The last leg of the cruise - from Spain through the Bay of Biscay to Southampton should have been a dawdle. However things didn’t go as planned, nothing strange about that. We had planned to get all our packing done in the 3 days from Spain to Southampton. What we didn’t count on was the weather…. Heavy sea swells and although not seasick, we would have broken our necks trying to pack 6 suitcases in the confined space of our cabin at the beginning of the crossing. So we decided to do our packing on the last day, before docking in [View Full Entry]

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Vigo in Spain - If the last port of call was an acclimatisation stop, Vigo certainly proved a good follow on and provided good UK weather. Rain, rain and then more rain laced with cold wind and a hint of winter. The rainbow when we arrived in port was beautiful but then so was the one we saw as we left Vigo. The other noticeable things were the seagulls, millions of them and the Graffiti, tons of it everywhere. We got of the Ship and had decided not to take one of the tours, but rather to hoof it round the [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Lisbon, and it was raining…. It’s an acclimatization stop for us, or so we all believe - from the tropics to the deserts of Egypt and then into the Med and its cold spring weather. On the way in to Lisbon we passed through the straights of Gibraltar and saw snow!!!! on the Spanish mountains. Brrrrrr. The ship "parked" under the singing bridge.... or as it sounds the verrrrry noisy bridge. This is a metal bridge with a high volume of traffic passing on it. We took our time getting of the ship, not the usual hurry - [View Full Entry]

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Rome The ship was to dock in Civitavecchia Italy’s largest passenger port where about 5 cruisers were side by side. This port is known as the gateway to Rome. We had booked our trip into Rome, a 1½ journey by coach. The sun was shining and it was a pleasant 16º, although rain was forecast. Again we were very excited about our first trip to Rome, although we wondered if we would actually be able to get close enough to see anything as it was Good Friday. Where we were heading was the final destination of the route taken by the [View Full Entry]

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Suez The canal - from the Red sea to the Mediteranian. This was a fascinating journey - A convoy of big ships sailing up this narrow strip of water at a very slow speed. It took us all day to go from one ocean to another. The banks were so different, The port side was full of towns villages and green vegetation, the starboard side was stark desert, as far as the eye could see. All over the left bank were military posts, and floating barges ready to float and create pontoon bridges. Tanks and other heavy and light cannon were [View Full Entry]

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Pirates The commodore announced as we approached the Gulf of Aden and the coast of Somalia about his counter measures in the event of a pirate attack. He informed us that if the alarm was to sound we were to lock ourselves in our cabins and not under any circumstances ‘go have a look’, reminding the ladies that not all pirates look like Johnny Depp!!! He reassured us that the tricks he had up his sleeve (hosepipes and secrets) would defend us well, and anyway the ship would be bigger and faster than any pirates vessel. However the image of pirates [View Full Entry]

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Safaga 5th April We were really exited about our return visit to Egypt and didn’t mind the crack of dawn early start to our day. We docked at a small container port called Safaga and to get back to the Nile we had to have a 3½ hour coach ride through the desert. We were expecting the desert to be flat, sandy and boring, however to our delight it was mountainous, sandy in parts and a feast for the eyes. Birds that looked like eagles were abundant, little settlements of the Bedouin people were sporadically placed along the roadside and the [View Full Entry]

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Dubai Between Muscat and Dubai the photographic competition results for the cruise photographic “slow and fast shutter speed” were published. I have to crow and tell everyone I won the fast shutter speed competition. Now I’m sure you will think “great, well done”. However I will now crow louder - I won the fast shutter speed one as well. Great eh?? I can now call myself an award winning photographer!!!!! Anyway, back to the travelling…………………………………… The next day [View Full Entry]

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Muscat, Oman. 29th march We had a later start to our day off ship so decided to enjoy a leisurely breakfast and natter with some friends. We thought that there was no rush to get off as there did not seem much to do at this port. It was a lovely sail in though, pretty and moody. It was a very hot day-32ish degrees. Murdo had bought me a fold-up Vietnamese straw hat which worked a treat, even if I did look like I was entering an Easter bonnet parade!! We had a shuttle bus that dropped us outside the souk [View Full Entry]

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Cochin, India 26th March 2009 Despite the Commodore sailing the ship at full tilt, we were running late and arrived one and a half hours late into Cochin port. This meant however, that we did not have to get up at the crack of dawn. We enjoyed our leisurely breakfast and found a quiet spot on deck to enjoy the sail in. I never know what to expect when we arrive into a new country, but then I say that what I see is not what I expected! Work that one out if you will. Anyway, we are always pleasantly surprised [View Full Entry]

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