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Day 1

Welcome back! We are off on holiday again but first we have a special trip to make over to Milton Keynes to celebrate Steve's 60th birthday. We have arranged for Dexter to stay at Auntie Tanya's and he's very excited.
After dropping Dexter off we are back on the road and arrive at our hotel around 3pm, of course there's an issue with the checking in system so we end up sitting around in the reception for about 30 minutes.
Once we checked in we stroll out to get supplies beer, crisps and a box of magic tricks (because what you really need in a hotel room is a box of magic tricks!).
We booked a more fancy pants hotel room and it's quite spacous which is lovely but a little bit dated.
We get ready for our evening out and spot Steven and Dawn walking throught the car park then we meet them in the reception.
Tonight we are going to Marco Pierre White's restaurant in the MK Dons Stadium.
We have a lovely tomahawk steak and chat the evening away.

Day 2

Today we are off to Southampton but first we need to head back to auntie Tanya's to pick up Dexter.
Once we are all back in the car we head off and to be fair the traffic is fine no real hold ups or traffic jams which is lovely - Leon even managed to take the A14 to M11 turn off to London (which he normally misses).
As we are getting closer to Southampton Leon does miss a turn off and now instead of having 19 minutes left to the hotel it's now 25 ;) Leon tells me it's the Sat nav's fault not his.
We park the car and head into the hotel and see a massive queue of people waiting to check in so we decide to go off and have some food and come back later.
We stroll into Southampton and stop for some food at 'Fridays', the food is ok but Leon just moans about the price of stuff the whole way throught the meal.
Once back we check into the hotel and head to the room and lets just say it's not as fancy pants as last night :(
Dexter is re-arranging the hotel room and switching lights on and off argh!
Good night for now tomorrow we are boarding the cruise tomorrow.

Day 3
8th April 2024

Ship ahoy me land lubbers!
Today we embark on the Sky Princess. Unfortunately it was an early start for me as I woke at 3am and couldn't get back to sleep, once the boys were up we got ready and went downstairs to have some breakfast.
Our taxi is picking us up at 11.30 to take us to the dock, we are staying in the Holiday Inn by the dock so it was a 10 minute (at the most) drive. It was a bit mental as everyone decided to leave the hotel the same time we did - finding our taxi was fun!
At dock we hand our luggage in and go to check in now unlike our trip to Japan we remember we are platinum customers and cruise past the other people waiting into an elite area with drinks and snacks and quicker security checks then we are on the boat.
We go for a stroll around the boat and see that the buffett has yorkshire puddings which are Dexters favourite, he has those and pasta for lunch, yum! :(
We are told our cabins are ready so thats the next place for us to go, we have a family suite so thats nice but unfortunately no butler for us this time. In our cabin there is a bucket of beer which I ordered as part of Leon's birthday present, they shouldn't have arrived until tomorrow.
We crack a couple of beers open and go to register Dexter into Kiddie club with beers in hand - We are such responsible parents, they advise us theres a family night there so we can all go together!!! such fun!
After dinner we do take Dexter for the family night at kiddie club without beer this time, theres loads of kids on this cruise so loads of families are at family night. Thankfully I come up with a cunning plan to leave and that is that we are going to watch a show in the theatre, they advise us as we are leaving theres bingo at 9pm so we should try to get back for then (yeah right).
We do go to watch the show it's a folk band called trawlermen and they are actually really good, Dexter absolutley loved it and wanted to meet the band afterwards. Leon told them that Dexter plays the keyboard and they made a really big fuss about him and had photos taken - he is over the moon.

We are currently heading down to Spain and it's very windy - expect seasickness reports tomorrow :( !!!!

