Long before blogging was a thing, we went on our first and only cruise. For Jane’s 50th we went on a Thomson’s Red Sea Cruise with Joyce and Enid. We all really enjoyed it but for one reason and another, have not been on a cruise since.
Well, about 3 weeks ago we got fed up of the UKs miserable weather and booked ourselves onto a Marella Caribbean cruise. To be honest, we’d been keeping an eye out for some time, hoping the prices would come down. They didn’t but when I spotted that we could go on a 2 weeks cruise for less than just one of the weeks, it was a no brainer. So here we are!
The trip consists of two separate cruise itineraries joined together. Exotic Islands and then Coconuts and Cocktails or something like that. I’ve had Antigua and St Lucia on my ‘travel wish lists’ for many years and this combined tour ticks off both!
After a very easy 9 hour flight from Birmingham we arrived in Bridgetown, Barbados. We left behind the cold and wet and arrive to sun and blue, slightly cloudy skies and 28 degrees heat. Gorgeous. We loved the fact that a bus picked us up at the bottom of the airplane steps and then drove out of the airport straight to the docks. No need to enter the airport at all! The drive through Bridgetown was busy and colourful especially as it was the end of the school day.
The ship is called Discovery 2 and it’s bigger than the last ship we cruised on but not one of those floating megalopolis. Once on board we found our cabin 6533 which is an inside cabin but really very acceptable. When you’ve been staying in a campervan, everything is spacious in comparison and so much storage space! Our luggage hadn’t yet arrived so we soon set about exploring the ship. We visited the Atrium bar and sat outside looking at the docks and then wandered upto level 9 and the main pool area where the 6 Nation’s rugby was being shown on the big screen. We then had dinner in the fabulous Islands buffet restaurant with views of the sun setting as another huge cruise ship set off. We then went back to our room to check on luggage (nothing) but were handed our first copy of ‘Cruise News’ the daily update on what’s happening across the ship, I remembered this from our last cruise and I was very excited to see that they hadn’t gone digital!
This then led us to the rest of our evenings entertainment. A music quiz in the very pleasant ‘Squid and Anchor’ bar which is not at all as naff as the name might suggest. Then we went to check out the show lounge and their Country Music night which was really very good. Bless them all. We round off the night by poking our noses upstairs at the pool area where a local reggae band were playing at our Sail Off party. I think we’re going to enjoy this…..
All Aboard
Where shall we go to next? 