It’s about time we had a look at our ship. The Robert Burns is sister to Thomas Hardy! Bet you didn’t know that!
Two identical boats. Both 135 metres long and 11.4 metres in beam. Both licenced to carry 176 passengers. On this trip we are about 70 short of a full picnic.
It looks beautiful at sunset. And not bad after dark…
We get some great views from our window.
And we get lots of sunsets!
And someone else does the driving!
With occasional locks to navigate…
For which the deck control units are used to manoeuvre. We have three propulsion units all of which can be swivelled through 360 degrees to give total control. The props pull water in from below and force it out in the desired direction over a bell shaped unit. This means that when we go aground (which we did once) the props aren’t the lowest thing.
And talking of bell-shaped things… Every ship has one…
Made in 2018! I like a new boat! The reception area is very smart…
.. is manned and womanned by two very friendly faces…
They are like the hotel’s reception staff. Beyond the foyer, the door on the upper level leads into the lounge…
… while the entrance to the dining room can just be seen on the deck below.
Here we get to suffer buffet style breakfasts and three course lunches
AND, of course, five course dinners! The farewell dinner was the most formal we got. Bow ties for everyone!
It’s all very “sufficient” on the calories front – perhaps a better word would be “excessive” rather than “sufficient”! The dessert table was always well stocked with fruit (and, obviously with more desirable cakes and puddings!)
How the head chef and his team produce all this stuff from what is clearly a very compact kitchen area is a miracle!
Oh, and if that’s not enough, there are pastries and juice available in the atrium from before I was ever conscious. As Rob would say – “before the crack of sparrow-fart”. In his defence, he is a Kiwi. (Just don’t mention the rugby!)
In between we are faced with other comestible snacks. Like the icecream emporium in the lounge one day…
… and on one of only two days when we were not on board for lunch we were all given a packed lunch just to make sure we didn’t get hungry!
Finally, on the subject of food, there was a small bistro-style dining room at the stern of the ship where Patrick, the singing waiter, and his team served lunches and dinners on reservation. Sadly, my video of Patrick singing a farewell song on the last night didn’t record. But in my uninformed opinion he has got a fabulous voice and a potential next career on the stage.
OK. So where we we billeted? Cabin 307. Deck 3 port side. Good choice. No engine noise. No rocking motion. No party noise (but then again there were no parties. Well, none to which we were invited!). And most conveniently no swamping waves through open windows when we got to the Black Sea.
The very first thing we did on arrival was request 50 extra coat hangers. I think we settled for 25. I ended up with three!!!
Our bathroom… with some strange person taking a remote selfie!
Now the whole programme was held together by the unflappable Andras, (pronounced “Andrash”) the Cruise Manager, and his assistant, George. Any awkward questions. Ask “Ciao for Now” Andras! Here he is with his hound in his home port of Budapest. I guess that’s a “guide’s dog”!
All that ramains is for the captain to say goodbye to his passengers – and on a scale of 1 to 10 how happy does he look to see us all go?
As far as we are concerned, we have had a fabulous cruise. Not always scenic, but certainly educational and quite eye-opening.
Well that’s enough of that – but we still have some REALLY old skeletons to check out back on the river so there’s more to follow.
That boat looks awesome…..not too big with a nice number of companion travellers. Were they mostly American?
Big hugs and 7 kisses
Xxxxxxx
There were a couple of Americans, four Canadians, a couple of Argentinians, a couple of Spaniards (one of whom was an ex-pat). And I think all the rest were British. It’s by far the most British cruise we have ever been on!