Night beautiful people xxx

Day 4
9th April 2024

Hello there, what a update I have for you today!
But firstly let me start by wishing Leon a happy birthday and my big brother Steve a happy 60th birthday!
So as our holidays generally go there are weather issues and this holiday has definately lived up to that expectation, strong winds from storm Kathleen have given us a very rocky night - thankfully we slept through the night but come the morning she didn't want to ease up.
Looking on the ships map on our TV we can see we are still rocking about in the English channel. We woke up feeling mostly ok I would say but after a few games of keep me up with birthday balloons that all started to change.
Leon is looking a bit peaky and then IT happened - Dexter says "I feel sick, please make the boat stop mummy!"
After a few times of saying this Dexter throws up all over our bed! We manage to catch some of it in the bin but theres quite a bit over the bed.
Once we have stopped Dexter puking I call housekeeping to tell them whats happened and our housekeeping chap says that he will "call the cleaners in".
I pop off to reception to get some seasickness tablets and to the spa to cancel Leon's shave and my massage, today isn't going well at all :(
I head back to our cabin to see how the boys are getting on minutes later the 'cleaning team' arrive - completely masked up with gloves and ppe on, they come in to clean us down removing all bed covers and bagging them into biohazard bags!! spraying down walls, door handles and anything we might have touched, its all a bit much for a bit of seasickness.
Dexter is now feeling better but Leon has now put himself into bed as he is feeling off, Dexter even makes it to kiddie club which is amazing considering how bad he felt.
I ordered Leon a birthday package to be delivered today however when we arrived yesterday one part of the package was already in our room (a bucket of beers) so while I was down in reception I check with them to make sure it's all being delivered today, the chap advises me he will check and let me know?!
It's time to get Dexter back from kiddie clubs so I pick him up and we go get some lunch, we take Leon some bread and butter back to the room so he can eat too, thankfully after a bite to eat and calmer water Leon is starting to feel better.
This afternoon Leon and me take Dexter back to kiddie club and head off to the casino, we head back to the room and find no birthday stuff has arrived for Leon so I'm pretty upset and we head off back to reception, this time I'm annoyed, really annoyed and decided to tell them how annoyed I am! I end up cancelling Leon birthday package and demand they send him a birthday cake free of charge - Plus we had the bucket of beers yesterday which they delivered by mistake, we will see if Leon's birthday cake arrives tomorrow or I'll go back again.
This evening we take Dexter back to his club and go off to a restaurant, the first one we try has no space for us so we try another which has a smaller wait so we decide to wait in the casino.
Once in the restaurant we decide as its Leon's birthday and we'll push the boat out, for a small charge we can have steak and lobster so we both order that. Our meals come but Leon's steak is like a piece of old boot and has to be sent back, that leaves me eating my dinner on my own while Leon watches but I have to watch him eat his when it arrives it's just not going well today! As we leave the restaurant I say to the waiter make sure we only paid for one of those meals and he agrees - No doubt I'll find myself back at reception having to remove the cost tomorrow! but it's just not good enough especially as it's Leon's birthday!
We are currently at the top west point of spain in the bay of Biscay (well known piece of water for causing seasickness) but all is calm in our cabin tonight so I'm thinking we will be ok tonight.

Seasickness report - Lots found!

Day 5
Wednesday 10th April
La Coruna, Spain

This morning was a late one as we managed a bit of lay in, it helped that the clocks went forward an hour last night for us.
Leon and Dexter head off for some breakfast and this morning Dexter is off to kiddie club for a whole day as Leon and me are leaving the boat to have a look around La Coruna.
Now, before we left the UK I said to Leon the weather would be a couple of degrees higher than it is at home, Leon took from this I said it's really hot where we are going so pack shorts and t-shirts and has moaned continuously at me that its cold and I told him to pack shorts, t-shirts and no jacket.
As we are going on to land I have packed my jacket just incase I need it, unfortunately Leon can't pack his because he didn't bring it with him! We disembark and trott off in search of a Starbucks as we are leaving there is an abundance of people trying to get us to join their tours and a beggar rattling a cup at us at which point Leon says "oh look this man is trying to sell us cups! at least he bought a sample with him!!".
Leon says we have to walk on the sunny side of the street to keep warm because guess what he hasn't got a jacket but about 10 mins into our 30 minute walk to Starbucks Leon says "cor blimey it's hot I could have done with a t-shirt on today!" ARGH!!!!! Men!!!!
We find the Starbucks in a department shop and browse the cup section, I can't see a Spain cup.... I said we will have to ask the man working there if he has any and Leon comes up with the brilliant idea of finding one online so we can show him (incase he doesn't speak English). Thankfully he does speak English and tells us he has one, he walks over to where the cup section is and looks for one, he says "thats funny I had 2 here yesterday" and then searches in boxes and out the back but it's not to be there was no Spain cup for me :( I can't even describe how upset I'm feeling right now.
We have a coffee and to be honest it was an extremely good cup of coffee and then decide to have a look around the shops in the department store, I suggest to Leon that perhaps he could spend his birthday money and get a jumper!! (I do make myself laugh sometimes) so we leave with a jumper and a long sleeved t-shirt.
Once back on the boat Leon and Me have some lunch and go back to the cabin for an afternoon movie.
Next we pick Dexter up from kiddie club and take him exploring around the boat, Dexter comes up with the plan for him to pick a floor number in the lift and thats the floor we will explore - nothing overly interesting to report on this.
We have planned for Dexter to stay with us this evening and we'll take him to the theatre to watch another show, first we go have some dinner in the buffet restaurant.
We have a bit of time to spare before the show, Leon and Dexter are making a Lego model we got him from the department store. The next thing we know Dexter has gone to sleep! We wake him to go see the show - tonights entertainment wasn't as good as the band we saw the another night.
Back in the cabin and now Dexter doesn't want to sleep ARGH!!! BOYS!!!

