• Restaurants
    • Family
    • Cafes
    • Fine Dining
    • Street Food
    • Bars
  • Experiences
  • Places To Stay
  • Contact Us
  • ARCHIVES

    • February 2019 (2)
    • January 2019 (4)
    • December 2018 (11)
    • November 2018 (11)
    • October 2018 (4)
    • September 2018 (3)
    • August 2018 (8)
    • July 2018 (4)
    • June 2018 (4)
    • May 2018 (5)
    • April 2018 (5)
    • March 2018 (7)
    • February 2018 (6)
    • January 2018 (6)
    • December 2017 (11)
    • November 2017 (11)
    • October 2017 (8)
    • September 2017 (7)
    • August 2017 (11)
    • July 2017 (13)
    • June 2017 (11)
    • May 2017 (12)
    • April 2017 (13)
    • March 2017 (10)
    • February 2017 (8)
    • January 2017 (12)
    • December 2016 (7)
    • November 2016 (7)
    • October 2016 (10)
    • September 2016 (10)
    • August 2016 (13)
    • July 2016 (23)
    • June 2016 (12)
    • May 2016 (6)
    • April 2016 (5)
    • March 2016 (6)
    • February 2016 (1)
    • January 2016 (4)
    • December 2015 (3)
    • November 2015 (9)
  • Restaurants
    • Family
    • Cafes
    • Fine Dining
    • Street Food
    • Bars
  • Experiences
  • Places To Stay
  • Contact Us
Foodie Experience: Foodies Cruise On Britannia, Ile de Ré
May 28, 2016

As a lover of eating, cooking, and anything food related, I’m always on the look out for fun foodie experiences that I can report back on. I’ve started a new section here on Foodinburgh for exactly this sort of thing, and first up we’re going big with a foodies cruise! Food is always a big part of any holiday for me, but on this cruise it would be the main focus.

Britannia Foodies Cruise

Britannia is the newest of P&O’s ships, taking its inaugural just last year. I was delighted to be joining my friend and fellow foodie Becky from Englishmum, and our challenge was to eat in all the restaurants onboard (more on those in future posts). In between all that eating, our cruise would port in La Rochelle, Bilbao, La Coruna, and Guernsey.

We met at Southampton and boarded Britannia with minimum fuss.

Britannia

As you can see, our cabin was a twin room and really quite spacious, we also had a balcony which for me is a must when cruising. I like a bit of my own space to retreat to. The bottle of Veuve Clicquot in our room offered us the opportunity for a toast on the balcony and we relaxed and had a long catch up, Becky and I have been friends for years and we had plenty of chatting to do.

After a day at sea we arrived in the port of La Rochelle in France. Our shore excursion took us to Ile de Ré, a small island off the west coast of France, not far from La Rochelle. Having never explored France beyond the confines of Disneyland Paris, I immediately fell in love.

Britannia Shore Excursion

The harbour and cobbled streets provided the perfect place for wandering, and eating (there’s always eating!)

Il de Re

First we explored the shops and French patisseries, the type which Eric Lanlard would tell us about later in the cruise (he’s one of P&O’s Food Heroes and onboard selected Britannia cruises).

Britannia Foodies Cruise

After working up (walking up?) an appetite we carefully selected a cafe beside the harbour, the one with the perfect amount of sun and the best view for people watching.

I was quite proud of myself, I managed to resist the lure of Nutella and whipped cream and ordered a chic looking crepe served with butter sauce. It was delicious in its simplicity. A truly perfect ‘French’ moment.

Britannia Foodies Cruise

We boarded the bus and drove a short way through farmland and vineyards, before we reached an authentic French market.

Ile de re

The colours were so vibrant, and all the produce looked so perfect.

French Market

It was a shame in some ways that we’d already eaten, I found myself imagining picnicking on the juicy rotisserie chickens…

French Market

…and creating fresh tomato salads with one of the flavoured artisan salts.

It was a lovely day that was over all too quickly, however it did provide me with a taster and I have already made plans to return. That’s one of my favourite things about cruising, you can have lots of experiences, and choose which regions and countries you’d like to explore further.

Next time we’ll be in the Spanish city of Bilbao…

If you would like to discover more about our cruise on Britannia and how to book, read Becky’s post here.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Foodie ExperienceFrance
Share

Experiences

Erica Douglas

You might also like

Eric Lanlard Hosted Dinner, Britannia
August 8, 2016
Eric Lanlard Masterclass On Board Britannia
July 21, 2016
New Moon Dinner at The Secret Herb Garden
July 19, 2016

6 Comments


A foodie cruise on board P & O Britannia - part one
May 28, 2016 at 1:14 pm
Reply

[…] Click here to read Erica’s post on our adventures. […]



Becky
May 28, 2016 at 2:12 pm
Reply

Such a great trip – maybe we should make it an annual event?!



Erica Douglas
May 28, 2016 at 2:35 pm
Reply

Definitely!



ap
May 29, 2016 at 11:33 am
Reply

As you say you fancy returning, check out my blog about our holiday home on the Ile de Ré. The house is a 5 minute walk from the harbour in St Martin. We went to the island after reading about it in a newspaper in 2006 and have gone back every year since…

https://islandholidayhome.wordpress.com/



    Erica Douglas
    May 31, 2016 at 8:44 am
    Reply

    Hi ap,

    I’m afraid that link isn’t loading for me, very envious of your holiday home though – such a gorgeous location!

      ap
      May 31, 2016 at 10:00 am

      Oh dear, the link should work. I’ve just copied and pasted off my browser. This one will take you to my most recent blogpost.

      https://islandholidayhome.wordpress.com/2016/05/17/brocantes-are-back-on-the-ile-de-re/

      Best

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Enjoy £5 Cocktails With Your Foodinburgh Card

  • Tags

    Afternoon Tea American Bars Beer Bestinburgh Breakfast Britannia Brunch Bruntsfield Burgers Cakes Christmas Cocktails Coffee Dinner East End Fine Dining Foodie Experience Foodinburgh On Tour Fountainbridge Four Star Hotels French George Street Glasgow Good Value Indian Italian Japanese Leith Walk Lobster Lunch Mexican Pasta Pizza Pork Ribs Royal Mile Scallops Seafood Steak Stockbridge Tasting Menu Top Ten Lists Vegan West End
  • Join Our Group



  • Contact details

    info@foodinburgh.com
  • Recent Feedback

    • Denis Mountain on Eight Places to Eat American Food in Edinburgh
    • Best Dishes of 2017 - Part 3 - Edinburgh Food and Travel Website on Express Menu at The Printing Press
    • Best Dishes of 2017 - Part 3 - Edinburgh Food and Travel Website on Street Food & Cocktails at Juniper
    • Best Dishes of 2017 - Part 3 - Edinburgh Food and Travel Website on Down The Hatch
    • Best Dishes of 2017 - Part 3 - Edinburgh Food and Travel Website on Learn Then Lunch by Martin Wishart

© Copyright Foodinburgh 2016