe strong winds prevented the pilot boat coming out and sailing down the canal would have been difficult with strong cross winds.

 

Brian

 

Thanks Brian, quite a few people onboard were convinced we were largely going around in circles & your account would seem to confirm this to a degree. As I said, even some staff onboard couldn't understand why we passed Dover at 9.00am Tuesday yet didn't dock until early this morning.

[tinkerfenwick]

We are due on Azura on Monday to Amsterdam... Which appears to be her maiden voyage to the city.... hopefully the weather is in our favour.

 

We were on Oceana 20 Dec to zeebrugge which was surprisingly smooth... I can just imagine the DJs comments, he was so comical before and after the muster drill....

[jojo67]

We were always going to be at sea on the morning of 1st Jan as we were due to leave Amsterdam at 1am - we continued down the channel and then turned so we could be at the pilot station for our scheduled time of around 3.30am - I doubt there were any changes to plans for 1/1/13

 

Alison, just out of interest where did you find the time of 1.00am as a departure time from Amsterdam? I've just gone back through all of my pre cruise information & can only see departure as 'early morning'.

[tonyl1956]

We are just back from Oceana as well.

 

What was most irritating was that the captain misled us (deliberately or otherwise) about what he was doing, then later tried to cover it up by saying that passengers with "TomTom" units were trying to use them to do a job they shouldn't do. However, one of our group's phones transferred to a French network about two hours after we left the anchorage, while GPS systems and compasses in telephones and iPads all said we were heading around 250 degrees (just south of west). The cabin TV showed a course which seemed to confirm this (inasmuch as you could see anything on the chart). At one point the sun even made a brief appearance in front of us! Reception desk staff said they didn't know what was happening and showed little interest in finding out.

 

One can't argue about the decision the captain made not to try to get into Amsterdam. However, the way he and other (senior) staff treat those who pay their wages is the bit that annoys me. If he had to steer that course to avoid other shipping or for operational reasons, why not say so, preferably upfront? It's hard to escape the conclusion that he'd been economical with the truth and set off for home, then turned the ship when people noticed.

 

We noted the lack of a cocktail party but doubted the captain would have made an appearance anyway!

 

Having said all that, we enjoyed the cruise. Service and food standards were much higher than a recent weekender on Ventura (to Zeebrugge of course!) and probably better than on a week cruise we had on Azura earlier in the year.

 

Ultimately, we learnt quite a lot as well. No more cruises to places in northern Europe at times when there is a high probability that ports will be missed, medium sized ships suit us best and no more weekenders. It may well be the Central/Eastern Med for us next time, so we'll just have to start saving.

 

Tony

[jojo67]

One can't argue about the decision the captain made not to try to get into Amsterdam. However, the way he and other (senior) staff treat those who pay their wages is the bit that annoys me. If he had to steer that course to avoid other shipping or for operational reasons, why not say so, preferably upfront? It's hard to escape the conclusion that he'd been economical with the truth and set off for home, then turned the ship when people noticed.

 

Tony

 

I agree completely, safety must always come first. However the lack of information & as you've said his then being 'economical' with the truth caused more concern. Personally I think he made the decision very early on to head for home & then perhaps received orders from above to at least look as though an attempt to dock was being made.

 

I'm glad that you still enjoed the cruise though.

[AlisonH]

Alison, just out of interest where did you find the time of 1.00am as a departure time from Amsterdam? I've just gone back through all of my pre cruise information & can only see departure as 'early morning'.

 

I looked it up before we left - and it was on the Amsterdam port schedule:

 

http://www.amsterdamcruiseport.com/FileLibrary/acp/ACP%20Files/Aanlopenlijst_2012.pdf

[jeanlyon]

I knew there was a reason I don't do short cruises in the winter, if at all.

[Cappers]

Oh golly...I'm going on the Amsterdam jaunt on Azura on monday. I hope the weather is kinder,,I don't like it too rough.

