Today we woke up feeling a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Excitement because we were setting off on another cruise, and trepidation because we were sailing out of Liverpool and had booked to go there by train. In itself, we would normally view the train journey as part of the holiday, but yesterday there had been massive disruption of the Transpennine railway route at Manchester, meaning nearly all Transpennine trains had been cancelled, and the disruption was expected to continue to some degree today.
We therefore checked the National Rail app as soon as we got up at 7.00am. We were booked on the 10:18 from Durham to Liverpool Lime Street and we saw that the 07:18 and 08:18 had already been cancelled! Trevor therefore checked online to see if there was available parking in Liverpool; if the worst came to the worst we could always drive there.
At 8.45am we left he house to take Cedric, our cat, to the cat hotel. As usual he was not happy at being put into his cat transporter, but as it was only a 15 minute ride he was reasonably relaxed with the aid of some Feliway we had sprayed into the carrier beforehand, and we delivered him safety into the capable hands of Dave and Janice, who own the cat hotel where Cedric is a regular.
On the way back, we checked the trains again and saw that the 09:18 had left on time and the 10:18 was expected to be on time as well.
Back home, we put the car away, lugged our suitcases downstairs and waited for our transport; a good friend was giving us a lift to the station. Checking the big electronic board, we saw that our train was still on time, and soon we spotted the bright headlights as the train appeared in the distance. We boarded, stashed our cases in the luggage rack (apart from the third case holding my shoes, which went in the overhead rack; I wasn’t letting it out of my sight. 🙂
The train was pretty full and there was a noisy group of lads who had boarded the train before us, in Newcastle. They had lots of cans of beer and it sounded as if they’d been already had quite a few drinks at the station, because they were loud and boisterous, although not unpleasantly drunk. 🙂
The train sped through the sunny countryside, more or less keeping to time until it arrived at Leeds. There was some issue with the points there, and we saw workmen in bright hi-viz overalls and hard-hats who had obviously been doing some work on the tracks. We were about seven minutes late by the time we left Leeds, but soon we were moving again and on our way. Liverpool was beckoning. 🙂
Soon we slowed to a crawl once again, and we wondered what was going on. An announcement came over the PA to say that there was a trackside fire in a field ahead, with a lot of smoke, so we had slowed right down until we were past the fire. We could see the fire brigade were in attendance, and we could smell the smoke.
Eventually we arrived at Liverpool Lime Street, 18 minutes late. We had been given a boarding time of 1.30pm and it was now 17 minutes past, so by the time we took the underground train two stops along to James Street it was boarding time. It only took 10 minutes to trundle our cases around to the cruise terminal, where we we able to check in and board straight away. We were here! We’d made it! 🙂
As we stepped into the plush interior of Fred Olsen’s Bolette to the cries of “Welcome on board” it felt as if we were coming home. We love the Fred Olsen ships and have cruised on all of them, past and present; this was our second time on Bolette, the flagship of the fleet.
Bolette would be taking us to Iceland and the Faeroes. Now we have been to Iceland and the Faeroes several times before, but the main attraction this time was that, on 12th August, western Iceland would be right in the path of totality for a solar eclipse! This is surely a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and we were just so excited. We hoped the weather would be good; we had looked at the long-term forecast for Iceland, but it didn’t look too promises – cloudy and with rain showers.
