A couple more Marco Polo voyage notes at last, now that I have managed to upload my photos to Flickr :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/prondis_in_kenya/sets/72157624007520670/detail/Perhaps my main impression after the very brief 3-night "Bulbfields" mini cruise is that I need more time to give her a proper chance -- a short week-end was simply not enough. If only Tilbury was not so hard to reach... but I can recommend the special "boat coach" from Victoria.
Embarkation was wonderfully easy, and the fact that I did not have a ticket to show (thanks to the ash clouds... but that is a different story!) made no difference -- the ticket requested by e-mail was ready and waiting at the terminal and handed to me with a smile. No hanging around at all -- it was straight up the gangway, a brief stop at the photographer's, and into the ship.
The ship as such was lovely -- wonderful teak decks, a fine shape, that impressive ice-strengthened hull, amazing history and all that.
The interiors are all mid-1990s. Nothing of Aleksandr Pushkin is left at all. I found them neither excitingly beautiful (like Rotterdam), nor in any way offputting. The ship was comfortable, and I would be perfectly happy to live with these interiors for a longer cruise. The cabin was homely and cozy, and the cabin stewardess provided good service.
The safety drill was the most elaborate I have ever experienced! We were taken to our lifeboats (mine was right outside my cabin, a minuscule walk to get there!), introduced to the crew member who would be helping us there if need be, and told more about how to board the lifeboat if the case arose. I am sure I would not like this level of detail every week, but I did enjoy it on this occasion, as it was quite different from what I have had on other ships.
The crew were clearly overworked. There was none of the usual greeting of people in the alleyways or having a wee chat with them here and there. But as they got used to us, they relaxed and smiled and the atmosphere got much more friendly. One or two of them, when they had a moment, told us that they liked the ship and enjoyed working there. Rehearsed talk? Perhaps, but probably genuine. A high proportion of the crew were Ukrainians, which may explain why they were slow to thaw and make contact with the passengers. But certainly, in the restaurants, there was also the pressure of looking after many tables and passengers.
Almost all the passengers were British, most of them living close to Tilbury. The age mix was not bad -- there were quite a few having a great time dancing the night away in a rather attractive public room.
Many of them had booked the cruise because it was cheap -- only a few had an idea that they were on a special ship. The cruise was booked out, and the last few cabins were sold off at GBP 120 or so per person, so every space was taken. And as the weather was cold and wet, everyone stayed inside rather than enjoying the lovely decks, which made for a bit of crowding in the public spaces.
The dinner arrangements, very sadly, went wrong -- we could not all sit together at one table as we had hoped. But I enjoyed the breakfast, probably the best meal of the day, with a good choice and all fresh. But breakfast was single seating in the main restaurant, and therefore a queue formed, and you sat with the people before and / or after you in the queue. This system was well organised, and I got to meet a few interesting people as a result!
A couple with whom I got chatting over breakfast turned out to have quite an interesting story. The husband had worked aboard Aleksandr Pushkin for the best part of a year as a ship photographer, and he had returned for the first time since then. As expected, he found the interior entirely changed. A couple of us were invited to have a look at his cabin, on the lowest deck of the ship, just above sea level. Looking out of that porthole will remain an abiding memory -- how the sea sped past, right in front of your eyes! Something to remember for next time...
We were very lucky (or so we thought) to have two very different public holidays in the two ports we visited. They were both fun -- Queens' Day in Amsterdam even more so than Labour Day in Antwerp. Wonderful scenes of the Dutch letting go and enjoying themselves, and then of the Belgian trade unionists and their families and pets and musicians having a good parade.
So, all in all, I am so glad I was there -- and I definitely want to go again, for a longer cruise next time, to get to know the ship properly.
