Southampton, Cadiz, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Alghero, Palma and Gibraltar, Southampton

The Sea returned to Princess (where she belongs…) in April this year after a short period at P&O as the Adonia.

We booked her for this itinerary, which is one of the most interesting in Europe.

The ship:
Sea Princess has a beautiful décor and lovely public rooms. The Vista Lounge and the Wheelhouse Bar are the most beautiful. The atrium is large and impressive, the atrium elevators go to the floors 5-8 - the main dining and shopping areas and to the purser’s desk. The upper deck with the pools and the new movie screen is very nice.

Embarkation:
Sea was arriving late to Southampton so embarkation went slow. We arrived at the terminal at about 11:30, the passengers leaving the ship were still around. Only at 12:00 they started checking in people (who stood in line for some time) and afterwards we had to wait for an hour or so at the lounge upstairs. We’ve had better embarkations.

The Cabin:
We booked a mini-suite AC for the 3 of us. It was one of the most beautiful cabins we’ve ever had. The nicest thing was the plant at the entrance. The balcony was large and narrow. The curtains were lovely. There were 2 TV sets, one of them smaller. A queen size bed, sofa, armchair, 2 desks (which were very convenient) a safe, fridge, hair dryer at the desk and a curtain to separate the bedroom from the living room. The bathroom had a very nice Jacuzzi and a separate walk-in shower. The mini-suite was also very quiet and it was very lit too. The walk-in closet was very nice, the door was also a full-length mirror. The laundry service was very good too, there are also self service launderettes which we don’t use

The Food:
We had a fantastic table for 3 at the dining room, near the window, it felt very private and roomy. Our waiters were excellent. The food was so wonderful that I miss it now when I think of it. The meals were varied and delicious. The baked potatoes were a great addition. The deserts were fantastic! The mocha ice cream and the apple pie were the best I’ve ever eaten, the mocha cake was wonderful too. The food is as good as Connie’s food.

The Entertainment:
The Princess dancers and singers gave 4 shows that were great, most of them at the Vista Lounge. There were also a magician, which was very good, a juggler, rock & roll piano man, comedians and a violinist. The cruise director J.J. King was great and also gave a show. Some evenings they showed movies at the theatre. There was a Sherlock Holmes quiz that was very funny. There was live entertainment in all the bars too. We didn’t see all the shows because we were too tired. The large shows repeated the next day at a different hour. All in all the entertainment was varied and good.

A word for Princess: Please bring Alexander back!

The Ports:
The itinerary was: Southampton, Cadiz, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Alghero, Palma and Gibraltar, Southampton.
In Cadiz we booked a limousine service from Cadiz for a tour of Seville. The day before, the captain announced that we will be late arriving to Cadiz, we tried to phone the limo company to postpone the limo to a later time. Unfortunately they don’t have an English speaking recipient all the time so when we called them they spoke only Spanish. That really put us under pressure, so we phoned the purser’s desk and asked them if someone there speaks Spanish, luckily Norma did, so we went there and gave her the details to tell them to postpone the limo’s arrival time, and that solved our little crisis.
So we met our limo at 12:30, the driver did know English and was very good. We went first to Alfonso Hotel to eat lunch, which was great, afterwards we drove to Alcazar Palace. Alcazar is lovely, but in 40 degrees it is too hard to see all of it. Afterwards we drove for a tour in Seville. Seville is a beautiful city with impressive buildings and palm trees. The way back and to Seville was quick and we got back on time.

In Barcelona we booked a limo for a tour of the city and the new science museum CosmoCaixa. The museum is great and we spent there two hours exploring. Afterwards we had a tour of the city and then back to the ship.

In Monte Carlo we went to see the Prince’s Palace which is very beautiful and the Napoleon Museum next to it, which was very interesting. After having lunch at Hotel de Paris we went back to Sea.

We didn’t go to any tour in Livorno, since we’ve been in Florence and Pisa twice before.

In Rome we booked the “Rome On Your Own” and toured sights we didn’t see before and that didn’t have so many tourists. Rome is always wonderful even in the rain.

In Alghero we booked the “Taste of Sardinia” tour, which was supposed to be a very moderate one. It was not. Sardinia is a lovely island, with great views. The guide took the group for an hour-long walk in the city and after a long drive to the winery. The winery was interesting enough, but we had heavy rain and had to rush back to the bus.

In Palma we did the Valdemossa tour. It was very interesting, we visited Son Marroig and the Carthusian Monastery the guide was very good. Palma is very beautiful and makes you want to return.

In Gibraltar we booked the Dolphin Watch. We were supposed to meet on deck, there were minibuses to take the groups to the boat terminal. There was no Princess guide at all, when we got down we had to wait 30 minutes standing at the building at about 38 degrees with no air-condition. After the boat finally arrived, the cruise was not comfortable, bumpy and rocky. At the first place the dolphins didn’t come and the boat sailed to another place, where we could hardly see some groups of dolphins from a distance but as we started to see them the boat started returning so we didn’t really see anything.

Activities on the Ship:
One novelty was ceramic painting, it cost money though. We painted on 2 fish dishes which was great fun. The second one was Movies Under The Stars that was very nice but it was too chilly for us. The Bingo was as usual, the casino is small, next to it there is a small board game area. The Internet café is good with enough computers. The Champagne waterfall was also nice. The shops on board had some nice things especially the Princess stuff.

Disembarkation:
Disembarkation was very quick and good. We met our driver very quickly and sadly left Southampton.

We had a wonderful cruise and we enjoyed it a lot. We love Sea Princess as much as we love the Grand.