Saturday 22nd September - 6th October 2001Sat 22nd: We got up at 3.00am and left the house at 4.00am as my brother-in-law Gordon works for Security at Glasgow Airport and had told us the night before that the check-ins were taking much longer and they were checking more cases due to the Sept 11 Events in America. Airtours International has its own terminal and we realised that there was a special check-in desk for Cruisers which made things much easier. Normally with a cruise, you go "in bond" and you only need to check-in your cases and you don't see them again until they are delivered to your cabin. Unfortunately, due to recent events in American this wasn't allowed and we had to collect our cases when we arrived at Palma Airport. Our plane was delayed by 40 minutes because a Crew member had failed to turn up for work and they had to wait for another one to arrive. Everyone cheered when she arrived lol. When we arrived in Palma, Majorca, it was RAINING rofl. At the docks we had to wait to embark the ship as we had to get our photo taken for our Security Pass which is also used to purchase everything on board as they operate a 'cashless society" - all you need to do is use your Credit Card and everything is charged. We were delighted with our cabin which was on the 5th deck next to the main lounges. Certainly not as luxurious as our Deluxe Suite last year, but all we needed and even had its own TV. As it was only 1.00pm I unpacked while Alan explored the ship. The cabin was in an L-shape with a fold-up bed and seating which the Steward turned down every night into beds. They also leave a copy of 'The Sundial' which gives daily information about whats happening on board together with a Newsletter. For dinner they are two sittings in the main Restaurant, one at 6.15pm and the other at 8.30pm. We prefer the early sitting and tonight it was open sitting which made things easier.
The ship was much bigger than the one last year and consisted of over 700 cabins, a Casino, Salon, Shopping Mall and 5 Lounges.
Can Can Lounge - the main venue for entertainment
Clipper Lounge - a Piano Bar
Oklahoma Lounge - which had a 'live band' on every night for dancing etc.
Neptune's - Where there was a nightly disco.
Chart Room - where smokers could go.
They tried to sell us a "Drinks Unlimited" deal which you paid £109.00 per person and £28.00 for children where you could drink as much as you liked for a week, but we decided against it as it was just the Ships own brands you could have and we don't drink THAT much lol.
This evening we had dinner and watched the "Fresher's Ball" which was really an information tour about what happens on board during the week ahead, and decided against the "Sailaway Party" as there were flights delayed and we weren't leaving Palma until 1.30am and we were shattered after being up since 3.00am.
Sunday 23: We spent at sea and just tried to get our bearings. We had our Safety Drill in the morning and was relieved that they didn't take our photos like last year lol. We went to the Fair Tour to see what tours were on offer in the afternoon and then started getting organised for The Captains Cocktail Party was started at 5.30pm.
There was such a wait to get a photo taken with Captain we decided against it and just went in for a couple of glasses of Champagne and met some of the Officers instead. The Captain - Geir Larsen - is Norwegian who had a great sense of humour as we discovered during the cruise as he used to come over the Public Address System saying "This is the Viking/driver/chauffeur speaking.
When we went to dinner that night we were surprised to find that all eight of us were from Scotland lol and a couple lived ten minutes away from us! We watched the show, a singer called Simon Leigh and then went through to the other lounge to watch their version of "Who wants to be a Millionaire" (of course it was prizes you got - not a Million Pounds!) followed by Karaoke. There was a Chocoholic Buffet at midnight this evening in the Restaurant - where everything was chocolate - but we decided to miss it.
We were surprised at the number of Canadians and Americans on board. During our cruise
we got chatting to lots of them and it seems that many of them had changed their travel arrangements from America to Europe because of Sept 11th Events.We heard lots of stories about people who had friends/family killed or injured. One English couple had been on their way to New York when it happened and were diverted to Canada for four days. On board the ship there was also increased security which meant that every time you left the ship they searched your bags on your return.
This week we were on the Mainland Coasts - Marvellous Countries Tour.
Mon 24: BIZERTE, TUNISIA: Lots of people had decided against going ashore due to the American Events and we were warned to be 'vigilant' if we went ashore on our own. We stayed on board and found on Deck Seven you could stretch out in peace and quiet in comparison to the Pool Deck. Alan read one of my books and I had to buy another one - Clive Cussler's 'Valhalla Rising' which I couldn't resist because it was about a luxury cruise liner mysteriously sinking in the year 2003! After dinner we watched a very good comedian and then went through to the other lounge. Found the Internet Cafe and tried to join a chat room but it wouldn't let me. It was £5.00 for 30 minutes and you couldn't type e-mail's off-line.
Tues 25: CIVITAVECCHIA - the port for Rome, but we were disappointed because they were only offering full day tours and all of them said not suitable for persons with walking difficulties which ruled me out. I told Alan to go on a tour himself if he wanted to but he said no and instead we just went into town where Alan bought himself a pair of Designer Italian Sunglasses (he keeps losing his) for 10,000 Lira.We spent another evening watching the show, followed by a quiz night and the usual Karaoke.
Wed 26: LIVORNO - The port for Florence and Pisa. We were looking forward to going on a full day tour of Florence and Pisa but we were informed by the Captain that due to adverse weather conditions during the night they had been unable to dock and we were diverted to Genoa instead. We had felt it a bit rough during the night but didn't think it was THAT bad! Again, we didn't go on a tour and just had a walk around the small town where we docked. In the evening we went to watch the comedian Barnaby again who was excellent.
