Winter coming in. What better thing to do than go off on holiday? Well, that’s what mum and dad thought. They forgot to mention they were going on a cruise to me. However, I’m not as daft as they think – how do they imagine I wouldn’t see the suitcases? Honestly. So, I decided to sneak into a suitcase. It is admittedly very dark until they open the case again, but I just pretend I’m hibernating. In fact, come to think of it, I think I did sleep all the way there.

I’m going to tell you about the start and end of the cruise before I go any further. We were leaving on 23rd November. That was right in the middle of storm Bert. Why do they name storms? And in particular, why do they give them *nice* names like Bert. Bert should be friendly, cuddly and helpful. Like a jolly American with a fake Cockney accent. This Bert wasn’t. I heard afterwards that it was a horrible journey down to Southampton because of the wind and the rain. I wasn’t aware – I was hibernating. Anyway, instead of leaving Southampton on Saturday evening as we were supposed to, Captain Speaking came on the loudspeaker to tell us that he couldn’t get the ship out of the dock. So we sat there. We sat there until Sunday evening, when Captain Speaking finally agreed we could go. I think his parking ticket had run out and he didn’t want to put more money in the machine.

And now I’m going to leap forward to the end of the holiday. Since it was a 14-night P&O cruise, we were coming back to dock in Southampton on 7th December. Those readers who know their storms might realise that this was the weekend of storm Darragh. Not as friendly as Bert. Anyway, on Friday lunchtime Captain Speaking came back on the loudspeaker to say that the weather forecast indicated we would not be able to get into Southampton on Saturday. There was an audible groan from all the passengers – where we were going to end up? But then Captain Speaking saved the day by saying he had applied go-faster stripes down the side of the ship, so we would be there on Friday evening. So, we spent another night in Southampton. As it turns out, we suspect he was right because on the Saturday morning it was *very* windy.

And this brings me to another question. Why is it that most of the captains have the same name? There are quite a few ships where the loudspeaker announces “This is your Captain Speaking”. Is it another case where they only employ people with the same name? How do they keep track of which Captain Speaking is in charge of which ship?

Our late departure did mean there was a change in itinerary. There was also a change made because two of the original Spanish Port days coincided with days when they were holding a ‘national strike’. I don’t know what that is, but Mum told me that they are very good at it in Spain. Maybe it is some sort of sport. I know they are good at football, and that has strikers. I suspect the ‘national strike’ may be a big game of football.

23/11 Embark at Southampton 24/11 Southampton 25/11 at sea 26/11 Vigo, Spain 27/11 at sea 28/11 Gibraltar 29/11 at sea 30/11 Barcelona, Spain 1/12 Alicante, Spain 2/12 Cartagena, Spain 3/12 at sea 4/12 Lisbon, Portugal 5/12 at sea 6/12 Southampton 7/12 Disembark at Southampton

Matthew and Hannah were also on the ship although I didn’t have my photo taken with them on this trip.

A few photos from around the ship

I didn’t get off the ship for a while. In our first port of call mum and dad went on an outing to a place called “Palacio del agua” which were apparently hot springs spa thing. They didn’t invite me because they thought I wouldn’t like getting wet. Then they popped into town with Matthew so he could buy a football shirt – he has a collection from cities he has visited.

But I did get off in Gibraltar. Unfortunately, I then hibernated again – I fell asleep in dad’s backpack. They didn’t feel the need to wake me! Rotters.

But I did make it out for a quick walk in Barcelona before going back for a quick bit of sunbathing.

Alicante was a grey day, but we still went for a walk. Well, mum and dad did. I did some more backpacking.

Our next stop was in Cartegena. We got off and had another walk around the city. Well, I’m sure you understand by now that when I say we went for a walk…. I mean backpacking. For some reason I had an irresistible urge to smell the flowers.

Our final stop was in Lisbon – the capital of Portugal. We went on a trip – first a coach through the streets of Lisbon, followed by a short trip on the Tagus River. From a central point we went underneath the 25 de Abril Bridge (25th April being the date of the Portuguese revolution), up towards the mouth of the river. We then turned around and, passing under the bridge a second time, we ended up at the IONA, before heading back to the jetty and a coach ride back to the ship.

Whilst we were on the river it was very windy. I decided the best way to keep warm was to sit in dad’s bag for most of the time. Mum kept me company whilst dad went to take some pictures – he almost got blown off the very top deck.

And that was it – back to Southampton. On the Friday evening…