We have been without internet the first few days of being home, then I went to see both my sisters in Liverpool & Manchester from Thursday to Sunday & could not get onto the internet there either so apologies for the delay in updating!
The heat in England is so intense. It was the same on holiday but I guess we always had the sea breeze we didn't notice it so much. I have to say though it's the first time coming home from abroad that I've actually been able to show off my tan & it's going to last a lot longer. The sun is showing no signs of disappearing! I'm pretty happy with that.
I think it's time to share our holiday photos! We had the most wonderful & refreshing time. I would do a cruise again in a heartbeat.
I did a Mediterranean cruise with my family about 8 years ago on a ship with the capacity for 2,800 people, the ship we went with was much smaller with the capacity for 1,800 so my experience this time around was a little different but still just as fun. We enjoyed all the different bars but we ended up with a favourite that became our pre-dinner, play a few card games & catch up time. We enjoyed a lot of time by the pools reading & people watching (my favourite hobby!). The average age of people on our cruise was 70 years old but we met some brilliant characters & made some great friends for the trip. We had set dining at in the evening & were on a table of eight. I really think we had the best table of people and my favourite was 89 year old Barry who was one of the funniest people I've ever met. The weirdest thing was that Barry, his daughter & son-in-law grew up in the same part of Birmingham that we live so we had a lot to talk about. Small world! Anyway, I guess you want to see some pictures!
The ocean was absolutely spectacular. I think it's the first time I've really appreciated the vastness of this world. You could have stared out into the ocean all day and let your mind wander into whatever was swimming beneath & around you. We saw so many dolphins but every single time they came up I never had my camera with me. That will just have to be a precious moment I keep to myself. The most incredible sighting of the dolphins was one evening at sunset, the water was so still & mirror-like and you could see the silhouette of them jumping against the sun. Sam saw them but every time they jumped right out of the water he seemed to miss it! I've seen dolphins before, fed & touched them even but there is something about seeing them swim in the wild that feels more intimate.
Our cabin was great. We had an inside cabin which I didn't mind at all. Sam said next time he'd have a cabin with a window or a balcony. We only spent time in there to sleep, have a nap or get ready. We may have spent more time in there if we had a balcony but otherwise it was fine. We were at the very front of the ship & we felt a little motion sickness a couple of times. Some people said to us the middle of the ship is a better place to be because you don't feel it so much. That's just a pointer for anyone considering a cruise. We didn't get a choice of where our cabin was because we had such a cheap deal & we had the sea bands but I'm not sure how much help they were. Despite that, it didn't affect our holiday or enjoyment and we'd jump at doing another cruise.
Alicante, Spain was our first port of call. It was a lovely city but we only got to stay for a few hours before being back on the ship late afternoon. I imagine if you were staying there they'd be a lot of activity during the evening. We certainly saw the aftermath of a few parties the night before. They had a parade while we were there celebrating St. John the Baptist. The clothing was incredible, I can't imagine how they felt dressed up like that in the heat. I certainly would not have wanted to do that but they looked amazing & the little ones looked very cute.
We had a look around a few shops & stopped for a drink after watching a little of the parade. I can't say its a place that we would return to but it was certainly pleasant for a few hours & nice to get off the ship onto land. We stopped by the harbour to sit and sip sangria (obligatory of course) and got back onto the ship in time for afternoon tea!
I'll be sharing our other destinations with you this week so keep a look out!
Feels good to be back to blogging! X
No comments:
Post a Comment