A message from our Name That Tune winner - Louise Parkinson

Well, what can I say? Where do I start? A fellow passenger described me as "awe struck", and I think that just about sums it up. It was without doubt THE most overwhelming experience I have ever had. I have totally fallen in love with the Spirit of Adventure and I am saving up to go again. The trip far exceeded my expectations and absolutely everything was totally perfect, and beyond.

The ship is far smaller than your usual cruise ship, but you know that really made the difference. It was a cosy, friendly atmosphere on board and with the same faces wandering around there was a true feeling of comaraderie and it was so easy to make friends. There were different nationalities on board and because many of the passengers were more mature, there were lots of stories to be told. I was amazed how many had been in the armed forces. It was also amazing how many people come back to the Spirit time after time. One lady was on her ninth trip, and another passenger had been on board for 100 days. It really is a way of life for some people and I can understand why. There is a real feeling of security and family on board and I think that is partly due to the size of the ship and the wonderful staff. I hate to refer to them as staff to be honest, because they really did feel a part of things, not just people providing a service. We made friends with many of the staff on board and there were tears and hugs when we disembarked on 13 December.

Scott, the Chef, was truly talented at his art and I have never had such a consistently high standard of food anywhere. The highlight for me, daft as it may sound, was the sponge pudding, which he produced without fail every lunch and dinner time. Fourteen times in all, and you know what, not one time was a recipe repeated, it was a different type of sponge every time, with lashings of lovely custard. Needless to say, I am fatter! Hey, but who cares!! I don't, it was truly worth it. Seriously, the food was faultless and along with more unusual dishes, Scott catered for those with a more traditional palate dishing up delicacies such as sausage and mash and cottage pie!

There were two restaurants on board, one was more formal with waiter service, which we saved for the formal nights, and the other was a more informal arrangement, similar to eating outside at your local pub I suppose, but obviously not, being surrounded by water! It was buffet service and to be honest, there was so much to choose from it was hard not to overload your plate. There was a barbeque available every lunchtime serving local fish and meat dishes. Just superb!

The formal nights were spectacular, but not in the least bit intimidating or pretentious. My memories of those nights was raucous laughter and posh frocks!!! They really were lovely occasions. The ladies particularly had made such an effort and it was lovely to see everyone in glamourous attire. The men were sort of half and half, some wore lounge suits and some were in black tie. By the end of the evening, the ties were off, hair was standing on end and cheeks were flushed! It was just great. The formal nights were a glittering occasion and I sat soaking up the atmosphere all night long. Caviar canapes and champagne...what more could you ask for!!!

The ship itself was immaculately clean, the cabin stewards were brilliant, I even saw one attacking a shower cubicle with a toothbrush to make sure it was spotless (I am assuming the toothbrush didn't belong to the occupant!). Jed, our cabin steward was just fantastic. If he saw us walking down the corridor to our cabin, he rushed to the door to unlock it for us before we got there. One afternoon, he saw me coming and I was determined to get there before him, so I pelted down the corridor like a six year old, laughing, but he still beat me! There was much mirth, let me tell you, and it became a standing joke after that. Every night we had a "turn down" service and a chocolate left on our pillow. The towels were changed twice a day, room service was so quick, no sooner had you put the phone down than there was a knock on the door. AND they served a "proper" cup of tea!!

Evening entertainment differed every night. It probably wouldn't appeal to young thrusting movers and groovers, but it was very cultural and very enjoyable. The Spirit quartet played each night and it was lovely to see the older passengers dancing together, the quick step and waltzing and things. I had a chat with a couple one evening who hadn't danced together in 12 years...you would never have known. I told them I wished I could dance like that. They asked me what kind of dancing I did....I said I did the shaking gyrating sort of stuff. They looked at me slightly bemused, naturally. A couple of evenings the Maestro Trio did a classical concert, which sounds "frightfully" stuffy, but it really wasn't. They played the more jolly popular classics and a selection of more sombre numbers which, I have to admit, brought a tear to my eye, so beautifully played they were. Mind you the five G&Ts didn't help! We had a visiting magician, who made me cross because I couldn't work out how he set a napkin on fire and turned it into a red rose with a 12 inch stem. There was also Stuart Gillies on board who I remember from Opportunity Knocks which used to be on the television in the 1970s. It was a forerunner to the X Factor, believe it or not. Ask anybody over 50 about the clapometer!!

