Pampering at Sea
Gilly Pickup enjoys a pampering session on board Cruise & Maritime Voyages classic style Magellan
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March – new cruise ship launches
Magellan, Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) new flagship was launched at the London Cruise Terminal at Tilbury – Catherine and Alec joined the celebrations.
Read MoreBreaking away!
We’re in Southampton today to join around 2,500 travel agents and media for a tour and overnight stay on Norwegian Breakaway. Norwegian Cruise Lines’ beautiful brand new ship has come straight from the shipyard, via Rotterdam and is in Southampton for a couple of days before she sets sail for her home port of New York. Moored alongside the cruise terminal, she’s an awesome sight – 18 gleaming white decks towering up into the blue sky and her vast hull resplendent with Peter Max’s colourful New York City-inspired artwork. Breakaway’s vast and elegant interior is packed with eateries, bars, lounges, and entertainment venues. There’s a huge casino and more activities than anyone could possibly try on a single cruise. The Atrium, also known as 678 Ocean Place, spans three decks linked by glass staircases, connecting bars, restaurants and...
Read MoreLeaving on a jet plane
We docked in Barbados at 6am this morning and after our last breakfast on the Terrazza, made our way to the cruise terminal. Silversea not only arranged transport to the airport – but also an entertaining tour of the island and lunch on the wild east coast, before dropping us (and the other British passengers) off at the airport for our evening flight. We had a lovely guide Lissette and a friendly driver and it was a good experience. The only disappointment was discovering that the Concorde exhibition at Barbados Airport was closed. As our flight was delayed by an hour, it would have been a useful...
Read MoreSpice Island Sojourn
Writing this from the beautiful island of Granada, where we stopped for a few short but precious hours. The weather has been warm and sunny all day. We spent a nostalgic half day at the exclusive Spice Island Beach Resort, where we spent our honeymoon many moons ago! Back then, it was called Spice Island Inn and we chose it because we loved the name – it sounded so exotic! It was a delight to return and find the resort looking just as special as we remembered it. Ryan Hopkin, son of the owner Sir Royston Hopkin, gave us a warm welcome and an interesting tour of the rooms and facilities, which have been added since our first visit. The resort was closed for over a year after Hurricane Ivan devastated Grenada in 2004, damaging 90 per cent of...
Read MoreMore South America
After the excitement of Rio, we had a full day at sea before our first port of call – Salvador de Bahia. The capital of Brazil until 1763, and now the capital of the Bahia region and of African Brazil, Salvador has a population of 3.2 million and boasts the largest and liveliest street carnival in the country. The city is built on a series of cliffs and hills at the end of a peninsula separating Brazil’s largest bay, Baia de Todos os Santos from the Atlantic. The bay is dotted with beaches and islands, some privately owned and others for public use and served by ferries. Salvador is divided into two levels, the Upper City, home to the Pelourinho and historic centre and the Lower City, with the commercial and docks areas. The steep hills dividing the two...
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