Grace Under Pressure 2

  So after the fun of the Caribbean, it's back to the real world today because TOM is having a knee replacement. It's a long story but its something TOM has been waiting for since 2020 only to have it cancelled numerous times with Covid derailing things completely. Thankfully, as I type this, today is the day when it finally happens. Now having been a physotherapist in a previous existance a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing especially when that knowledge is approx 24 years out of day. Back in the old days anyone having a knee replaceement would expect to be in hospital for at least 4 days and possibly longer. There would have been twice a day physio, the use of ice cuffs and continuous movement machines, the need to get at least 90of movement in the joint plus the ability to go up and down stairs safely before discharge.  Having taken TOM to the hospital at 6am this morning he is expecting to be home later today with his 'bionic knee' but also with what appears...

 

 

 

       

    Only of course it wasn't the end was it, because today was the day we flew home. But, and here it comes, we only flew at 6.45pm that night on the last plane back to UK but we had to be out of our cabin in order for them to be got ready for incoming guests by 8am in the morning. So it has the potential to be a long, long day We had already had our main luggage head for the airport at 6pm last night so had to make do with whetever we could put in our hand luggage. The plan was simple, stay on the ship and simple move around our favourite venues on board spending about an hour in each. So it was a late breakfast in the buffet, off to the sunset lounge, the Java cafe, and then the atrium before a last supper back in the Horizon buffet. We also made a spontaneous spash of the cash to book our next trip. As mentioned earlier the on board sales team were offering some ridiculous offers  and so after a bit of pondering and thinking about various dates when I would need to be ...

When we first booked this little jolly we had the option of having a whole day in Barbados either right at the start or right at the end of our cruise. Fearing we would still be struggling with jetlag if we took it straight after the flight from the UK we opted to take it at the end of the jolly. Not that we had much energy to do a great deal. Half the ship were departing back to the UK today which also meant half the ship ended up full of 'newbies' all struggling to find their sea legs and more inportantly their sense of direction on board. TOM and I either let them wander bemused or pretended that we were 'seasoned' cruisers on Britannia and pointed them helpfully in the right direction. Our direction took us off the ship and a $2 taxi ride into Bridgetown where we wandered around for an hour or so trying to find anything that was a 'must see' . It was pleasant enough but hardly the place you would stay if you came here for a holiday. So we just headed for th...

  Today has been our final sea day and we have now reached the stage where we cannot remember where we are, what we have seen or even what day of the week it is. We are now simply driven by the most basis of instincts ie is it time to eat, and let me confirm that on a cruise ship its always time to eat. Still unable to sleep past 7am by the time we went for breakfast a little after 7am the ship was like the Marie Celeste. But we soon discovered that they was because everyone was already up on the sun decks reserving the unresolvable sunbeds The ship has that end of holiday approaching feel to it. We had a wander round the upper decks, dropped of the books that we have read in the library, had our temptation buttons firmly pressed by some of the ‘book your future cruise now’ offers that were being promoted. Our next door neighbours had had a champagne breakfast and there was so much food left over they were trying to palm some of it off to us; unfortunately we had already ea...

  So less that 12 hours after leaving amazing Antigua, we arrive at the island of St Martins. Pulling into port we were the third of 4 cruise ships in today including the monstrous (in both size and looks) wonder of the seas, one of the mega ships of the Royal Caribbean fleet. Full of almost 7,000 American’s, almost half of whom seem to be children, it looked to be our worst cruising nightmare. Today we had our first organised on shore adventure called ‘Instagram able St Martins’, on a small mini bus with 15 other travellers and a very bubbly and enthusiastic tour guide called Cherylene. As with all tours it would have been good to spend longer in a few of the places but we got to see a whole lot of the island half Dutch, half French so weren’t complaining. Stunning sweeping vistas at Lucas Bay look out, some very friendly iguanas, a gentle stroll around Marigot before heading for Maho beach. Now for those of you who don’t know, Maho beach is famous for the jet aircraft that ...