Departing for a Marella/ TUI cruise by flight

Day -1 Friday Manchester, England

This cruise was going to the middle east but the process is the same for all fly/cruises run by TUI, Marella Cruises, as far as I can see. 

It was gone 12:00 noon before we left the hotel in their free bus and off to Terminal 3 where the baggage collection by TUI commenced over three hours prior to departure. For forty minutes we zigzagged our way through human cattle pens until the bags were weighed and rode off into the bowels of the building on a conveyor belt. The baggage restrictions are 20 kilograms per bag and there is a chance to relocate items if you are overweight at the baggage desk. If desperate swop your heavier shoes/ runners for what you are wearing or put them in the hand luggage as you can carry onboard the flight  a 10-kilogram bag and a handbag

It was only then that we learnt our cabin number. It was 6073.

This occurred as we booked through a third party, Iglu in this case and we took the cheaper price leaving it up to TUI/ Marella to chose the room. 

Obviously, if I'd paid a bit more I could have secured a cabin for definite but would have missed out on possible upgrades to better cabins. You take your choice really. 

Also, it's worth noting that you can, at least in Gatwick, offload the large bags at the airport the night before your TUI flight if you so wish. Look into it if you plan to arrive the day before and can do without the contents of the bigger bags/ cases.  We wandered over to the departure terminal at Gatwick and the staff there were very happy to accept the cases there and then. 

On the day itself, we cleared security with the minimum fuss, given my wife has two metal hips and sets the alarms off at every airport. This time she additionally had her bag opened because her jewellery appeared on the scanner as a mass of metal so it piqued some extra interest.

Boarding from gate A1 commenced almost an hour ahead of departure and we were first in the queue as my wife was just walking past the gate when the TUI staff made the announcement. 

Onboard the TUI Boeing 737 we found that because the flight duration is less than seven hours it is defined as a "short-haul" therefore passengers have to pay for the food and drinks. We happily shelled out for meals and drinks and savoured the holiday vibe. It would be the last spend on such matters for fifteen days as this is an all-inclusive fly/cruise holiday.

That vibe didn’t last long as my wife’s small bottle of red wine somehow spilt over her tray and her trousers! Fortunately, the drinks trolley was passing and the TUI stewardess reacted immediately with a replacement bottle. 

Phew! Our holiday was now back on track.

We landed in Naples at 7:00 pm but lost almost an hour awaiting our cases. The coach journey to the ship took 20 minutes and we saw in the evening night the outline of several volcanoes, all appearing dormant but located menacingly above on the city. 

The ship Marella Cruises Discovery 1 towered over a large modern building where we were processed and exited with boarding cards and passing through Italian police immigration checks before walking up the ramp and finding our cabin.

Room 6073 is probably the smallest cabin we have ever occupied but it still is acceptable. 

The biggest point of note in the cabin is the lack of the UK and Irish 3-pin sockets. There aren’t any so bring at least one adaptor. There are at least six EU and US sockets so no shortage of sockets. As it turned out it was an excellent location, a few minutes from everywhere that mattered.

Off to the ship’s bars, we went flashing the On-board cards and up to the buffet where we had some food. 

We returned to the cabin and unpacked before bed. I had a fitful night’s sleep. 

Not for any reason other than my ticklish chest cough which woke me several times through the night with coughing fits. 

As the day progressed I realised that a considerable number of passengers had the same flu-like symptoms so if you didn’t have it upon boarding the ship you are almost certainly going to get it before you disembark in two weeks time.

Petra Red Rose City TUI/ Marella Excursion 2019

Petra Red Rose City Excursion (£124 p person)

We boarded JETT coach No 12 and listened to Arabic music piped through the onboard speakers while we awaited the arrival of the forty-one other passengers. The majority seem in poor health and struggled to climb the few steps to board the coach. The coach curtains were thick, like household curtains and the air conditioning was on at full blast. We clipped on our lap belts and sipped water taking in the largely empty port.

