Getting About a Bit - Cruising: 6th Jan 2020 - Tilbury to Sydney

OK, so' it's been ages since I last posted. We have been on a few cruises since tthen, but I've been finding it difficult to keep up with the blog whilst cruising - lack of internet etc, and I sought of stopped.......

But I like writing the posts, a bit like a dear diary, so I've decided to try writing them retrospectively. I have some notes that I wrote during the cruise, Peter's blog, the ship's daily program and all my photo's to remind me, so I'm gonna give it a go, so herewith.....

It's embarkation day and we are due to board our ship from 1 pm onwards. As we approached Tilbury cruise terminal we saw MV Columbus from a good distance away. It looks bigger than the Magellan to me, but Peter doesn't agree, he thought they look about the same size. I like this ship, I find it much more comfortable than the others CMV have, although it doesn't have the open decks that we like on the Marco Polo.

The Atrium

We arrived early, but there was already a long queue, and it was building up fast. It wasn't even the queue for boarding, but an additional check to ensure visas and health checks, particularly questions about yellow fever and measles. Fiji has an outbreak and we are due to visit in February, so everyone is being asked to tick boxes saying they are immune (i.e. you had it when you were a child, or have been vaccinated. Turns out NHS advice is to have a booster if you are travelling.)

As we were waiting, we met up with Sue Walsh and Paul and Joce Twose, lecturers on this cruise, and Sheena, one of the CMV admin team. Sheena did what she usually does, and took over like a whirlwind, whisking us all through both the health check and boarding processes. Passengers watched with envious eyes as we sauntered past the queues. We feel quite the VIPs when this happens.

And then we were onboard and checking out our cabin. Oh what luxury! It's not massive, but so well fitted it's perfect. There is a walk in type wardrobe and 24 drawers! There is also a kettle and tea/coffee making facilities, a fridge, plenty of shelf space, a dressing table, chair and stool, the double bed is two singles pulled together, and the shower is huge. We're on deck 8 with a full size window and I love it. OK, there is a lifeboat right outside, but it means we have daylight all the time there is daylight, and it won't get closed off in bad weather. I am a happy bunny.

Another nice thing is that CMV have provided hessian shopping bags (CMV logo of course), lanyards and water bottles. We'll definitely make use of the bags and bottles.

One of the pools on deck 12

The 2nd pool. Note the pool bar!

So what about the rest of the ship. Well, we've walked miles on our tour. I kept getting frissions of excitement because it feels like a proper, luxurious cruise ship. It is bigger than the Magellan, and it certainly felt that way as were walking around. The decks are longer, and there are more of them. The central atrium really adds the sense of something a little bit special, the spa is amazingly well kitted out, the bistro seemed massive, busy, confusing, but fitted out very tastefully and overall it just seems a bit classier than the other CMV ships. I really like it.