When the season is dark, damp and dismal, a sensible soul turns to thoughts of escape. In the past, I thought there were only two real options on offer. If sitting in the sun was your thing, you could head off in search of winter warmth far away.
If skiing was more your style, then the obvious choice, was to head off in search of snow. The more, the fresher, the merrier. However, turns out, I had missed a trick. Another option. Taking a winter cruise. Which is exactly what my wife and I decided to do recently. Signed up for a coastal cruise around Italy, starting near Rome and ending up in Venice, with short stops in Sicily and Croatia along the way. Getting there was easy.
We flew from Heathrow to Rome and got on the ship somewhere thereabouts. What made it even more of a thrill, was getting on the plane in London wearing winter woollies, only to arrive in Italy a couple of hours later, where the weather was positively summer-like.
Is definitely not one of those monster cruise ships with thousands of guests onboard. When full to bursting, she can accommodate passengers.
Which makes her small enough to stroll round in less than half an hour, but large enough to provide plenty of interesting nooks and crannies, places to pass the time in peaceful contemplation of the good life. The staff were absolutely superb. Always smiling, always helpful and quick to learn your name. Always a pleasure to talk with.