As we pass through the town of Aqaba I see that it’s made up of modern high-rise building and single-storey buildings, all with air-con units hanging off the walls. The roads and roundabouts within the town are beautifully landscaped. As we speed towards the mountains our guide explains that Aqaba is a Special Economic Zone area and that VAT, normally 16% elsewhere is only 5% in Aqaba. I suppose that’s why we have to stop at a police security post that looks like a row of motorway toll booths spread across the width of the road. Every vehicle is stopped and several are inspected. We get waved through but it must feel like it’s a border post for the Jordanian people to access what is, after all, a part of their own country. 

We are now in very mountainous terrain and it looks like they blasted their way through solid rock to cut a road out of Aqaba. Its early morning and the temperature outside is already nudging 23 degrees. Little residential housing can be seen and what there is, is merely corrugated roofs on small one-room houses with fenced-in animals, their nearby pens laid out on hard ground without a blade of grass. In fact, there is little grass anywhere but there is plenty of evidence of gigantic run-offs ready to deal with the rare but heavy downpours.

By 9:30 am the Jordanian guide has been speaking non-stop for two hours on all things Jordanian and we are just seeking some quiet moments. His English is highly accented and not unlike Peter Seller’s Inspector Clouseau. For example, he points out the vast deserts that we pass but unfortunately says “desserts” which ruins the moment somewhat.

It’s at this moment that the coach pulls into a shop / toilet/ scenic view stop and the stay is approximately forty minutes. Inside the one storey shop, the Jordanian women who man the counters are dressed in robes, not yashmaks. If that illustrates a non-strict Muslim community they still avoid eye contact with me. The shop is filled with nice souvenirs of the type you can buy in any Middle Eastern shop with the certain knowledge that they will just become dust collectors when you get home.

We are now back on the road and our guide continues to talk. Outside the tarmac roads visibly crack in the intense heat and in spots the ride is a bumpy one.

First, he says, came the railway tracks installed by the Turks and then the road. The Turks wanted to maintain control but to reduce the size of their army so with the railway tracks in place they could link their fortresses to each other and move soldiers to wherever they needed them, fast. The weakness in this plan was that the local Jordanians and the English could damage the railway line and then draw the Turks out to investigate. Then they’d ambush them or just starve the fortress defenders out.

Our guide tells us the ancient history of Petra and constantly use the years “BCE” ie 312 BCE means 312 Before Common Era. While he talks the landscape we pass becomes increasingly alien to us. We pass close to the area they shot the Hollywood hit science fiction movie starring Brad Pitt called “The Martian”.

 It’s now 10:10 am and we are entering the narrow twisty street of the town of Petra. It has only existed following the discovery of the Petra World Heritage site so it is literally on the ancient site's doorstep. Rather than going straight to the large bus depot behind the famous site our bus stops outside the hotel where lunch will be served after we return from the site. For now, it appears to be just a toilet stop and familiarisation exercise. We are twenty minutes inside the hotel and nothing else happens there except we have the first of many headcounts.

Now, we are walking in a narrow column along the broken footpaths a distance of about 300 yards to the heritage site. Once there we have, you’ve guessed it, another headcount, repeated several times over so obviously we have lost someone.

In this forecourt, there are many tourist-related shops and toilets and it’s proved too tempting for some of our number. I discover the standard ticket into the Petra site is 70 dinar so the TUI ticket that covers entry, transport and a meal doesn’t seem as excessive as first thought.

Eventually, we walk on down to the site entrance proper and during that walk our guide makes frequent stops at the behest of shop owners. He relates to us their splendid offers. Even a local child’s offering of a selection of postcards for 1 dinar is translated and passed on to the by now fairly impatient throng.

Now we stand aside as the ticket purchase queue grows and our variable numbers are doing our guides head in. Finally, we click through the entry style and some passengers break away. They can’t delay another minute and off they go not to be seen for the hour or two.

Our guide now stops to outline our transport options.  The walk into Petra and as far as the Treasury building is about 12,000 steps on uneven and sandy ground and will take over an hour to complete with the guide and similar period to complete the return journey back to the hotel. 

Not too far away I can see horses and donkeys corralled and a steady flow of them to the entrance path. On the path ahead of us I can see about twenty Arabic men and boys spread out across the offering rides to the many tourists heading into Petra.

