Sailing away since 2016

As my last cruise blog was written in 2016- there’s been a good bit of cruising since I thought I’d update where I’ve been sailing and with which lines. Obviously 2020 saw a massive impact on all the travel industry when Covid struck. Hundreds of cruise ships laid up all around the world. I’m delighted to report that the last couple of years the business has returned, and then some! In 2023 CLIA report 2.3million UK and Irish holiday makers took a cruise. I’ve been extremely fortunate since my last blog to have continued to enjoy cruising for my own holidays, as well as visiting ships on CLIA events in port and mini breaks on taster cruises with some lines too. If you fancy trying a cruise and don’t want to commit to 7 days sailing these are a really clever idea to get a feel for what cruise ships have to offer. We’ve experienced a few of these options, such as an overnight sailing from Tilbury to Hull and special agents invite only trip on Celebrity Edge when it was launched and a 3-night trip from Southampton to Le Havre with Celebrity where you can do a day trip to Paris. I’ve continued to enjoy a few sailings in the Med. I absolutely love Rome – the history and sights here fascinate me, and I’ll never tire of it. I’ve also now ticked off Pisa of places I’ve seen and returned to Naples to visit a bar for a bit of nostalgia where we’d celebrated my 40th birthday with friends and my dad. Cruising here with friends we made great memories with on Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas. In 2019 we sailed with Celebrity to the Baltic Northern Capitals – which was a quite different cruise. Lots of history and culture, the ABBA museum in Stockholm and of course the striking St. Petersburg which is no longer accessible now. Whilst on a conference in Copenhagen, we were hosted to meals on Royal Princess, Seven Seas Explorer and NCL Getaway. We loved the vibe onboard NCL so much that we decided to book a cruise with them. So In 2021 we were onboard in the Summer from Barcelona on EPIC . Cruising was still noticeably quiet then and a lot of restrictions in place, but it was still a wonderful experience and good to be back cruising after locking down! Another taster cruise we had was with Virgin. A fairly new line to the market – Adult only. We only sailed around the English Channel with no docking as again it was in restricted times, but we enjoyed the experience and hope to try again soon to enjoy the full cruise with them. I booked a surprise cruise for Ken for Xmas in 2019, and we sailed from Bangkok around Asia. Visiting Hoh Chi Minh once more and doing a crazy cookery class, spending a full day/night in Singapore to enjoy a meal at the infamous Marina Bay Sands hotel and 2 days in Malaysia where we went to an Orangutang sanctuary. We also managed to fit in a full day in Kuala Lumpur where we went up another extremely high building. Famous if you follow F1 the Petronas Towers building. A suspension holding the two towers together you can actually feel moving when you’re up there! In April 2022, along with four friends, we sailed with MSC for the first time. Loved sailing away from Venice – this is a sight I would never tire of. We visited the magical Santorini and stayed in port to watch the sunset and also to Mykonos another of my favourites with amazing fun and pretty villages. Having been truly fortunate to win a trip on Regent Seven Seas Explorer in 2016 – we were definitely hooked. One incredibly special Ship – and know why it’s flagged the world most luxurious ship (look up the documentary on C5 if you’ve not seen it) In 2023 to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary we set sail from Anchorage in Alaska down to Vancouver. It was a truly awesome time – with sights we never expected to see, from Bald Eagles to Whales and Bears, to being right up close to the Glaciers like you can almost touch them. Not to mention the impeccable food entertainment and service on board. Sailing with RSS In Alaska really shows it’s worth and why the strap line works “it’s not what It costs to get on the ship it’s what It costs you to get off” The choice of included excursions here was fabulous and we didn’t need to spend another dollar! We are fairly new to River cruising but having done a taster from Amsterdam to Cologne on a conference, we wanted to try another. Earlier this year, we sailed with Emerald on the Douro. Quite different atmosphere to Ocean cruising. No big shows or entertainment in the evenings, but various activities to be involved with. A lot was taken over by a certain football competition going on which England and Portugal were involved with! It’s a very relaxing way to travel – and we came home thoroughly refreshed for sure. We certainly enjoyed Porto. A beautiful city with a bustling waterside of bars and restaurants and would definitely return there for maybe a long weekend sometime. One of my mum’s life-long ambitions was to go on a cruise. Sadly, she passed away over 25 years ago and in such a time where cruising seemed to only be for the rich retired or famous. I passionately believe there is so much choice now that there is a cruise-line and or destination to suit everyone if you’d just give it a try.