Talkback 79            November 2006

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CRUISE AWAY WINTER

 

I once knew an actress who went on cruises. She wasn’t a wealthy or famous actress, so she earned money on them rather than paid it out. She performed with a small theatre company on the boat every night. Some of the stuff sounded rather ambitious for a company of six: The Tempest (was that an omen?); some Chekhov; but also a few musicals which may have been even more demanding - South Pacific, Brigadoon. The mind can’t help boggling.

When all the customers were safely tucked into their bunks, she and the rest of the company danced and drank and god-knows-what-else the night away, emerging bleary-eyed from their cabins well after lunch, when the punters were either taking their afternoon naps or had been decanted onto some exotic shore.

My own experiences of cruising are rather more mundane. There were four somewhat cramped nights on a trip round the Greek islands. We chose a small ship run by a local company, thinking that it would be more atmospheric and authentic. Maybe it was, assuming that ‘authentic’ meant there was barely time to explore an island before it was time to set sail again, over-crowded meal times and absolutely no one else on the boat who spoke a word of English. No theatre company either.

Our next trip was with an upmarket UK company, cruising up the Nile. We flew down to Aswan first. ‘Sit on the left side of the plane and have your camera ready 20 minutes before landing,’ said our guide before we left Cairo. Following instructions, I was able to take photographs from the air of the temple before we landed.

Later we were bussed to our boat, which was heavenly. No theatre again, but we played silly parlour games and took turns to acquire the dreaded tummy bug despite cleaning our teeth with bottled water, and never a square of ice in the gins and tonics.

 
It was undoubtedly worth it. Cruising along the river and stopping at sites straight out of old Hollywood movies (Cecil B. DeMille for movie buffs or those with long memories), was peaceful, therapeutic, exciting, sociable and, curiously, private. It was easy to get away from people and find a quiet place on deck to read or dream or watch the reeds along the river bank and wave to the children as we sailed serenely by.

 
We visited Egypt in February, giving ourselves a break from the worst of the UK winter. Finances and other practicalities permitting, I would be tempted by something longer and grander, a trip up the Amazon maybe. So when I saw that Voyages Jules Verne and Travelscope were advertising Amazon Cruises, I sat up and took notice. Voyages Jules Verne and Travelscope are both advertising on laterlife, so I won’t go into details here.
 

You can see for yourself by clicking on VJV or Travelscope links to find out more. And remember Travelscope also offer a 10% discount to anyone who is a Laterlife Club member!
 

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