Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 9 Jan 20, 12:02 AM  
Link to this Post
#1
vampiress88
Imagineer
 
Join Date: Aug 18
Mobile Hit me with your best shot... April ‘20. Pre-trip report

Canaries Cruise report

15th January 2019
We kinda have Christmas blues. We know we have a few holidays for this year but want to start looking at 2020.
Categorically have been told we will not 100% visit Disney in 2020. It’s not gonna happen for at least another 5 years.
We like cruising so I start looking at p&o. There are two really good deals and itineraries both in school holidays. First is in April to Mediterranean on azura,really want to go Gibraltar,for £2900. Second is in August on ventura to canaries islands for £4100. So we take the plunge and book.

31st January
Oh my gosh, hubby has been looking at new build houses and we have to be in within 30 days. Madness!

4th April
Letter from p&o. The azura is going in for the refit early and they have cancelled our cruise! They have said they can transfer us to the cruise that is leaving the day after but that is on the ventura to canaries! So same cruise in both April and August.

May
All sorted. We have swapped the cruises round. Going canaries in April and Mediterranean in August.

June.
My darling husband has now decided that I was correct in thinking we should go back to Florida in 2020 (whilst we were in Disney for our amazing 2019 trip, report is here) Says we should cancel the cruises. Wonder if we can keep one 🤔

July
All sorted now. Disney is booked for June and we still kept the cruise in April. Yay 😁 two holidays. (And I got £250 knocked off for the hassle)

August
Silly me booking Florida for June. Luckily I have changed it to May.

January 2020
This has come round so fast. We had awesome holidays last year. Love reading back through my trip reports. Better get on with our cruise report now.
Here goes, introductions...

Crew 

Me: I’m 31. Loved the first cruise,second we didn’t like the ports but it was a cheap getaway, this one is for places hubby has always wanted to go but I get sea sick 🤢 I do, it was awful last cruise and I did think at one point it would be a repeat of titanic, our cabin was at the very front of the ship so it sounded terrible crashing against the waves, I think I got more sleep when my kids were babies than I did that night.

Why I have agreed to this again I don’t know we just love cruises, minus the rough seas.

I work part time and I’m mum to two angels. I’m the one who organises everything but I am terrible at making decisions, I dither and I worry. A lot.
Cruise has far less of an itinerary than Disney does, which we are doing very soon. I will also have a few drinks on this holiday too. Never do in Florida. 



Hubby: Currently 31 soon to be 32 in 4 weeks. Old git. Has the final say on most things since I can’t make up my mind and he pays. Definitely far more grumpier than me. We did go back to sindu last year, as requested. Didn’t get the dessert he wanted from 8 years ago but still loved the food and date night there, especially since date night are so very rare. Link to last cruise here. 



Scarlett: She is 5 going on 15. She is an amazing little writer so she will be writing a little report herself to show her class I’m going to get her a special book and pen again. This was amazing for her to do last year. She was such a grown up girl last year having mocktails and getting dressed up she loved it. But she grows so tall so fast I need to buy her more clothes again!



Georgia: She is 4. She’s the climber and doesn’t really have a sense of danger so I am still worried about this one near the sides but last time she was very good and always did as I asked to be careful near them. I’m hoping she doesn’t wriggle too much in bed too as she’s on a top bunk with a bed rail again. She was really good last year on the boat. She didn’t have too many meltdowns and she really tried to be as good as she could bless her. Definitely is the funny one. Has a habit currently of winking at the older generation to see if they will wink back. Yes she’s nuts.

These are my beautiful girls 




Bodie - the mutt is going to nanans again for the week.

The Plan

Going with P & O on the Ventura for two weeks in Easter school holidays. 



Cost us £2546 including £90 cashback. (£2886 originally) for two weeks for window cabin (kids will be on bunk beds) and includes the food (and drinks such as tea coffee and juice while in the restaurants).



Think this was an Awesome deal for two weeks in school easter holidays for £2550ish. And even better meant I could have Disney as well!

Think we are going a bit holiday mad. We have decided to stick to England in 2021 for a break from abroad (nope this did not happen. P&o sent me a deal for the same fjords cruise we had to cancel in 2019. For the same price we would have paid back then with the same balcony but on the newest ship, I really couldn’t say no, could I?)

Will also book parking with cps again for £162. (This didn’t happen either. I saw a post on my favourite forum and decided to try holiday extras they gave me 10% for existing customer and I paid £112)

The itinerary

This is a very basic itinerary. As I won’t know until we are onboard what offers are on at the restaurants, what shows will be performing and when then most days we might just be going with the flow.
But most places on these islands shut for siesta at 1pm so back to boat on the majority of days I assume.

4th April Day 1.
Drive down leaving at about 9.30am. Board at Southampton 3pm ish


5th April Day 2. At Sea. Formal night
I think I’d like to book sindu for this night for a date night and hopefully the kids can go to the kids club


6th April Day 3. At Sea.
Hoping to try some wines and a few small plates to share at the glass house.


7th April Day 4. At Sea. Formal night
Looking at the beach house for dinner this night for more down to earth American style food.


8th April Day 5. Madeira. Portugal
Walk into town. Look at shops and market
Get cable car or hop on bus. Find a nice cafe for lunch.


9th April Day 6. La Palma
Walk into town. Look at shops and market
Go to beach or zoo. Find a nice cafe for lunch.


10th April Day 7. Tenerife
Shuttle into town.
Look at shops and playgrounds. Probably go to playa de las teresita or Back to boat for siesta. Go to waterfront have dinner and drinks on shore since boat leaves late


11th April Day 8. Gran Canaria
Walk into town. Look at shops and market. Find a nice cafe for lunch. Then probably playa grande.

