CRUISE & MARITIME FESTIVE CRUISE

In December 2019, I spent a very enjoyable 4 nights on board the CMV ship Magellan on one of her Festive Markets Cruises.

Unfortunately, due to adverse weather and sea conditions, the itinerary had to be changed which meant that we were unable to visit Bruges.

However, we spent a relaxing day at Sea where we experienced many of the activities available on board the ship, including a visit to The Spa.

That evening we sailed up The Seine to Rouen, docking in the early morning. Although it would have been good to have seen the river in daylight, because of the time of year, it looked very pretty in the dark with all the Christmas lights twinkling.

The following morning we walked into the city to explore the small but very festive Christmas Market before taking a guided walking tour in the afternoon of Historic Rouen. We explored the narrow streets with their half- timbered medieval houses and saw the spot where Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake for heresy. We visited the modern Church of St Joan of Arc, completed in 1979 and also the beautiful Cathedral of Rouen erected between the 12^th and 16^th Century.

Our last day was spent in the very pretty coastal city of Honfleur, somewhere I have visited a number of times before. We were very lucky with the weather and spent a few hours wandering the narrow cobbled streets and browsing in the many shops before enjoying a very pleasant lunch in the warm December sunshine in one of the bars surrounding the gorgeous inner harbour.

Actually docking in Honfleur, rather than in Le Havre which is where most ships usually dock, meant that we could stroll back to the ship instead of having to catch a shuttle.

We sailed home overnight, arriving back into Tilbury early in the morning. CMV provide a shuttle service between London Victoria Coach Station and the port which makes getting to and from the ship convenient for people travelling from all over the country.

All in all it was a very enjoyable way to spend a few days at this cold, dark time of the year and also an opportunity to do some last minute Christmas shopping.