Swisdir

Due to a storm in the North Sea Columbus was approx 8 hours late docking. Not the fault of the company, but a decision by Thames pilots to suspend boarding ships until storm had died down. Columbus due to leave port at 15.00hrs, actual leaving 23.00hrs. Each passenger given £25 on board spend as compensation. Although we arrived early for embarkation the company had laid on buses to take us to Lakeside shopping centre, as Tilbury terminal has limited facilities. Embarkation went well at approx 17.00. Due to late embarkation we were unable to arrive at Copenhagen in time and had an extra day at sea. Although Columbus is an older ship, first launched in 1988, it is a lovely ship and has some character which can be lacking in some of the newer ships. Cabins were spacious, clean and comfortable. Public areas were good and furniture up to an acceptable standard. There were one or two areas which were a little tired, but I am being picky here and these areas did not spoil the enjoyment of our experience. Food in the Waterfront restaurant was excellent, and none of the people we shared a table with felt the need to try the pay for speciality restaurants, although I heard from other passengers that the were very good. I will not comment on the buffet as we did not use it very much, but it seemed popular. The on board entertainment team were excellent and put on 5 shows ranging from Rock and Roll, Broadway, Queen tribute, musicals and opera, all were good. Four shows were put on by a comedienne, 2 shows and a magician/comedienne 2 shows. There were also lectures and other events on sea days which I found enjoyable. I have read some negative comments about the cruise director, but I can only praise him and his team for a job well done. The highlight of the cruise was an overnight in St Petersburg well worth a visit. My only negative was the amount of piped music throughout the ship and the huge TV screen above the pool area which played all day, something which I found distracting. NB other people did not agree with me. We met some really nice people on board and everybody was friendly. We thoroughly enjoyed our cruise and I believe the cruise director was right when he remarked "This is not a cruise ship it is a friendship"