Apparently, our ticket into the Petra site includes the cost of a donkey ride down to the Treasury. However, we must tip about 50 dinars at the journey's end and the transport is not covered by our insurance. Alternatively, we can hire a camel or a golf buggy or horse and cart which are considerably more expensive and sadly, also not covered by insurance.

Finally, at noon, we are on the move towards Petra and on either side of the path there are huge red mountain rocks which part for just a few metres to enable the uneven path to slip between them. Up in the rocks, we see the first of many caves and sculpted building hewn out of the rock. 

Petra Inhabitants now

Petra had inhabitants prior to the world heritage site recognition by Unesco. Once it gained the recognition the Jordanian government ordered all the inhabitants to evacuate so officially no one lives there. I say officially as just at the rock entrance, to my right, up in the rocks by a cave sat a group of bearded men, all wearing brown robes and alongside one of them was what we Irish would call “a Bodhran”, a hand-beaten drum. They looked to me like a group of holy men but our guide couldn’t confirm this to me. They sat silently watching the throngs of tourists, animals and carriages pass hither and thither.

We walk on between gigantic walls of rock that tower over us from both sides of the path. I listen out for the clatter of hoof steps on the stone paths and the frantic bell ringing that would warn me that a donkey with carriage is approaching and to step off into the verge and let it pass. Often the animals disappear hurtling around blind corners and it’s a miracle no one is injured or knocked over. Later on in the walk, an ambulance did pass us heading down into the site but it returned without a patient twenty minutes later.

Throughout the walk, vendors are set up just off the path selling any amount of souvenirs and it must be quite boring sitting there in the shade day in day out.

We strode on until we rounded a corner and our guide stopped us and lined us up for this is the iconic photograph moment where the visitor gets their first glimpse of the Treasury building through a sliver of a gap between the huge rocks. 

Once the picture is in the can you walk on through those rocks to an open area the size of Oxford Circus where thousands mill about, taking in the Treasury facade in all its splendour. Most of the building is just that, a facade cut into the rock 300 BC but the ground floor is real and can be entered, but not today. Soldiers sit watching vacantly in a row along a metal barrier that blocks entrance to the building. There is room there for the weary tourist to rest their feet. Camels similarly sit in the sand taking a break while donkeys are tethered to a rock, in the shade. Getting to the Treasury at about 1:00 pm is an ideal time as the sun is over the Treasury at this time.

We opted to leave the tour and wander on down the valley and path and only stopped when we reached the amphitheatre which I thought originated during the Roman times but actually dates much further back in time.

Then on we pressed though now very conscious of time.

We made caught up with our tour group as the guide led them up many steps of a ruined grand church and then into a Roman house where an original fresco was still visible drawn on one of the walls. The earthquake on 19^th May AD 363 destroyed over half the cities buildings and the city fell victim to a series of earthquakes over the ensuing centuries. In fact, only one building remains standing and that was a Roman one which survived because of the nature of its construction. The Romans used wood in between the rocks to spread the vibrations and this enabled the building to remain standing.

A further eight kilometres of ruins lay before us, the Arched Gate, the Winged Lion Temple, the Unfinished Tomb, the Conway Tower etc but we had run out of time. In hindsight, the guide stopped far too frequently and spoke for far too long.

It was 1:30 pm when we turned for home. We made steady progress uphill and back to the entrance. We moved against the still steady stream of incoming visitors. At the entrance forecourt, Miriam bartered for a book on Petra knocking the asking price down from £25 to £13 and left the shop owner curiously fingering and holding up one of the new English £10 notes. They much prefer dinar or US Dollar in Petra but he took sterling when no alternative remained.

We entered the hotel at 2:40 pm and were informed that the coach was in the Bus Depot back at the Petra site and we had to make it there by 3:10 pm as the coach was departing at 3:15 pm. What reassured us on arrival at the hotel was the sight of our guide sat at the table eating. We thought we were in good time and took seats at his table. No one else from the coach was visible but after we arrived and sat down a stream of passengers turned up and interrupted the guide as he ate. He probably should have told us all what the arrangements were before we dismounted from the coach as he now had to repeat his general vague directions many times. He never lost his composure and I admired his patience in a situation that he himself had created. 