We had been allocated cabin 3388, a spacious ocean-view stateroom on Deck 3, the promenade deck. It was a bit disconcerting at first when we kept seeing power walkers and deck strollers going past outside our window, until we went outside and saw that it was mirrored glass; we could see out, but no-one could see in. We tested it with the lights on; I stayed inside while Trevor went outside to have a look, but our privacy was assured. 🙂
Our cabin had twin beds underneath the window, a large dressing table, a coffee table and two armchairs which faced a large television screen on the wall. We had plenty of drawer and wardrobe space and the bath room contained a shower cubicle, WC and basin. It all looked cosy and comfortable and we knew, from our long experience with Fred Olsen, that we would have a pleasant and relaxing cruise. 🙂
Once we’d dumped our rucksacks in 3388, we had but one thought in mind: food. For some reason there had been no buffet car or refreshments trolley on the train, so we hadn’t eaten since 7.30am and we were pretty hungry as it was now after 2.00pm. We hotfooted it up to The View self-service buffet and Trevor had fish, chips and mushy peas (it is Friday after all!) while I just opted for a couple of sandwiches. We each washed our late lunch down with a glass of chilled prosecco, to get our cruise off to a good start. 🙂
We had chosen to purchase the all-inclusive drinks package on this cruise. When we booked it in December 2024, the cost per person per day for the drinks package was £25.00, which included all house wines, spirits and beers but not premium brands or cocktails (you paid 50% for those). The drinks package now costs £40.00 pppd but includes everything. We wondered how it would work out for us, but they’d honoured the fact that we’d booked this cruise very early and let us have the Premium drinks package anyway, so we wouldn’t receive a separate bill for all those cocktails and after-dinner liqueurs. 🙂
After lunch we returned to 3388 to see that our suitcases had arrived, and we spent some time hanging everything up neatly and folding t-shirts and underwear into drawers. I lined all my shoes up in the bottom of the wardrobes. 🙂
We then decided to get washed, changed and smartened up for the sailaway party before dinner. I wore a pair of leggings with lace panels down the side, a sequinned top and my amazing Irregular Choice “Gulls and Buoys” nautical wedge shoes, which certainly attracted a lot of attention as we made our way to the pool deck.
We perched on bar stools in the Liverpool sunshine at the poolside bar. The retractable roof of the pool was open. We each ordered a cocktail; I had Aperol Spritz while Trevor enjoyed the ‘cocktail of the day’, whatever that was, some sort of concoction with vodka in it. We waited for the resident band, who went by the intriguing name of Cosmic Lemon, to arrive for the sailaway party, and we checked the programme to ensure we were in the right place; it did say ‘midships pool’. However, no party was in evidence and we were enjoying it where we were sitting, so we just decided we had time for one more drink before dinner.
We ordered a prosecco each, looked at each other with that happy embarkation day feeling, and clinked our flutes together. It didn’t quite have the same musical effect with a plastic glass! (How can you have a plastic ‘glass’ ?) As we did so, the Bolette gave the three customary long blasts on her foghorn, and slowly started to move away from the dockside. Our voyage to Iceland had begun. 🙂
Just before six o’clock we made our way to the Bloomsbury Restaurant and headed towards table #207, the table for six we had requested. We always choose a table for six or eight as we enjoy the dinnertime interaction with our fellow passengers and have had some great table mates in the past.
When we arrived at our table, one couple were already sitting there, and they introduced themselves as Steve and Susan from Yorkshire. They told us while they have done lots of river cruising, this was their first ocean-going cruise. They were astonished when we told them this was our 74th! 🙂
Shortly afterwards, the other couple arrived; Roger and Sue from Bournemouth. Everyone was very friendly and there was certainly no shortage of conversation.
The food, as ever, was delicious. I started off with a home-made fishcake with tartar sauce, followed by a crisp house salad. For my main course I enjoyed a perfectly-cooked steak with all the trimmings. It was all washed down with crisp, well-chilled Grenache rosé wine.
I passed on the dessert, choosing to have a cup of coffee and finish with an amaretto. An excellent meal in convivial company; in fact, the waiter had to come and gently remind us that they would be needing the table for the next sitting. 🙂
As we left the restaurant, my nautical wedge sandals attracting much attention, we came to the exit where there were either some steps to descend or a ramp (obviously for wheelchairs). What possessed me to go down the ramp I do not know, but it was carpeted and the smooth soles of my wedges meant that I slowly “skied” down the ramp, much to the amusement of passers-by. 🙂
We then made our way to the Neptune Lounge for tonight’s entertainment, which was a show called “Legacy” featuring the Bolette Show Company. It was a new and original show, which used music, song and dance to tell the story of the Fred Olsen shipping line over the 175 years of its history. It was an excellent show, certainly different from the usual offerings.
Afterwards, we went along to the Morning Light pub, where we had agreed to meet Steve and Susan to form a quiz team. The Morning Light was pretty full, so the only seats were on bar stools. We teamed up with another couple so there were six of us, but the extra brain-power was to no avail, as we only scored 11/15. The winners scored 13.
Steve and Susan then said their goodnights, and Trevor and I decided to go up to the Observatory and listen to Cosmic Lemon again. We sat on bar stools and enjoyed another couple of cocktails each; the music was excellent, they were a really talented set of musician.
We stayed there until just after midnight, then headed back to 3388 to settle down for the night, after first of all opening the curtains a few inches. The Bolette steamed on into the night with only a very slight movement which quickly lulled us to sleep.