Being on my own, I have taken to going on a Christmas cruise. The only problem is that single accommodation goes very quickly and isn’t cheap. I booked this year’s trip before going away last year, and I have already got next year’s booked! I carefully checked the many cruise brochures to find a cruise that would cover both Christmas and New Year and eventually settled on the same ship I was on last Christmas and New Year: P&O MV Arvia. The holiday I selected commenced on the morning of 20th December 2024 and returned me to the UK on 4th January 2025 at about 05:20 after an overnight flight.
This Christmas, I am flying from Gatwick on a TUI flight chartered by P&O. When I booked, the aircraft hadn’t yet been chartered, but P&O promised that one of the charter airlines, Maleth, which they used last season and which created numerous complaints, would not be used this season. I was lucky and flew with TUI last year, and the flights both ways were decent. Some time before the winter season started in the middle of November, P&O announced that this year they would be chartering aircraft from TUI, Norse Atlantic, and Virgin. The charter flights were to operate on Fridays and Saturdays, with TUI and Norse operating the Friday flights, while Virgin operated one on a Saturday from Heathrow. I would rather have liked to try Virgin, who are using an Airbus A330 in three classes, but when booking, I had opted to fly on the Friday, so I knew there was no chance of that.

G-VINE Virgin A330,
RussellHarryLee – Licence CC BY-SA 2.0
The MV Arvia is a big ship and can accommodate 5,200 passengers. To fly that number of people to Bridgetown, Barbados, takes a lot of planes. TUI use the Boeing 787-9, which carries about 350 passengers per plane, meaning about 15 planes are required to fill the ship. Consequently, P&O fly passengers out on both Friday and Saturday, with the ship overnighting in Barbados. However, even eight widebody planes a day extra for Bridgetown Airport is a bit much, so P&O appear to only fly in six planes each Friday and Saturday.
To make up the numbers, P&O has also introduced a similar arrangement at Antigua, with the ship also overnighting there the following weekend. However, in this case, it is only a couple of flights each Saturday and Sunday.

MS Arvia leaving Marseilles,
Gerard – Licence CC BY-SA 4.0
Of course, that means that P&O can now offer two-week cruises from Barbados to Barbados, two-week cruises from Antigua to Antigua, one-week cruises from Barbados to Antigua, and one-week cruises from Antigua to Barbados. As P&O also station a second ship, MV Britannia, in the Caribbean for the winter season, the charter flights are busy every Friday and Saturday, with Arvia and Britannia operating out of Barbados on alternate weekends. The six flights on a Friday are usually two from Gatwick, two from Manchester, one from Birmingham, and a sixth from somewhere else, such as Glasgow, Newcastle, or even Bournemouth.
Personally, I prefer to fly out on the Friday. The plane is usually scheduled to land mid-afternoon, and P&O have a fleet of coaches waiting at the bottom of the aircraft steps, ready to take you directly to the port and their ship’s check-in, located in a converted banana warehouse on the dockside. The beauty of this trip is that the coach bypasses the airport building, so you don’t have to collect your checked luggage. It is taken, in bond, straight to the ship. After checking it in at Gatwick, the next time you see it is when it turns up outside your cabin door. I usually have time to unpack before it’s time for dinner. I can then have an early night if I’m knackered from travelling, go for a drink or two, or see a show. On the Saturday, I can take an excursion, wander into town, spend the day on the beach, or even laze by one of the ship’s pools before it sails in the early evening.
One odd thing that has happened in the last couple of years is that P&O no longer issue airline tickets for TUI charter flights. Instead, you print out a boarding pass for the ship and luggage labels for your hold baggage, which tell the porters which cabin to deliver it to. But there is no airline ticket. Instead, you present your passport at the airport check-in desk, and the computer says ‘Yes’ and prints out a boarding pass for the plane with your seat number.
Another recent development is paying to reserve a particular seat. This seems to have originated with the likes of Ryanair and EasyJet. TUI have jumped on the bandwagon and this year are charging £45 each way for a pre-reserved seat. Of course, you don’t have to pay and can take a chance on being allocated a seat at check-in. However, if you don’t want to sit in the middle seat of three or four, or if you want to sit with your family, you’ll need to pay up.
Going away nearly a week before Christmas means I must advance all my preparations. Gifts must be bought early, cards written early, and parcels wrapped and sent or delivered. When I hand-delivered the Christmas cards to the neighbours, I deliberately waited until I saw the Little Girl Next Door’s mummy go to collect her from school, so the cards were on the mat when they got home. I saw them return, and about 30 seconds later, my doorbell rang. The LGND stood there with an ear-to-ear grin and said, “I have come to say thank you for my card.” Her mummy told me that when she saw the card on the mat, she ripped hers open, read it, and said, “I must say thank you,” and was off.
A little aside: the LGND’s house doesn’t have either a bell or a knocker on the front door, and I’ve got fed up with rapping on the glass. So, I decided that the ideal present for her mummy and daddy would be a bell push and chimes. I found a nice set that comes with a bell push, which can be stuck on the door with the supplied double-sided tape, and two wireless ringers (one for downstairs and one for upstairs) with 25 different chimes to choose from. The LGND loves mine because it is set to play ‘Westminster Chimes’. It was a good thing I checked—the bell push includes a battery, but the ringers do not. So, that made another little package: a pack of AA batteries!
There is one tiny potential hitch in the present plan. When the LGND came to say thank you for her card, the flashing light on the ringer came on to tell me it was time for new batteries. Of course, the LGND wanted to know what was happening, so I had to explain how it worked. Her mummy said, “That is just what we need.” I hope she hasn’t gone out and bought one, as the present was upstairs, waiting to be wrapped.
The big event on the Monday before travelling is a haircut. The barber had recently instituted a booking system, so I made a 10 a.m. appointment and even got an automated email reminder. That was much better than the last time I had a haircut, when, despite sending me a confirmation of the booking on the day I made it, the system lost it. This time, he was waiting for me when I arrived five minutes early. The system can’t be working too well, as there was a board out front saying, “Walk-up appointments available today.”
On Tuesday, before I travel, my suitcase finally starts getting packed. For this, I have a packing list that has changed over the years. Items go out of fashion and are replaced by others. Paperbacks have gone and been replaced by my Kindle. A digital camera was replaced by my iPhone, and a blazer was simply abandoned. There was a time, not so long ago, when ‘gentlemen’ wore a jacket and tie on non-formal nights.
Apart from the essentials like my wash bag, suntan cream, and hat, I pack loads of socks and pants (all new) and plenty of shirts (mostly Caribbean style). I also include my dress suit, dress shirts, and, of course, bow ties. There are only two formal nights on this cruise—Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve—so I only need two bow ties, but it’s easier to just throw my plastic bag full of them into the case!
I’ve added one new item to this year’s packing list: a water bottle, so I don’t have to buy bottled water to take out on trips. The ship has several water points around the deck that dispense chilled water. So, I now have a metal thermal one-litre bottle that is supposed to keep cold drinks cold for 24 hours and hot drinks hot for 12 hours. I’m looking forward to testing it on my first excursion. I doubt I’ll be testing its hot capabilities, but I do wonder how well it will work with a fill of iced Pepsi Max.

