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First account of 2025.. in which the intrepid duo head off across turbulent seas once more....

Happy New Year. I hope this year is going to be as full of adventures as last year was and just to set precedent we have spent the last couple of days traveling down to Portsmouth - (by train which for the first time in years went relatively well with only minor delays)!!!  We are now heading off into the sunset except that it is, as usual, cloudy towards the Caribbean hopefully for sunshine.

We stayed at a cheap Travelodge very close the port and had a very good view of the moon and Venus. As if we hadn't eaten massive amounts of food over the festive period (in fact over the last month) we went out for a Ethiopian meal - which was mostly tasty, very interesting, but probably wouldn't be repeated... mainly because they cooked with something that was a bit fermented that I didn't like - but the restaurant was okay and the staff were very friendly it wasn't an unpleasant experience - we had good African beer.

A decent nights sleep set us up to go look for the port.  Which turned out to be literally over the road... but unfortunately boarding is delayed due to having to do a deep clean on the ship because it had nasty diseases on the trip before... an occupational hazard of cruise ships. 

We had to wait a while for our cabin... pleasant with a big window.. so we sat in the piano lounge until the piano started🤣🤣.  You realise how blase we have got about cruising as you watch new cruisers exploring the ship and checking out the different locations, bars, cafes etc. This the first time we have been on the Borealis - its very similar to the Bolette - I think its a bit blander but Dr Fred disagrees.... but I say who's the colourist in this duo.... Anyway its home for a wee while and it will do nicely.  All traces of Christmas has disappeared and its just the usual over the top decor peppred with odd statues... although I did spot a rather nice cheeky chicken sculpture - picture will follow....

The other pleasant surprise is that we aint going nowhere near the Azores cos of bad weather. Instead we will drop into Tenerife for the day - we've never been there so we really dont mind. Still expecting bad rough seas tomorrow.... sea sickness tablets on hand - meanwhile time for a large shiraz.

We've been on board for 4 hours now and have had 2 meals already.....




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  1. Caroline Mackay5 January 2025 at 10:17

    Awww super excited for you - You escaped just in time!! We have sooooo much snow here ❄️❄️❄️ Take the tablets and enjoy 👋😃 xx

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