2013 was a year filled with travel for me and looking back I can’t quite believe just how many different places I was lucky enough to visit, how many ships I stepped aboard and everything else awesome in-between that came with it. I thought it would be nice to use today’s blog to look back at some of my favourite cruise moments from 2013, here goes!

Best Cruise

I think the Caribbean cruise that I embarked on in January had to be my favourite cruise for 2013, in fact this time last year I would have been closing the final zip on my suitcase as I prepared for the journey to Southampton on the 2^nd. Seems like a lifetime ago! We enjoyed 5 blissful weeks in the Caribbean and aboard one of my favourite ships, P&O Cruises, Oceana. I would like to think I will have the opportunity to do that cruise again, maybe in 2015! We visited Cozumel, St Martin, St Lucia, Jamaica, Tortola, Aruba, Grenada, Antigua, Rotan, and Barbados and also enjoyed a Gatun Locks, Panama Canal transit. I suppose it’s pretty easy to see why this voyage was head and shoulders above the rest!

Favourite Destination(s)

If I had to pick my favourite port of call for 2013 then that would actually have to be a tie, I couldn’t possibly pick just one. I would go with Antigua as it was my first taste of the Caribbean and boy did I enjoy it, that first glimpse of Dickenson Bay beach will stay with me forever! We had spent several days at sea crossing the Atlantic and that morning we sailed into a place that was literally alive with energy and culture. I remember the steel band playing on the dockside and thinking to myself, this is going to be the cruise of an absolute lifetime! Let me off now, I need to go and explore!

I would also go with Roatan as it was a destination that I had wanted to visit for a long time and it didn’t let me down. We went off the beaten track and seen the REAL island, I know it’s not to everyone’s liking, but for me it was perfect. It was not bursting at the seams with tourist areas, it was just raw and honest. We visited two animal sanctuaries and enjoyed a drive right across the island. Even in the torrential rain it was beautiful!

Best Moment

If I had to take a best moment away from 2013 I would go with the name announcement of P&O Cruises, Britannia. You could say it doesn’t quite fit in with the above, but I had to TRAVEL to London to enjoy it so therefore technically I can include it. 😉 As a HUGE cruise geek and big fan of P&O Cruises, it was incredible to feel that adrenalin build up as you waited patiently for the name to be announced. I thought I was going to burst. I was so proud to be part of that moment and I hope I am just as lucky when she launches in just over a year’s time! I am adamant that I will be on her inaugural voyage if it kills me. I don’t think I have ever been quite so excited over a ship since the cruise bug caught me 7 years ago.

New Ship Experience (visit)

I didn’t sail on her but my visit to Queen Mary 2 left a lasting impression, it really did. Never have I set foot upon a ship and been so taken aback by her beauty. It really was love at first step, I am hoping desperately that 2014 will give me the opportunity to sail aboard her, I don’t mind where too I just want to experience everything she has to offer. I felt like I had gone back in time, it was incredible and her interior was an art-deco lovers paradise, it really was. She was artistically beautiful in every way, shape and form and at every turn she gently reminded you that you were aboard a grand and most elegant ocean liner. What a ship!

New Ship Experience (cruise)

MSC Magnifica takes this one, she was beautiful! I have actually developed a rather deep love for MSC Cruises over the last 12-months, hopefully I will get some ‘Italian cruising’ time this year too. Magnifica had such a flare about her and the public lounges onboard were beautifully decorated, the Tiger Bar I would say was my favourite. It was the kind of decor I usually can’t stand, but aboard this ship it was absolutely perfect. To be honest I can’t say there was any area I didn’t like! I enjoyed everything about her and was sad to say goodbye in Dover.

There are so many other things I could mention because really, anything involved with cruise is a ‘best’ moment in my world!

What were your best cruise moments in 2013?

Author: Danielle