Cruising: a memorable maiden voyage

Life on the ocean wave aboard the biggest ship ever to leave Dover - bound for Amsterdam. By Adrienne Wyper

Carnival are known as ‘the fun ships' and our time aboard got off with a bang as Myleene Klass, appointed as the ship's godmother, officiated at the naming ceremony.

 

She played ‘Sailing' on stage on the Lido Deck while, in a break with tradition, a Royal Navy frogman, Petty Officer Christian Rumming, 39, from the Fleet Diving Squadron at Portsmouth, shinned up a rope from beneath the water, then pulled a bottle of English sparkling wine (Nyetimber 1994 Blanc de Blancs from their West Sussex vineyard, to be precise) from a compartment in his wetsuit and smashing it over the name on the bow. Fireworks exploded, filling the air with confetti, and the ship blasted away on its mighty horn.

 

The biggest ship ever to sail from Dover, the 113-tonne Splendor eased out of the harbour with a watching crowd on the harbour wall and tugboats jetting their hoses, as is traditional. As the ship glided past the white cliffs of Dover, me and my partner, Bob, stood on the Panorama deck (number 10) toasting the maiden voyage with cocktails, and thought what a fine way to spend a summer evening.

 

Wining and dining

One of the advantages of being on a cruise is that you don't pay for meals: it's all included, which saves you fumbling for your purse, or even carrying one at all.

The afternoon we boarded, we sampled the Rotisserie: a great selection of hot and cold dishes - all tasting good and fresh. As the company is American, we weren't surprised to see a bowl of ‘strawberry Jello'.

In the evening we dined in the Black Pearl restaurant, with décor themed on the precious stone, and were served extremely attentively by friendly waiting staff, who were also extremely lively - at one point taking to podiums in costume to dance in synch! We also managed to sample pizza (available 24 hours a day!) and curry on the Lido deck (number 10).

You're never too far from a bar (there are at least eight), and you just hand your Sail & Sign card over, then settle up with the purser at the end of the cruise. Most of the bars are on the Promenade deck (number five), and on Saturday evening, when dinner was formal dress, it was like a fashion show watching our fellow guests parade along this (indoor) catwalk, stopping off in the casino, or to have their picture taken by the on-board photographer.

 

Our favourites were the Linear bar, outdoors but sheltered on the Lido deck (number 10) with restrained wood cladding and rope-wound pillars, and El Mojito on the Promenade deck, which did serve up a pretty good mojito. We also enjoyed the popular Grand Piano, where a pianist plays singalong songs on a rotating grand piano in the middle of a bar made of giant piano keys.

 

Bed on board

Having never slept on a ship before (unless you count drunken evenings on Greek and cross-Channel ferries in my younger days), I wasn't sure what to expect from our stateroom (not cabin). It had a balcony with an unexpectedly fine view of the bridge. (And later the crew there had an unexpectedly fine view of me too: on the balcony in my short nightie in the early morning as we sailed up the river Ij towards Amsterdam.)

The room was spacious, with attractive art on the walls, and the bed was super-firm, as I like it, and I was so impressed I did toy with the idea of buying one, as a leaflet in the room said you could. The bathroom was tiny, but everything was tidily packed in.

 

Floating fun palace

The fleet is known as ‘the fun ships' and there are things to do in every corner of the Splendor's 13 decks, and we conducted a through survey. From the running track out on the very top (Sky) deck, dropping down past the crazy golf course (Sun deck), and on Spa deck the volleyball court, swimming pools, Jacuzzis (indoor and outdoor), swimming pools - one with waterslide, internet room and even a library. Feeling flush? Head for the casino, on the Promenade deck. Feeling frazzled? Head for the spa, on the Spa deck of course.

 

And on stage in the Spectacular Spectacular venue is the Showtime Spectacular: a glitzy cavalcade of fast-paced musical numbers by talented performers.

 

Ashore in Amsterdam

Having been before, Bob and I decided against a day of frenzied sightseeing. Instead, we walked to the city centre, then hired typical Dutch sit-up-and-beg-style bikes and headed for Brouwersgracht, the most picturesque stretch of canal according to our guidebook. After getting caught in a bike jam, we stopped off for a coffee and Dutch apple cake at one of the many canalside cafés.

 

We pedalled alongside more canals, past Anne Frank's House and the beautiful Westerkirk church to a renowned cheese shop, De Kaaskamer, where we stocked up on local Old Amsterdam cheese and a couple of wedges of cheese with basil and caraway seeds. From the savoury to the sweet, and one of the world's finest chocolate shops: Puccini. The city has two branches, which sell chocolate mouthfuls with exquisite fillings such as prune, black pepper and lemongrass.

 

Pausing at the floating flower market (Bloemenmarkt) to buy some... all together now: ‘tulips from Amsterdam', we carried on, taking no particular route, past the Rijksmuseum to the Vondelpark, formerly famed as a hippie (and druggie) hangout, but now more refined. A couple of wheat beers at the Art Deco circular café Het Blauwe Theehuis (Blue Tea House) powered us back to the bike shop. And a 15-minute stroll brought us back to the Splendor for a quick swim and soak in the Jacuzzi before dinner, and our return to Dover.

 

Further information

For details of the Carnival Splendor and other Carnival cruises please visit www.carnivalcruise.co.uk or call 020 7940 4466. A 12-day European cruise on the Carnival Splendor in August costs from £977. (Itinerary: Dover, Copenhagen, Denmark; Berlin, Germany; Tallinn, Estonia; St Petersburg, Russia; St Petersburg, Russia; Helsinki, Finland; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Dover).

Carnival Liberty offers cruise enthusiasts the chance to see the world from the deck of the largest-ever passenger ships. A cruise experience costs from only £799 per person based on travel in May 2009.