Eventually, when no one came to take our order the penny dropped that it was self-service. Hastily we filled our plates from the row of food on offer. Only, at the guides prompting, did I discover that there were also desserts to be had around the corner from the row we’d fed from. As he departed he waved us to stay put and eat our food.  When I sought a drink to go with the meal I was given a small bottle of water.

All very fine for him to say but I had to balance my hunger with the certain knowledge that time was running out. Miriam was so stressed about missing the coach she had the appetite of a small mouse and ate hardly at all.  To the amusement of the catering staff, I ate at speed and then returned several times having left the table to take another spoonful of the excellent dessert. At 3:05 pm I flew down the staircase from the restaurant and through swivel doors out and onto the street. 

One of our ship’s coaches, No 15 swept past me and then another, the No 9 swiftly followed by No 8 and No 7. Only a minute later, with us walking briskly in search of this Bus Depot, whose location we did not know for sure of, the No 11 passed me bye. Miriam said to push on alone and so I did. 

I forked right at the Petra site and up the hill where I could see the roofs of a hundred coaches parked up and with more leaving every moment. I broke into a run and once at the depot discovered it was split it two with an upper and lower level. I asked a lingering driver for the JETT Coaches No 12 and he pointed me up a hundred steps to the upper section. There I ran from coach to coach examining their front windscreen for the No 12. I found one but it wasn’t a JETT coach and so returned to the lower level. 

It was now 3:20 pm and the scheduled departure time. All around me I heard coach engines gunning up and being slipped into gear. I feverishly scanned the depot.  I spotted someone I recognised! They were walking away from a coach about fifty yards away. I ran towards them and could now see the No 12 in the windscreen and the letters JETT Coaches along the side! I waved Miriam to follow and she had now two further passengers trailing along in her wake. By 3:30 pm we were safely on board and the coach was still in the depot.

As the watch saw the minute move to 35 a very stressed couple mounted the coach steps and slipped past us on down the aisle to their seats. It turned out that they’d been sat on the No 12 all right, the Regent Coaches No 12 in the upper bus parking area.

The return coach trip to the ship passed quietly. Our guide had exhausted his English vocabulary and having spoken for over two hours going to Petra and two hours going round it he gave his voice a rest. We had a totally unnecessary stop for toilets and shopping at 5:00 pm and within forty minutes we were back beside the ship.

Postscript:

The dress code for visiting Petra is officially arms and knees covered by men and women but it was not being enforced on the day we visited. In fact, a pretty petite blonde wearing a mini-dress, high heels, dark sunglasses, makeup and a headscarf clambered up on many rocks and boulders striking modelling poses for a waiting female photographer.

 We finished the day with a bit of sunbat

A day at sea on TUI Marella Discovery 1

Today was another sunny, cloudy, sunny day on the windy decks of our ship. 

Sitting on the sun lounger I listen to the waves breaking across the ship’s bow and felt the steady reassuring hum of the ships five engines that vibrate the metal of the promenade deck itself. In the distance the sun shimmers on the rippling deep blue waves until it slips temporarily behind a cloud. Moments later it reappears, as strong and bright as before. Cruising along at 20 knots, the raging wind rocks the blue towels back and forth on the empty loungers threatening to sweep them clean over the rails and far out to sea.

To my right sit row upon row of pale white-skinned fellow passengers, eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses that look unseeingly into the middle distance. White thin wires run to their ears from the phones lying on their laps, relaying presumably music or audiobooks or both. Heads are generally protected by tipped caps.

Snatches of conversation drift my way on the breeze.

“Thou better put thine lotion on Harold” spoke one caring Northern lass “less ye be a beetroot by teatime.”

Listening to the conversations of others is something I shamelessly do and on this cruise, the accents are predominantly from the North of England, Liverpool, Manchester, Crewe and Hull. I just love the range of accents and colloquialisms. “All right me chuck?”, “Can I help you mi-duck”, “You aren’t half daft” to quote just a few.  