The highlights of the evening entertainment had to be the visiting performers who boarded the ship at various ports of call. What amazed me about this was that Neil, the Cruise Director, who looked about 17 years old, but obviously wasn't, left the ship and scoured the local area making enquiries about any local talent who might like to perform on board! Amazing! And even more amazing was the fact that he found some!!! And even more amazing than that was the fact that each one was absolutely superb!!!! I think without doubt the most enjoyable was the group of young girls and boys from Massawa who came on board and danced for us. The audience loved it....and by the end of the night passengers were up on the floor dancing with them. I think without doubt they earned the loudest applause than any of the acts that fortnight. It was just so entertaining and colourful and really quite overwhelming. I sat there thinking "How on earth did I get here?!?".

The trips were just stunning and we experienced things that I suspect your normal tourist trail cruise ship doesn't reach. If the Spirit were a can of lager, it would be called Heineken!! The first trip was to the Valley of the Kings and Karnak Temple, both of which were breathtaking. It was a long drive through the desert, but it was hardly like being stuck on the M25, there was so much to see out of the windows, I just couldn't get enough! The organisation was superb, and somehow that feeling of being herded like sheep, just wasn't apparent. The tour guides were so friendly and it was so personal, it just felt like a family day out. All our needs were catered for from comfort stops to bottled water and Werthers Originals which were handed out regularly on the coach!! We had lunch at a hotel in Luxor, which again was superb, sailed across the Nile and had numerous photograph stops. It was amazing, but was merely a taste of things to come.

The next port of call was Suakin in the Sudan. This was quite an overwhelming trip to be honest. Unbeknown to me, and other passengers I suspect, this was the first time a tourist cruise ship had docked in port. When we looked out of the porthole window, the quayside was lined with very smartly dressed officials. Turns out, it was quite an event for the local community, and they had all rolled up, all in their best clothes, to welcome us! Added to that Al Jazeera television had arrived and, get this, the Sudanese Minister for Sport, Tourism and Culture was there to greet us. Apparently he had been waiting eight hours for us to arrive! Walking down the gang plank that morning, well, I honestly felt like Victoria Beckham!!! It was great! We all boarded small rackety mini buses and went in convoy with the Minister and a Police escort (flashing lights and everything!) to the Lost City of Suakin, which is the old port which was made entirely of coral. The streets were lined all the way with beautiful smiling faces, all waving at us and rushing out of their houses. Oh it was a fabulous atmosphere, I will never forget those faces. People in those countries may not have anything, not even expectations, but they certainly know how to smile. It was quite humbling. That evening we were told that the local people had a surprise for us. We were driven to a restaurant out in the middle of nowhere and as we left the coaches we could hear drums beating. We were taken round the back of the restaurant and I almost fainted! There were camels, tribal dancers, singers....it was a huge festival of music they had laid on for us. I cannot begin to tell you about that....it was a feast for the senses! The thing with memories is, that mainly you remember the visual things, and you quite often forget how you actually felt. Its quite sad because I don't want to forget the way I felt that day. I am clutching onto it but already the impact is waning and its really sad.

After leaving Suakin we made our way south down the Red Sea to Massawa in Eritrea. We left the ship and almost next to the gang plank was the old steam train which has been renovated and put back into service. It was a lovely old thing, and whilst I am not really a steam train kind of person, it had a personality all of its own. It may have been old and sooty, but it was a lovely old thing. A real work horse. Neil told me that there wasn't anybody locally who knew how to drive a steam train, so apparently the authorities had tracked down the original drivers and asked if they would like to take up their old posts!! They agreed! So now the steam train is back in service again, travelling along the tracks which had long since been pulled up through years of conflict and relaid recently as part of the renovation project. Again, the attention we received travelling through the desert on that lovely old train was amazing. We travelled past many villages, just little communities living in little shacks with small farm steads and not much else, not even expectations! Again, the people teemed out of their homes and ran towards the train laughing and waving at us. Amazing! The afternoon was spent wallowing on the beach and swimming in the Red Sea, which was as warm as a bath! We all sat around on beach towels, soaking up the atmosphere and chatting about life. It was lovely. That evening the Eritrean dancers came on board and rounded up what was yet another truly exceptional day.