Until tomorrow where we will be in Bilbao, Spain.

Day 6
Thursaday 11th April 2024
Bilbao, Spain

Another day, another port we are still in Spain but now in Bilbao which is actually the first place we ever cruised to back in 2001 (oh man that makes me feel soooo old).
Again the morning starts with Leon and Dexter going to get some breakfast and Dexter heading off to kiddie club but today he did pop back to the cabin to take a picture of the cake he got and do a little cake dance - oh the wonderful world of a 5 year old.
We have been warned that theres some football stuff happening in Bilbao today so expect it to be busy.
Leon and me catch the shuttle bus into Bilbao city and continue our hunt for that missing Starbucks cup and it's not long before we start seeing the football flags and shirts everywhere, believing this is for a match happening today we think to ourselves they must really love football here!!
We trott around the city and finally find the starbucks and there it is sitting there in all it's glory, the Spain Starbucks cup and it's the last one - Feeling so happy we settle in for coffee to celebrate. There are more and more people in football shirts honestly the place is a wash with them, we try to find out who they are playing today but we can't find the answer. We trott back to the shuttle bus and then the boat.
Last night a lady from the spa phone me and asked if I would like to rebook my massage and said I could have 50% off (obvs the spa isn't doing well this week).
So after lunch I head down to the spa to have a chat with them. They offer me a hot stone massage for $129 which is almost half the actual price and I can have a 75min one if I have it in 30 mins time - I agree and head back to the cabin to get ready. Leon is having a bit of a sulk because both me and Dexter have left him on his own.
I'm really glad I did have the massage as I'm feeling relaxed and nice now, just how you should be on holiday.
On the way back to the cabin the Captain makes an annoucement that the Bilbao football team won the spanish championship a couple of days before (hence why we couldn't find out who they were playing earlier) and that they were on a bardge near our cruise ship doing a victory parade, Leon and me rush out on deck to see them, where we see some boats squirting water high in the air and lots of little boats zooming around in the water, I'm not sure if we caught the football players on a boat as the boat were heading in land for the parade - What a wonderful time to be in Bilbao.
We pick Dexter up from kiddie club and take him to a fancy pants restaurant - pointless we should have just taken him to the buffet then back to kiddie club.
While Dexter is there it gives us a chance to speak to the future cruise department and guess what??? We have booked another cruise for August!! YAY, I bet you can't wait for another holiday journal right?!
We celebrate with a trip to the casino where we have meet some nice people playing three card poker, Lorraine and Steve from Bristol.

