Cankita

Anyone been on Ambience before stopping in Egypt? It looks like we might need a visa (UK passport) to visit Alexandria. Do Ambassador do this onboard (as MSC did when we visited Senegal) or do we need one in advance or on arrival?

Wow, I never expected so many positive responses! If we can get a table for two like Sue (and Larry) that will suit us fine. Quite happy to be polite and say a few hellos but the thought of small talk over a table of 8 is not for us! If that happens we'll just have to have pizzas on deck!

Just a pity that Bob Dylan is not going to be there!

My wife recently came into a small inheritance (I only got to be Executor but, luckily, she's willing to share it with me!). Being past our mid-sixties we have everything we need possession wise and so thought we'd spend it over the next couple of years on various holidays only dreamed of in the past. We had already planned next year to do the Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland but have now added a week in the Lofoten Islands and 5 weeks in New Zealand later in the year - a long held dream location. We have long fancied a cruise but cruises are generally quite expensive (and can easily be as much as the 5 weeks in New Zealand) so we have never fancied blowing our annual holiday budget on something we might not enjoy.

Cruises have their (well known) advantages but also their disadvantages. The Lofotoen Islands trip started off as a planned cruise with Hurtigruten to see the Northern Lights but photographing the Northern Lights from the deck of a moving ship is well nigh impossible so you would be relying on the (very short) shore excursions and the chances are they wouldn't coincide with the best displays. Flying to the Lofoten Isalnds and staying for a week in a Rorbuer (fisherman's cabin) costs about the same as the cruise and I can bowl out any time of the night to, hopefully, get a photo or two of the Northern Lights reflected in a mirror calm fjord against a stunning mountain backdrop. You can't do that from the deck of a ship. So that planned first cruise went by the wayside. Thehankering to try a cruise still remains though.

The main thing that appeals to us about cruising is waking up in a new destination every morning without the effort of getting there. What doesn't necessarily appeal is being on a boat with thousands of other people. We are not social animals and been happy with our own company on holiday for the past 35 years, occasionally accompanied nowadays with our grown up son when he can't afford a holiday on his own, so the though of 'socialising' is not overly appealing. We'd hate to have spent several thousands of pounds in the past on our one and only yearly holiday only to find we didn't enjoy it. It's not that we don't like other people just that all the 'socialising' adds nothing to the experience for us. But still the lure of a cruise remains.

So, I was doing the research when I came across a 7 night cruise round the Canary Islands with a side trip to Morocco on board the Thompson Majesty departing on 11th January for just £410 each including flights from Bristol (getting to Bristol adds another £500 in total but that's another story!) and including all tips and gratuities. When you consider that just staying at home costs about £100 a week in food, heating and electricity that's about £700 for the two of us. Seems like a bargain for a week in the sunshine in the heart of winter. I doubt that you'd find a self catering room in Teneriffe plus flights for much less. If we don't enjoy it then it is not a huge amount to lose and it could save us from wasting several thousands later in the year. So it's booked.

I realise that the Thompson Majesty is not the upper end of luxury but we don't need that. Usually we go self-catering or hire a motorhome so it will make a change just not having to do the cooking and the washing up, or even make the beds! How will we get on with those thousand or so other people though? That's the question. Still I've been at Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan concerts with ten thousand other people and survived!

When we get back I'll put a review in the appropriate category to let other potential first timers know how we got on.