Discovering cruises
“What got me hooked was the journey. Discovering so many new places in just one week. Little tasters of places enabling me to plan future trips. Famous cities and landmarks I can check off my list. All done so easily.”
It must have been in the early 2000s when cruise ships first sparked my curiosity. During a stay in the Greek island of Mykonos I had an apartment in the hills north of Mykonos town. I had a great view of the ships coming and going from the cruise port.
At night the ships looked so festive, lights twinkling and reflecting in the ocean. The route from my lodgings to the town allowed closer inspection of the ships that visited that week. Looking up at the various decks with a mixture of balconies and different styles of windows, I began to wonder what was behind the façade. It was fairly easy to identify the communal areas. But is that bit a restaurant or a bar? I wonder if that’s a pool in there? What’s the view like from that top deck? By the end of that week, I knew I’d love to have a look onboard. But it would be a few more years until I set foot on a cruise ship.
In the interim, cruising became more prominent in the media. Or perhaps, I just became more aware of it? By 2000 we had already met Jane McDonald thanks to the BBC documentary which catapulted her to fame. I guess my interest in nightclubs eclipsed some of the late 90s zeitgeist. However I was particularly entertained by an episode of Paul Merton’s Adventures simply titled ‘Cruise’ in October 2011. This was the last piece of inspiration I needed to take the plunge and make my first booking.
I found a great deal with TUI’s Thomson Cruises (now rebranded Marella) to sail around the Canary Islands and Morocco (more about that itinerary in future blog). Perhaps not the most glamourous cruise line or diverse itinerary, but I hadn’t felt this pre-holiday excitement for years. I was finally going to get on a cruise ship and experience something totally new. And I felt safe with TUI, a trusted name I had used before.
I sailed on Thomson Dream, an elegantly aging ship which didn’t look or feel as tired as it should have. Although I had never sailed before, I got the feel of old-school traditional cruising from the Dream. This was encompassed by the nightly cabin turndown service with chocolates on the pillows, something I haven’t experienced for many years now.
The crew were the hardest working and friendliest hospitality staff I had ever met. Nothing was too much trouble. Everyone smiled and said hello. Every morsel of food and drink was delicious. Much better than I had tasted on land-locked holidays. And not a grumpy face in sight either.
But what I really loved was waking up in a new destination every day, with absolutely no effort on my part to get there. My hotel did the traveling. Cruising provided so many photography opportunities too. The ship, the ocean, coastlines, other ships, the ports of call. Perfect.
There’s so many things to enjoy on a cruise, and everyone will have different favourites. Some love all the entertainment options, which can be impressive. For others it’s all the pampering facilities and opportunities to dress in their most glamourous attire (usually optional). Then there’s the endless food and drink.
Obviously, all of these, and much more are all part of the experience. But what got me hooked was the journey. Discovering so many new places in just one week. Little tasters of places enabling me to plan future trips. Famous cities and landmarks I can check off my list. All done so easily.
So that’s how I came to love a cruise holiday.