The Silver Surfer cruises for the first time…

I thought I would touch on what it’s like when someone over a certain age cruises for the first time at the age of 80.

My mum has a best friend called Edna and both of them last year hit the fabulous age of 80, it’s safe to say that Edna had a hard life bringing up her children including a set of twins so a cruise was the furthest thing from her mind.

She has travelled in the past as she visited family in Australia and has been to Europe and sadly is now a widow but she met a lovely gentleman also in his 80s who gave her a new lease of life, George we love you for that.

I thought you are only 80 once and flowers and chocolates don’t last so what can I do to make it a little more special, after lots of ideas I decided to surprise her with a mini cruise on the Independence of the seas,there were a group of us going on it anyway, well when we sprung the surprise on her with the help of her daughter Lynn who was also invited she was overwhelmed and could not believe she was going on a cruise especially a ship that big, she told everyone and as she had also discovered facebook all of her friends were told as well.

She is our silver surfer extraordinaire.

everything was synchronised to perfection with the travel to Southampton with Eavesway, us travelling from Liverpool and Edna and Lynn from Lincoln with the coaches arriving within minutes of each other, Eavesway always manage this somehow,there were lots of hugs and kisses and then began the boarding. She was so excited but when we got onboard and she realised just how big this ship is she was saying we will never find you again, I showed her to her cabin and she just loved it and also in the cabin we had arranged strawberries and champagne and this little touch was worth it as seeing the expression of her face was amazing.

She decided after that she was off exploring and the first place of course was the bar, well it was a long journey, it was a gorgeous day with the sun shining and the perfect spot was the Squeeze bar by the pool, lot’s of ice and a long smooth cocktail or two and the scene was set.

Dinner was certainly an eye opener as we were in the Romeo and Juliet restaurant, she couldn’t believe this was standard as to what you got on a ship, this woman is beautiful inside and out and took to it all like a duck to water, everyone loved her.

After dinner we hit the Royal promenade for one of the shows going on there and stayed up till the wee small hours. Pizza at 2am? yes head to Sorrentos on the royal promenade, they were open until 3am.

The following day we were going into bruges as this was somewhere she wanted to go but never had the chance and we also knew that she had always dreamed of going to such a wonderful place and see this by horse and carriage so this was all secretly planned as well, we decided that since there were a few of us we would get a private transfer into bruges with Cruising excursions and they were there waiting for us and organised drop off and pick up at times that suited us not just part of a crowd, this was brilliant I have to say and our driver was lovely and she took us the scenic route with commentary as well.

We had a fabulous day exploring the city and went for tea in a nice hotel that I know then bought some chocolate in the shops as you do in Bruges and then sprung the surprise of the horse and carriage, well this woman sat waving just like the queen saying hello i’m Edna how are you at passers by, she said I have wanted to do this forever and my dream has come true, after that of course what do you do in Belgium? you have a waffle, I have never seen a waffle this big in my life but we managed it without getting too much over us, then we drooled over all the lovely Christmas decorations in a little shop.

Then after a lovely day we all headed back to the ship.

The following day she was a little tired so decided to stay on board and explore the ship, well the drinking establishments were part of the tour and anyone who has been on the Independence knows there are lots of them, so to the Dog and Badger where a nice hour was spent along with brain freeze from the frozen cocktails, Pina Colada oh yes.

This is Edna with her daughter Lynn at the Dog and Badger

We went to see the show that night which was Grease and again she loved it, she never expected anything like that on a ship, also Edna likes to line dance and she even managed a bit of that as well in the club on board.

Royal Caribbean as always surpassed themselves with what was on offer and at the end of the most amazing 4 days it was time to travel home.

Now if it was memories I had paid for I have to say it would have been worth every penny and more. It wasn’t madly expensive but it made a few dreams come true and for that I am humbly grateful and it just goes to show and prove that you are never too old or young to try something new.

So to sum it all up I would say if you are really stuck on what to buy someone for a special birthday or just because that person is as special as our Silver Surfer Edna is then treat them to a cruise, it doesn’t need to be a really expensive one to make someones dreams come true. Ours was 3 nights.

The smiles are worth it.