I woke at 6.45am this morning-again before my alarm, and
man was I sore. It felt like I had done
a gym work out my muscles were so sore!
Seriously-and the bruise on my upper arm was turning a lovely black
shade. I guess you can’t expect to carry
60kg for 20 minutes in the morning and then for 45 minutes in the afternoon and
not have some part of your body feel the effect the next day. Especially when I am so fit-NOT……….
I had time to think about the last time I was here and it
was in the July of 2010 on my 2 week Contiki Spanish Spree. What a great tour that was. I made some great friends on that tour
including my 2 Contiki Husbands, whom I have seen since the tour-and my Contiki
Greek posse of which there were 6 of us from Spain continuing onto Contiki
Greece. To think of those trips now and
just how much alcohol I drank, it is amazing that I am still alive. Barcelona was a MASSIVE night for us as we
were here during the Football Final, don’t ask me which one as I don’t know,
but Barcelona were playing Manchester United I think and we knew either way if
they lost the city would burn or if they won they would party till the wee
hours. We started in a small ‘off’
street bar and from memory it was called The Black Sheep’ where you could order
a 5L tower of sangria, and we did, and then we moved down onto the waterfront
and found this great bar that was serving 1EUR spirits, 1EUR beers and 3EUR
jagerboms and we just danced and drank the night away. Needless to say it was massive and I woke in
the morning to a knock at my door and Marc standing there telling me I had 15
minutes till the coach leaves and I had clothes everywhere and vomit in my hair
from the kebab I had eaten on the way home.
Oh yeah-good times and great memories…….. So here is a fabulous shout out to my awesome
Contiki Spanish crew and I will make sure I have a glass of sangria in our honour
upon my return back to Barcelona. Who
can believe that has been nearly 2 years this July? 2 YEARS!!!!
I’m on my last section of my travel. I know I have said it all before, but all going
to plan I will at least be in one place for at least 3 months, when I have that
ticket booked back to London in May. I
picked May as I can only stay in Kenya or Ethiopia on a tourist visa for 3
months, so I need to get out of the country around then anyway and by that time
I will know if there are things that I will need, I can buy them in London and
bring them back with me. I do have to
make a trip to Ethiopia at some stage as I left a bag of clothes, books and a
camera with Zeme that I want to collect.
Whether I see him or not is still to be decided as I can get Minalu to
get them for me and I can do a weekend run to Addis to get it. The flights are only 145USD return so it is
all do-able and I want my stuff, assuming that he still has it all.
But today I am off on a 9 night cruise of the Canary
Islands. I have always had this on a
travel list somewhere, but it hasn’t been high, well as high as other places
anyway. But timing, dates and price all
worked in, so I know find myself in Barcelona and about to start the
cruise. I always swore that I would
NEVER do another cruise on my own after the cruise I did of the Caribbean 4 or
5 years ago now on a Royal Caribbean ship called Oasis of the Seas. At the time she was the biggest ship in the
world and I had booked with a friend to do a 7 night cruise of the
Caribbean. Well things went a little
pear shaped and 6 weeks out my friend told me she couldn’t go. Well it wasn’t from lack of trying, but I
couldn’t find anyone to travel with and I had a choice to make I lose the money
I had paid if I cancelled, or I still go and I pay double as I was now a single
in the cabin. With all things weighed up
I still decided to go, as I was doing a week in Las Vegas beforehand thinking I
would make friends at dinner and I would have some company. Well how wrong I was. Oasis of the Seas was the largest cruise ship
only to be surpassed by her sister ship 12 months later by 5cm and they both
hold 6500 guests. Yes that is a lot of
people, but it certainly didn’t feel like it on the ship, she was massive, so
much so that of I did meet people on day tours and say we’ll catch up on board,
you would never see them again. There
were 24 eating outlets on the ship and after the 3rd night of NO-ONE
turning up at my table at the al-a-carte restaurant, I decided to eat the last
4 nights in the buffet with my book. It
was a lonely cruise and I was lucky to see the same person twice for the whole
cruise. It was depressing. She was a great ship, beautiful, different
from any other cruise I had done-but a ship that should be done with people you
know. So after that I swore I would not
do a cruise on my own again.
