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...

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...