I feel the heat on my naked bare arms and legs so I whip out the sun lotion factor 50 and generously spread it on my limbs. The lotion glistens on my skin before sinking into the freckled cells. The wind catches the upper left corner of this page flapping it back and forth as I write.

Marella Discovery 1 and 2 cruise ship information

Marella Cruises information for passengers
Information based on 18-day cruise "Journey to Jamaica" during Oct/Nov 18 - all-inclusive and adult only. I am not associated in any way with Marella Cruises or TUI other than being a paying passenger.  I hope this posting fills knowledge gaps for future passengers as I made some costly assumptions of my own when I cruised with them.

Money

·         Sterling is the currency of the cruise line so all on board spend will be added to your ships account which is maintained in sterling. You cannot use your ship account to purchase currency.

·         There is no treasury function onboard so please buy your currency needs before departing on your cruise. If you have Euro to convert the ship's reception will convert them to US Dollars but at very bad rates and will carry it out as two transactions. They will convert Euro to sterling at a poor rate and then convert sterling to US dollar at a poor rate. So Euro 100 got me US $ 83 on November 18. No commission is charged but the rates used are bad enough.

·         If you use an ATM in Gibraltar please be aware that in withdrawing £100 it will cost you £124 as the credit card company applies a £24 Government Tax charge on top, which you only see on your card statement sometime later. No warning is given at the ATM at the point of purchase.

·         If you are in port on any Sunday in the Caribbean or Mediterranean please be aware that most shops are closed as are all banks and possibly any bureaux de change.  Don’t expect otherwise and plan accordingly.

·         If you lose your ship account card contact reception and they will cancel the card and issue you with another at no extra cost.

·         When you get your ship account statement be aware that they have added £2 charge to your account. This is a charitable donation they have presupposed you wish to make for a charity they have chosen. You must contact reception before the end of your cruise to get the charge removed if that is what you want.

·         Note-  The UK has replaced a large number of their coins and notes in the past year so be sure the coins and notes you carry onboard the ship or the planes are still legal tenders.

Marella Cruises – Discovery 2 

Discovery 2 carry’s approximately 1,800 passengers and approximately  900 crew.  

Cabin

·         You can get bed topper if mattresses provided are uncomfortable. Talk to your cabin steward.

·         I know the cruise is all inclusive but it’s always worth giving a tip at the start of a cruise as it earns a lot of goodwill for the duration of your stay.

·         The cabin is generally cleaned in the morning and the bed revisited nightly.

·         Nightly, the beds are made up, 2 chocolates are placed on the pillows and the daily Skyline magazine is left. Tear out the activity page and stick in your handbag or pocket.

·         On special occasions, the stewards make towel figures and lay them on the beds, Halloween for example.

·         A free safe is located in most cabins, which operates by swiping your credit card or a card provided by reception across the safe door. Our safe ceased to work as the battery needed replacing and that was done within the hour.

·         Blue beach towels are provided with each cabin and can be used on sub beds onboard or taken to beaches. £10 charge for loss of a towel.

·         Even though the cruise is all-inclusive the drinks and chocolates left on your cabin sideboard are chargeable so beware.  Safer to place them in a cabinet out of sight until the end of the cruise.

·         The cabin also contains a pair of life jackets which you do not have to bring to the compulsory drill at the muster stations on your first night.

·         Please bring a portable clock with you so you can adjust the time as its possible you will be travelling through time zones and there is no clock in the cabin and no ships time shown on the TV channels.

·          All cabin showers have a washing line over the shower and you can hand wash and dry clothes using that line. Purchase hand washing powder in one of the ports the ship visits. There is no passenger self service laundrettes on board.

Laundry On Board

·         The ship does not have a laundry that passengers can use. It does provide a laundry service and each cabin has a white plastic laundry bag which you can pack a lot into and pay £15 for it to be cleaned. It generally returns the next day washed, dry and folded – even the underwear! The shirts appeared to be ironed too and all the contents looked better than new!!

·         There is also an ironing service but I viewed it as expensive.

