Izzywiz

La Coruna

and our excursion to Santiago de Compostela

Vigo

Lisbon

Ceuta

Cadiz

Malaga

We visited Monserrat after disembarking in Barcelona

Tossa de Mar was another excursion destination from Barcelona 

Hi everyone, what a fantastic series of pictures and, as Eddie99 says, it is wonderful to see the blue skies and also to see crowds of people.....will we ever get back to that??

I haven't had chance to post pictures as I've been having computer problems but now it is fixed, i hope you don't mind me doing a 'catch up' so I'm starting in Southampton and making my way, in port order, to Civitavecchia....

Guernsey

Brest

La Rochelle

Bay of Biscay

Getxo

Bilbao

Avila

Izzywiz here. Hi everyone and thank you for thinking of me. I’m keeping safe and well but haven’t posted for a while although I have been reading all the posts.
I would have loved to have contributed photos to the Christmas decorations thread as we always bought something for the tree from everywhere that we visited....small, inexpensive, lightweight and easy to pack. It got to the point that we needed 2 large trees and several days to decorate them as we reminisced about buying each one, hahaha. 2 years ago we downsized to a bungalow and decided that there wouldn’t be room for the trees so we got rid of the decorations too which meant, of course, that I had nothing to post. It’s something I now regret but hindsight is a wonderful thing!

It is good to know that all you lovely people are managing so well and that there is a pinprick of light at the end of this very long tunnel. 🚢✈️🏖May we all travel again soon

💖Isabel

Hi Li-Shan, I have cruised on Princess, P&O and Fred Olsen ships multiple times as well as ships from many other cruise lines. I have never sailed solo but have often made friends with solo passengers while taking part in quizzes, choir and other ship board activities. I also do a lot of cruise line shore excursions as a solo as my husband and I have different interests so  I certainly wouldn’t be concerned about travelling solo on any cruise line.

My husband and I are keen cruisers on both ocean and river ships with the driving force being the destinations rather than the cruise company and ship. We have done river cruises on the Nile, Yangtze, Mekong, Irrawaddy, Amazon and Rhône and have one booked for June this year sailing from Amsterdam to Bucharest. We loved every one of them!
As others have said, a river cruise is very different from an ocean cruise because ships are much smaller and the land experiences are more intense. A river cruise give people the chance to get know an area in greater depth. We do land tours as well but find the constant packing, unpacking and moving to different hotels quite tiring as we are getting older. A river cruise is an excellent alternative.....unpack once and the same bed all holiday!!
I do a lot of research before I book any trip and carefully compare what each TA and cruise line has to offer before making a decision.
River cruise company prices often, but not always, include drinks, Wi-fi and a choice of excursions at the ports. Some include extra special excursions such as an evening concert and dinner in places like Vienna.
Cabins are very similar to ocean going ships although balconies tend to be 'Juliette' style as the ships have to be able to fit through the locks etc. I never had a problem with a cabin near the water line as river waters are usually calm.

Inevitably, entertainment is very limited but quite often you are moored overnight in a town so can spend the evening ashore.
The ships sometimes have to dock parallel with other ships so you have to walk through to get ashore but I always found this interesting because you get a chance to be 'nosy'!
On all the river cruises that we have done except for the Nile cruise, we were given a choice of included shore excursions at each port. These ranged from walking tours, cycling tours, home visits and cookery classes to bus trips to more distant attractions. On the Nile cruise there was one included excursion each day.
Food has always been good and varied although, again, options were more limited. Some ships had ‘traditional' dining but others had 'open' seating.
We loved sailing along the rivers and never had a problem finding seats on deck. There was always something to see and someone to chat to.

I’m trying to think of a downside and am struggling but we are easy-going travellers and don’t need much entertaining.

The driving force for us is destination as we are keen to see and experience as much of the world as we can. Our budget is limited as are the years we have left so the cheapest inside cabin is our usual choice unless there is a specific reason to pay for a  higher grade. We have an aft balcony booked for our Celebrity Infinity cruise to the Antarctic because we know we will use it a lot but have the lowest grade inside on our Sky Princess round trip cruise from Southampton to Canada and New England.

Rum Rat, I loved your post with helpful tips about doing a world cruise. We haven’t done such a long cruise but have done several which have been 4 to 6 weeks long and I have 2 suggestions to add to your list.

The first is to take a pre-completed calendar with ports and booked tours etc marked on. I make my own using a word document grid table and fix it on the cabin wall with white tack. I tick off the days and add or subtract items as needs be.

My second it about keeping a diary. I kept a hand written holiday journal for many years until I discovered the 'notes' function on my iPad. I now type a daily record onto a 'note page' and then email the pages to myself whenever I get a Wi-fi connection.....usually in port. When I get home, I copy and paste the information onto a word document so I have a permanent record.

