Sat 10th January - 6.15am -
Arrive Manchester airport, terminal 3, small queue for check in, due to depart 10.15am, board plane 9.30am, all going well, or so we think, nicely settled on plane to be told there will be a delay, due to a technical fault! Another 2+ hours later all is resolved and we finally take off for Montego Bay, takes longer as there is a headwind.

Finally land in Montego Bay and its dark!! So see very little. At last we are on board Artemis at 6pm. We try very hard not to compare ships, but first impression was, oh my gawd she’s like a dolls house, so small and dated (last cruise was on Ventura!!)

Never mind we are going to enjoy this holiday!! Make our way to cabin, unpack, freshen up and its time for dinner, which was an open sitting, but we were oh so tired, so retired early.

Sunday 11th January - At Sea

We have a force 8 gale and Artemis is rolling around, very quiet on board, think lots are feeling under the weather and are in there cabins. Breakfast in the conservatory, try to be good but cannot resist a full English. Then we explore Artemis. Afternoon attend cooking demo with Andy Yuill, executive chef, a scots man with a good sense of humour.

Formal night, so glad rags on and off to 2nd sitting dinner in the coral restaurant and to meet our table companions (table for 6) who turned out to be great dinner companions, Stuart had Lobster thermoform and I had rack of lamb, no complaints, food was good. Next we all went to the International lounge for so no elaborate stage sets.

Monday 12th January - Cartagena
Arrange a to share a taxi with a couple from our table, duly negotiated a price and off we went for 4 hours, visited the fort and old part of the city, Taxi was a little decrapied, air con was wind the windows down and they didn’t seem to bother with seat belts, on the way back to the ship, taxi driver reversed back up the dual carriage way, so our friend could get a better photo of the city walls, a scary experience!!
Entertainment was comedian Les Bryan.
Night cap in the Horizons Bar.

Tuesday 13th January - Colon
Were advised not to go it alone here, but didn’t fancy any of the organised trips, so had a leisurely breakfast then went over to port area, usual market type stalls, but were not hassled, sat and had a couple of beers, great price one and a half dollars a bottle, then went back on ship for lunch, seems most had gone on tours so we took full advantage of the ship being quiet and had a swim, then sat in Jacuzzi for awhile (although only 2 of the jets were working).

Tropical night - bright shirt for Stuart and colourful dress for me, theatre was at 7.15pm for second sitting dining, Headliners did F’Abba’ulous, which was very good, obviously all Abba songs. Then off to coral restaurant for dinner. After dinner our table all goes up top to the Crystal pool for a Topical Party, finally retired at 1.30am

Wednesday 14th January - Limon
A tour booked this afternoon, so just have a walk around the port area in the morning.
Did the Tortuguero Canals trip, guide and coach driver were very good, were excellent at spotting howler monkeys, stopped every so often and the coach driver would jump out with his knife and come back with various fruits, flowers and even a cocoa plant.

First visited Del Monte Banana plantation where the workers were paid a dollar an hour and they worked so fast! Then on to the Tortuguero Canals, which were great, saw sloth’s, white herons, blue herons, iguanas and even a tiny red frog (the one they use the poison for darts) was incredibly hot and humid, were given fresh melon, pineapple and beer before going back to ship.
Entertainment today was Julie A Scott (vocalist) and Steve Stevens (an incredibly funny guy, who also had a good vocal voice and played the trumpet.

Thursday 15th January - Panama Canal Transit

Well this is what we’d all come for, up at 5.30am, we approached the first of the Panama locks, the Gatun locks at 6.15 am and entered the first chamber at 7am, exited the third chamber at 8.20am and entered the man made Gatun lake. It was much larger than we’d imagined, after the transit though Gatun lake we approached Pedro Miguel lock at 1pm, this is just one chamber and took 20 minutes to go through. After a short passage on the Lago de Miraflores we entered Miraflores locks at 3.10pm and at 3.45pm Artemis cleared the last chamber. We passed under the bridge of Americas at 4.15pm as we made our way out to the Pacific Ocean. There was a running commentary from the bridge, which was very informative, it cost 187000.00 for Artemis to transit the Canal!!!

Friday 16th January - At Sea
Another lazy day, have found a very quiet area at the aft of the ship, nice comfy loungers and a good book. After lunch went to the festival theatre where guest speaker gave a talk on what happens to your luggage at Heathrow, quite scary really! Formal night tonight, so all suited and booted and pre dinner drinks in Tiffanys, another good meal and lots of laughter from our table, then all off to the International lounge for tonight’s show, Louis Hoover and his ‘Salute to Sinatra’.

Saturday 17th January - Puntarenas
Early breakfast today in the conservatory as we are off on a full day tour - Tropical Skywalk and Pura Vida, set off via mini bus for Pura Vida (Tropical Gardens) very informative guide, stop en route to see crocodiles (loads of them), carry on up and up on very rough roads and finally reach Pura vida, a lovely place, great flora and a bird watchers paradise, saw toucans and parrots and lots of birds. Lunch was at Pura Vida ( chicken, salad, rice and fruit punch). After lunch we set off for the forest surrounding the Carara National Park, wonderful scenery as we walked over 3 suspended cable bridges over the canopy of the forest, Each bridge stretched between 270 and 330 feet and up to 126 feet high, hey felt I was on Celebrity Get me out of here!!

