I sat there with my bowl of Muesli and fruit ready to face the challenges of the day. The Officers mess was quiet at 7:15 am and apart from Blanca the waitress I was all alone. Then, in came a chap I had never seen before and ignoring the 15 other empty tables…………he came and sat next to me.

He introduced himself as ………well………..I better not write his name here…………..but I can tell you that he was from New Hampshire and when he discovered I was from England he got very excited and told me “Really………that’s awesome because I have an old Jagwarr”………..I realized he meant Jaguar and then I realized something much worse………….he was going to tell me all about it……………..at 7:15 am in the morning ……………..and with my mind spinning with blogs and new ship stuff ……………. OH joy !

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There must be some people who read my blog occasionally and probably get fed up with the blizzard of mega ships, water slides and stories of 3,000 plus people having fun all explained in a babble of preposterous superlatives.

Of course it’s not hard to see why this might be so. Cruising used to be about a ship, a Captain and crew, ports of call, a comfy chair to sit in and meet Mr and Mrs. Smith from California. Then it was off to dinner followed by dancing, a walk on deck under the stars and a bollocking from the wife for staring at Mrs. Smith’s bottom.

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