When you’re a successful blog-owner like the multiverse versions of me who are successful are, one of the things you make sure to do is the absolute minimum amount of effort to keep your site ticking over. The occasional post to be cast upon the mercy of search engine discovery is, of course, a great start, and infrequent checks for dead links reminds you that nothing lasts forever and information on the internet is not as recorded-in-stone as perhaps recording things in stone is. Plus, that low-level maintenance is also a minimal form of caring.
And what self-respecting blog owner – or blog owner slapping a veneer of self-respect over their core of self-loathing – could possibly skip out on compiling a review of the year? Even if nobody else reads it but a bot scraping it for language model training to replace your very existence as electronically swiftly and ecologically destructively as possible then there is the tiniest justification that this manual re-reading and summarising serves in some small way to reinforce those memories and experiences you thought worthy enough to share in the first place; to cement those thoughts and images in the labyrinthine grooves of your brain; to smooth its hemispheres out and confuse those staring at your MRI scans in the decades to come. I never studied biology past GCSE level, by the way.
The Website In 2024
Writing travel articles on this website took a bit of a nosedive early on in the year thanks to needing to do an awful lot of website maintenance, despite my earlier insinuation that I’m quite a lazy git when it comes to blogging. That was caused by needing to prune out a lot of images on posts and switch all the image galleries over to something else. The first part of that was so as to keep my website under the host’s automatically-backed-up threshold (despite, allegedly, having an unlimited plan) for peace of mind, and the second part of that was because I didn’t like the markup produced by the gallery I had been using as it locked me into keeping it going forever. Which isn’t to say that I particularly like what I moved it all to, either, as often not all the images show in the mosaics, but it should be at least easier to address in future and should degrade more gracefully.
Social Media In 2024
The Fediverse in general, and Mastodon specifically, remains my primary social media outlet now. While I have accounts elsewhere they’re mostly just to simplify viewing other information sporadically and to safeguard in case any of those closed platforms limit public visibility further in the same way that Twitter and Facebook under the leadership of their respective power-hungry incels do. Instagram probably gets the most use outside Mastodon because I am quite fond of photos. I still miss the chats with other travel bloggers but because they’re all heavily invested in earning from their hobbies I know that the Fediverse isn’t going to work for them so there is an inevitable drift-away taking place. That’s life.
Cruises In 2024
Somehow, we managed to squeeze in five cruises through the year. It’ll be rather different in 2025 but I’m getting ahead of myself here.
Naturally, none of these cruises have been written about yet, partly because of the aforementioned maintenance tasks, but mostly because I just take my sweet time about these things. Mate, where’s the rush!? Relax! This isn’t social media where the first or most recent person to show off about something gets those clicks and kudos and advertising revenue. This is the old web, refusing to die, mumbling into the vortex of noise.
P&O Aurora, Netherlands
In March we visited somewhere familiar on something old but, to us, new.
We’d been to Rotterdam before in 2022 on Island Princess, an older and smaller vessel in the Princess Cruises fleet, and this time we visited on an older and smaller vessel in the P&O Cruises fleet. In both cases we thoroughly enjoyed the small ship experience and the age of the ships didn’t really factor into things. I’m biased, of course, because I’m getting older too and would like to think that doesn’t necessarily make me less appealing than I already was. I’d also like the cruise lines to stop their headlong rush into producing bigger and blander, boilerplate ships. “The bigger ships are more efficient so we can drive down costs!” Well, isn’t that nice!? And when can we expect to see this reflected in the cruise prices? Hello!? Hello!?
Aurora was lovely, and we had a great time in Rotterdam again, making full use of the overnight stay and a self-service machine-disgorged tourist ticket that allowed us to get around on the local transport without having to stare at someone while holding up cash and cards and phones and pointing at things and wondering how long they were going to feign puzzled confusion before explaining in perfect English that no, this wasn’t the tram to wherever we were thinking of going, this was a refuse-collection truck.
We visited the zoo, we walked around Delfshaven, we visited the Markthal, we wandered around looking for art, we drank craft ale, we admired the architecture; all things we’d not done when we’d visited before, and should we visit again then we’ll look to do new things once more because we’re like that.
Regal Princess, United Kingdom and France
We thought we’d give Regal Princess a second go for our second cruise of 2024 back in May because, despite a few grumbles about its small balcony sizes and lack of a Skywalkers nightclub, this class of ship did have some nice areas and one of the best adults-only swimming pools on any ship. Quite why we thought we’d be able to find a day to swim in it on a port-heavy cruise in British waters in May is beyond me now.
We’d not cruised around our home nation before so most of where we visited was new to us, even if the countries weren’t, and I would like to point out that we absolutely did have a lovely time on this cruise BUT it didn’t really feel like a proper cruise to us.
