The Cruise - Miami to London

What a tan eh?!

The only bonus from the cruise was the fantastic weather and of course the food (plus no housework or work to do!).

We flew to Miami, Florida from London on March 18th - upon on arriving at Heathrow we were greeted by around 30 other participants in our cruise (all OLD and chatty)....we kept to ourselves, christ what were we going to find upon arrival in Miami?!

8 hours later on British Airways economy (eeeek), we touch down to a very warm Miami. The U.S. landing cards were something else (you need a few degrees to fill one of these things out) and customs was too. After the FBI obtained all our fingerprints and photographs (and I'm not lying!) we were free to wait for the oldies to board our bus to Fort Lauderdale where we were to board our cruise. Miami did look lovely although not enough (any) time to explore. Looks like a holiday destination for the future.

Once at Fort Lauderdale and greeted with our BIG ship (MSC Opera), we had another checking of passports, taking credit cards, more photos taken and we were then free to board the plank (not forgetting to wash your hands, which became a very regular occurence and a habit that we have taken home with us....sad eh?).

All crew were there to greet us and we were gob-smacked with the splendour of the interior - marble, chandeliers, gold trimmings, chintz, chintz and more chintz! We were escorted to our cabin (just a typical small hotel room really) where our bags were waiting for us and we just collapsed.....2 seconds later we were off exploring.

The following 2 days we were at sea which flew - we spent most of the days sunbaking by the pools and eating. We think we had put on a stone each once we got home and weighed ourselves. Full breakfast every morning, a few croissants before lunch, lunch was usually a burger, hotdog and a few lamb chops (7 each on one day), then an afternoon snack of freshly made pizza, dinner was anything between 3 to 7 courses (I did do the 7 courses one night but it nearly killed me) and then you also had a midnight buffet which we only managed to do once out of 17 days. I tell ya - you never went hungry!

Day 3 - we were in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Lovely. Weather was extremely hot. Went on a tour of the city and then we went off on our own....really enjoyed San Juan.

Day 4 - La Romana, Dominican Republic. We went on a beach tour and spent the day at an all inclusive resort.....it was lovely. The water was crystal clear and very warm. Although it did become too hot to sit out so we went towards the hotel pool......very very nice. Ahhhhhh.

Day 5 - Cayo Levantado & Los Terenas, Dominican Republic. One of our worst days. We stuffed up on a shitty tour to Los Terenas.....was a dive of a place and after a long, long transfer to the town on bus (with a guide that was HOPELESS) we were parked up in Los Terenas for about 45 mins and then told to get back on bus so we could get back to the ship on time - we weren't very happy at all! Once back on the boat transfer to the ship, we decided to go en route to Cayo Levantado, a private island owned by the ship. It was GREAT and we were spewing that we didn't just spend the whole day there.

Day 6 - 13 - crossing the Atlantic....6 days on the ocean with no stopping and the fear that we could maybe not make it across. All fears abandoned as it was very calm and 5 of the days were great weather. By this stage we were completely over the other passengers.....of the German kind. What a flippin nightmare they are! Very very rude and after speaking to a few English speaking passengers they all felt the same.

Day 14 - Funchal, Madeira - decided to do our own thing. Being back in Europe felt great. And surprisingly, the weather was quite warm, considering we were still in winter. The streets were quite hilly and I did struggle.....wasn't really a day for a pregnant woman.

Day 15 - at sea

Day 16 - Malaga, Spain. Same thing, off we went on our own. And what a GREAT day. Loved Malaga.....it was roasting hot and we were finally using a familiar currency (Euro). Just spent the day at the beach and there wasn't a familiar face in sight - awesome! Definately a place we'd like to go back to.

Day 17 - at sea

Day 18 - Genoa, Italy. Nightmare......7:30am checking out of cabin and we hadn't even parked up the bloody boat yet! Didn't see anything as it was all go to put us on our bus to Milan airport. But that's ok, they were only transferring us......8 hours before our flight!!! After a 2 hour bus journey with annoying pommy oldies (again), we had a 5 hour wait in Milan Malpensa airport.....and what a shit airport to sit in for 5 hours. Finally on the plane to get home to London....not one of my favourite flights. Considering it was only a 2 hour flight, I have never experienced turbulence like it. I was petrified....Ian acted cool and was all blase about it but a few days later he did confirm it was horrendous. I guess it was the flying over the Alps, old plane, etc etc. Finally got home at 10pm that night. Considering time difference of an hour, we'd spent 15 hours travelling home from Italy. Joke!