Below is an extract from my homemade calendar for a Celebrity cruise in 2019.

Qaqortoq is also a small settlement  with very welcoming local people and some beautiful, flower filled countryside. 

I would do this trip again in a heartbeat.

We visited Greenland in July but it was still quite chilly. The icebergs were spectacular.

Nanortalik is a small settlement but we were made very welcome by the local people. There isn't a lot to see in the town but there were a lot of walks through some wonderful scenery.

Crew members were collecting ice to turn into ice sculptures!

We have been to some of the ports on the cruise that you are thinking about taking. The advice from Pompeii is excellent and i absolutely agree that being on a large ship like Caribbean Princess will make it more difficult when visiting the small settlements in Greenland but I really think it will be a worthwhile cruise particularly if your interests are scenery and wildlife photography. Below are a few photographs to wet your appetite.

St John's, Newfoundland. We did a 'Puffin and whale watching tour' which was very interesting even though we didn't see any whales. The sail-in and sail-out of St. John's was very scenic too...

We docked right in the centre of the city

We saw lots of puffins....very cute!....

as well as lots of other sea birds

I'll post some Greenland picture in the next post.

I echo what Comcox and Britboys say about the activities on Fred’s ships. Fred has a lot of amazing and unusual itineraries and this is the main reason that we sail with them so regularly. we also like the small ships and find like-minded passengers along with decent food and service.

We won’t know what impact COVID will have when the ships start sailing again but this is our experience at the beginning of this year.
We completed a 4 week cruise from Australia to Sri Lanka last February on Boudicca which had a lot of sea days and we found plenty to do. All the original ships have good libraries and there was also:

• trivia 3 times a day
• lectures from highly qualified experts most days. These were on the local areas that we visited plus other miscellaneous subjects.
• a choir
• ukulele lessons
• art and craft sessions
• dance lessons.....there were male and female dance hosts for people who didn’t have their own partners.
• games activities - shuffleboard, table tennis etc
• exercise classes
• knit and natter groups
• bridge tournaments and lessons
• food and drink classes
• a naturalist who lead nature watches for sea birds and marine creatures
• passenger talent shows
• a talented entertainments team with performers who did production shows and individual cabaret shows.
• lots of quiet areas to read or chat.

Good morning. This will be my last post so I want to thank everyone who has made it so enjoyable. Thank you Damian for the first 2 threads and thank you Kalos for this thread. Your clever ideas certainly sparked amazing responses from so many posters and I was continually delighted by the creativity and humour of you all. You have brightened my days time and time again and also given me the incentive to get my multitude of pictures sorted into some semblance of order. You also created a diversion during these unusual times and helped to keep my brain active. 

I wish you all the best Christmas that you can have under the circumstances and a speedy return to cruising.

Very best wishes

isabel

Just in case you have forgotten.....these are cruise ships!!! My favourite and sadly missed Adonia is on the left...

and lastly....every cloud has a silver lining

Sorry, I'm getting a bit obsessive but it helps stave off the boredom so I hope you don't mind a few more from me.

Can you guess the film from the photograph,,,,Some are more tenuous than others? Answer under each picture. Rocky

The Graduates

Jaws

Pretty Women

Alien

Up Pompeii

Titanic

....and extra sorry about this one!....

Gone with the wind

Today my contributions come with apologies to Playschool.

Let's see what is through......

the square window

the round window

 the rectangular windows

the arched window

and the high window

Loved your posts Gettingwarmer 💖

I'm getting towards the end of my collection too but I do have just a few more so here is my contribution for today....

With apologies to George Formby...

..for a nosy parker, it's an interesting job

Lightning strike

Now that's what I call a Take-away

Washing...

machine

Hahaha, 😍 love it

Do you fancy something to eat?

Breakfast first

Mid-morning snack

Lunch with a drink

and Dinner

Mud, glorious mud

Stuck in the mud

getting cold feet

Ooops, my hand slipped!

The latest in nouvelle cuisine

Purplesea, you are so right.....I think the whole world needs a hug!

Brotherly love

Do you think I'm cute?

Anyone want to do a taxi share?

You wait all day and then 2 come along at once...

Back to the future (he's on his mobile!)

A bit of a pantomime

Through the keyhole

Sultans of swing

I'd certainly be serious about that one given the chance!!!

Like a fish out of water

in a feeding frenzy

Tea for two

His and hers

Village people

With my little ukulele on my hand

Yes, I have no bananas 

OMG......look what he's doing to big brother

Smile, You're on camera

Surfing USA

Frozen in time on the Silk Road

😃💖