© WorthingGooner 2025, Going Postal
On Tuesday evening, I had arranged to go out to eat at the local Toby Carvery with an old friend, who I must admit is rather scatty. The table was booked for 7 o’clock, and we arranged, by text message, that I would drive and pick her up at her flat at 18:45. She told me she would meet me in the foyer of the block of flats, and I arrived a couple of minutes early. At exactly 18:45, she appeared in the foyer with her grown-up daughter and was surprised to see me. Despite having the date and time in writing, she had put the wrong date in her diary and was planning to go shopping in Sainsbury’s!
Anyway, we still managed to go and eat. The roast beef was wonderful, and I met her daughter’s mini dachshund, Rollo.
Wednesday is my cleaner’s day, so I closed the door on the bedroom where my suitcase is on the bed and 90% packed. I still have a few bits to add, the main ones being my Caribbean shirts, which need to be folded carefully. I don’t want them to get too creased in the case. I have nothing much planned for Thursday, so that can be shirt-folding day.
On Thursday, I finished my packing, locked my case, and lugged it downstairs. I’ll put it in the car boot later, so I’m not faffing about with it at 05:30 tomorrow morning. The Little Girl Next Door and her daddy came in to see me when she returned home from school. She brought me two presents—one from her and one from her mummy and daddy. I mentioned that I’d locked my case, and she was a little disappointed as she said her present was for my cruise. I reassured her by putting it in my hand luggage. She then handed me two Christmas cards: one from her mummy and daddy and one from her.
I reached for my paper knife to slit the envelope open, and she wanted to know what I was doing—she had never seen a paper knife. This one is a tiny sword. I suppose paper knives aren’t common these days. I must have had this one for over 60 years; it was a present from someone who visited Toledo in Spain all that time ago.

© WorthingGooner 2025, Going Postal
As the LGND was going out of the door, she suddenly turned round and gave me a huge hug and said she would miss me which was very sweet of her.
I have set my alarm for 05:00, it will give me time to shower, shave and have a bowl of cereal before heading to the airport. I intend to have an early night.
Coming next – Part 1 of my trip
© WorthingGooner 2025