Then quite a trek downwards through the forest, very rough walking in parts. Greeted at the bottom by our minibus and taken for local beers and fresh fruit before departing back to ship. Another good dinner tonight, lots of chat about what we’d all done that day, after dinner all went to Starlights for Artemis Millionaire, was great fun.

Sunday 18th January - San Juan del Sur
This was a tender port, we’d decided to go it alone today, had a nice port area and beach, walked all round the bay, then settled on the beach with a beer. Late lunch then chilled out round the crystal pool, before getting ready for dinner, retired early tonight, gave the shows a miss. On returning to our cabin we had an invite for tomorrow to visit the bridge at 2pm, what can I say Stuart was well made up, the engineer in him had been wanting to look for ages.

Monday 19th January At Sea
Morning, usual stuff, breakfast, chill out, although did go to Horizons Lounge for Battle of the sexes quiz, which didn’t happen as no one else turned up!!. 2pm our visit to bridge, met in the photo gallery, 20 couples had been invited (15 turned up) escorted by security up to the bridge and were met by Simon Hughes (senior first officer) who gave an interesting and humorous talk, explaining all the equipment, were up on the bridge for about one and half hours, then of course the obligatory photo shots were taken.

Tonight was Black & White formal, so tonight I can wear my new dress, so excited as I think its amazing (a black 1920’s flapper dress). Another great dinner and much talk and interest from our dinner companions about our Bridge tour. Show tonight was vocalist Julie A Scott.

Tuesday 20th January - Huatulco
Huatulco is a custom made tourist port, nice beach and port area, although hassled if you dare look at anything. We had a good walk round and then sat in a beach bar and watched Artemis going through its twice yearly crew drill. Drinks were quite expensive here 8 dollars for a coke and a beer.

After lunch decided to go back onboard and have a siesta, before joining in the Great British Sailaway Party around the Riviera Pool. Tonight was 60’s/70’s night, so the Headliners show was at 7.15pm for 2nd sitting dinners, another good show by them, after dinner it was all up to the crystal pool for the 60’s/70’s party, great fun and another late night

Wednesday 21st January - At Sea
Another hot day, so far we have had no rain, tried our hand at Deck Quoits this morning and spent most of the time gazing overboard at the sea, saw lots of turtles, dolphins and Stuart saw a very large ray. After lunch Stuart went to the Festival Theatre to hear guest speaker Colin Hobbs talk on the triumph and tragedy of Concorde, I went to Chocoholics buffet, just looking piled the inches on. Last formal night tonight, oh I do love dressing up!!!

Thursday 22nd January - Zihuatenejo
This was a tender port, and oh what a nice port, had a late breakfast and tendered off after the tour parties had gone, such a pretty place and nice people, no hassling, lots and lots of pelicans in the water and sat on fishing boats, had a good walk round and the usual beer before going back to Artemis. Another good evening on board. Cabaret tonight was Steve Stevens and Louis Hoover.

Friday 22nd January - Acapulco
Breakfast early, then watched Oriana berthing at our stern. The cruise terminal is opposite the old fort, so disembarked and walked over to the fort, entrance fee was 7 dollars each, great views of Acapulco. On leaving the fort we negotiated a taxi to take us to see the cliff divers, 20 dollars for 3 hours, great taxi driver, took us to Hotel Mirador, jumped all the queues, then he found us a table where we would have a great view of the divers, cost 27 dollars for both of us to go in the hotel (included 2 drinks and a snack), the divers are an amazing sight, a must do in Acapulco. Taxi driver then took us on a tour of the old city, before returning to ship. Oriana left at 6pm on her way to San Francisco. Last night tonight, so had to pack. Another good meal tonight, were presented with holidays menus from the waiters, our dinner companions had not cruised before so were really pleased at these little touches. After dinner we all went to Starlights and did the syndicate quiz, (came third). Artemis had to leave her berth at 11pm (due to waste water restrictions in Acapulco) so we went out to sea.

Saturday 24th January
Berthed back in Acapulco at 6.30am, disembarkation day, we were on a late flight so not due to disembark until 5pm. We were able to leave our hand luggage in the international lounge, so we spent the morning in Acapulco taking in the sights, Acapulco is all that we’d imagined, a very large vibrant city. Had late lunch and then changed into our travelling attire, waiting to disembark, already people onboard for the next cruise, who had flown in early from Gatwick. So as with coming out at Montego Bay we are yet again delayed, we finally leave Artemis a 8pm and fly at midnight, apparently there was a problem with the crew being out of hours, We had a 3 hour flight to Miami, where we were on the ground 2 hours (changing crew) before heading back to Manchester.


Well it was a great cruise, was not sure about Artemis initially, she is rather tired, would we go on her again?, well we have one booked in October already, she doesn’t have the opulence of the larger ships, but she makes up for it other ways, I didn’t have a 15 minute hike back to the cabin if I’d forgotten something and the crew seem to really enjoy working on her, we met lots of ,
fellow passengers and had some great conversations, a very friendly ship.


Bev