V-Flyer

First long haul using a tour operator (Virgin Holidays, I’ve heard others moan a bit about them but we found them exemplary) and first trip to GND.
In many aspects a similar experience to airconbob’s trip to ANU. I thought I was pretty quick to OLCI, but not quick enough, just one other pair of seats available downstairs and nothing at all upstairs. Twilight baggage drop then overnight and breakfast at Hilton (under £100 with 2 full breakfasts), then straight through security to No1 lounge to await gate number.
At the gate loading procedures seemed pretty lax, plenty of folk in E by the time we got to the door. Settled into a cabin that is worlds apart from the un-refurbed 747s, although the Airbus’ have always been good. Pillows and blankets were provided, along with pre-flight refreshments that kept us going until push-back, which was about ½hr late.
Crew can be summarised as very good throughout, the only issue was that some announcements were so quiet you didn’t realise they were happening.
Catering. A polite word would be “dire”. For Dine “Starter” looked OK, but I didn’t try any (personal whim about fish). For “Main Course” Mrs GW and I both had diced chicken breast. This appeared to consist of dollops of baby food and just three (each) very small bits of diced chicken. The three would have fitted on a teaspoon. Each of our miniature bread rolls was stale.
“Dessert” was Chewy Chocolate Cake, wholly uninspiring. There was no sign of cracker or cheese. Fortunately an after dinner tipple is still offered.
The Skinny Cow finger lolly was a real letdown after the old ice-cream tubs, so much so I would have thought the mean image it gave was counter-productive, it may be better to do away with it altogether.
High Tea was no better than dinner. Two fingers of bread, not stale this time, with a thin smear of gunge inside. The menu informed us this was “mixed cheese and red onion” but there was no visible evidence of these ingredients. The “Great British cupcake” was not so great, in size, once unwrapped. It was, however, quite a decent cake.
Tea/coffee were offered a couple of times, but no refills.
Fortunately VERA was an excellent distraction from the food woes, offering something for everyone.
We had made up a little time by arrival at TAB, then lost it again on the ground. The TAB security seemed a bit of a circus. Interestingly someone (not crew) said the top deck was kept for TAB passengers where possible as an empty(?) deck at TAB sped up security. Can anyone confirm/deny this?
The quick hop to GND made up time and arrived just a few minutes late. After the queue for immigration and quick inspection inside our bags we were away.
I’m not saying too much about Grenada, I don’t want you all rushing there. Suffice to say Grenada is very peaceful (other than reggae from in-car boom-boxes, acceptable as part of the atmosphere), very friendly, and Grand Anse Beach has knocked Eagle Beach, Aruba, off its pedestal as our favourite.
I hope La Source, in its new incarnation as Sandals with a planned expansion, doesn’t usher in an era of large, dare I say it, Americanised, resorts.
Mods have requested return flights be reviewed separately, so watch out for comments on catering on VS052!

What on earth is "mixed cheese"?

slinky09 wrote:What on earth is "mixed cheese"?

Maybe a twist on squeezy cheese?

slinky09 wrote:What on earth is "mixed cheese"?

Or perhaps a duet featuring Michael Buble and Cher

Thanks for the TR by the way

Mixed cheese? A gunge made of left over cheeses with some onion thrown in to disguise the taste? Those things are gross!

Sounds like visit to M & S before next flight must be better than mixed cheeses.