I blame Barbara!
She read a Fred Olsen promotional email and asked "why don't we see if they've got any cabins left for this cruise?"
I had to admit that the price was very attractive, so a call to Fred established that a nice sounding cabin was still available at a silly price, and we knew from our 2012 cruise to Norway on the same ship, the Black Watch, that we were comfortable with the relatively small size of the ship (800 passengers).
But we also knew that we had to make a very quick decision if we were to get a cabin at such short notice and at such a good price.
A very urgent email to (youngest son) Eddy to ask if he would be available if we turned up on his doorstep in Santiago in a few weeks time, was rewarded with a quick and positive response.
So I phoned Fred again and committed us to going.
The route we'll be taking is the first quarter or so of Black Watch's 2017 round-the-world cruise. From Southampton in early January we'll cross the Bay of Biscay (should be "interesting" at this time of the year) to Madeira for a day's sightseeing in Funchal.
Then the long haul across the Atlantic to Barbados where we'll stop and say hello to Barbara's sister Mary (and John of course). Further stops in the Caribbean will include Bonaire and Aruba before we get to the newly enlarged Panama Canal (tick this off my bucket list ☺).
Once we've crossed America and entered the Pacific, we'll cross the Equator before stopping in Ecuador for a day then it's on to Lima (port of Callao) in Peru.
Leaving Black Watch there, we'll fly down to Santiago and enjoy two weeks or so with Eddy, Sara & Clemente before flying via Rome to Heathrow.
That's the plan anyway!
She read a Fred Olsen promotional email and asked "why don't we see if they've got any cabins left for this cruise?"
I had to admit that the price was very attractive, so a call to Fred established that a nice sounding cabin was still available at a silly price, and we knew from our 2012 cruise to Norway on the same ship, the Black Watch, that we were comfortable with the relatively small size of the ship (800 passengers).
But we also knew that we had to make a very quick decision if we were to get a cabin at such short notice and at such a good price.
A very urgent email to (youngest son) Eddy to ask if he would be available if we turned up on his doorstep in Santiago in a few weeks time, was rewarded with a quick and positive response.
So I phoned Fred again and committed us to going.
The route we'll be taking is the first quarter or so of Black Watch's 2017 round-the-world cruise. From Southampton in early January we'll cross the Bay of Biscay (should be "interesting" at this time of the year) to Madeira for a day's sightseeing in Funchal.
Once we've crossed America and entered the Pacific, we'll cross the Equator before stopping in Ecuador for a day then it's on to Lima (port of Callao) in Peru.
Leaving Black Watch there, we'll fly down to Santiago and enjoy two weeks or so with Eddy, Sara & Clemente before flying via Rome to Heathrow.
That's the plan anyway!
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