Cruising

As readers of my E-Writer newsletter will know, Jayne and I decided to go away on a cruise over the Christmas week. It was my first-ever cruise. Jayne did an educational cruise of the Mediterranean back in her teens, but of course it was quite a different experience in the age of steamships (only kidding!).

We booked on a cruise ship called the Thomson Celebration (picture below), on an itinerary which included Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Madeira, Lanzarote and Morocco. It was fascinating visiting all these different destinations, albeit only for a few hours in most cases.


However, what most sticks in my mind is the ship itself. Being British we're not really used to good customer service (grin), so we were amazed by how well we were looked after - from a cabin steward who seemed to be permanently on hand to look after our every request, to little details such as a crew member handing out wet-wipes to passengers returning to the ship after an excursion.

It occurred to me as well that while cruising is becoming incredibly popular, I've actually seen very few books or articles referring to it. It seems to me that a modern cruise liner could be a great setting for a romance or a murder mystery, for example. Equally, I'd be fascinated to read more about what it is like working on one of these ships - I'm sure there must be many stories to be told.

I could even see a market for how-to books and articles - "how to get a job on a cruise liner", for example, or "cruising for beginners" (how to choose a cruise, what to pack, what to expect, how to make the most of the experience, avoiding problems, and so on). Jayne and I would certainly have found the latter title very useful preliminary reading!

Anyway, if you decide to take up any of these suggestions, do feel free to get back to me with any questions about my own first-time cruising experience!