Well I think I am now in a different place to where I was
5 years ago. I am much more grateful
for….well everything and I do know that this will be my last lap of luxury for
a while. Even if I do decided to keep
travelling if things go south with my plans, my backup plan is to travel West
Africa and I know there certainly won’t be any luxury on that trip of 3 months. Oh yes, one always needs to have a trip up
their sleeve, even if I don’t do it for another 12 months, that is the trip I
would want to do next. So how did I end
up doing a cruise again…on my own? Initially
I was heading to Ethiopia and Minalu wasn’t able to help me till early February
as he had 2 trips in January, and with my wedding in London in December, I was
in Europe, and had to find somewhere cheap (in Europe) where I could kill 3
weeks. Cheap being the operative
word. I was lucky I was able to extend
my stay in London without it costing me a cent due to Paps and Em and I started
looking at packages to the Canary Islands, staying for a week or 2. The prices didn’t seem too bad, but it was
low season and then I thought of a cruise, Google’d it, found the NCL cruise,
the cost was cheap and I decided to just book it. This was going to be me time anyway. I was prepared this time and if I meet people
then that would be a bonus. I knew I
would have blogs to catch up on and the great thing with this cruise was it was
9 nights and there are only 4 ports of call.
I love days at sea, so this was a perfect time filler for me and I went
ahead and booked it.
The cruise leaves at 7pm tonight and you could start
boarding from 12 noon, last check-in was at 6pm. As I have 3 nights back in Barcelona after my
cruise and having been there 3 times previously I didn’t feel the need to race
out and see the city, I can do that when I come back-so I had a leisurely
morning at the hotel, breakfast was included and at 11.30am decided I would
start to get my bags into storage at the hotel and make my way to the
ship. With my 2 bags in hand, I went to
the first floor as directed yesterday and you need a key to get into the storage
room, so I headed to reception, go a key and made my way back to the first
floor. Once I got in I found out that
the storage is actually the self-store lockers where you pay money, like at
airports. Well I didn’t have my purse
with me did I and I had to make sure I had enough change as it was 2EUR per
day. I was gone 9 days so needed 18EUR
in coins. So I left the bags in the
unlocked locker, headed back to my room to get my purse, found I only had 10EUR
in coin, went back to reception to get change and he could only give me 5EUR in
coin, so I had to go 4 doors down to Subway to purchase a water to get my last
3EUR I needed and then headed back to the hotel and the first floor. There was another couple in there and after
speaking to them they were on the same cruise as me and they told me that the
lockers weren’t working. GREAT. But there were 2 coins slots, so with a wave
from them and a see you on the ship-I tried my luck with the other set of
lockers. Well mine worked just fine for
1 coin and which gave me a time of 24 hours.
There was no other way I could slot in more coins to give me more days
in sequence. One coin = 24 hours, that’s
all you could have. It’s one of things
if you keep putting in money, you don’t want to lose it so I left my stuff
there not comfortable with the fact that this time tomorrow my door was going
to pop open and not be locked for the next 8 days. Not happy, as I was leaving some valuable
things behind. The alternative was
taking it all with me and this thought just broke me into a cold sweat. There had to be another way.
I headed back to my room and collected the monster and my
wheelie bag and made my way down to reception.
They have to have somewhere in the hotel they could keep my things
surely. So I told the reception guy that
it only lets you store stuff for 24 hours and were they able to store it for me
somewhere, I said I was happy to pay and his suggestion was to go to the train
station as they have lockers there. Hmmm I thought about that and told him I
didn’t have time to run around the city and the key that unlocked it all was I
told him I was coming back to the hotel for 3 nights after the cruise. Well this seemed to change everything and he
made a phone call and then told me he could take my bags and there would be no
charge! How nice and totally
unexpected. It’s all in the attitude,
everyone is just trying to do their jobs and there is always a way. I went back to the first floor, retrieved my
bags and then handed them over to reception and with a wave and a wish for a
good cruise I was out on the Ramblas. A
taxi came past straight away, he stopped for me and I showed him the address of
the port and I was on my way. Lucky I
had snafu time to sort all that out. I’m
telling you these bags will be the death of me seriously.
The port was only a 10 minute drive away and I arrived at
12.15pm. There is a form of excitement
when you see your ship from afar for the first time. It is a little like the A380 when you wonder
how that thing can take off, I feel the same way about ships-how do they manage
to move to effortlessly and like a floating city-just …well float? Today was no exception and no matter what grievances
I had about solo cruising I was till excited.
