I’m just back from a wonderful three-week cruise around the Mediterranean. It was one of the best cruise experiences I’ve had – not just because of the ports (I’d been to them all before – some three or four times), though I enjoyed each and every one. What made the trip so special was the camaraderie. The ship’s staff were brilliant especially the entertainment team (cruise director, assistant cruise director and the office manager) were friendly, helpful and supportive. The were five guest speakers and four of us were women, which is quite a rare event given that male lecturers tend to dominate the field. There was a great rapport between us, and we made some lasting friendships. I also got to know a great many of the passengers.
I’ve been a cruise speaker for almost twenty years giving either talks on the ports we were visiting or the history of the areas we were travelling through. This was only the second time that I spoke about writing and famous writers and I was lucky to have very appreciative audiences for every lecture. Even at my last lecture, despite stiff competion from other activities going on ,the theatre was pretty full which was a great boost to the ego. The ship’s shop was eager to sell my books. At the last minute, I’d decided to take a few more of my novels (we were sailing from Dover and back to Dover so no worrying about airport weight limits) and I still sold out! It’s the most books I’ve ever sold at a single event.
I also offered to run a series of writing workshops. I confess the number of attendees at each session was not high because few people were able to attend more than half of the sessions because of all the other activities going on. I’ve never been on a ship that offered so many activities – there was a drama group, craft workshops, choir, bridge sessions, art workshops, ukulele classes, line dancing, ballroom dancing classes and a book club. All this in addition to all the usual activities provided by the ship’s entertainment teams – various music, general knowledge and trivia quizzes, carpet bowls, switch bowling (whatever that is – but it was on every sea day), indoor curling, shuffleboard, deck quoits and kitchen creations where the chef demonstrated some mouthwatering recipes and carved wonderful animals out of fruit!
An amazing variety for a small ship with only a thousand passengers. Yes, I’m exhausted. I now need a holiday to recover!
I’m already getting excited about my next cruise to the Baltic in December on board the same ship. I’ve already started researching my presentation on Hans Christian Anderson.
But I still have a novel to finish! It’s going to take a week or so to get my mind back in focus on In the Shadow of the Sphinx.
Life may be hectic, but it’s never boring.
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