THE SCOTTISH ADVENTURES OF A CRUISE SHIP ADDICT

Landing in Alicante, we berthed alongside Oceania Cruises’ Riviera. I reckon Riviera is about 90,000 tons as she was just a little smaller than us. The shuttle buses into town picked us up outside the Cruise Terminal and whisked us into the centre of town, right next to the beach. I made my obligatory trip to the Pharmacy, where I picked up Biodramina, the best seasickness tablets in the world. I can only get them in Spain. Wandering into town, we got lost trying to find the shops, and asked a lady directions. Hilarity ensued as this Italian lady, who spoke ok English, tried to direct us, but couldn’t find the right words. Que me, who, in my best pigeon French went ‘Parlez-vous Francaise, s’il vous plait?’ then she went ‘Oui’ and we started having a conversation in pigeon French. I knew my French conversation classes would come in handy!! Although my French is still horrendous. Then we got lost again, with some ladies from the ship. The ladies went into a café and we

I’ve never known a cruise like it! The entertainment on here is wonderful! I can’t fit it all in. I brought a load of work to do, but I don’t have any time to do it! Today started off with an enlightening talk about Tender embarkation for people with mobility problems (I have never known a cruise line to do this before), then it was off to the Port Talk on Cannes and Le Spezia. I’m really looking forward to Cannes, where I’ll have a look at the Yachts and maybe choose one for Campbell to buy for my birthday in 10 days. The talk on Le Spezia reminded me of when we landed in Livorno on Sea Princess a few years ago. Suddenly 10,000 people descended on Livorno and it was chaos! It was like being dropped into an enormous nightmare. Later, Livorno Department of Tourism said on one of my Cruise newsletters that they had a very successful day managing the 5 cruise ships in port. I was wondering if they ever took into account the passengers’ viewpoints. It felt like an episode of ‘I’m a

If shipboard life gets any busier then we’ll need to have a holiday when we return. I’ve never been on a ship with such amazing entertainment. In fact, I don’t think I have sat outside for the last three days! I have just been going from one talk/show to another. I can’t seem to fit everything in. After a visit to the Bridge, it was off to a Port Talk on Cartagena and Gibraltar, then a photo signing by Strictly Dancers Janette and Aljaz, lunch and another talk by Stuart St Paul, where he was talking about filming locations. He spoke about Sherlock (the film, not the TV series), then Angels and Demons. Mum and I with Strictly Come Dancing Stars, Aljaz Skorjanec and Janette Manrara When I spoke to Captain Pembridge this morning, he mentioned that Britannia would need to slow down around Gibraltar for whales, but no whales have really been seen. At lunch, the guy sitting next to me started shouting that he saw a dorsal fin rise out of the water just outside his window. A wh

I’ve never had such a busy day at sea in my life! I almost feel like a hamster on a wheel, running from one place to another. We started off with a hearty breakfast – bang goes the diet already. Then went off to How to improve your metabolism talk. The speaker from the gym was really good, but the room was a bit hot and mum fell asleep. I was nearly asleep as well. We had to escape! After lunch, I ventured down to the Theatre to see what the Guest Lecturer was like. He was brilliant! Stuart was originally a stuntman, and then became a stunt co-ordinator, working on Emmerdale and Mrs Brown’s Boys (do you remember Mrs Brown falling down from the Christmas tree?). I was fascinated by his tales of how to make a stunt work. It’s given me a new perspective on filming. Later, we went to a Question and Answer session with Janette and Aljaz. They were so lovely. They were telling us they are getting married in 19 days’ time and how they met. We also found out that we are gettin

While I'm at sea on P&O's Britannia, and unable to post anything, I thought I'd have some piccies of some piccies of Halloween to keep us amused! I found these images recently of our trip on QE2 back in 2008. It was her last time returning to Southampton before she departed for Dubai. However, I just thought I'd post a couple of Halloween ones as I thought they were lovely!  Outside the Lido Restaurant. There's a coffin!  A member of the crew, dressed as Dracula, would rise up and make unsuspecting passengers scream! We stood and watched him for ages. It was hilarious! Witches in training! Evie and I with Evie's favourite member of staff, James, who was on duty in The Lido that evening.

At 143,000 tons, P and O's Britannia will be the second largest ship I've travelled on. The first being Queen Mary 2. Over the years of travelling on and visiting ships, there is an art to finding your way around a ship. Also, it depends how much time you have. On a ship visit : Start at the top. Most people on a ship visit will start at the bottom, i.e. restaurants, lounges, etc, and work their way up. If you start at the top, chances are you will get the whole deck to yourself. Then you can walk over the deck area and see the facilities. Then work your way down. It's much better to walk down a flight of stairs than go up. Check the deck plan. Is there anything on this floor you need to see? Ship layout today is fairly simple, it does (from the top): Outside space, floors of rooms, entertainment areas and restaurants, crew quarters. Most ships tend to follow this layout. While most people are huffing and puffing upstairs, you can be gliding down to the next level (or get

Years ago, when standing on the stern of Saga Rose in Madeira, I had a very interesting discussion with Captain Rentell of Saga Rose, and my mum. Behind us was an Aida ship, much bigger than us (it made us look like a tug boat). Almost dwarfing our stern was the bow of the Aida ship, complete with bow art. My mum was of the opinion that she hated it because the eyes kept following her. She was convinced there was something evil about the eyes!! I defended it by saying I thought the artwork was cute and it gave the ship personality. Back in the Noughties, it was fairly unusual to see ships with bow art. Most shipping lines had their own company coloured hulls and funnels, and were very distinctive. The bow art of the Aida ship just stood out with its stary eyes and big lips. I actually like the bow art. It gives the ship some character. I feel it gives it life, in a playful way. However, it has become so accepted that the ships have lost the characteristics of the line. Prince

MISSING... ONE MOTHER! I'm sitting here at 2.45pm, having lost my mum! She phoned earlier today to say her bus was due in at 2.30pm, and like a dutiful daughter, I went down at 2pm to collect her. I battled my way through the crowds and out to the buses, to be told her bus had arrived at 1pm and she was on board already. At some point I'm sure she'll turn up. On Queen Mary 2 it took me three days to find a friend who I knew was on board. I hope it won't take me three days to find mum! My friend Jess was right. The ship is full of stairs to nowhere! I found a set while trying to battle my way through the throngs of people boarding. They just stop!  My trip to the ship was eventful. Having thought, I'll get there early and board early at 11.15am, I found that they had put me on the same embarkation time as my mum, 3.30pm. Head in hands! I hadn't even had breakfast yet. In the end, the embarkation went really fast and I was on board