Our first cruise of 2023 was a week aboard P&O Cruises ship Azura, a ship familiar to us specifically because we’d cruised on her twice before in Europe, and more generally since she’s a Grand-class vessel which is still our favourite class of cruise ship there is. We chose this cruise because the price was good, the dates worked well for us (they included the Easter bank holiday weekend which saved a couple of days of annual leave), we knew the ship and type of service we could expect reasonably well, and, very importantly, every port would be a new one.
With P&O, if the cruise sails outside the UK then the flight is included as part of the package. This cruise would be in the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas for the week we were aboard so we waited for flight details confirmation. And waited. Waited a little bit more. Then got tired of waiting and emailed P&O to see if they were ever going to tell us any details about how we were supposed to get to Malta.
Thus it was that with a little over seven weeks until the cruise we finally learned that we’d be flying out of Gatwick (which we knew) and that we’d be on the six o’clock in the morning flight. Which was bad. And good.
The bad part about an early flight like that is that, for us, and for some peace of mind, we had to not only factor in a hotel stay for the night before, but arrange it at fairly short notice for an airport. If we’d had an afternoon flight then we’d have likely driven up early in the morning, still with plenty of time for check-in and allowance for all those what-ifs (car breaks down, traffic jam, zombie apocalypse). The early morning flight, though, meant a hotel stay with likely moving the car to the parking area the morning of the flight and shuttle bus to the airport, with an overlapping set of different what-ifs (none of our alarms going off, car breaks down (but now close enough to just abandon it and walk), zombie apocalypse).
The good part about an early flight for a short hop just to the Mediterranean from London is that the opportunity to explore at the destination ahead of departure becomes a possibility. And it would.
We actually ended up booking at the Hampton by Hilton hotel attached to Gatwick airport so that meant parking the night before instead of in the early hours. That removed one aspect of worry but still left the horrible situation of trying to park at Gatwick. Something about Gatwick airport’s parking you might not know is that it’s close to the airport – which is good – but so that it doesn’t distract pilots the lighting is very, very low. And if the sun’s not up that makes for stress all of its own. It took us so long to find the bus stop after we’d actually found a parking spot.
Top airport parking tip: take photos of wherever you end up parking because it might all look different when you return.
So, we made it to the hotel. Eventually. Finding the entrance to the hotel from the airport shuttle bus drop-off point was a mini-saga in itself.
We’d bathed and eaten before we’d headed towards London because we knew we’d need a pretty early night given when we’d need to set the alarm for in the morning, and we didn’t want to use the shower at the hotel because that would mean taking dirty clothes with us on holiday. What kind of headcase does that?
The hotel room was large, spacious, clean, perfectly adequate. It was also under two minutes’ walk from the check-in desks in the airport. In that respect: ideal. There will be people out there who want to see photos of the hotel bedroom and bathroom for some reason, and it’s not like I didn’t take photos for just those people so here they are.
The hotel bar was clean and bright with some separated areas and options to eat if required. Perhaps the decor was a little too sterile for my tastes but it’s a hotel bar. That’s what hotel bars are like. We had a few drinks, nonetheless.
It goes without saying that we had a terrible night’s sleep because until we actually get through security at the airport we just can’t seem to relax at all. I’m sure we’re not alone in that.
However, once the luggage was checked in and we were through security we made straight for the pub to have breakfast and a pre-flight drink. These are traditions and we follow them. Even though the pub in the airport is a Wetherspoon. It’s the only time we set foot in this chain of establishments and we only do it because we consider airports international territory celebrating connections to the wider world and therefore not bound by the right wing, Little England, xenophobic mentality to which the pubs, their obnoxious owner, and their clientele are otherwise associated.
The food was satisfactory but the drinks were very nice indeed. You have to take a photo in an airport bar and post it on social media because social media is all about making other people jealous.
In the next post in this cruise travelogue series we’ll cover a couple of hours on the cruise ship in Valletta before we make the most of that early flight to Malta with a walk around the country’s capital ahead of our departure in the evening.