[Somerset Cruiser]

Somehow even leaving Amsterdam at 1.00am I doubt we should have woken to the sight of the White Cliffs of Dover onthe 1st January 2013!

 

 

 

It certainly seemed very stable on the first 3 nights, especially as we were supposed to be experiencing bad weather! But definatley not so last night. Our cabin was right at the bow of the ship, deck D & our glasses, coat hangers & anything else not secured were rolling & banging most of the evening. Standing in our cabin was almost impossible. Perhaps I just hadn't had enough to drink ;)

 

New Years Eve in Amsterdam was the sole purpose of us booking this cruise, we've done Bruge many,many times before, but never Amsterdam. I especially wanted to take my 3 children to see Anne Franks house as all are studying History at GCSE. For a cruise during the school holidays & on a 'family friendly ship', there was nothing organised suitable for family entertainment during our extra enforced day at sea. Footlights stood empty most of the day and the only film shown yesterday was at 4.30pm, useless if you were on early sitting dinner like us. Where were the entertainments team, I assume they were all on holiday?? Sunday evening & Tuesday evening were the exact same entertainment acts, Mercury Rising & Soul Kinda Wonderful. I also thought it was very penny pinching not to have had a Captains Cocktail party on New years Eve, I know that they have been gradually phased out now on shorter cruises, but felt an exception could have been made for NYE. We were on Ocenana for 12 nights in July this year & felt there were a lot less staff on board this trip than there was in the summer, service was much slower everywhere. Overall we were very disappointed with the trip & it has made me question if we would sail with P&O again.

 

I would never book a cruise with the sole purpose of visiting a particular port, weather or other local events can alter any itinerary.

 

I love the conspiracy theories about ports and captains, I don't doubt for one minute that if it had been possible to get us there then it would have happened. As for where we actually were I think BrianI covers that earlier in the thread, unless AIS were in on the cover up!

 

Totally agree about the entertainment and the team, didn't expect anything else though, they are at their worst if asked to improvise or do a bit extra.

[LibraLass41]

Totally agree about the entertainment and the team, didn't expect anything else though, they are at their worst if asked to improvise or do a bit extra.

 

Agree the entertainment was dire in the day, the one film shown on 31st dec was 'Rock of Ages' was a musical like Mama Mia, but with two American teenagers belting out rock tunes . more suited to a few of the teens onboard not the other 1500+ middle aged adults like us.We walked out after 20mins...

On Jan 1st during the day there seemed nothing atall to entertain us, except guest speaker at 10am !!!!! on new years day when it was a ghost ship early morning, Why put the only speakers talk of the day on so early when most of the ship didn't go to bed till 1 or 2am ?? There wasn't a film on late morning or early afternoon, but at 4.30pm !!!! Too late for 1st sitting to watch, we could of done with one or even 2 films during the day.

Not every one wants to drink all day long. Other options were the usual quiz/selling beauty products talks and a whitehall gallery talk on Rolf Harris - which I'd seen before, dire .

 

Enjoyed the News years eve party. But agree with JoJo with the penny pinching lack of welcome aboard party it wouldn't of hurt them after the huge disappointment of a missed port, missed fireworks on new years eve. to have given us a free glass of champagne just before midnight.... I saw the glasses on the table after dinner and thought that was happening, then they tried to sell the champagne at £5.95 a glass:rolleyes:. Many people were disgusted, and told them no thanks !

 

No sailaway band, not even a fresh flower in the vase in the cabin, it was standing empty!! . I paid £400 a night for my cabin, it was a very expensive round trip to Zeebrugge. And yes the weather plays a huge part in any cruise in December, the weather forecast was not good, and perhaps we were never going to dock in Amsterdam anyway, the Ents team should of had better plans than they did for Dec 1st. They saw the weather forecast like we did before we sailed!!!

