The following day was New Year's Eve and we had a day at sea. This was the most relaxing day I had the entire time so I really enjoyed it, just getting my nose into a book and having some downtime. Finally the weather was warming up to be comfortable, so some sunbathing too. In the evening, it was the usual sunset drinking saga, only this time followed by everyone on the entire ship on deck just before midnight to celebrate New Years. This was a blacktie event so everyone got dressed up to the nines and looked great. Men in black tie are so suave. Must say was quite surprised the ship didn't lay on balloons or streamers or something for the passengers to see the New Year in. There was a rumour that there ... read more

The following day, our first port of call was Nassau, the Bahamas. I was still waking up at 4.00 in the morning, so actually saw sunrise and sailing into Nassau. I was expecting something exotic to be honest, even the name is exotic. However, it lacked the “Wow Factor” as its very poor one side of the river, and very rich the other side with some truly beautiful houses. The Town is small and quite dingy and everyone seems to live on subsistence. I'd booked a snorkelling tour off a catamaran in the morning which I thought would have been great underwater viewing – even that was disappointing as the sea bed was a dirty brown, hardly any corral worth mentioning, although there were some beautiful fish. Unfortunately, due to the weather still not being really ... read more

Finally the day of boarding the ship arrived and we all got onboard at 12.00 noon. The Celebrity Century was a beautiful ship and Miami is a pretty place, so to sail out of there at 5.00 p.m. was great. Like most cruises, they had an automatic gratuities being taken out of your onboard account - over 5 days this can amount to over $150 so its always a good idea on the first day to go to the Pursors Desk and cancel that. It's not compulsory, and personally I prefer to tip whichever person gives me really good service. A hint re. cruises - tip your Cabinboy on the first day rather than the last, as you'll get better service. ... read more

For a cheapish Hotel right on Waikiki, I recommend the Aston Waikiki Circle (cheapest room is city view) - no pool but rooms are clean and comfortable (res.CIR@astonhotels.com). 3rd day (Boxing Day) I flew off to Miami via Chicago – another 8 hour red-eye flight, more pins and needles, and arrived into Chicago at 5.00 in the morning with snow on the ground and absolutely freezing. Hadn’t packed any winter clothes so had to buy a blanket on the plane - yes buy, as on internal U.S. flights nothing is free, including headsets. Even your suitcase will cost you $25 to have it checked-in. Had 4 hours to waste to connect to Miami and was dying to go to sleep, but concerned I’d miss my connecting flight, so I found out the Gate No. it was ... read more