THE SCOTTISH ADVENTURES OF A CRUISE SHIP ADDICT

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...

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...