Vision of the Seas by Chris

Loved everything about it.

The ship was beautiful - lovely ocean views, clean, beautiful and rich decor, and even though the ship was filled to capacity, one never felt a crowded feeling in the public spaces. The food choices and presentations were superb - as was the service, cheerfulness and efficiency of the staff.

The entertainment was fantastically professional and varied for each night.

The food was excellent, varied, and beautifully presented.We had a large inside cabins. The storage and living space was efficiently engineered.There were many activities to choose from. Enjoyed all of the ship's excursions

Looking forward to trying the rest of the fleet!

Boston by John Cooper

Boston – The Walking City

Firstly, if you have ever been to the States before, and I am talking the usual haunts for British tourists, Florida, California, Las Vegas etc, Boston will come as a complete surprise to you.

Firstly, upon arrival, I have never cleared a US airport so quickly, and keep it to yourself, but the officers on immigration and customs where pleasant, one even smiled! The airport also has several little extras that I have not noticed in many international airports, like Free Wi-Fi, which if you are like me and just can’t wait to update your facebook page is great!

The city itself is very compact of an American city, and I must say, when ever we felt ‘lost’ as you often do in a new city, we where never more than a $15 ride in a cab from the hotel. The public parks are a fine attraction, as is the impressive harbour (Do treat yourself to a dinner cruise, its well worth it!)

The City has a number of hop-on hop-off trolley tours, and they all represent excellent value for money, some even offer a harbour cruise as part of the ticket price, I would suggest you grab one of these for the first day, it gives you a great overview o the city and orientation.

The one thing I really wanted to see was the world famous bar, featured on TV ‘where everyone knows your name’ – Cheers! The part you see on the TV outside is just like it looks on TV, but when you go inside, it really is different! However, this is America, where they always like to please, so some clever person has opened up a bar in a nearby shopping area that looks exactly like the TV set inside! So you can take your picture outside one, and inside the other! (A bit like what they did for the TV series!)

Shopping in Boston is a pleasure, there is such variety, and also the one thing I loved most, a sense of history. This really is the birthplace of the modern America, this is where the New World as really found, and there are buildings that look not dissimilar to any major European city in style.

And unusually for America, it has a sense of history, and I am not talking going back 20 years! You can stay in the Omni Hotel, the same hotel Charles Dickens stayed when he wrote ‘A Christmas Carol’ it was also the first city in America to have an underground rail system.

The City can have very different climates, I was there in early June, and one day it was 90 degrees then next day it was high 60’s, and in the winter the snow can really fall. With this in mind, you find many of the buildings have an ‘inside’ mall type system that links them, so you can go from building to building without leaving the climate controlled space! Cool in the summer – warm in the winter!

Close by there is so much to see and do, as the capitol of New England, it naturally goes without saying in the fall, this is the place to see! It is also close to Harvard the American university town, that is the equivalent of Oxford & Cambridge, you are also abut an hour or so from Cape Cod, with all it’s great beaches, and ports, and of course you can also visit ‘Martha’s Vineyard’ playground of America’s rich and famous. When I visited, I found the hospitality wonderful, and the island life relaxing, it is also the place they filmed the movie ‘Jaws’ although we where assured there are no massive man eating sharks in the area!

Another fine place to visit is Plimoth Plantation, which has life size working villages, showing how the Native Americans lived when the ‘New World’ was found, and how the new settlers lived, complete with cast members who never come out of character.. It really is something to see and hear. They also have the Mayflower 2, an exact scaled replica of the very first ship to bring pilgrims to the new world, which was built in the UK and sailed to the port taking nearly 6 weeks to get there by sail! And once again you can climb aboard and see how they crossed the Atlantic back then, a far cry from the luxury cruise liners of today.

In Conclusion, when ever you go to Boston, make sure you take a camera, and starve yourself for a week or 2 before, as the food is wonderful, and they are very generous with the portions!

Grandeur of the Seas by Jenny

We joined Grandeur of the Seas in Palma, Majorca.

The transfer to the ship was very quick, just 20 minutes by bus. Check in was very quick, as we had already printed our “set sail” passes before travel – this is well worth doing as it saved a lot of time. Those who had not printed this were waiting over an hour in a queue – not the best of starts in 30 degree weather!

As we boarded the ship, there were plenty of staff waiting to show us the way to go to get to our cabins or the nearest bar! Having been on a number of cruises, I have to say the staff on this ship were some of the best I have encountered.

Upon entering we found the cabin to have plenty of space, with all the usual “mod cons”.

There were lots of facilities on board, including a gym, spa, solarium for adults over 16, swimming pools, a couple of show lounges, a nightclub, a large casino, a 2 deck high theatre with some fantastic shows, and plenty of bars!

Our first day we docked in Barcelona. We decided to walk to the infamous “Rambla” area of the city which was about a 30 minute walk from the dock; however you can take a port shuttle bus for 2 Euro each way. We took the underground tube (1 euro 45 cents each way) to the beautiful Sagrada Familia designed by Antoni Gaudi. The site is under heavy construction, so unfortunately we didn’t get to see much because of the scaffold & cranes, but it was still worth the visit. As it was such a beautiful day we decided to take the long walk back to the ship. I wouldn’t recommend this for passengers with walking difficulties, as it took us around 2 hours, but as I say you can get the tube back which take 10 minutes.

