Spirit of Discovery blog

Well ahoy there blog readers, Captain Tanner back at the helm here aboard Spirit of Discovery as we set sail for our Canaries Christmas Cracker Cruise.

The weather saw our departure from port delayed slightly, but early on the morning of the 19th December we left Southampton behind and made good tracks south.

The first few days at sea allowed all to settle into this 3 week cruise, before festive fun commenced in abundance as we arrived into the island of Madeira on the 23rd December. For a start, I despatched our local agents to procure some locally grown Christmas trees – one to be tethered to the ship’s main mast, and one propped up on the ship’s bow – in keeping with tradition.

The ship’s interior already looked fantastically festive; Saga having provided several tons of decorations earlier in the month. A giant gingerbread village had been built by our food teams in the Living Room, whilst the waiters had erected an enormous nativity scene in the Grand Dining Room.

There was even a model train running around the base of the Christmas tree at the foot of the Grand Stairwell; however due to industrial action at home, it never really maintained a reliable schedule…

Our day in Madeira passed in glorious sunshine and warm airs, after which we took off to Gran Canaria where we would spend Christmas eve overnight, before heading to Tenerife on Christmas morning (apparently Santa found it easier to land on the former island, explaining our decision to remain there for Christmas Eve night). 

Another sunny day passed in Gran Canaria, with temperatures reaching the mid 20’s making the rain & wind at home seem a very long way away indeed. The warmth outside however did little to deter a fair amount of guests from wearing their traditional comical Christmas jumpers & festive outfits on board…

Early on Christmas Eve, just before sunset, I summoned all available crew to don their Santa hats and pose for a photograph on the ship’s bow, next to the aforementioned precariously placed tree. A copy would be given to each one of them as a little memento.

Christmas morning came around, and once everyone had checked their stockings, it was time to sail to Tenerife in the early hours in order to arrive there by lunchtime…

Kind Regards
Captain Kim Tanner