THE SCOTTISH ADVENTURES OF A CRUISE SHIP ADDICT

Overnight we travelled to Corsica. Seemingly Captain Pembridge was offered Toulon or Ajaccio as an alternative port to Cannes. He chose Ajaccio. On the other hand, the Captain of Brilliance of the Seas chose Toulon, and was met by 26 knot winds across the top deck. Oh dear! Arriving in Ajaccio, we were met by calm seas and a hot day. Gorgeous! Did I feel sorry for Brilliance of the Seas? No… their Captain chose Toulon. I thought I’d been to Ajaccio before, but I didn’t recognize it. Mum and I were on a mission. Campbell loves Vico crisps and one particular type. We said we’d try Cannes, but tried Ajaccio instead as it’s a Department of France. Tried Monoprix and Spar, but no luck. Mum also needed the little girls room and the only way we could get one was become French and go to a café. So we joined the Café Culture, sitting at the roadside, watching the world go by. I’m quite proud of myself because I was able to order a diet coke for mum and I in French! All those French convers...

Arriving in Barcelona, there was a lot of tonnage in port. From Grimaldi Lines ferries, to cargo ships, and, of course, cruise ships. There was us, Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas, and MSC Meraviglia Many years ago, I met Brilliance when she was a young whipper-snapper. Campbell and I had just arrived at St Lucia on the old Victoria (ex-Kungsholm, Sea Princess), and we were playing the game of ‘see who can get their photo taken next to the life preservers on visiting ships’. Brilliance came in,   pirouetted and slotted into the quayside. We were aghast. We’d never seen a ship do that. Victoria had to be pulled unceremoniously in by tugs as she wasn’t fitted with bow thrusters or azipods. We also thought she was enormous sitting next to the little Victoria and Holland America Line’s Noordam. (A funny story about Noordam… playing our game, I was getting my photo taken next to Noordam’s life preserver, when this lady from the ship calls Campbell over and says ‘hey you...

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...