This cruise was from Liverpool to Leixoes (Oporto), Bilbao, Le Verdon (Bordeaux) and Nantes returning to Liverpool with 4 sea days. The Black Prince is small (11,000 tons ) and carries about 400 passengers.

Diary
Thursday 23rd April
Depart Liverpool , Style/ theme - Casual
Friday 24th April
At sea, Style/ theme - Formal
Saturday 25th April
At sea, Style/ theme - Western/Casual
Sunday 26th April
Leixoes for Oporto, Style/ theme - Informal
Monday 27th April
At sea, Style/ theme - Casual/Tropical
Tuesday 28th April
Getxo for Bilbao, Style/ theme - Informal
Wednesday 29th April
Le Verdon for Bordeaux, Style/ theme - British/Casual (Red, White and Blue)
Thursday 30th April
Nantes, Style/ theme - Casual
Friday 1st May
At sea, Style/ theme - Formal
Saturday 2nd May
Arrive Liverpool - then home


Embarkation
Oh dear! The delight in handing over my luggage when I got on the shuttle bus at Lime Street was short lived. We arrived at the terminal and joined the short queues for processing and to receive our boarding pass and ship ID card. Then the wait in a lounge better suited to a hospital waiting room began (no carpets, few tables and uncomfortable seats). It seemed to take a long time to get aboard for a small ship and the venue did not create a good impression. Leaving was further delayed in the Langton Lock as we waited for the tide in the river to rise. It has been announced that Boudicca will sail from Liverpool next year so I hope that the shore-side support will be better for her.

Ship
The Black Prince is the smallest and oldest ship in the Fred Olsen fleet but she doesn’t lack style, friendliness and support. My very first “proper” cruise was on her in November 2005 and she got me hooked on cruising. I decided that as she would be leaving Fred Olsen this year to get a last and longer taste onboard and I didn’t seem to be alone with this reason. She has solid support in the North East of the UK as she has been based at Liverpool for some time and I met several passengers who sailed her regularly. There were some for whom cruising was new and most seemed to have chosen Black Prince because she was easy for them to get to and the price was reasonable.
The facilities are modest with 2/3 lounges , a games room, reading area (seats in a wide corridor), 2 gaming tables, ironing room, small shop (essentials as well as souvenirs and fashion), spa (not tested!), a café and 2 restaurants. There is plenty of deck space but the weather was too poor to use it much. I described the lounges as 2/3 as the Lido overlooks the Neptune Lounge (at the stern) and when there is a show this forms 1 show area, the other lounge was at the bow and had a grand piano used both for classical concerts and cocktail playing. The café was open for breakfast and lunch and I tended to use it for breakfast as I enjoyed the airy sense with its large glass area. The restaurants were excellent in the evening and rather ordinary for the other meals with a buffet selection and busy staff. The facilities may have been modest but the staff were not - as the Cruise Director put “they seem to work 24 hours a day and smile 25” - the jewel of FOCL service.

Cabin
Cabin 432 was an inside single. Small but acceptable with a bed used as a sofa during the day and a TV with world news and sport as well as ship based channels. I put my large case in the baggage store as it would have taken up a lot of space in the cabin. There were 4 reasonable drawers in the desk which had a lift-up top and underneath were 2 containers which I assume were for makeup and a small mirror, there was a wall mounted full-length mirror (good on formal nights). There was no kettle and beverages tray - unlike Boudicca. There was plenty of hanging space and a couple of shelves in the 2 cupboards. The toilet/shower was small and the shower curtain was impossible to ignore, so I tucked it away and used the room as a cubicle having removed everything first.

