Mediterranean Cruise with Cunard
We decided on the Queen Victoria because the itinerary suited us best.
The booking process was straight forward and the glossy brochure they sent us with all the itinerary and excursions you can book was very useful. We also heard a few weeks before that once we arrived in Venice, our luggage would be transferred from the plane directly to the ship because the flight with BA had been chartered by Cunard.
The check-in at the Venice cruise terminal was swift and, before long, we were on the ship and finding our way around.
Our cabin was a mid-ship balcony cabin on 6 deck. I felt it was perfect. There was plenty of storage space and a king size bed with pillows I wanted to take home with me! The bathroom was normal for a cruise, with a very good shower.
Unfortunately, the departure from Venice was not till after dark which was disappointing and we had to get to dinner. We had selected the late sitting at 8:30pm.
Cunard do not have "anytime dining" but in fact I do like to eat at this time and the other guests on our table were a delight and if anything, made our cruise even more special.
Wine is very expensive on the ship. They seem to turn a blind eye if you buy a bottle when you are on shore to consume in the cabin but otherwise they would charge a corkage fee if you took it to the table. The food was excellent. Plenty of choice and not once would I say my meal was disappointing.
We went to every show after our meal. This was at 10:30pm which gave us plenty of time. Every show was superb and varied too. The ship is not exactly a party ship and once the late show had ended, almost everyone retired to their cabin.
The destinations we visited on this cruise were:
Kotor in Montenegro: a beautiful ancient town but the views, for possibly up to an hour before entering the Kotor port, were amazing. Very much like the Norwegian Fjords.
Corfu Town: I have been here before for just for the day but it really has made us want to come back and stay longer.
Cagliari Sardinia: An interesting town where we did a lot of walking including up to the ancient citadel. Naples: We have already been to Sorrento and Capri so decided we would stay in Naples. I was quite taken with this city. We decided with another couple from our dining table that we would visit the underground tunnels which were used during the Second World War. It took us 1.5hrs to find them but we did visit some interesting back streets of Naples and in fact I am pleased we got lost!
Rome: We had never been to Rome and as it was my husband’s birthday too. We booked a tour via "Cruising Excursions" rather than Cunard. This was advertised as a luxury tour with just 8 of us in a mini-bus. This meant we were able to get much closer to all the sights and also had time for a delicious lunch. It was very good and worth every penny but still a lot cheaper than Cunard's excursions.
Barcelona: I have been to Barcelona twice but every time felt I had missed everything I should have seen. We decided to book a Hop on/Hop off bus tour which costs about 27 euros. You could pick this up by where the cruise bus dropped you off. The bus took us to the Barcelona football ground, where we spend a couple of hours. We really had a lovely day.
Ajaccio in Corsica: We were really looking forward to stopping here. Again, we just did our own thing. It is an attractive town with its old town and a modern part too. It has a lovely promenade and it does make you feel you are on the Cote D'Azur. We did have a very unfortunate situation with a restaurant owner who didn't like me complaining about his atrocious mussels. Please, never order mussels in Corsica! Apparently they have no idea how to cook them. I was told that by another restauranteur!
Monte Carlo: This was my favourite stop. I am not sure why I love this place but I do and I have been here several times in the past. It just has something about it. All the glamour and glitz. My eyes are everywhere hoping to spot a celebrity. We decided to bite the bullet and have a coffee in the "Café De Paris" which at 6 euros each, was not the most expensive coffee we paid for during this holiday. We walked miles that day and we loved every minute.
Our last stop was La Spezia: We decided not to book the excursion we were considering only because my husband and I couldn't agree on whether to visit Pisa, my husband’s choice or Florence, my choice. We did walk all the way up to the train station to see if we could get a train to Pisa but we had just missed one and the journey was longer than I thought at 1.5 hours so we gave it a miss and stayed in La Spezia. It is not a particularly remarkable city but it had a great market and some nice shops. It also has a pleasant new harbour with lovely yachts (not quite like those in the Monaco harbour!)
We had four days at sea interspersed between the stops which were a nice break and very relaxing. The weather on the whole was good but we did have one day at sea when the deck was closed because of the wind and spray but as we had a balcony where it was lovely and sunny that day, we spent some time just reading.
Our journey home came around far too quickly but it was straight forward and well organised by everyone concerned.
We had a ball on this cruise and loved every minute.