We were unable to visit Djibouti.....which was unfortunate, but necessary sadly because of the pirate troubles in the Gulf of Aden. I had a phone call at home, shortly before we were due to leave, from the Spirit of Adventure team. We had been instructed to take a "secure corridor" through the Gulf of Aden which was patrolled by warships from various nations to protect shipping through the dangerous areas which were susceptible to pirate attacks. It seems that these attacks are happening all the time, but are not necessarily reported on national television, so common are they. By taking the secure corridor it meant that to visit Djibouti we had to leave the corridor for a period of time and it was considered too risky, which was fair enough. Disappointing, but it was in everyone's best interests. So......with pirates afoot, the Captain delivered contingency plans in the event of an attack. The most "dangerous" times were the night of the 7 and day of the 8 December. It was brilliantly exciting! Many of the staff stayed awake all night on look out. The deck lights were switched off and the restaurant doors were barracaded!!! We were told if an attack took place, we were to make our way to the Scirroco lounge where the doors would be secured from the inside! It was just great!!!! I took my teddy with me (I always do) and I propped him up against the cabin porthole window on "look out". We all went to bed that night high on adrenaline..... Nothing happened! The next day, it was business as usual..and I couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed that we didn't see a pirate, but its probably as well.

We sailed on to Salalah in Oman, which is a beautiful place, and so clean and tidy.....I was amazed to see a Hilton hotel on the beach, a reminder of a life I had more or less forgotten about! We were taken to Manreef caves which is a local beauty spot, and if there is a heaven, I hope it looks like that. The sea was crystal clear and from the jetty brightly coloured tropical fish were tickling around beneath our feet. The sky was an azure blue, the sand was white and as soft as flour and the sea just went on and on and on. The backdrop of rocks just made the whole scene truly awesome. I would have liked to have spent much longer there, but it was a busy itinerary and very soon we were back on the buses and taken to the Tomb of Job up in the mountains. This was probably quite a touristy excursion and whilst it was very enjoyable, it wasn't particularly breathtaking. Following this we went to see the Sultan of Oman's palace. You wonder how one man lives in such a huge home!? It was lovely, the architecture was stunning with mosaic minarets on pillars and it was so neat and clean, almost too perfect to be true! Following this, we went to the souk where we bought frankinscence and a little silver camel for my daughter. It was essentially a market, but it was full of local products and it was a feast for the eyes. I thought there may be an element of "pesterence" from the vendors, but they were very polite and didn't place any pressure on people to buy, which was nice.

By this time, I was realising the trip was coming to an end. After boarding the ship, we had the three day sail over to Mumbai, and my mood was a little more subdued. We spent the next three days lapping up the sunshine, eating fruit kebabs on deck, enjoying the food and the company, wandering around the ship, soaking up as much of it as we could before our arrival in Mumbai. Time can be cruel, and it seemed only ten minutes since we boarded back in Salalah before we were waking up in port at Mumbai. We had just a few hours left on board before it was all over. Mumbai harbour was beautiful and as it was early morning there was a sea mist settled over the view from the deck which gave it a misty almost spooky look, with the grey silhouettes of ghostlike ships scattered around. The sun was an orange ball in the sky and it was an amazing sight. We waited for our call to disembark to board the bus for the airport. I was fine at that point, but walking through the restaurant for the last time, all the events of the last two weeks flashed through my mind, and I have to admit, I burst into tears! I sombrely walked over to the bus, turning my head to look at that fantastic ship for the last time...boarded the bus and sulked for the next ten hours.

I am sorry this email is so very long, I just can't stop talking about it!!! One day I will come back down to earth, but for now I am reliving every minute over and over again. I don't want to forget a thing. It was without doubt the most overwhelming experience of my life. I'm just an average person, living an average life, but I feel as though I have had the richest experience I will ever have. I honestly don't know who to thank....it was a catalogue of events I could not have foreseen which took me on board that ship. I don't know why I won that competition, but I am a better person for it and had I paid the £8000 it would have cost to go on that trip, it would, without doubt, have been worth every single penny.

I hope I haven't bored you to death......and I hope you have had a glimpse of the adventure I have had and I would urge anyone to take a trip on the Spirit.....medicine for the soul is the only way I can describe it.

Thank you for all of this....I won't ever forget it. My hearfelt thanks again to everyone involved.

With very best wishes to everyone at the 247 media group for the New Year.

Louise