For the Americans who made up the majority of passengers aboard, I’m sure they had a great time, but we never really got the sense that we were travelling in the same way that trips to foreign countries do. In addition, it was very port-intensive and on a few of those ports we’d arrived on Sundays or bank holidays which had an unfortunate impact on what you could actually see and do. And finally, the prices of excursions was extortionate. I’m not saying that Princess did take advantage of that “Americans going to the ancestral country” captive audience thing here but we were far more picky about what we chose to do as a result of knowing the true costs of things and not having that foreign country fear barrier with which to contend.
So, we’re glad that we did the cruise around the UK (and that port stop in France, of course) with visits to loads of new places in Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, but it’s not a cruise we’re likely going to rush to repeat.
MSC Virtuosa, France
MSC are a cruise line that divides people. There are some who love them and many, many more with not much good to say about them at all. Analysing what we’d heard we could summarise MSC ships thusly: MSC Cruises provide cheap cruising with terrible food that appeals to those looking to get drunk quickly and party unless you pay for Yacht Club where you get expensive cruising with good food on a ship filled with people who’ve only paid for cheap cruising with terrible food looking to get drunk quickly and party.
Analyses are one thing but everyone’s tastes differ so we decided to see for ourselves what MSC were like on a late-booked, weekend break to France. Probably, in hindsight, a mistake to go for something quite that short, but at least not an expensive one.
This type of cruise did indeed attract a certain type of person matching our pre-cruise analysis. Did we find ourselves getting stuck to the floor because of all the spilled drinks? Yes. Did we find the food quite poor? Yes. Did we share a dinner table with a couple of women who were so drunk they could barely find their mouths with their forks? Yes. Did some ex-squaddie at a bar threaten to punch me? Yes.
Whenever someone who’s never cruised claims they wouldn’t like to cruise and that all cruises look like “Butlins at sea” based on one three-second clip of a crowded top deck swimming pool area on a sea day in the Caribbean where some activity is also taking place you’ll get lovers and defenders of cruising rushing to say “No, cruising isn’t like that at all!” and we’ve been with them in the past. But the majority of the people aboard MSC Virtuosa when we cruised make that argument less compelling.
However, on this cruise we also met Sabrina and her mum, and they were bloody lovely company so we had a great time overall. Sometimes it’s just who you’re with that matters most.
P&O Ventura, Spain and Portugal
For our third time on Ventura – she’s our favourite ship in the P&O fleet – we spent the early part of September hitting northern Spain and a few ports in Portugal.
The ship was as we expected her to be, and it was lovely to be able to spend my birthday in the Douro Valley drinking port. We also had a fabulous overnight stop in Lisbon which allowed us to get out and see some sights on our own, and we ended up with a bonus Spanish stop when our final port of call at Guernsey was cancelled in enough time for the captain to find a berth somewhere else on the route back to the UK.
Caribbean Princess, Italy, Spain, Morocco, Madeira, Tenerife, USA
The final cruise of the year was a Trans-Atlantic cruise in November on the back of a week visiting all new ports but one in Europe and Africa.
It was the longest cruise of the year for us at sixteen days, but the price in a balcony cabin with drinks, tips, and Wi-Fi was the cheapest per person per night of all the cruises we took in 2024. Much of that will be the repositioning aspect and number of days at sea involved, but it was still a bargain, and with all those new ports – and for my wife, a new country and continent in the form of Morocco in Africa – this was the cruise we’d looked forward to most for the year.
How did this cruise go? We experienced a terrifying limo drive from the airport at Rome and we got stuck aboard while at Spain because of the quite horrific weather that ended up closing the entire city down, but Casablanca and Rabat in Morocco were fantastic, the Bronze Age settlement on Sardinia was superb, we found a wonderful botanical garden and a craft ale bar on Tenerife, we had an excellent debark tour in Fort Lauderdale, and we got two whole weeks of late nights in Skywalkers with a brilliant DJ and bar staff we’d cruised with before who had all the dance moves. This cruise did not disappoint.
Travel In 2025
How do you top five cruises when you’ve got limited annual leave and even more limited bank balance? You don’t. You slam the brakes on and consider quality over quantity. You book fewer cruises.
Yes, we’ve only booked and only expect to go on two cruises in 2025 even though we’ve still got seven days of leave to play with. Those seven days and when we can reasonably use them don’t align with anything that really appeals to us, generally through a combination of a familiar ship (which isn’t that important) or familiar ports (which is important) at questionably high prices (which is very important).
“You could always go with MSC Cruises on a longer cruise!”
Let’s file that suggestion away in the Folder of Last Resort.
