Travel Blog

The singles cruise had come to an end and after thinking I’d persuaded Dianna that we could spend some time together doing something in Florida or the Caribbean or wherever she wanted to go, when we met on the outside top deck the next morning reality had kicked in and…

Our penultimate stop was Grand Cayman, the largest island in the Cayman Islands, the other two being Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. They are a British Overseas Territory and cover 102 square miles with a population of 60,000. Although considered part of the UK, their GDP for a territory is…

Following our day in Princess Cays we had a day at sea before arriving in country number 80. Falmouth is on the north coast of Jamaica between Ocho Rios and Montego Bay and is the capital of the Trelawny parish. A regular stop for cruise ships it is the birthplace…

This is my first Princess cruise and I’ve booked a Vacations To Go hosted singles cruise for 7 days. The Love Boat was aboard a Princess cruise so I’m hoping we have Captain Stubing and Julie the cruise director. I was humming the theme tune as I boarded. The ship…

After leaving the Celebrity Silhouette I headed to Miami for two nights but before leaving Fort Lauderdale I had an appointment/ interview for the Global Entry program and I do like to enter globally. It lasts for five years and means that when I fly into the USA I simply…

St Kitts was our seventh and last stop of this cruise and talk about saving the best until last. St Kitts, or St Christopher Island as it is formally called, and Nevis is a country in the Lesser Antilles and attained independence from Britain in 1983. The islands are only…

I went to one of my favourite places in Barbados, the Boatyard just outside Bridgetown. The sand on the beach was just perfect. I visit a lot of beaches and I’m not always pleased with the amount of pebbles and foliage and general detritus mixed in the sand. Often I…

I spent my time on the beautiful island of St Lucia with Anne and Keith who were waiting as I left the ship. In their semi-retirement they’ve taken to four day weekends and as it was Black Friday it was an official weekend day for Mr and Mrs Noel. First…

For the second time in two weeks the ship docked in St Maarten so in search of new experiences I booked a tour to the neighbouring island of Saint Barthélemy. More popularly called St Barts (or Barths or Barth) this small exclusive French island is only 20 miles southeast of…

Our first stop was the island of St Croix which is actually the largest of the US Virgin Islands at a whopping 82 square miles which is almost three times the size of St Thomas, often considered to be the main USVI. It has a similar population to St Thomas…

So on to a new ship and the routine of making friends commenced once more. I’d only been on board 10 minutes when the battle for my money began. I spent $500 in the first hour although I have secured one of only 14 places in the Persian Garden with…

I opted to walk off the ship with my bags at 7am rather than meet my luggage at the allotted time of 9:45. I'd actually driven across the state to Naples by 9:45 so it was a good move. The Mustang convertible is not blessed with boot space. My home…

Can I count Haiti as a country visited if I’ve only visited the private resort peninsula of Labadee owned by Royal Caribbean? My guess is that is might be a little different from the real Haiti but geographically speaking, I have now visited Haiti, the poorest country in the Western…

Ranking my cruises in order of enjoyment this one would be last with Britannia in August second last. Both were large ships and sailed out of Southampton with lots of English people aboard. Regulars on this route have commented that this is the chaviest crossing they’ve been on and they’re…

I’ve managed to keep up my early morning walking regime on the top deck where I’m normally the first to appear while it’s still dark. I’m then joined by a woman in a yellow t-shirt who walks the opposite way which as you know doesn’t irritate me at all. I’ve…

So I’ve now crossed the Atlantic on a ship. Tick. The remaining four sea days before reaching our first port of call in St Maarten were more enjoyable largely because the weather improved as we ventured further south. Some of the more hardy Brits disrobed on the top deck as…

After being dropped at Waterloo by Bangladeshi taxi driver, Kabir, I boarded the train and immediately struck up a conversation with Tony (58) from Sydney who happened to be on the same cruise. 30+ years working with Qantas, he retired four years ago and cruises more than me. He’s done…

We had a much needed sea day before the next stop in Cartagena, Spain. I spent my time in the retreat and got speaking to Ron (78) from Stoke on Trent. He’s on the ship with his ex-wife who he divorced 28 years ago. Their respective partners had both died…

For Pisa and/or Florence the ships dock in Livorno, or Leghorn in English, an Italian coastal city in the Ligurian Sea (the leghorn chicken originates from Tuscany). The choice was Pisa or Florence and I chose Pisa (12 miles away) because Florence (71 miles away) warrants more than a day…

It think country number 76 deserves a blog of its own because it was quite fabulous. The second smallest country in the world to the Vatican, with a bulging population of 38,000 (Goodson Park could hold them all) comprising about 20% Monegasque and the rest foreigners (who like paying zero…