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| DESTINATIONS
LIBRARY: No. 2 CRUISE HOLIDAYS Pictures © Dave and Fleur Razzell |
| Dave and Fleur Razzell took their first cruise holiday in 1997. Until then, they say, they had always assumed cruising to be out of their price bracket but were pleasantly surprised at the prices offered by Airtours on their own ships, which they have used almost exclusively since……. |
| Many people have a very misplaced image of cruising. We are often asked “Don’t you get bored spending hours at sea” or “Isn’t it a pain getting dressed up every night”. It really is nothing like this. Most of the itineraries we pick travel between destinations overnight. There simply isn’t time to get bored. On the contrary one is glad of a rare day at sea to recover from sightseeing! Most ships have only one or two formal nights a week. Of course one wouldn’t turn up in the restaurant in a T shirt or shorts but smart casual dress is quite acceptable, ties, jackets or ball gowns are not needed most nights and some ships now even have alternative buffet restaurants if you really can’t face dressing up. |  |
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 A standard cabin |
Our first cruise consisted of one week on board ship sailing out of Bridgetown followed by a week in Barbados. We boarded the MS Carousel in the afternoon, giving us time to explore the ship before setting sail that evening. As always we picked the cheapest cabin, quite adequate for our needs, not huge and no window but we see little point in spending more when one spends so little time there. Airtours ships are a little elderly but immaculately kept. They operate the traditional cruising practice of two fixed sittings for dinner; we much prefer this system to open sittings as one is allocated a table with the same (usually 6-10) passengers all week. So far we have always met interesting people and it’s great to share your experiences at the end of each day. It does pay to switch to the later sitting as soon as you get on board if necessary. We were pleasantly surprised by the excellent service and top class food. There is always a tremendous amount of entertainment provided on board and one can drop in and out of various shows and activities at all times. Following a very good quality cabaret after dinner it was time to go up on deck to watch the cast off from Bridgetown. | ||
| One of our favourite times
on a cruise is sailing into an unknown port whilst having breakfast up
on deck.So, the alarm was set at 6am to see the sun rise as we approached
St Lucia.We had been advised not to use the company’s tours but to hire
a taxi driver for the day - good advice we have never regretted following. Sure enough there was a line of Taxis on the jetty. Occasionally we have hired cars too. It’s amazing how much one can see in a day when that’s all the time you have! Back to the ship for a swim and a sunbathe at the end of the day and then time to share stories of the day’s adventures at dinner as the ship sailed off towards the next destination, then time for another cruising delight – the deck party under the stars out at sea with no land in sight. If you can last out, there’s a midnight buffet too. We never managed that! |
 Deck party in the Caribbean Sea |
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 Carousel in Aruba |
Up
early again for Grenada, one of the most beautiful harbours we’ve seen
and another full day out, then Margarita Island, Aruba, Curaçao, then
the formal night, a glamorous event with everybody looking their best,
then a full day at sea to relax (at last!) before our week in Barbados.
We were well and truly hooked, if exhausted! Every place we saw was
so different and having our floating hotel to return to with no unpacking
was wonderful. All this with fabulous food and for so little money was
fantastic We booked our next cruise immediately on our return! |
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| Since that first cruise in 1997 we have cruised to Costa Rica, San Blas Islands, Cancun, Cozumel, Cuba, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Penang, Lankawi, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Patong, Madeira, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, Marakesh.To visit all these places on full length holidays would take decades.Of course, one doesn’t have to tear around sightseeing like us, many are content to wander around the ports, head for the beach or shops or even stay on the ship!It’s what you make it. |  A day at sea |
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 Entering Panama Canal lock |
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| Finally: All the above were on Airtours ‘Sundream’, ‘Carousel’ or ‘Seawing’. Only the latter would we criticise as being cramped and a little downmarket. We also used Star Cruises ‘Superstar Gemini’, which was excellent too. Although one can pay a lot more for luxury we see little point. The happy, informal, friendly atmosphere on theses ships suited us fine. We’re cruising the Med this August on the Carousel, visiting Barcelona, Rome, Florence, Tunisia, Villefranche (for Monte Carlo) and Mallorca. All for around £600 including flights. |
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 Sailing into the sunset |
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