Entertainment
With 4 sea days there was lots of time to fill and plenty of options. There were 2 guest lecturers, generally interesting, and a classical pianist, very good, for sea days to boost the efforts of the cruise team. The port lectures by the tour manager were not so good and seemed a sales pitch for the excursions. The standard quizzes, bingo, Spa demos were available as well and the dance hosts ran some beginners classes in Ballroom dancing. The band provided some music for ballroom in the early evening which was good fun (for me).
The evenings were excellent as the visiting entertainers were pretty good and they worked well together doing a couple of duets with guitar and harp (honestly - very good). The usual “Theatre Company” evenings worked well despite the dancers going through line-up changes throughout, they were busiest with the themed evenings. The themed evenings were good fun (for spectators - I joined in some of this!) with extras like line-dancing on western night, “cheat limbo” on tropical night and a sing-along on British Night. The end of the night was a disco/karaoke in the Neptune which had some support and cocktail piano and the band singer (Anna) in the Aquitaine with again modest support. The Crew Cabaret evening was delightful with a wide range of Folk dances and other entertainment.

Ports

Oporto - did the river cruise tour with a visit to a port cellar at the end. The city is gorgeous but pretty steep and as it was Sunday there was not much traffic. Definitely worth a slow time trip but looking from the coach was all I did. The river trip was nice as the weather was sunny but the cold breeze when sailing into the wind meant I stayed in the lounge for a bit. Spectacular view of the gorge and riverside buildings. The guide at the port cellar was interesting and the tasting was fun - then came the shop (no surprise) when they had a bottle of vintage port for sale at €2500, which I assume was the 1815 vintage which was mentioned on the tour (I wasn’t tempted). The port has a nice beach (where I got sandblasted) and I found that the interesting old fashioned fort is now a police station!

Bilbao - excursions cancelled. The port laid on complementary busses which took about ½ hour from the port to the centre of town. I went to the tourist information office and bought a tourist pass for €6 which gave me access to public transport in the centre and discounts at some museums (not the Guggenheim) then hunted out an internet café for a quick fix. I then used the pass to go to the Guggenheim for lunch - I’d heard it was good if a bit pretentious, which was true but at least they include a decent house wine in the price. A brief visit to the maritime museum led to the train to Santurzi, the other side of the bay from the Black Prince for piccy’s, sunny but “brisk” helped. I returned over the transporter bridge. The weather on leaving was a bit rough and the escorting police boats had a hard time.

Bordeaux - did a tour of the city which included 3 hours of free time but 2 hours travel each way. I found a Spring “Antique” Fair in the centre with masses of stalls with collections of second -hand everything. A nice browse but the books were in French so no temptation to take a few back to the ship and the furniture was too big to carry. I had a nice lunch and a beer in a café with an Irish barmaid and Guinness (but it wasn’t an Irish bar) to extend the chill out time. A lovely town and worth a longer visit.

Nantes - excursions again cancelled but the town laid on a complementary bus service. The Black Prince was moored near the centre of town and on the walking route in was the fascinating collection of The Machines de l’Ile which are part mechanical toys and part sculpture. The best known is the Great Elephant at 12m high, but this wasn’t in use as they seemed to be maintaining it. The centre was pleasant with a spectacular shopping arcade, where I retreated to escape the rain. Those who visited the historic sites seemed to have also had a great time. The route out along the river was a nice extra and as the weather started to improve we had a more comfortable evening. The Captain was busy with the pilot which meant that the Captain’s farewell party was postponed till the last night.

Summary
Buckle up and enjoy the ride! (Capt Terje Ulseth, Black Prince)

The weather was a gamble that failed and conditions were windy throughout but this did not stop it being a great trip. It seemed as though the Captain’s catchphrase was taken to heart and although some people were seasick we all seemed to try and enjoy it! The size of the ship meant that it was easy to get to know people and I was very fortunate with my table companions for dinner although there were a few others I did not warm to but generally a great crowd. The entertainment suited me - it helped that I joined in a fair bit but the team were great and Ronnie Fitch as cruise director kept it going, his musical session was great fun! I loved the evening meals but found some of the buffets a bit limited - breakfast in the Balblom was quieter and airier and a gentle start to my days. I thoroughly enjoyed myself even without the sun and would happily revisit and of the ports, though for longer. This was my last chance to sail on her before she leaves service later this year and it was a lovely final visit and I look forward to her new career in Venezuela with interest.