Riding the Carousel on the Atlantic

2 March 2004. We fly from Manchester to Santa Cruz, on Tenerife to join the cruise ship MS Carousel.

Having been up all night we weren't totally with it at this stage... Which is why this photo of the ship was taken later in the week. Sharp eyed readers may have recognised that the photo was taken in Agadir, Morocco, rather than Tenerife!

So here starts the story of our first cruise, taken to celebrate my 50th birthday. The Carousel was the smallest of the cruise ships we have subsequently travelled on and therefore was the one on which we felt most seasick... Fran missed her food on the first night through not feeling well. Others ate theirs and then I spent the rest of the evening trying to ensure they missed me...

Our cabin was low down - if this had been Titannic then we were behind that locked grill door...! We were on B Deck - the lowest row of portholes seen on the ship in the photo above.

Open air was reached by the time you climbed to Deck 7, which was where the pool was. So quite a small ship. But to us at the time, being our first experience of cruising, it was large and exciting and we couldn't wait to get going!

One of our favourite spots on the pool deck with a sea view yet sheltered from the wind. Great for reading and spotting the sea life.

"Seals!" yelled the excited announcer on the mic during our full day at sea. "Seals down the starboard side!" Everyone dashed over to have a look but couldn't find anything. "Can you not see them?" he asked... "Round every window! Window seals!"

We did spot dolphins a few times on this cruise though, with one excellent sighting being two large pods of 30 or more dolphins swimming alongside the ship, one near, one a hundred yards away, leaping out of the water in graceful curves as they kept pace with the ship for a while.

Hold tight for further entries - we are to visit Morocco, Madeira, La Palma and Gran Canaria. Neither Sun Cruises nor the MS Carousel are still operating.

Return to Atlantic Islands Cruise 2004 Index