We got there in good time and joined the queue, only for my mother (who’d driven us over) to point out that the flight time seemed to be about an hour later than that on our ticket…. Hmm. Well after 35 minutes of queuing (too many people hadn’t bothered weighing their suitcases and were miles over! – what I’d like to know is how? Claire and I had 6 changes of evening dresses as well as at least 10 days of clothes and we barely went over 15 kilos!!! Anyway…..) we finally reached the check in desk to be informed that the plane had been delayed due to a ‘technical’ difficulty in Palma. Oh well, by the time we’d got through all the searches, had breakfast and mooched in the shops we figured that the time would have gone anyway. We were right.
So an hour later than intended, we boarded our flight, which was fine until the couple that sat behind us started moaning exceptionally loudly about the lack of leg room and pushing against the back of our chairs, expecting that they would magically move forward and give them the room they desired. I can assure you that this didn’t happen! Instead, Claire and I made loud comments about how comfortable the seats were and that there seemed to be a built in massage feature. Well, yes we did get some loud sighs from the row behind but the annoying pushing and kicking also stopped. Whoever said confrontation was the best way to resolve things clearly don’t know me and my love of sarcasm to resolve issues – I swear it’s yet to fail me!
A short 2 hour twenty flight later, one in flight meal- which was surprisingly not that bad – and we landed in beautiful, sunny Palma! an hour behind schedule and an hour ahead of the UK it was now half 12. The weather was glorious, clear skies and sunshine – oh yes, this was going to be the life - a week of sun, sea and relaxation. Perfect!
The transfer from the airport to the port took a little under 20 minutes (sadly it took longer than this to get the luggage from the plane!) where we were greeted by a enthusiast member of the crew – an Auzzie call Andy who we later found out was part of the entertainment team. The luggage was unloaded from the coach – the next time we saw it was in our cabin - and we went to have our photos taken and attached to our boarding cards and away we went to great our new home for the week.
The Destiny - home for the week
Now those of you who have been following me since last year know that I also went on a Thomson cruise last year, onboard a ship called the Celebration. Well this year we went on the bigger brother, The Destiny. Once again we were on Deck 3, cabin 3075. Although we had a bigger window this time, the room was actually smaller – but then again we were spoilt last year on the Celebration as we had a 4 berth cabin to the 2 of us. This time it was definitely a 2 berth! Not that it was a problem; it was still more than enough for the two of us and as we concluded yet again, it was somewhere to sleep and get changed; we had no intent of spending any more time in there than necessary. A quick unpack (the dresses really needed to be allowed to decrease) and we headed upstairs to learn our way around the ship – exceptionally confusing when from deck 5 to 7 the ship is divided into two because of the open atrium for the show lounge and only one end of the ship has 9 decks!
The back, with the on deck bar below
.JPG)
The front - looking back into Palma over the port
The castle on the hill - as seen from the ship
.JPG)
My private yacht - Ha! I wish! this was docked next to us and could be seen from our cabin window
After a cocktail out on deck, we swung by reception to pick up a safe key before heading down below for showers and a debate over what to wear – we have serious issues about clashing so we had to strategically plan which dresses worked together and which didn’t. About an hour later and all doled up we headed up for a drink before dinner – it was time to get our face’s known again ;)
Although dinner for the rest of the week was fixed seating (either early or late) the first night on board its free seating to cope with the arrivals of flights throughout the day and into the early night. So Claire and I settled down with 2 other couples for dinner and decided to really settle into the cruise in style – all 5 courses and several glasses of wine. Having enjoyed dinner and feeling more than a little fat we ventured to the show lounge for that night’s entertainment, Abba mania!
Now if you remember last year’s report, then you’ll know how much I raved about the show team on the Celebration. Well, don’t get me wrong – I still maintain they were incredible but they were nothing on the Destiny’s team. The timing, the pitch, the wow factor – just so, so much bigger this time round. It was obvious we were going to have to get to know these guys as much as we did last year! (Well, to a point we succeeded – but that’s for another instalment)
The show over and another drink in hand, we headed up for the sail away deck party – with the resident band, Zeal and the show team. The band were good, but lacked the charisma of last years band, the Vibes. The show team (who were on deck and out of costume faster than I can ever imagine) continued in high spirits and fine voice as we set sail. It was then we finally met the cruise director – Kane. Quick witted, very funny and exceptionally charming he is everything you need in a cruise director and as we discovered later in the week, so much more.
So as we waved goodbye to Palma and really kicked back and let loose (although the feet were starting to ache by this point) it seemed as though this was going to be another fantastic cruise and another memorable holiday. We spent a good couple of hours dodging the onboard camera crew who were filming for the holiday DVD – seriously, they followed us around – it was scary! We made ourselves known to one of the entertainment team who dealt with the onboard quizzes and alternative shows, Sarah – who it turned out didn’t live that far from us in Birmingham and rapidly became known by several bar staff (not that I’m claiming we drank a lot – but if you’re going to dance you need drinks to revive yourself!)
Before we staggered to bed we were invited for a nightcap by Kane - that's the problem with having to walk through a bar to get back to the right side of the ship for the bedroom. Not wanting to appear rude, we accepted and slipped onto a couple of bar stools and ordered Teachers, neat - much to the shock of Kane and the gentleman next to him, who introduced himself as Neil or 'Buster' when we questioned 'Buster' he explained that he was the onboard comedian for the week and a good friend of Neil's. Well, surfice to say - the quick nightcap stretched out for longer than intended and we couldn't stop laughing. It was to be the start of a week long tradition of propping up the bar with Neil and more laughter than I've had in a long time.
All in all, it seemed like things were going to go as smoothly as they had the year before and we went to bed content and looking forward to a day of sunbathing out at sea.
Awaiting us back in the cabin when we finally crawled into bed
I really wish I could say it was all plain sailing for the rest of the week but it wasn’t and that, as they say, is another story for another time!
Come back soon for Day 2: All at sea
.JPG)
a.jpg){kind=small}
.JPG)
.JPG)
