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...

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...