I hadn't really thought about this before, but many cruise ships have different home ports in different parts of the year. In late October, I received an email from Viking (my favorite - so far at least - cruise company) about bargains on a few repositioning cruises, heading from Europe to either Florida or the Carribean. These are not regular trans-Atlantic routes they run, but simply to move for the new season.
But they are businesses, and so they try to fill as many of the cabins as possible while doing the crossing. I managed to get a veranda cabin as a solo traveler, with Viking's all-inclusive pricing, their amazing food, included air travel to the departure point and from the arrival port to home, pre-paid gratuities, and trip insurance ... all for about $370/day! An unbelievable bargain for this 14-day cruise.
So I booked it for the second half of December.
I flew to Barcelona to board the ship, which left that evening for a couple of days at sea and then a stop on the island of Madeira. There was an included excursion that took us to several sites around the island.
The city is definitely carved into the hillsides that lead down to the sea.
The bus was going back to the ship, but I got off as we got down into the city to wander for a while. As always, the shops don't really interest me, but some of the architecture does ... as does any garden oasis I can find.
We were in Madeira for about 6-8 hours (I think) and then left again that evening for 7 days asea. We had some good weather and a day or two of really rough seas. There is a lot to do on the ship - and I got to play bridge every single day, which was lovely - but it is a lot of time not to be able to get off the ship. I did get some great sunrise and sunset pictures though!
After that stretch, we stopped in St. Maarten, actually my first time in the Carribean! We docked on the Dutch side, but I actually did an excursion over to the French side so got at least a quick look at more of the island than I expected.
The excursion was actually to a place where we were able to create our own perfume. We chose the bases and oils ourselves, mixed them, chose the one we liked the best, and then turned it into a perfume. I don't like most commercially produced perfumes (too floral or too musky) but I actually like what I created. I still don't wear it very often, but I do occasionally. And the formula is on file with them now - if I ever run out, or want soap or a lotion or something else with that same fragrance, I can order it. A pretty fun day (although I had to keep going outside for a few minutes while we were mixing - strong odors really bother me!).
We reboarded in the late afternoon, and then left port again for the last few days at sea, docking in FL on day 14.
By the last couple of days, I was really antsy to get off the ship and find a nice trail in the woods. I'm not sure I would do another trans-oceanic cruise. But it was interesting, and I have made some new friends that I think I will stay in touch with. So it was definitely worth it!
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