·         All cabin showers have a washing line over the shower and you can hand wash and dry clothes using that line. Purchase hand washing powder in one of the ports the ship visits.

Drinks

On the all-inclusive cruises, the staff behind the bar or those taking your order will tell you if what you have ordered is going to cost you money and is not part of the all inclusive deal. Most times you will have to hand over your ship account card to make the order. Drinks can be ordered from your seat in the theatre and delivered to you even during the performance.  Whiskey, brandy, vodka, liqueurs and cocktails are covered along with any mixers.  Generous measures of alcohol are poured, then ice added and then the mixer.  

The ship offered a different cocktail every day. 

Activities

·         Sewing club

·         Ukulele classes is £30 per person which covers a ukulele to take home and 25 classes, one on port days at 4.00 pm and two classes on sea days at 10.15 am and 3.00 pm (extra tuition).  Ukulele class was not featured in pre-cruise information so you may have to contact the cruise line to confirm its running on your cruise. Ukelele  have a public performance on the last sea night in the atrium

·          Choir has daily classes while at sea and has a public performance on the last sea night in the atrium

·         Gym on deck 9 has all expected machines and has separate sex changing rooms with toilets.  The gym also provides a water fountain and small hand towels for passenger use. Some classes offered are free and some are an extra charge.

·         Beauty Centre is located next to the gym on deck 9 and has all the usual offerings

·         Endless quizzes at various times around the pool or indoors in various locations primarily the Venue on deck 5.

·         Walk 1 mile @ 11.00 am on deck 9

·         Shuffleboard on deck 10

·         Table tennis on deck 9

·         Mini-golf on deck 10

·         Climbing wall on deck 10

·          Numerous lectures or various topics, the universe, murders, biogs etc

·          Dance classes such as ballroom, line dancing etc. Two professional and champion dancers are onboard and they participate in some of the theatre shows with the ship's troupe.

·         Daily UK Newspaper provides a summary of news from home and a crossword and Seduko game.

Swimming On Board

·         Swimming in two open pools and one covered (in the Glass House). All contain only sea water unheated and are drained down nightly with netting applied. Not available in rough seas. So until the ship reaches warmer climes the pool water is Baltic.

·         Pools have two Jacuzzi’s each.

Entertainment

·         The ship has a ten-member dance/ singing troupe along with two bands that play at all functions and at various venues throughout the cruise. Along with them, there was a pianist, a saxophonist and guitarist/ singer who could also be found performing on board.

·         Visiting comedians and singers appeared at night. Sam Bailey was the star turn on our cruise and she also took part in Q &A sessions and was available for photographs with passengers.

·         The theatre hosted one show per night at 8.30 pm and 10.30 pm every night.

·         One night only,  a Crews Got Talent show

·         Around 100 of the ship's company will march onto the theatre stage on a night close to the end of the cruise to allow the passengers to show their appreciation for the crew.

Restaurants

·         Free to eat and drink at in restaurants on board are the 47 on Deck 4, 47 Gallery (Italian set menu for the cruise) on deck 5, the Glass House ( free or pay extra – you chose) on deck 9 and the deck 9 buffet at the bow of the ship. Most free to pay restaurants close at 9.30 pm but the Glass House maintains a basic food offering of stew, curry, sandwiches or buns through the night.

Dinners

There is roughly one smart casual evening dress up night per week on the ship. These are dress codes for the main dining restaurant 47 and you can eat elsewhere to avoid the need to dress up.

Drinking Water

·         Water – small bottle – costs 80 pence on board at the coffee dock on deck 5. Refill stations are around the ship but they carry a notice asking passengers not to fill bottles. Ideally, bring an empty bottle with you, be it from home or from the flight/airport and save the 80 pence.

·         Water on board – in the cabin taps is drinkable according to the captain and I have drunk it and cleaned my teeth with no side effects.

Sun Loungers

This ship, Discovery 2 carry’s approximately 1,800 passengers and approximately 900 sun loungers.  It’s not a problem until you reach that part of the cruise where sunshine appears and then late risers will lose out on the sun loungers until circa 4.00 pm when the tanned passengers troop off to prepare for dinner.  Below is the activity encountered on a typical sunny day.

