At Last – The Sailaway !

Finally it was time to travel to Bridgetown and embark the star of the show – Royal Clipper!

We left Tamarind after a lovely buffet lunch and headed towards the capital of Barbados and the cruise port.

The cruise terminal is quite small and easy to negotiate, ( there are plans to build a new terminal in 2015 which will accommodate much larger ships ) , and we quickly completed our embarkation forms and walked over the road. there she was !

What a beautiful ship, long and sleek with  blue and white hull, her 5 masts standing proudly in the air. We were docked next to P&O Ventura – what a contrast of ships !

Embarkation was quick and efficient and we were soon making our way down the narrow staircases to our cabins to settle in. Luggage was delivered, unpacking done and then it was time to explore  the ship.

We all met for pre dinner drinks in the Tropical lounge, the centre of activity in the evening, served by friendly smiling bar staff in brightly coloured shirts. Cocktails of the day were consumed and then it was down to the restaurant for dinner.

The menu has  3 or 4 choices of starter and main courses, plus soups and sorbets, followed by deserts and cheeses. You can have everything on the menu if you can manage it! There is always steak on offer to if you prefer.

After dinner we headed back upstairs to the deck area in readiness for the Sailaway Party.Now I`ve been to a few sailaway parties since starting to cruise but for me, and I think almost everyone on board this as to be the best ever and one of the highlights of the trip.

By now it was dark and Ventura, moored next to us sailed first. Then, around 9pm, it was out turn.

The Captain used her engines to take us away from the small harbour and out into the open sea, the pilot disembarked, waved us goodbye and we were on our own.

Her sails were still down and we were completely still and silent, bobbing gently on the sea, as the engines stopped and the task of raising the sails began.

This takes quite a while as the crew climb the masts and unfold each huge sail one by one, until finally all 42 were up and ready to go. Now all we could hear was the sound of the waves lapping against the ship and the wind starting to blow the sails.

At this point the music began to play, the haunting sounds of Vangelis – Conquest of Paradise – the theme tune to ” 1942 The Conquest of Paradise”, a film charting Columbus discovery of the Americas. I can honestly say there was hardly a dry eye on board as we sailed out into the ocean on what really felt like a Spanish Galleon heading of on a voyage of discovery. This was a magical evening indeed.