Cruises are for Newly Wed, Over Fed or Nearly Dead

I watched the first episode of The Cruise on ITV where there were 2 Irish friends talking and saying this was their first cruise and they had never been before because they believed cruises were for “newly wed, over fed and the nearly dead”… how wrong could they be ? But this is however a very common pre-conception of Cruising and i genuinely hope that this series will help to dispel some of these myths.  We will have to continue to watch the series to check-in further with them that they have still enjoyed it at the end but they were certainly enjoying the cocktail bar and the bar tender show where they were wowed by the bottle juggling and the supremely talented bar tender who even managed to throw a maraschino cherry up in the air and catch it on a cocktail stick held in his mouth… Wow.

To the opposite extreme of these first time cruisers on board you also saw a group of approximately 100 passengers who belong to the Elite group of the Captains Circle (Princess Cruises own loyalty scheme) celebrating at a reception party exclusively for them. These passengers have completed a minimum of 15 cruises with Princess or 151 days on board and all vie for the coveted trophy and champagne of most cruised passenger on board this sailing.  This accolade was presented to a lovely American couple Rusty & Martha who had even had designed their own Princess Cruises “passenger” badges.  They have spent over 451 days at sea with Princess cruises and already have their next 5 cruises confirmed…  How I would love to be their travel agent. !!

The second episode of the programme saw the hugely talented captain Ed Perrin face one of the toughest challenges of his career to date to maneuver this gigantic vessel through the stunning archipelago into the port of Stockholm.  Steering the ship through shallow waters  and avoiding thousands of tiny islands – this terrifying task was a true test of his captaincy, which he managed to make look easy..

The Regal Princess is longer than the Eiffel Tower and 19 decks high and operates like a small village with over 1400 crew and nearly 4000 passenger capacity.  The series will follow her journey on this amazing 11 night itinerary, departing and returning to Copenhagen, which is one that is definitely on my “bucket list.”  Featuring the medieval city of Tallinn in Estonia, delightful Stockholm in Sweden and my ultimate highlight to visit the magnificent palaces of St Petersburg in Russia.  I look forward to the rest of this series as it explores the scenic beauty of the Fjords on it’s journey to the Baltics and to discovering if the 2 Irish men will be converted, as so many are, and become hooked on cruising and maybe one day they will make it in to the Elite group.