The following day we were in Ibiza. There is again a long walk in to the town from the dock, but you can get a shuttle bus for $10 US dollars from the cruise line, and that will ferry you back & forth as many times as you like during the day. The famous “Bora Bora” beach in Playa D’en Bossa is worth a visit if you like lively music & plenty to drink! Alternatively you can take a walk up to the castle or around the harbour, and there are lots of reasonably priced boat tours available.

Our penultimate day we were at sea, so we spent the day on the rock climbing wall & in the pool. The food on board was always cooked to perfection. Even in the buffet restaurant we found a wide range of dishes & the solarium 24 hour café came in handy at 3am after we left the nightclub!

We departed the ship in Malaga, where it was just a 15 minute taxi ride to the airport. I would recommend Grandeur of the seas to families with children over 5 & under 16, couples & singles.

Boudicca by Richard Cross

Cruise aboard Boudicca, a truly world class ship.

I recently enjoyed a mini cruise on board Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines Boudicca ship, sailing from Liverpool to Greenock via Dublin. Fred Olsen offer a range of itineraries and departures from many ports around the UK, however Boudicca is the only ship in the fleet that offers a variety of departure ports including; Southampton, Liverpool, Greenock, Roysth, Newcastle and Portsmouth.

Because of it’s world cruise history, Boudicca tends to have larger cabins and a number of these are either outside or have a balcony. We decided to book a superior outside cabin, which was large in size, had plenty of storage and an en-suite bathroom with bath.

Out on the decks, there was plenty of room to sit down and enjoy the sea views. The ship had a large number of sunbeds on the decks and we even got sunburnt whilst in Dublin!

The food on Fred Olsen really is great; the main restaurant is split into three restaurants (Four Seasons, Heligan & Tintagel). We enjoyed our evening meal in the Four Seasons Restaurant, our waiter, Joseph, was helpful, hard working and the speed of service was fantastic. There is also the oriental styled Secret Garden café which houses the midnight buffet and informal dining. On Lounge deck, a poolside buffet is also available at mealtimes.

In the Neptune Lounge, the great shows & productions including a swinging at sea production and a hilarious comedian! In the Lido Lounge, there was daily entertainment including a quiz and bingo during the afternoon and at night, the Lounge became home to the resident DJ, disco and cabaret singers. The Observatory Lounge, located at the back of the ship, was the ideal place to unwind for a quiet drink after a long day exploring ports.

The leisure facilities on board were also great, with swimming pools, Jacuzzi, gym and fitness centre which were all available to use whilst on board. The ship enjoyed a number of improvements during a refit in early 2011, which included the construction of a new gym facility on Sun Deck with fabulous sea views! There are also shops on board to take home a souvenir or gift of your cruise.

We could not fault the staff on board who all worked hard and obviously enjoyed their job to go out of their way and help you.

I look forward to my next cruise on Boudicca.

Abu Dhabi by Tracy

Abu Dhabi – Wow what an amazing place.

We flew with Ethihad direct from London to Abu Dhabi and from the moment we stepped on the aircraft we know how much we where going to be look after. We spent two nights at the Sheraton hotel, one night at the Millennium Hotel, one night at the crown Plaza on Yas Island and one night at the Qasr Al Sarab Hotel in the desert. What amazing hotels I would recommend to stay in all of them.

The Sheraton was near to the beach with its own harbour, swimming pools and had four different restaurants to choose from. We choose to eat in the Mexican restaurant on day two and found the prices very reasonable. It had its own English pub if you didn’t want to go to far which had a great atmosphere. This hotel is not far from the cruise port

The Millennium Hotel was in the business district of Abu Dhabi; again this hotel had its own restaurants & a roof top swimming pool. This is great hotel if you want to explore the area around you and go shopping as everything is very close. The cruise port is very close to this hotel

The Crown Plaza was on Yas Island. It was approximately 35 minutes from the city of Abu Dhabi. I have to say this was my favourite hotel I stayed in. The hotel had its own swimming pool area and you could see the golf course a little further on. This hotel is great if you want to visit Ferrari world and the Yas Marina circuit as they are very close by. We booked a trip to Ferrari world this was great, we got to see the cars they use, we drove around the race track (this took 10 minutes compared to how fast they go) and I stood on the podium. I would definitely recommend this

The Qasr Al Sarab Hotel it a hotel I have never stayed in before. We drove 2 hours from Yas Island in to the desert. This hotel is in the middle of all the sand dunes. You can not see anything other than sand. The hotel was very luxurious and offered complimentary tours, including jeep safari’s and camel riding. In addition to this they offered spa treatments at an extra charge. They had a main restaurant or a French bistro which offered an A la Carte menu.
This was certainly a good experience.

On My travels I also go to see the Emirates palace, which was situated right on the beach. The Mecrure Grand hotel which was at the top of a mountain and the Yas Marina hotel. Again the hotels were great

Having been to Abu Dhabi it has given me a great knowledge of hotels and where to stay or what to do if you are wanting to a pre or post stay in Abu Dhabi before joining your cruise ship. I would definitely go back and hopefully will return in the not to distant future.