If we were to book something to ports we’ve been to before then we might do that thing we said we’d likely never do until we were retired and that’s go for a super-cheap inside cabin last-minute. While it’s not about the money per se, if we don’t throw it around on things we’ve done before then it opens up more opportunities for 2026 and beyond. That’s the current thinking that neatly overlooks our amazing ability to spend money we’re saving for other stuff.
But, we do have some things booked, so here they are:
Warner Leisure Hotel, Lakeside, Hayling Island
We have been to our nearest Warner hotel on Hayling Island a couple of times before, back in 2022, and it is a fabulously convenient way for us to have a break without using up any annual leave allowance as we can drive there on a Friday evening after work and get back on Monday morning before work too.
The price and what sort of entertainment going on does play the largest part of deciding if we’re going to go, though, but at the end of January there’s a ska and reggae weekend with a decent deal on for the woodland lodges so we’ve said “Sure, we don’t particularly like reggae music, but we’re fond of the more accessible ska genre so, what the hell!? Why not!?”
It’s a good price at the right time – halfway between Christmas and our first cruise – so it give us something to look forward to in that long stretch of working to pay for all this stuff.
Ambassador Ambience, Arctic Circle
At the end of March we’ll be trying Ambassador Cruise Line for the first time so, obviously, the ship will be new for us even though Ambience is an old thing these days. But I’ve already mentioned that old and small seem to work well for us so we’ve got no worries in that regard.
There will be one Scottish port tucked on the end – Aberdeen; we’ve never been there before – but the rest of the ports will be in Norway, with the first three of those familiar to us, and the rest on this seventeen-night cruise (seventeen!) all new, with most north of the Arctic Circle. We’ve technically crossed that imaginary line before and have a certificate to prove it, but this will be our first proper cruise that far north.
We’ve booked the top drinks package and a balcony, and clearly with this being a long cruise with a company we’ve not cruised with before we’re taking a small risk regarding whether we’ll like the line and the ship, but we hear good things from those who’ve gone before. This will be a good way to ascertain whether those people are trustworthy or not at the very least.
Grand Princess, Caribbean
In late October, all being well, we’ll be cruising on the last of the Grand-class ships we’ve not been on before, and the oldest of the class too. In addition we’ll be spending a couple of weeks in the Caribbean which has really not been on our radar before. Lots of new countries to tick off here, but also lots of planning to still arrange.
We’re going to have to fly in a day early just because we’re starting and ending in Puerto Rico and that means connecting flights are going to be involved. There’s no way we’d risk flying on the day in that scenario even if it were possible, and it really doesn’t look like it is. An adventure before we even start, and not something we’re used to doing with us only doing that once before, that being last year when we cruised out of San Francisco. I’m sure we’ll be fine, though. Other people manage and I think we rate right up there with other people.
And as for what we’re actually going to do on all those island nations? Yeah, no idea. We’re going to have to research options in more depth next year but right now we’re trying not to think too far ahead.
2025 And Beyond
So that’s far less travelling for us in 2025, but the trips we’ve got planned are wildly different from each other with lots of new places and experiences to look forward to, and that’s the important thing. Obviously, a lottery win will change things up a bit.
We’d love to see some new cruise itineraries start to appear. There’s an awful lot of the same ships visiting the same ports now, and that price to cruise keeps rising. There was a time when we’d say that a cruise was great value for money. “You tell me how much you pay to stay in a hotel with a sea view, and a pool, and all-day entertainment, and all your food inclusive, and a load of new places to visit each day, then look at cruising!” we’d say. Well, that’s not really the persuasive argument it used to be for people looking to save some money now, though.
In the social media world it will be interesting to see what happens with Bluesky. It’s the platform that’s got a lot of attention and numbers of sign-ups in the wake of Twitter’s implosion, but there are concerns about its venture capital and crypto funding, and there are concerns about how it’s going to enforce moderation when it’s US-based and likely to face retaliatory action if it tries to do so in a way that upsets the fascist they’ve elected again, and there are concerns about it claiming to be decentralised but only by using its own definition of the term that doesn’t align with anyone else’s, and then there’s its inherent design philosophy that makes all content in public view even if you think it isn’t. All content. A lot of people still hang around on Twitter, though, so they’ll likely put up with Twitter-with-some-lippy-on too.
Anyway, I’ve got to finish this blog update and newsletter because I’ve started this paragraph with the word “Anyway” which is typically accompanied by people of my age standing up with a grunt, rubbing their hands, looking around for coats and phones, and making excuses for why it’s time to leave or for others to go. I’m sure you’ve got somewhere you need to be, something you need to read or write, and I’ve kept you long enough. We’ve had a lovely time, must do it again. Happy new year, and all that rot.