cruise travel article
DESCRIPTION
My travel article from my Iberian Cruise for NI Travel NewsTRANSCRIPT
32 CRUISE SPECIAL
First-time cruiser LISA BELL tries out aEuropean cruise on board Fred. Olsen’s Line’s
January 2011 Travel News
Balmoral, and discovers that finding enough todo on board was never going to be a problem
I ALWAYS thought whoever was responsiblefor the phrase ‘It’s not the destination its thejourney was obviously completely insane. I
have always maintained that travelling ishorrendous and merely a compulsory, tedioustask one must endure in order to get to theirdestination. However, I have now come to theconclusion that this person is not insane butquite obviously had been on a Fred. Olsencruise, for what ajourney they offer!
As a first-time cruiser, I had some reservations atthe prospect of being stuck at sea for a week. Surelythere wouldn’t be enough to keep me entertained?With some apprehension I boarded the Balmoral, thelargest ship of Fred. Olseifs fleet, for a cruise tolberWMorrocco; calling at Oporto, Casablanca,Gibraltar, Cadiz and L.a Coruna. With T,300
passengers and ~oo crew members, Balmoral isconsidered to be small, by today’s standards, yet itssize serves to add to the intimate, homely atmospherethat is customary with Fred. Olsen.
The Balmoral boasts four large restaurants, threespacious and comfortable lounges, two bars, twoswimming pools, several hot tubs, a library and a stateof the art fitness centre and spa3 as well as a widerange of activities and entertainment to suit all tastes.
After boarding, I was escorted to my cabin by afliendly crew member and no sooner had I opened thedoor to observe a spacious room with beautiful seaviews, and happily acknowledged the generous fruitbasket on my table, had my suitcase arrived at thedoor kindly delivered by yet another friendly crewmember. So prompt! I was extremely impressed andthe good impressions didnt end there.
Settling into my cabin and eagerly tucking into thegrapes, I began to read through the informationsupplied in my room, namely the Daily Times; Fred.Olsen’s own daily newspaper’ informing guests of anextensive list of activities taking place each day, nightlyentertainment dress code for the evening and any+ other important notices. After a quick scan throughthis I knew that my first two days at sea would not bespent idle.
And so where to begin? After indulging in adelicious buffet breakfast I assessed my options for theday ahead. ~~hould I go to craft class? Perhapsattempt a morning quiz? Try my hand at a danceclass? There was so much choice that I got myselfinto a bit of a frenzy.
I scttled for a Pilates class and a workout in thegym in an attempt to burn off breakfast Theafternoon offered just as much choice with lectures,table tennis, bingo. even golfi Not to mention theoptions of moseying around the shops on board,having high tea on the top dcck or merely enjoyingwalking around the ship taking in the interesting artwork the Olsen’s personal collection).
As we were just somewhere off the south coast ofEngland in late November, it was just a little toopremature to check out the swimming pool. By theend of the first day I knew that all previoustiepidations were well and truly unnecessary.
I soon discovered that one of my favourite pasttimes on the ship would be eating. What a spread theship offered. Breakfast was a selection of cereals,pastries, fruit, yoghurt and of course a fried breakfastLunch was a mouth-watering buffet of maximumchoice and I was most impressed by the dinner menueach evening; fresh fish, pork belly, lamb, veal andeven reindeer were just some of the options available,alongside a vegetarian dish and the obligatory BritishDish of the Day. After a superb four course meal andcocktails in the Neptune lounge where I enjoyed afantastic perfonnance from Michael Bacala, violinist, Iwent to bed after my first successful day at sea, happyand extremely relaxed.
However, it wasn’t all plain sailing pun intended),as something I oddly didn’t take into consideration,happened. A storm. At approximately 3. am wefound ourselves in the middle of a foree i gale ia isthey highest they go. I woke up disorientated as theship was rocking at crazy magnitude, it wasimpossible to sleep and all my energy went into tryingto not be sick. It got worse as the time went on andsoon items were flying off my dressing table like ascene out of Poltergeist. It was very disconcerting.
I staggered my way to breakfast to find that manyof the older passengers on board were unperturbed bythe disturbances, making me feel like a huge pansy.Thankfully, a fellow journalist I had befriended hadtaken to her cabin vomiting relentlessl), proving Iwasn’t being over-dramatic. I was very grateful to herAfter a long day I was oveijoyed when at boo pm theswaying stopped and normality was resumed, but Icouldn’t wait to get off the boat and on to dry land the~next day when we docked at Oporto in Portugal.
Each evening prior to shore excursions the DailyTimes is issued with helpfUl details of the destination;currency, local time, distance to town, points ofinterest, etc. I was booked on the port wine andDouro river cruise which was an enjoyable andinformative tour of this historic European city.
Known ~vor1dwide for its port wine, naturally Itook a tour of Sandeman cellars and indulged in alittle bit of tasting. Oporto is the second largest city inPortugal and a registered World 1-leritage site, sothere is plenty to see and do but unfortunately wewere berthed here for just a fesv hours. Temperatureswere in and around 17 degrees, not overly warm, butpleasant enough to stroll comfortably around,
The following day was spent at sea as we set sail forCasablanca, Morrocco. Temperatures were rising,and the sea was like glass, a winning combination andperfect time for mc to sample the ship’s swimming
pool and Jacuzzi. Several happy hours were spenthere on the top deck, with the sea air whippingthrough ray hair and the sun shining on top of mc. Imanaged to squeeze in some more Pilates and a gymsession to compensate for the hearty meals I “asconsuming ever) day - a browse around the on-boardboutiques and finished off the day with a bottle ofwine on the top deck watching the sun set over thesea (which my Daily Times informed me would behappening at 524pm).
~Ve arrived at Casablanca early morning and I setoff for my tour to Marrakesh, which was a three and a
“I
half- hour coach journey - it sounds long but it ‘vasworth it Marrakesh is the tourist capital ofMorrocco and it’s easy to see why. Steeped in culturethere is an abundance of palaces, mosques, religioussites and museums to peruse. I was keen to samplethe shopping particularly with Marralcesh boastingthe largest soak (market) in Morrocco. So after atraditional and delicious Morroccan lunch we headedoff to the souk. ltwas bustling with vendors, tourists,musicians and crazy drivers on mopeds.
Conul on Opposite Page
LEFT: Ooe of thecolourftil stalls at thesouk in Marrakesh
WELCOMETO THE ROCK You
can’t visit Gibraltarwithout rneeting up
close one of theRock’s inquisitive
Barbary apes as ourcoach driver found
out...
A$4
HOMELY: Balmoral had an intimate homely atmosphere, the writer discovered I’
SHOPPER’S SPECIAL The writer enjoying some retail therapy on the sightseeing tour to Maim
+1