Our next adventure into the big wide world turned out to be a Caribbean Cruise. Now, people who know me would say, "A cruise, never! " I suffer from motion sickness, garden swing seats, playing Mario Kart all trigger nausea in me. I can do kayaking and go in rowing boats but I need to keep moving, as soon as I stop rowing I feel yuck. Boats such as catamarans and speed boats in particular get me reaching for the sick bag very quickly.
I went on a swing in a park the other day and my stomach started to turn, then David got on the swing beside me and he also felt gooey so that could just be an age thing. Maybe, just maybe the time has come to admit to ourselves we are too old for play parks.
A cruise was never in our plans but it is amazing how things happen. After the death of our pups I think David thought we should get away to try and take our minds of it. Then a chance remark by a friend of mine saying Mexico was nice at this time of the year ,saw him trotting down to the travel agency to see what was available. While he was there they suggested Jamaica and then a special deal on a cruise. Well, we like a bargain , and honestly if you can leave booking to the very last minute you do get good bargains.
I was very apprehensive due to the sea sickness thing, as a bargain is not a bargain if you are heuching all the time, but I was reassured by the travel agent that the Caribbean at this time of the year was like a mill pond. Mmmmm, famous last words!
So it was booked on the Thursday and we flew on the Sunday.
We flew on a Dreamliner plane which apparently is new and has fancy features. The pilot was very
excited and showed us things he could do on this new plane such as tint the windows, so that they became darker, the windows no longer have shutters on them. We could also do this with buttons by our seats. The pilot then showed us that he could do a fancy colour changing thing which went right down the length of the plane, very pretty but I am not sure how useful ! There was good leg room in it though and the seats were comfy. There was also a good entertainment system, films etc on a monitor in front of you but the problem was , that we have have been on so many planes recently that we have already seen most of them.
The flight passed quite quickly and we soon found ourselves on a lovely sunny piece of tarmac after disembarking from the plane. We were all lined up to go onto buses, which were parked alongside the plane, which would take us straight to the cruise ship. Our suitcases were being taken straight there so we didn't have the hassle of collecting them and they would be taken to our cabins. The bus queue gradually went down until there was just David, myself and another couple stood there. Then, lo and behold they ran out of seats, the bus doors shut and they drove off, leaving the four of us stood forlornly baking in the sun. Thankfully a holiday rep sorted us out getting two taxis to take us to the ship. Now, this may seem like we were travelling in luxury, but our taxi driver seemed to take the scenic route and kept talking to us but he was very difficult to understand, so there was a lot of non committal grunting going on, as we were not sure what the appropriate response should be!
Eventually we got to the ship but as the buses and other taxi had got there way before us we were not sure where to go, but after a wee wander around we quickly spotted a queue of people, and do what you do when you see a queue and joined it. Thankfully it was the right queue and after being processed, which sounds painful but didn't hurt at all, we boarded the ship.
Our cabin was small but cosy and comfortable and had a small port hole window which mostly let the sunshine in. However, we were so low in the ship, in fact we were on the lowest deck that at times the sea would totally cover the window plunging the cabin into darkness. This sounds scary but wasn't and was only momentary as the waves washed up with the movement of the boat.
I went on a swing in a park the other day and my stomach started to turn, then David got on the swing beside me and he also felt gooey so that could just be an age thing. Maybe, just maybe the time has come to admit to ourselves we are too old for play parks.
A cruise was never in our plans but it is amazing how things happen. After the death of our pups I think David thought we should get away to try and take our minds of it. Then a chance remark by a friend of mine saying Mexico was nice at this time of the year ,saw him trotting down to the travel agency to see what was available. While he was there they suggested Jamaica and then a special deal on a cruise. Well, we like a bargain , and honestly if you can leave booking to the very last minute you do get good bargains.
I was very apprehensive due to the sea sickness thing, as a bargain is not a bargain if you are heuching all the time, but I was reassured by the travel agent that the Caribbean at this time of the year was like a mill pond. Mmmmm, famous last words!
So it was booked on the Thursday and we flew on the Sunday.
We flew on a Dreamliner plane which apparently is new and has fancy features. The pilot was very
excited and showed us things he could do on this new plane such as tint the windows, so that they became darker, the windows no longer have shutters on them. We could also do this with buttons by our seats. The pilot then showed us that he could do a fancy colour changing thing which went right down the length of the plane, very pretty but I am not sure how useful ! There was good leg room in it though and the seats were comfy. There was also a good entertainment system, films etc on a monitor in front of you but the problem was , that we have have been on so many planes recently that we have already seen most of them.
The flight passed quite quickly and we soon found ourselves on a lovely sunny piece of tarmac after disembarking from the plane. We were all lined up to go onto buses, which were parked alongside the plane, which would take us straight to the cruise ship. Our suitcases were being taken straight there so we didn't have the hassle of collecting them and they would be taken to our cabins. The bus queue gradually went down until there was just David, myself and another couple stood there. Then, lo and behold they ran out of seats, the bus doors shut and they drove off, leaving the four of us stood forlornly baking in the sun. Thankfully a holiday rep sorted us out getting two taxis to take us to the ship. Now, this may seem like we were travelling in luxury, but our taxi driver seemed to take the scenic route and kept talking to us but he was very difficult to understand, so there was a lot of non committal grunting going on, as we were not sure what the appropriate response should be!
Eventually we got to the ship but as the buses and other taxi had got there way before us we were not sure where to go, but after a wee wander around we quickly spotted a queue of people, and do what you do when you see a queue and joined it. Thankfully it was the right queue and after being processed, which sounds painful but didn't hurt at all, we boarded the ship.
Our cabin was small but cosy and comfortable and had a small port hole window which mostly let the sunshine in. However, we were so low in the ship, in fact we were on the lowest deck that at times the sea would totally cover the window plunging the cabin into darkness. This sounds scary but wasn't and was only momentary as the waves washed up with the movement of the boat.
David slept by the window as I didn't want to be so close to the sea, daft as I was only about a metre further in.
We were on the ship on the right in the photo, it looks quite big but was actually just a tiddler especially when we were moored beside some of the colossal cruise ships that we saw in some of the docks. It is a lovely ship though, with brilliant staff and a lovely atmosphere.
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