Caribbean 50th Birthday

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Trip start
November 5, 2022
Caribbean 50th Birthday Traveler
Day 1 Worksop to Barbados
November 5, 2022, Caribbean Sea ⋅ 🌧 28 °C
So today we began our adventure,off to the Caribbean for a couple of weeks to celebrate my 50th birthday. We didn’t even get a case out until 8pm Friday night due to having so much going on, and we were up at 4am Saturday morning.

Other than a two and a half hour delay at Manchester, the journey was quite painless. One of the beauties of P&O as opposed to Princess is the fact that the cases are put on at Manchester and the next time you see them, they are in your cabin. There’s no customs to worry about at Barbados, straight off the plane and a bus picks you up at the side of the plane and drives you to the ship. We landed at about 6pm Caribbean time and the first thing we noticed when we stepped off the plane was how lovely and warm it was, the second thing was how wet it was !! It was thrashing it down.

The embarkation on the ship was easy and we were soon in our cabin. Although totally different to princess, the layout is very similar. We grappled s bit of something to eat and we were in bed not long after as we were knackered.

So here we are, on board P&O Britannia currently docked in Barbados awaiting our 14 day trundle around a lovely selection of Caribbean islands.Read more
TravelerWill be great to hear the comparison with Princess cruises. I'm sure you'll have a great time 👍
11/7/22Reply
TravelerThe jury is out Colin, will let you know.
11/7/22Reply
Traveler👍
11/8/22Reply
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Caribbean 50th Birthday Traveler
Day 2, At Sea
November 6, 2022, Caribbean Sea ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
Good morning all from somewhere in the Caribbean Sea somewhere between Barbados and Aruba. A lovely nights sleep last night after our long day yesterday. We weren’t awake too early, 8.45 Caribbean time which is 4 hours behind UK.

Our first task was to unpack as we were just to tired last night so we did that as soon as we got up. We then went up to the horizon buffet for some breakfast. The sun was out and it was a pleasant 28 degrees. A little disappointed to find no lemon Danish, but the vanilla muffin came in a very good replacement. Afterwards, we had a wander around the ship to ascertain what was where, the layout very similar to the princess ships we are used to.

After lunch we sat out on the open decks, sunshine and a bit of cloud but absolutely lovely, sailing along with a lovely breeze. The sea like a mill pond and idyllic sailing conditions. Whilst sat out on the loungers, there was a bit of a music quiz on which we were pretty hopeless at, but there were some welsh ladies on the row behind us who couldn’t help themselves from singing along and announcing the answers. They were great for the 50s 60s and 70’s songs bless ‘em, I think between them they had an average age of about 103 😂😂. They were ace, we still lost.

Next stop “Jude’s” ice cream parlour on deck 16, pretty nice. A tub of vanilla for me and a chocolate cone for the gaffer nice ice cream, we will be back. The decks started to thin out about 4ish as it was a formal night tonight. We didn’t bother with the formal night so we decided to head to one of our favourite parts of the ship, the back where we sat for a couple of hours and had a couple of beers. It was absolute bliss, watching the world go by with a pint, nice and warm and truly relaxing.

Due to the relaxation, we felt a little siesta was required before dinner, so we went back to the room and had a look through what was on this evening. As it was a formal night, the open decks were quiet. So we decided we’d eat at the buffet and then we went and sat out in the hot tub until about 9pm, before getting changed and popping back to the decks for a drink and the obligatory cake !

If Carlsberg did first days !!Read more
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Caribbean 50th Birthday Traveler
Day 3, Aruba
November 7, 2022 in Aruba ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
First dock of the cruise today in Aruba. We docked around 7am this morning, sadly we didn’t actually see us arrive. We were actually up but had a couple of Firbeck Trophies bits and bobs to attend to, such as giving Adele the password to the laptop so she could actually work for us.

Once up and out we went for breakfast at the buffet, we are going to try the restaurant - maybe tomorrow if we are up in time. Weather today has been a very warm 29 degrees with sunshine and cloud. We were told storms were forecast for later. We disembarked the ship and had a wander round the local town of Oranjestad. Whilst we could remember bits from out last visit, there were lots of bits we had forgotten about. I think they have suffered like lots of places have, many of the shops had closed and there were less bars than we remember. But it was still a lovely place, we walked down to the harbour and around the shops. The really nice shopping centre was still there, they fetch people in to it by boat from the local hotel. We saw lots of Iguanas and s couple of very large birds but we weren’t sure what they were, we thought heron st first but then settled on pelican ! Who knows, we’re rubbish at that stuff.

We spent the latter part of the afternoon on board, finally deciding where we’re going to eat on my birthday and we also booked the beach hut for Thursday. Had a little sit in the atrium with an ice cream before heading to the open deck to see us sail-away. Captain Paddy McGuire was quite right when he forecast storms this morning, it went very black and it threw it down, we were treated to a lightening display and quite a few tremendously loud claps of thunder. However, not long after we left it cleared up and the sea was as calm as ever. All enjoyed with a group of people outside on the open deck but we were under cover!!

As we headed back to the room, the roast beef brisket and Yorkshire pudding caught our eye in the buffet. We had fully intended eating in the restaurant tonight but neither of us were feeling on top form. My cold is still lingering and Sharon’s is coming out, so we ate in the buffet, went down to the cabin and had an early night.

Next stop Curaçao 🇨🇼 tomorrow !!Read more
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Trip end
November 15, 2022

Caribbean 50th Birthday

Day 1 Worksop to Barbados

Day 2, At Sea

Day 3, Aruba