Thurs 27: VILLEFRANCHE - The port for The French Riviera and Monte Carlo. We had to go ashore using a tender - a little boat, which was quite an experience lol. We noticed that one of the passengers was being helped by a nurse and must have taken ill during the cruise and was being transferred to hospital as there was an ambulance waiting for him. Never did find out anything else about that....We went on the Discovery of Monaco and Monte Carlo Tour which took us to see the Cathedral containing the tomb of Princess Grace and the Prince's Palace. We drove along the famous Grand Prix circuit and I picked up a couple of post cards to give to my neighbour who is mad about Formula 1. Unfortunately the famous Grand Casino didn't open until 4.00pm so we didn't get into see it. If I win the lottery, I'm going back their for a month as its a beautiful place. As we had been with Airtours before, we were now members of their "Compass Club" and got a special invitation to join the Captain and his Officers for a special Champagne Reception. It was really nice as today was our 26th Wedding Anniversary so it was a nice way of celebrating it. Later, we went to watch the ship's own version of "The Worst Link" aka "The Weakest Link" lol which was really funny.
Fri 28: BARCELONA - We were going on a Barcelona City Highlight tour this morning but it had been very heavy rain during the night and we didn't know if it would still be on. Luckily it was and we had a very good English Guide for our tour. We saw the 1992 Olympic complex, had some time in the Olympic Village was lovely and saw Gaudi's Sagrada Familia Church - absolutely huge and has taken years and years to build and won't be completed for another Forty years! I told the guide that I wouldn't join them for the walking tour and just sat in the square. We watched the evening's show and had a go at the 'snowball bingo' as it had to be won tonight - someone won £2,000, unfortunately it wasn't us.
Sat 29: PALMA - Because this was a two-week combined cruise we had to head back to Palma. Most of the people on board were only having a one-week cruise either going home or having a week in Majorca. It felt a bit strange because we were the only ones at our table staying for another week and everything seemed to be 'geared up' on a week cruise and not a two-week one. We even got our invoice for the week left in our cabin that evening and had a 'fair well parade' of our waiters in the restaurant.
Sun 30: Our second week was Islands and Africa which we had previously been on four years ago with the "SS Carousel" in 1997, but as we wanted a 2 week cruise decided to do it again. At least we didn't need to do a second Safety Drill as, unfortunately, I had wakened up with a very bad cold. It turned out that the Captain had to cancel his Reception Party that evening because he too had it. I think its with the air-conditioning in the ship as lots of people took it over the next week. We had new dinner companions that evening - a couple from Scotland and a couple from Liverpool (The Wirral). Tonight's show was a singer and comedian called Diane Cousins - she was Welsh and had a voice like Shirley Bassey - but you daren't go to the loo while she was on as she tore you to bits! ROFL - even the Cruise Director was terrified of her!
Mon 1st Oct: NAPLES - We had done tours here before and the only one which we hadn't seen - Capri - wasn't suitable as there was lots of walking involved so we just stayed on board.
Alan went for a walk and I just had a lazy day. After dinner we watched a signer called Wayne Denton who was really good and did a lot of Country & Western songs. Tonight's quiz was Mr & Mrs Show
Tues 2: MESSINA, SICILY. Alan was starting with the cold now and we were both shattered and just spent a lazy day on board, had dinner and watched the show. We decided on an early night.
Wed 3: VALLETTA, MALTA - the last time we were here we had just made our own way into town so we had decided to go on a Panoramic Tour. It was very hot and the
air- conditioning in the bus wasn't working and we couldn't hear the guide properly. There were lots of Canadians on board and they were complaining so much that we had to change coaches lol. It was nice to see Malta and stopped at Rabat to do some shopping. After dinner the show was "The Lomax Brothers" - very talented brothers who both played the piano and sang.
Thurs 4: LA GOULETT, TUNIS - again we were warned to be 'vigilant' if going ashore today so we didn't bother. Unless you went on a tour there wasn't anything to do here so we just went to our favourite deck and read our books. I decided to go to the Salon this afternoon and got my hair cut as I didn't have time to go to the hairdressers the week before our cruise and it was badly needing cut.
Fri 5: MAHON, MENORCA - is a beautiful place and we had toured the island the last time. You have to walk up lots and lots of steep steps to get into town, so Alan decided to go on
his own as I wanted to stay on board to pack - you have to leave your cases outside the cabin door by midnight. We watched Diane Cousins again, played snowball bingo but didn't win and just decided on bed.
Sat 6: We were back in Palma and had to get up at 7.00am to vacate our cabin by 8.00am.
We were not leaving the ship until 5.00pm so spent the day just on board. We got home about 11.00pm.
SUMMARY: I have walking difficulties due to a heart condition and have to be careful when choosing our cruises. Most of them offered tourse I could manage no problems but we were disappointed with the Rome as there was no way I could have coped with that. We have decided we would not do a cruise this way again as its all geared up for a one week cruise and the second week was a bit repetitive. It was a much bigger ship than last years - MV Bolero - but was easy to get round and there was plenty of lifts/elevators. We met a lot of people but didn't really 'team' up with anyone like we did on our 10 day cruise last year. Many people noticed that the ships are definately cutting back a little. On the Carousel in 1997 there were lovely themed midnight buffets every night on board, but this year there were only a couple each week and snacks were served in the lounges in the other evenings. The meals were lovely and you could eat 6 times a day - breakfast either in the Pool Deck or Restuarant - I gave up and missed it most mornings and just went for Morning Coffee at 11.00am where you could have crossants, then had lunch, afternoon tea, six course evening dinner and snacks at midnight. Overall, it was a very relaxing cruise, just what we both needed after such a busy year and apart from getting the cold, we both enjoyed it. In fact, I've already started looking at cruises for next year lol. 