When we arrived the taxi meter said 6.65EUR but the charge was 11EUR-so
not sure what the extra charge was for but I paid leaving a 2EUR tip and as
soon as I got out of the car there was a baggage man with a cart waiting to
take my bag. He tagged it with my cabin
number-I was keeping the wheelie bag with me and I headed into the cruise
building. There was a security scanner
to be cleared and of course I set the alarms off with all my bangles, so sent
back, I disrobed all my bangles and I was through. There seemed to be a lot of check-in people
around and the queues didn’t seem too long.
I was handed a health form that I had to fill in and sign and then I was
next up at the counter. After showing my
e-ticket, my passport and giving my credit card for a 300USD hold, given a map
of the ship and my ship card I was then able to board the ship. The whole process from me arriving to getting
foot on the ship was 25 minutes.
AWESOME. NCL had a lot of staff
standing around but none of them offered to point me in the right direction, so
I decided to turn left and get to some signs and then I could work out where I
was. There was a staff member at the
next section which had lifts and stairs and he was very helpful and I was told
to head down 2 levels and make my way forward and I would find my cabin. I sued the stairs and within 3 minutes I was
inside my cabin. It couldn’t have been
an easier.
The cabin was ok.
I had paid for the cheapest inside, so I guess I couldn’t expect much,
but it looked tired. I was in what could
be used as a triple room with 2 single beds and a folded away bunk bed. I sleep better in a double bed-but I never
use the whole thing-but I enjoy twin beds as it gives me room to throw my crap,
so I didn’t even bother to ask if the room converts and I will stick with the
twin bedding. It wasn’t crappy-but it
wasn’t fantastic. It would be fine for
my stay. I had my own bathroom and a TV
and being inside I had a fabulous painted view of a tropical island from a ship
with SuperStar Leo painted on it. NCL
Spirit has not always been in the fleet.
Norwegian Spirit (built for Star Cruises as SuperStar
Leo) is a cruise ship currently operated by Norwegian Cruise Line. The vessel was constructed in Germany.
Named SuperStar Leo in 1998, the vessel was the first of Star Cruises' Leo-class.
She was then home ported in Singapore in 1998 and operated 2-5 Night Cruises to
Malaysia and Thailand. One year later, SuperStar Virgo arrived in Singapore. She was then based in Hong Kong in September
10, 1999 and offered 1-5 Night Cruises to China, Hainan, Vietnam and South
China Sea Cruises. I knew the ship had
been Superstar Leo but she has had a few ‘accidents’ in her time including:
In 2003, SuperStar Leo was transferred to Australia due
to SARS in Asia and she returned back to Hong Kong afterwards. In 2004, Norwegian Cruise Line was planning
to launch Pride of America. However, just prior to
completion, the vessel partially sank when a storm hit the Lloyd Werft
shipyards. To meet the already booked cruises for Pride of
America, SuperStar Leo was transferred to the NCL fleet, and after
only two weeks of refits, emerged as Norwegian Spirit.
In 2005 Norwegian Spirit hit a pier in Juneau, causing
minor damage.
In 2007, Norwegian Spirit again struck a pier,
this time in New York Harbor. In both cases, repairs were made to the ship.
On 25 May 2008 at approximately 9:00 am
the Spirit contacted Pier 90 in New York City at the end of an eight
day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. She damaged the parking garage support
columns and the bow of the ship.
In January 2006, Norwegian Spirit encountered
a rogue wave off
the coast of Tortola.
In March 2011 the Norwegian Spirit was over 12
hours late due to a death on the ship and a collision into the pier in Mexico.
Quite an exciting history. I am glad I have found all this out now that
I am on the ship!!! Not that I wouldn’t
have booked the cruise, I would have-but that is a lot of accidents for a
single ship.
So I dumped all my things and decided to spend some time
looking around my new home. I got rid of
all my bags and pulled out my eco-friendly bag I bought in Boracay, popped in
my IPod, my book, my camera and my ship card and that was all I was going to
need for the whole duration. No purse
(except when on shore) and no heavy bags-it was bliss already! I saw the hotel couple who are from Denmark
in the main atrium and I have to say she is always so happy to see me. They are an older couple and so nice. I must get their names. I spent the next 2 hours walking around and
taking photos and then I found the buffet so I had a late lunch keeping in mind
my food portions as this is the ‘downside’ to cruising, the amount of food
available to you pretty much 24 hours a day.
I did tell Shelly I had plans of using the gym while I was on board, but
I am wondering how that is going to go…not far I am thinking!
There were packages galore being sold on the first
day. The drinks packages seemed to be
the most popular and there were a few on offer.
