THE SCOTTISH ADVENTURES OF A CRUISE SHIP ADDICT

IMAGES NOT UPLOADED - DUE TO PROBLEMS WITH THE INTERNET The Port of Zeebrugge isn't the most exciting place in the world. However, for a ship lover like myself, it is full of tugs, ferries and other ships. I love watching the activity in port.   I was a bit worried about being on tour. Usual anxieties... will we wake up in time... will there be enough time for breakfast.. will it be busy in the restaurant...? Yes, as usual, thoughts on a cruise ship revolve round food. It's almost as if we get a nosebag at Southampton and return it at Southampton. I'm sure the ship has lost weight and the passengers have gained its excess weight!   A totally smooth operation this morning. As we approached the coaches, Evie and I were asked to go to the next coach. First choice in seats! I ushered Evie to the second back row. Usually, if the bus isn't full, people will keep as far forward as they can. Therefore, if you sit near the back, there is usually the ability to have a double ...

IMAGES TO FOLLOW - CAN'T SEEM TO UPLOAD THEM! Waking up, it felt like a major decision... Amsterdam... or not! The answer came in the form of my legs. They went NO! In capitals, emboldened and underlined. Definitely not! We could have. The ship had buses running to and from Amsterdam all through the night, and staff were taking full advantage of their time ashore. I bet there was quite a few sore heads from passengers and crew in the morning!    So today was spent in the vicinity of the ship. After breakfast, Evie decided she wanted to go to the beach. Last night, we saw a big sign saying 'Beach, Marina'. Perfect! However, the walk to the cruise terminal and then out to the signs was enough for me. I got some photos and very slowly wandered back to the ship. It's amazing how quickly I learn where the rest spots are! My gallant efforts were rewarded with a Costa iced decaf coffee!   Eating on board the ship is like an Olympic sport. As well as the usual breakfast, lu...

Finally in Amsterdam! Evie agreed to wake me in the morning, but forgot that her alarm was set on UK time, not European time, so we were a hour late waking! No time for breakfast, it was up and out...   The shuttle was just nicely busy at 8am with no queues and not a long wait. Luckily Evie had snaffled some biscuits from the room, so this was a rather impromptu brekkie. P&O lied! In their on board programme it said the transfer time was 50-60 minutes. Actually it was 30 minutes. The shuttles are running frequently between the Cruise Terminal and Amsterdam for most of the day and evening. Then tomorrow we can do it all again as we are staying overnight.   We were dropped off just down from Central Station, next to the River boats. That was a fascinating experience. There must have been about 30 river boats there. On seeing them, Evie wants to go on one. We walked to Central Station, couldn't find how to do bus tickets and left. My health hasn't been too good and I can...

I was a bundle of nerves approaching Dock Gate 4. So much so, I went in the wrong entrance! Luckily some of the natives pointed me in the right direction.   Cruise Passenger Services were wonderful with the car handling. I waved Helga the Merc off on her holidays for a week, with Squeak the Mouse and the Pink Panther keeping her company, and quickly transferred through the terminal. It was such a difference to when I was transiting through the terminals in the 1980s. Nowadays it is such a HUGE and sophisticated operation.   Rather than explain what Ventura looks like, I'm attaching some photos:  And our cabin:   When we were leaving, we saw Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and 'the other ship' (as she was commonly referred to...) Celebrity Edge. We checked Evie into H2O, the teens centre, and she disappeared off there after dinner. I felt quite lost to begin with! What do I do with all this time? Off to the pub, off to the Tamarind Lounge ...

I forgot to take my camera with me today, so unfortunately there are no photos! At day at sea! How relaxing! Not for me!   The most relaxing part of the day was breakfast! Then it was off to the Tamarind Theatre for a talk on Acupuncture. Then I just stayed on as there looked an interesting talk on diamonds. I know know about Cut, Clarity, Carats and Colour. However, it was the Guest Speaker I was interested in seeing. We had Gary Coniff, who gave a fascinating talk on The Royal Yacht Britannia. Gary had worked on her back in the 1980s and I loved hearing about all the different aspects of the Yacht. I really must visit her sometime!   In the evening we had the Captain's Welcome Party. Captain Willard seems such a lovely and amiable person. He had previously worked for Cunard at some point. The Captain says we were travelling at 9 knots, but by this afternoon we had only reached Dover! I think we had secretly dropped anchor somewhere for a while. However, it was lovely see...

Arsenal The side of the Town Hall Cartagena is a strange town. I thought we were going to a small place, but actually it is quite large with universities and an Arsenal. Mum and I got off the ship early and I wanted to go to the Roman Amphitheatre, but we arrived too early and went shopping instead. Half the ship ended up in the same little shops along the main street. Mum wanted to go on the bus tour, and actually, it was relatively inexpensive compared to Barcelona. Segways When the bus tour finished we went back to the ship to have lunch, a sleep, and we started our packing. It seems strange to pack four days before the end of the cruise, but I’ve learned that if you don’t pack on a ‘land’ day, then you run the risk of packing while feeling sea sick – not a good idea. The Bay of Biscay is unforgiving and has laid people flat (and green!) in the past. Better packing before you’re laid out than trying to pack in a swaying ship. Leaving...

Busy wasn’t the word for it! Another whirlwind of events on the Britannia, which kick-started with Stuart St Paul’s hilarious talk about Status Quo filming in Fiji. Everything seemed to go wrong with the film, but it ended up ok in the end. From there we went to pick up ticket for Craig Revel-Horwood’s Question and Answer Session in a few days time, and then we went to go up to the Gym for a talk, but never made it and sat out in the sun instead. Now I’m covered in some rather strange red-blotches where my skin was exposed. After lunch, it was off for a Signing Session with Peter Andre. We only spent a few minutes with him but he was lovely. I told him I remembered him from Neighbours, and he was really surprised at this! He said that that was a LONG time ago. From there we went down to the Oasis Spa for a talk by Dr Craig Bryson on Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture. It was really interesting. I had an appointment with him straight after the talk for some acupuncture. It wa...

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...