[jojo67]

Hi Libralass, glad it wasn't just me that felt the whole experience fell short of what I know P&O can offer. Our vases were also empty in both cabins, a small thing to some people, but if there were no flowers why not take away the vase. The toilet seats in both cabins were also very stained. shower curtains showing signs of mould and the cabinet door was hanging off the fridge door. I had hoped that some of the money for the refurb could have been spent in the cabins but apparently not. One day for lack of anything else to do I went to play Bingo, the game had to be restarted 4 times as the computer kept malfunctioning. On another occasion we went as a family to the Yacht & Compass for a Food & Drink quiz, however the girl couldn't find the correct quiz sheet & ran one on Movies & TV instead!! As I mentioned, Footlights stood empty all day New Years Day, with the exception of the 'early' aviation talk & was a wasted opportunity for showing a couple of extra films as you said.

[capasamari]

We were on this cruise as well and felt very let down by the entertainment provided. There were two main options each evening, one in each theatre, but both on at 8:30 and 10:30pm. As we were on late sitting dinner at 8:30 that immediately restricted us to only one option, and by the time we came out of dinner we were unable to get seats at all on two nights out of the four.

 

The musicians around the ship seemed good but only played for quite a short session, and as we had three 80+ year olds with us it wasn't easy to up and move rooms all the time once we had finally found a table and enough chairs in the first place!

 

There were quizzes on during the day but again it was very hard to get a seat as the venues were always full. The highlight of our day was our six laps of the prom deck...

 

We thought the New Year's Eve party in the atrium was good, until the band stopped playing at 12:20a.m. when we felt it was just getting going!

 

Compared to the parties on the last two New Year cruises we have spent on Thomson, with a Captain's drinks and canapés reception before dinner to shake hands and have a photo taken with him, then the Captain and cruise director doing the countdown to midnight on deck, the galley crew joining in with their pots and pans and the entertainment team doing a late-night cabaret, this was a complete non-starter.

 

Carol x

[Somerset Cruiser]

The highlight of our day was our six laps of the prom deck...

 

 

 

Carol x

 

Lightweight, I did 6.5, the full 2 miles :)

[capasamari]

Lightweight, I did 6.5, the full 2 miles :)

 

Ha ha so did we, I just used the whole number for ease! We felt a bit like schoolkids absconding ducking under the "deck closed" tape, but apart from the port aft corner it was quite sheltered and pleasant. There were plenty of maintenance crew out there who seemed pleased enough to see us!

 

Carol x

[Capnahab]

:confused: Having also just sailed on this cruise I thought I would add my ten pence worth. I had heard rumblings that the sail away band had been stopped and was very disappointed to find this was the case - the reason explained to me by one of the ent team handing out 175yrs flags at the non event was that they couldn't find any musicians any more! - Ha. I have cruised 26 times, mainly with P&O, mainly from Southampton and all of a sudden the musicians have dried up - I don't think so.

The cancelled stop at Amsterdam was a disappointment but I place my trust in the Captain and crew so I support them on that. One gripe I have ( petty to some maybe ) are the metal coathangers in the cabin, c'mon P&O surely some spare wooden ones would look much better and I was also surprised to see plastic chairs in Starlights, I know the shows were expected to be busy but it did look tacky.

On the shows, we thought they were great - Steve Larkin and the two Soul boys were really good and New Years Eve in there was fantastic, dancing till 3.30am!

On a plus, my mum was 70 on Dec 30th and we had balloons on the cabin door, at dinner ( Freedom ) and singing waiters along with a card from the Captain so nice touch's.

New Years Day on the Promenade Deck was lovely, I'm not smug but my wife and I did over 2 miles, about 8 circuits, it blew the cob webs off a treat after New Years Eve.

FYI, we got the train into Bruges from Blankenburg, really easy and just over 6euros return

[capasamari]

The secret to enjoying a successful evening's entertainment, i.e. being able to get in the room at all and preferably finding a chair and a table, seems to be to opt for early sitting or freedom dining.

 

Never again would I opt for second sitting on P&O.

 

Carol x

[Brayman]

We've mostly gone for first sitting, but even then have not always been able to get into an early show, but then never failed to get into the later show!