They did have pretty much an all you can drink package that included
premium spirits and most cocktails for 49USD per day. As tempting as that sounds, drinking on your
own is just no fun at all, so I decided to go with the ‘soda’ package which was
6.95USD per day for all you can drink soft drink. There were wine packages, spa packages and
internet packages which was my next thing on my list. There were 2 packages you could choose from
50USD got you 100 minutes and 100USD got you 250 minutes and then if purchased
today you got an additional 20 minutes for free. It sounds expensive but of you bought the
packages it worked out to be 40c a minute and I only really need it for loading
my blogs and a little bit of Facebook, and as I wasn’t going to be
drinking-this was my vice I was happy to pay.
So after all my exploring I was back to my cabin at
2pm. There was the mandatory lifeboat
drill at 4.30pm. It is a compulsory US
Coast Guard lifeboat drill that all guests have to attend. The good thing with this one was that life
jackets were not required and at 4.30pm the seven short blasts followed by one
long blast indicated our participation. I
found my safety station on deck 7, 2 above from where my cabin was and we all
have to wait for everyone else to arrive and I got talking to a young couple
from the UK. They has travelled to
Australia and done a few months of travelling so they understood where I was at
and Shelly would have been proud that I found that ‘map’ over, finding
something that you have in common with a new person you meet and it just helps the
conversation flow. Lee and Adele were
really nice and when the drill finished they said that we should hook up for a
drink sometime and I said I would really like that. So I have met my Danish couple and now Lee
and Adele, this cruise was shaping up to be okay so far and we hadn’t even left
port yet-so it has trumped my Oasis of the Sea experience already. I guess what they say of you have lower
expectations anything great that happens is a bonus. That, and I am also doing this trip with a
whole different attitude as well.
The demographic of the ship is older. I would have to say 60+. There are a few younger couples, a few young
families but I would say 85% are the old folks.
I guess I didn’t really think about the demographics of the ship and it
really doesn’t matter to me. I find them
all quite friendly and I have had people stop and say hello, ask what I am
reading or just say hello as you walk past them or in the lift. It is actually quite refreshing and I think
the younger generation could take a leaf out of the older generation’s
books. I look at people and wonder how
their life was. What did they do for
jobs? Is there anything they would change? And to think that most of them have probably
been married for longer than I have been alive is really sweet and I can’t help
walking around smiling at them as they head into their ‘twilight’ years. Good for them. Here I am at 38 and I have no idea on what I
will be doing next year. I used to worry
about getting old, not 40 old or 50 old but 60+ old and looking at these
people, they have friends, (there groups here together) they are all talking to
each other (strangers making new friends) and it hit me then as long as I also
have that then I am okay at getting old-but I guess young also have to have
your health, but all that-you can be happy being that ‘old’ and I hope that
that will be me in 20 years’ time.......
I got 2 blogs done in the afternoon and I feel like I am
finally getting back on top. The ship
was to set sail at 7pm, so I headed up to deck at 6.45 with my IPod and ran
back into Lee and Adele again. So after
a quick natter we went our own ways, and now I know that they are on their
honeymoon, I figured they are not going to want a third wheel and I will make
sure I don’t invite myself along to things.
It’s a fine line when there is a couple and a single and I don’t mean
that in any other way than the way it is intended. It was dark as we left Barcelona and it is
amazing to me how those tiny little tug boats can move a large vessel like
this-another one of those engineering marvels and with the pilot boat guiding
is after the tugboat had done his job we were turned around in the port and made
our way out past the shipping yards and petrol containers and 45 minutes after
leaving, the city lights started to fade and we were on our way!!!! While I was out I went back to the buffet
restaurant for dinner where I can blend in and not look like a total loser
eating on my own. That is one thing I
will not do here and that is the al-a-carte meal. Fancy dining on your own is just not a fun
experience, and I don’t need the fancy food and I am okay with that.
There was a show on tonight in the Stardust Theatre. It was a juggling comedian. It didn’t really appeal to me and I was
actually quite tired so I decided to give the 9pm show a miss but I will make a
deal that I will go to all the other shows each night. They have a 7.30pm performance and then a
9.30pm performance, so I am sure I can make the earlier one each night. So that was my first day on the ship and I
think I am going to enjoy my time here.
It is special for me in so many ways.
My last stop before Africa. My
last ‘live it up’ section for a while.
My last taste of ‘western’ mod cons and although it makes me a little
sad at the thought I am looking forward to it all and can’t wait to land in Kenya,
as scary as it is, all at the same time.
Welcome aboard the Norwegian Spirit.
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