I look through my collection of personal photographs from cruises gone by and they show happy times with laughter, adventure, usually too much of the alcoholic stuff and the smiles of some pretty awesome crew members, and a large majority of those images are from cruises with P&O.

It will come as no surprise then that I am on another P&O cruise countdown, this time I am going back to the lovely Oceana for an Atlantic Coast voyage in November. It should be fun (hopefully the Biscay a little unhappy) and the ideal opportunity to do some Christmas shopping in Morocco and of course, good old Gibraltar! Let’s hope I avoid dropping the rum bottle this time, right outside the terminal! I could have had a toddler’s tantrum right in the middle of the street, I made it all the way from the very top of Main Street to within feet of the Terminal entrance and the bottom dropped out of my bag! One shall not be caught off guard this time!

Anyway, back to the ‘P&O Cruises thing’. When I board Oceana I feel in a way like I have returned home. She was my abode for 5 truly incredible weeks of my life earlier this year, 2 weeks in April of last year and 24-nights in November/December 2011 – I feel like I have some sort of loyalty to her and I get goose bumps (as sad as it may sound) every time I step aboard to begin a new adventure.

I am so looking forward to sitting at the Pennant Bar and watching the sun go down, eating garlic and sweet chilli prawns in Café Jardin (assuming they let me in as I’m sure my friend and I devoured every prawn on the ship in January), bumping into old friends and hopefully exploring the open decks at a ridiculous hour because the weather is starting to get a little feisty. I absolutely can’t wait!

As much as I am hoping for a bumpy ride I really should hope that it doesn’t get TOO bumpy. The friend I am cruising with this time was also on Oceana with me last April, when we experienced a pretty nasty Bay of Biscay crossing. The ship was literally battered, our captain said it was the worst he had seen in 25 years and as much as I really enjoyed every second of it my friend was not quite as thrilled. I’ll never forget the look on her face as she told me if it had been her first cruise it would have been her last, but not quite in those words! 😉 I have made the forceful request three times now that she purchase sea sickness pills and I will buy a can of Ginger Beer as soon as we board to ensure the supplies are at hand, just in case she feels a little green around the gills.

I know it’s quite early for me to talk about my next cruise when it’s still a good three weeks or so away yet, but I am discovering that the more I cruise with other lines the more I NEED my P&O ‘fix’ –  I swear they put something in the water! 😉

I am on the cruise departing November 3rd – Say hello if you too are on the same voyage!

Author: Danielle