Last year we spent 3 nights in Iceland with friends and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience, as a result we all agreed it ought to be an annual event with the idea being to visit a different place each year. However, what I didn’t expect then was for the following year to get them all on a ship. None of the others in our little group had ever set foot on a cruise ship but it hadn’t gone unnoticed that in the past there had been the odd curious cruise related question that had cropped during conversation, so when I spotted an very nice offer for a 3 night cruise around the time of year we planned to go, I quickly sent a WhatsApp message to our group to see if I could tempt them. It was a resounding yes from all so I instantly set the wheels in motion before they had a chance to change their minds.
The cruise is just 3 nights and aboard Costa Mediterranea, it starts and finishes in Savona and visits Barcelona & Marseille. Its a nice little itinerary and should just be enough to wet the appetite of our friends.
The ship itself, the Mediterranea is the sister of Atlantica which is a Costa ship which we have previously sailed on and I recall how we were really impressed with its design. So we will keen to familiarise ourselves with the layout along with the Costa experience being as we haven’t sailed Costa since 2015. I have been reading about many changes, not all positive so it will be interesting to compare then and now.
| DATE | LOCATION | ARRIVAL | DEPARTURE |
| Wednesday, October 24, 2018 | Savona, Italy | 4:30 PM | |
| Thursday, October 25, 2018 | Barcelona, Spain | 1:00PM | 6:00PM |
| Friday, October 26, 2018 | Marseille, France | 9:00 AM | 5:00 PM |
| Saturday, October 27, 2018 | Savona, Italy | 9:00 AM |
Cabin selection was a simple case of finding three balconies all in a row and luckily we managed to get them on deck 7 and in a position we favour. Whether we will live to regret having everyone so close remains to be seen, but at least we will be on hand to chaperone the newbies.
Also included in our bundle was the ‘Brindiamo’ All Inclusive drinks package. This was very well received and I am more than certain it will be put to very good use by all.
All flights and transfers are part of the package and for this trip, both the flights will be with Easyjet. To simplify matters with regard to getting everyone to Gatwick for our early departure, we all booked ourselves into the Gatwick Sofitel and combined it with parking. After it worked so well for us in June it was a no-brainer to go for it again this time. It takes so much pressure off you and eliminates the need to leave home at a ridiculous hour of the morning.
I anticipate the next few days will be full on but I will try and squeeze in what I can, when I can.
Looking forward to the next instalment.