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Friday 31 May 2013

I've been away again ... but now I am back!

We have just returned from our latest cruise ... and I am very pleased to be back home.

My wife had spotted that this cruise to Norway had been heavily discounted, and so we booked it at very short notice. As a result we have just spent seven days aboard MV Azura, one of P&O's largest ships ... during the half-term holidays! The ship was almost full (it has a maximum capacity of 3,100 passengers) and there were more than enough children about to make us realise why the cruise had been reduced in price.

That said, the places we visited were very interesting, and I will be writing a special blog entry about it in due course.

So why am I so pleased to be home? Because last night I began to exhibit the symptoms of a stomach bug that had been doing the rounds aboard ship (luckily NOT the Norovirus), and by this morning I had a massive headache, aching joints, alternatively felt very cold or hot, and had a very, very dodgy stomach. I just about managed to drive the 126 miles home from Southampton, but when I got home and had unloaded the car, I drank lots of water and went to bed to sleep for five hours. I am feeling a bit better now, and hope that I will have recovered by tomorrow morning.

10 comments:

  1. Hi Bob,

    Welcome back! I hope you feel better soon and funnily enough I have been experiencing the opposite of your half term invasion on the trains - they have been empty! I suppose everybody was on your ship....

    Lots to tell so I will email you off list!

    All the best,

    DC

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  2. David Crook,

    I also hope that I am feeling better very soon.

    I suspect that the 'rug rats' that were 'infesting' the ship are not commuters ... but that their parents are!

    My wife and I have new expression as a result of threats week: 'You don't need to pass an intelligence test to go on a cruise ... just enough money to pay for it!' Some of the stupid things that we saw almost defy belief (e.g. a parent pushing a baby buggy up a narrow, unsurfaced path to see a glacier; a woman getting in a lift that was going up ... and demanding that it should go down ... and when it didn't, she hit the controls with her walking stick!).

    I look forward to earring your news.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  3. Get well soon, Bob!

    One of the best cruises my wife and I went on was an 'adults only' to Amsterdam - ships (and schools) are much more pleasant when not infested by children..

    I do think the cruise companies have gone 'down market' to recoup the cost of their new floating shopping/gambling/eating emporia.

    Arthur

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  4. Glad you are home Bob, safe and well (comparatively speaking).

    I am just finishing week 3 of a 5 week vacation in the Sunshine State. Most American schools have not closed for their vacations yet so places are reasonably kid free.

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  5. Hope you feel better very soon.I look forward to hearing more about your cruise...
    best wishes
    Alan

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  6. Arthur1815,

    Thanks for your best wishes. With luck I should be better by Sunday.

    I think that you are right on both counts. I certainly prefer adult-only ships (even though the age profile tends to be quite old) and I don't like the 'extras' that have been added to cruise liners to make them into floating resorts ... and the fact that they are too large and have to be filled by people who don't have any social graces. Luckily for us, the family we shared our table with we're not like that in any shape or form.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  7. Jim Duncan,

    I am pleased to hear that you are enjoying your long - and much deserved - holiday in the US.

    With a bit of luck I shall be back on my feet by tomorrow ... and then I can start blogging again.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  8. Tradgardmastare,

    I hope that the bug or virus will be out of my system by tomorrow ... and then I can write the blog entry about our cruise to Norway.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  9. Conrad Kinch,

    Many thanks for your best wishes.

    With luck the bug or virus will go as quickly as it came, and that I will be better by Sunday.

    All the best,

    Bob

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