Well, thats about it for today see you in France tomorrow. xxx

Day 7
12th April 2024
Le Verdon, France

Watch ya! We wake up this morning and Dexter opens the curtains and says "oh look we are in a carpark!" hahahaha - We are docked up against a port terminal.
We are docked in Le Verdon and not Bordeaux as thats inland and an 1.5hr coach ride away, so we aren't going there.
There's a free shuttle ride to a little village called Soulac which is about 20 minutes away, Leon and me jump onto the shuttle to check it out.
It's quite nice there's plenty of tat shops (well over priced), coffee shops and a market we walked to the end of the street and find a nice beach, on the way back we stop in a coffee shop and have a coffee and a croissant - well, while in France it's a must.
We head back to the boat and Leon has the brainwave that as it's lunch time we might be able to see Dexter and the kiddie club kids having their lunch, we head up to the buffet where the kiddie club has a section just for them and there he is sitting by the window eating his lunch and chatting with the other kids, it's just so cute to see. We watch him for about 10 minutes before Dexter sees us watching him. We have a quick chat to him to check hes ok and leave him to it.
We thought tonight we would have a family night together and watch a show but as we pick Dexter up from kiddie club they advise us they are having a pirate party tonight and then Dexter says he would rather go to the pirate party and knocks us!!!
There's a sushi restaurant onboard and for a fee you can go and eat there so that's what Leon and me thought we would do tonight but first we need to wait for 30 mins for the buffet to open for Dexter, we head off to a private party for Platinum and Elite customers which they hold for 2 hours each night, there's nibbles and drinks for us.
To our surprise tonights nibbles are sushi!! Yay, so we eat loads of sushi which saves us going to the paid for sushi restaurant - brucey bonus!
We drop Dexter off a the pirate party and head to the casino, things aren't going so well at the casino for us and tonights no different :( but we do bump into Lorraine and Steve again so that's nice.

Thats all for now folks - tomorrow we have a sea day.
Seasickness report - none found
Weather is hot and sunny, people are sunburnt and Leon has NOT put his t-shirt and shorts on even though he moaned at me for bringing them. Leon is a berk!

Day 8
Saturday 13th April 2024
At Sea

Ahoy me matey's! Last night was a bit of a rough one but for all the wrong reasons... we have some weird loud knocking sound coming from our wall which was so loud it woke us up during the night and then it was hard to go back to sleep.
After a lazy morning of getting ready we go get some breakfast and then settle back into our room for a family movie - Barbie, which actually I thought was pretty good but Leon didnt like it much.
We had planned to go in the swimming pool and hot tubs today but our ship got stuck in sea mist and turned the air temperture really cool so we didn't go.
We head to one of the bars to watch the Grand National and guess what Leon only went and picked the winner!! My old nag came in 3rd so I can't complain really.
After dinner we have a captains cocktail party to go to - its for platinum and elites members and the captain and staff get to say thank you for being loyal customers - basically a couple of free drinks.
We take Dexter to go see the rock opera show tonight which he really loved and then he squeezes in a hour at kiddie club, just enough time to make a superhero cape and mask.
Leon and me pop into the casino for a quick go on the 3 card table and thankfully tonight I'm sitting in the lucky seat! and walk out with $350 which makes me just about even on the tables.

Not much of a update for today - see ya tomorrow xxx

Day 9
Sunday 14th April 2024
Cherbourg

Hiya from a chilly France! The day starts with breakfast up in the buffet restaurant, it's always a bit manic in there in the morning, we find a 2 person table available and squeeze the 3 of us on there.
It's Dexters last day at kiddie club but when we arrive there he's not so keen to go in?! We are unsure why but when we tell him his options of coming with us or going to kiddie club he chooses the latter.
Leon and me trott off the boat to see what Cherbourg has to offer and we soon find out not much, as it's Sunday and the morning just about everything is closed.
We carry on walking around if nothing else it's some exercise, while walking we came across a statue of what I think is Nelson so I say to Leon "oh look a statue of Nelson" and Leon replies "yes Nicky, that's because he's French!" "he's not, he's English" I say "his dead body was taken from Yarmouth down to London by boat" - Leon gets his phone out to check on Nelson and goes quiet.... "he's English then is he?" I say, Leon replies "yes, I told you he was!!", what a BERK!
That was about as exciting as this day got to be honest.
We head back on to the boat and pack our suitcases ready to put outside our cabin tonight and then finish off watching a film 'don't worry darling' it was ok but a bit weird, and also 'a man called otto' Tom Hanks film.
After picking Dexter up from kiddie club we all go to the salty dog restaurant where you can get burgers, hotdogs, chips that kinda thing.
Tonight we are going to watch a variety show in the theatre and get an early night ready to travel home tomorrow.

Well that's it from us for this trip, not the most exciting holiday but it's nice to have the time to relax.

France and Spain

Cruise 2024

France and Spain

8th April 2024

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