12th April Day 9. Lanzarote
Shuttle into town(expensive ☹️)Look at shops and market or walk to playa del Reducto. Find a nice cafe for lunch.

13th April Day 10. At sea
Would like to visit sindu again. This is usually the only restaurant we go alone to. Usually finish off in the adults bar on the top of the ship.

14th April Day 11. Cadiz
Walk into town. Look at shops and market
Supposed to be able to see dolphins from harbour. Find a nice cafe for lunch.

15th April Day 12. Lisbon.
Must Book FP-very important and I probably will forget.
Walk into town. Look at shops and market
Get the wooden trams. Find a nice cafe for lunch.

16th April Day 13. At Sea. Formal night
Again I need to Book FP but I can’t as will have no roaming ☹️

17th April Day 14. At Sea
Last night on the boat and think we will revisit the beach house.

18th April Day 15.
Dock at Southampton 10am. Drive home for about 2pm.
Must Book FP’s that I have missed and for today’s. 


Last time we were on a cruise we had €300 to spend and we spent nothing so that will be used this time hopefully on ice creams and at the beach.

There was lots of things I would have liked to do on these islands but after looking around at the prices found that they were quite expensive. We kept this cruise as it was a good deal in our eyes and we want to experience the islands a bit and I’d like to not spend a small fortune when we are going Florida in such a short time.

I have budgeted £70 a day for our drinks. I will not buy the package as I don’t think it’s good value(£80 for our cabin but quite a few wines excluded) we have £170 for the holiday for specialty dinning. (I’m thinking sindu twice, beach house twice and maybe glass house too)
£100 on petrol. £50 for in case we have food or coffee on the car journeys etc.

So we have £1300 in total to play with. I assume we will go over our euros too but I doubt by much. I have a credit card in case. Will always do a running total of costs. Love knowing how much I’ve paid per day. Unfortunately I am one of those who loves lists and spreadsheets. Drives my husband mad.

We also don’t have much of a plan. We will be going to Disney World for three weeks, 25 day’s after we arrive back from the cruise. Mad I know, wasn’t intended to be as close together but that means quite a bit of planning some of which I won’t be able to do as won’t have WiFi at sea.

We are just going to try and relax, sight see, eat local food and of course I am taking the opportunity for me to be able to have a few cheeky shots.
But the best of all is going to be eating lots of food without me having to cook!
Oh and actually having some date nights too.

Costs so far
£2556 - cruise including all discounts
£265 - €300
£112 - parking
Total £2933
vampiress88 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 9 Jan 20, 03:37 PM  
Link to this Post
#2
mitch84
Imagineer
 
mitch84's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 06

mitch84's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 1
Restaurant Reviews: 8
Exciting. I'm doing another too in a fortnight, but Marella this time, love a cruise trippy..
__________________
Mitch xx
mitch84 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 9 Jan 20, 10:07 PM  
Link to this Post
#3
vampiress88
Thread Starter
Imagineer
 
Join Date: Aug 18
Mobile

Originally Posted by mitch84 View Post
Exciting. I'm doing another too in a fortnight, but Marella this time, love a cruise trippy..
Gets a bit addictive going on cruises and Florida. I’d like to know how you find the Marbella. We usually go p&o for the prices
vampiress88 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 30 Jan 20, 11:18 PM  
Link to this Post
#4
vampiress88
Thread Starter
Imagineer
 
Join Date: Aug 18
Mobile



New dress bought. I now own two dresses. Thinking I can get away with this for three formal nights. Never wear them unless I’m on a cruise so don’t need too many.

Will need to start deciding if we need summer clothes for the canaries or not closer to the time.

64 days to go
vampiress88 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 21 Mar 20, 03:43 PM  
Link to this Post
#5
vampiress88
Thread Starter
Imagineer
 
Join Date: Aug 18
Mobile

The cruise I was looking forward to unfortunately got cancelled due to the covid-19

The kids are upset but are dealing with it.
We all have formal dresses now that won’t be used this year and by then the kids will be too tall for them.

I would hope that I can rebook this cruise for a later date but for now I am taking the refund just in case the company goes down as you never know or our circumstances change.

But we have our health and each other so that’s all we need.

Bon voyage 🛳
vampiress88 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 04:33 PM.


Powered by vBulletin - Copyright © 2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
DIBB Savings
AttractionTickets.com

Get £10 off each Disney Ticket with the code ATDIBB10

Get up to £50 off per room at Disney or Universal with the code DIBBHOTELS


theDIBB Blog
One of the the five worlds found in Epic Universe, How to Train Your Dragon... Read More »
Disney announced that a new nighttime show, “Disney Dreams That Soar,” will run nightly at... Read More »
Walt Disney World Resort guests can get ready to have a “glowing’’ good time when... Read More »


theDIBB Menu


Exchange Rates
US Dollar Rates
ASDA  $1.2368
CaxtonFX  $1.2321
Covent Garden FX  $1.2443
FAIRFX  $1.2350
John Lewis  $1.2380
M&S  $1.2178
Sainsburys  $1.2357
TESCO  $1.2364
Travelex  $1.2353
Updated: 15:30 28/03/2024
Euro Rates
ASDA  €1.1447
CaxtonFX  €1.1407
Covent Garden FX  €1.1510
FAIRFX  €1.1432
John Lewis  €1.1457
M&S  €1.1263
Sainsburys  €1.1440
TESCO  €1.1445
Travelex  €1.1435
Updated: 15:30 28/03/2024

DIBB Premium Membership
Did you know you can help support theDIBB with Premium Membership?

Check out this link for more information and benefits, such as...

"No adverts on theDIBB Forums"

Upgrade Now



X