A few years ago, pre covid anyway, I was treated to a little taster holiday by younger family members. I was always used to going to one of those retreat venues for a few days of indulging in gym sessions, the odd massage, masses of time in the swimming pools with their jacuzzis and thermal pool. I used to enjoy wandering along to the very posh lunchtime in the smaller restaurant and being able to choose from the most wonderful buffet. None of the prepacked heart attack inducing suasauge rolls or pork pies. Not for us the burgers with lurid red ketchup oozing from every pore. No, this food was various fish; salad and all sorts of crispy little bits and pieces. Then on one trip for which I’d been told to pack a couple of decent evening outfits an just sporty casual for the rest. I did not twig what was going on until we parked up and a nice gent offered to get my bags out of the boot and my daughter told me to look up and left . . . and there was a massive great cruise ship! Wooh, so for the weekend I was to prove that I did indeed have sea legs.
The point of that exercise was so that when said relatives asked if I’d like to go cruising with them to Canada, the US and New York, I could say errr yes please.. 26 days across he Atlantic with some fantasic stops in each of the locations. It was so exciting and eye opening. I went strolling around the promenade deck every day, like so many other passengers, but not in any rigid pattern. I did keep with the rules by walking the same direction as all others. It really causes a problem if one person insisits on pushing the oher way. I really liked going to the proper restaurant for my breakfast each day. Ok, not as big a choice of dishes as could be had in the massive buffet, but it suited me greatly. The entertainment was incredible and smany of the activities were grown up enough to take part. The highlight for me was staying 3 days in New York, berthed in Manhattan. True we did have to contend with the United Nations being in the city over those exact days, which caused absolute gridlock and no cars could move anywhere so our hop on hop off bus tickets were useless. But it was still truly exhiliarating. The Empire State Building is still fantastic to look at and the lift up to the 86th floor is stunning! The cabins are always so well serviced. Cabin stewards can never do enough for passengers.
I have cruised around scandinavia in summer and winter and seen several european cities. The thrill of being on board a beautiful vessel never leaves me and the embarkaion is so calm and delightful compared to being shovelled through an airport! Cruising all the way for me!