·        Sun loungers were seized by passengers from 3.00 am onwards, according to the captain. By 7.30 am loungers running half the length of the ship had been possessed. By 8.00 am three quarters were taken and all loungers were gone by 9.00 am.

·         Ships rules, received by all passengers on day one, details that if a lounger is left unoccupied the crewman issues a blue slip and attaches it to the lounger. When he returns in 45 minutes time and finds the lounger still unoccupied the crewman will remove the passenger’s possessions and give them to reception, thus freeing up the lounger. 

       The passenger’s responses to this action were to remove the blue slips and the crewman could no longer find the offending lounger!

·         The bagging of sun loungers was rife throughout the warm days of the cruise and no solution was found to the issue.

What hasn’t Discovery 2 got?

·         No treasury function – do not convert currency on board. You cannot purchase currency using your ship account. They will sell your currency which you must pay for in cash or with a sterling debit or credit card.

·         No tennis court or golf driving ranges

·         No bridge course run but casual games amongst passengers does occur

·         No religious services, even on Poppy Day. Two periods of silence were observed on 11^th day of the 11^th month

·         No self-service laundry

Wifi on Cruises

·         The ships packages are generally expensive. For example, £8 gets you one hour and £199 gets you a fortnight at November 18 rates. 

      The solution is to find where the crew go when you dock and follow them! Sometimes the arrivals terminal or the arrivals shopping centres have free Wifi.

·         McDonalds cafes always have good strong free Wifi with no password needed.

·         Burger King has good Wifi but you need to buy something to get the password. 

Last Days On Board

All suitcases are to be put outside your cabin doors by 2.00 am on the night before docking in your final port.  We put ours out at 10.30 pm and it was gone the next morning. It took us two hours to pack and weigh the bags.  Do always make space for a small baggage scales in your luggage as its invaluable at putting your mind to rest when dispatching bags to the airline. They cost less than £2.

Excursions

·         The ship offers a variety of excursions to suit the wide range of passengers on board. So anything from coach journeys to places of interest or just the beach, bicycle hires, catamaran trips, submarine outings etc. It largely depends on the passenger’s interest and their mobility. On the whole, the trips were pricey and as the ship docked near the places of interest most passengers just ambled ashore.

·         Free shuttle buses were provided if needed. 

·         The stops in port were generally about 6-8 hours in duration and only once did we depart without passengers. Important to always know what the ship's time is!

·         If you are in port on any Sunday in the Caribbean or Mediterranean please be aware that most shops are closed as are all banks and possibly any bureaux de change.  Don’t expect otherwise and plan accordingly.

·       Take the ships daily newsletter “Cruise News” with you as it contains the ships contact details should you encounter issues ashore or maybe are running late and may miss the departure time. Your ships account card also carries the ships contact telephone number.

Excursions on the last day of the cruise

·         Blue Towels - the general rule is that blue towels from your cabin are used on beach trips but if your excursion occurs on the last day of the cruise you will have to ask reception for blue towels or get them from the excursion team when you meet to exit the ship.

·         On your return, a small number of cabins on deck 4 and 5 are provided for you to change out of your beach clothes and into your travelling clothes. Get the list from reception on your return to the ship. We found queues of waiting passengers and some had to leave the queue as their flight was called and their group had to depart the ship. Some passengers take ages in the courtesy cabins, blow drying their hair etc so please have regard for the others still waiting outside, possibly an hour after they found the cabin.

Time Changes

·         Please bring a portable clock with you so you can adjust the time as its possible you will be travelling through time zones and there is no clock in the cabin and no ships time shown on the TV channels.

·         The importance of time is critical on days ashore when the excursion departure time and the ship departure times are not to be missed.

·         On the cruise “Journey to Jamaica” we had 5time changes as we moved through the zones and actually only came back to GMT on the flight home from Jamaica.

Your Charitable Donation

·         When you get your ship account statement be aware that they have added £2 charge to your account. This is a charitable donation they have presupposed you wish to make for a charity they have chosen. You must contact reception before the end of your cruise to get the charge removed if that is what you want.