We went on a British Isles cruise on the Columbus, a ship of the now defunct Cruise and Maritime cruise line. Why did we chose such a far distant location for a holiday? Friends of ours have moved to the Isle of Skye, and are now running a B&B there, so this was a way of visiting them. We hadn't been on a Cruise and Maritime ship before, and it also went from the London Cruise Terminal at Tilbury which is closer to us than Southampton where we often go from.

We didn't find Tilbury a good start or end to the cruise. The long stay car park was hard to find, we needed the clue of look for the red double decker buses, you catch transfer buses to and from the cruise terminal itself, the terminal is cramped so you're competing with your fellow passengers, it all feels old and in need of a facelift, you're manhandling cases more than is required at Southampton.

One of the reasons I like cruising is that it gives me (or makes me) have plenty of time for reading. I greatly enjoyed reading Alternate Routes by Tim Powers, and the Wax / Wayne books by Brandon Sanderson starting with The Alloy of Law.

This was a unique cruise in that on the first day on the ship we came across people we knew or knew us! During the token muster drill we met Terry and Cath whom I knew from years ago, and some people my sister knows accosted me as we went to our first evening meal! Very pleasant!

The seas were calm, sick bags only appeared one night.