More about the boat and passengers.....
We left Gibraltar as dusk was falling and there were some amazing views of the rock as all the lights in the town came on, and the ship gradually inched away from the port. It took a whole day and a half to sail to our next destination, which was Arrecife in the Canary Islands. We arrived early morning, and were already docked when we emerged from our cabin for breakfast. We have an inside cabin with no window, and I would say that this is the only thing about the whole trip so far which I would change. We didn't have a choice of cabin, as we booked very late, and the actual cabin size is excellent, with lots of storage and a really good, hot and powerful shower in the ensuite bathroom. But I do miss not being able to look out of a window when I wake up and see what the day is like.
We are on deck 5, there is another deck of cabins below us, and also on 6 and 7,then deck 3 is the medical centre and one of disembarkation areas, and I guess it's also the crew area. Deck 8 and 9 is where the restaurants are, and deck 10 has bars, the Bistro buffet, a library, small casino, the spa centre, small number of expensive shops, and the theatre. There is also a small outside swimming pool, hot tubs, lots of deck space for sitting or sunbathing, deck 11 and 12 is mostly outside space, bars, more small hot tubs, the gym.
I really detest sitting in a row of deckchairs squeezed closely side by side, but there's plenty of space and you can usually find somewhere to sit away from the masses. There's a lovely sun deck right at the back of the boat which has artificial grass, some nice plants, nice comfy conservatory furniture,, which is sheltered from the wind but still sunny, that's my favourite spot. Also, we are not really on this cruise to soak up the sun, we've had enough of that in Greece from April to October this year. Clearly some people are here for some winter sun and expose their bodies at every opportunity, but to be quite honest, we've only had one completely hot and sunny day, but it is always warm and pleasant, but a few clouds.
Now - the clientele. This is a no children boat. I have no objection to my own children and grandchildren, but have found other people's kids to be not always well behaved and too noisy. On the other hand, most people who go on cruises are mostly retired, like us. So we expected a lot of olds, and indeed there are. We have seen only a few couples who are clearly younger than us, but most are the same age as us, I should imagine, and we have tended to mix with this age group at dinner or in the bars, or when sitting around doing not much. Then there is a very large number who are clearly very much older, by at least 20-25 years! And some of them are very decrepit, as you can imagine. It's like an old peoples home! This is what I am going to be like in 25 years, shuffling along very slowly, walking sticks, walking frames, oh what an exciting life to look forward to.........
We left Gibraltar as dusk was falling and there were some amazing views of the rock as all the lights in the town came on, and the ship gradually inched away from the port. It took a whole day and a half to sail to our next destination, which was Arrecife in the Canary Islands. We arrived early morning, and were already docked when we emerged from our cabin for breakfast. We have an inside cabin with no window, and I would say that this is the only thing about the whole trip so far which I would change. We didn't have a choice of cabin, as we booked very late, and the actual cabin size is excellent, with lots of storage and a really good, hot and powerful shower in the ensuite bathroom. But I do miss not being able to look out of a window when I wake up and see what the day is like.
We are on deck 5, there is another deck of cabins below us, and also on 6 and 7,then deck 3 is the medical centre and one of disembarkation areas, and I guess it's also the crew area. Deck 8 and 9 is where the restaurants are, and deck 10 has bars, the Bistro buffet, a library, small casino, the spa centre, small number of expensive shops, and the theatre. There is also a small outside swimming pool, hot tubs, lots of deck space for sitting or sunbathing, deck 11 and 12 is mostly outside space, bars, more small hot tubs, the gym.
I really detest sitting in a row of deckchairs squeezed closely side by side, but there's plenty of space and you can usually find somewhere to sit away from the masses. There's a lovely sun deck right at the back of the boat which has artificial grass, some nice plants, nice comfy conservatory furniture,, which is sheltered from the wind but still sunny, that's my favourite spot. Also, we are not really on this cruise to soak up the sun, we've had enough of that in Greece from April to October this year. Clearly some people are here for some winter sun and expose their bodies at every opportunity, but to be quite honest, we've only had one completely hot and sunny day, but it is always warm and pleasant, but a few clouds.
Now - the clientele. This is a no children boat. I have no objection to my own children and grandchildren, but have found other people's kids to be not always well behaved and too noisy. On the other hand, most people who go on cruises are mostly retired, like us. So we expected a lot of olds, and indeed there are. We have seen only a few couples who are clearly younger than us, but most are the same age as us, I should imagine, and we have tended to mix with this age group at dinner or in the bars, or when sitting around doing not much. Then there is a very large number who are clearly very much older, by at least 20-25 years! And some of them are very decrepit, as you can imagine. It's like an old peoples home! This is what I am going to be like in 25 years, shuffling along very slowly, walking sticks, walking frames, oh what an exciting life to look forward to.........
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