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The twins were awake early and came bouncing into their parents’ suite just as the sun was coming up in a big red ball on the horizon. Willie pulled back the curtains and said, “Mummy, Daddy, look at that sunrise, it’s beautiful, why don’t we get them like that at home?” Paolo scratched his head and Jinnie answered, “It’s because we can’t see the horizon to the east, Uncle Nigel’s house is in the way. You won’t remember them from when you were tiny, before his house was built. When we are at sea there is nothing in the way, so when it is a beautiful clear morning like today, you get to see a lovely sunrise.” “We took photos on our phones,” said Millie, “we can show them to our class at home.” “That’s a good idea,” replied Jinnie, “now why don’t you two go and get washed and dressed, then you can watch cartoons. I’m sure Izzy will be surprised when she arrives.”
The twins disappeared through the interconnecting door and Jinnie said, “I hope they don’t wake up this early every day, it’s only half past six, is it too early for coffee?” Paolo replied, “It’s never too early for coffee, but it is too early to get out of bed, I’m just going to lie here for a bit and watch that sun come up, the kids are right, it is spectacular this morning.” An innovation this cruise was that the suites had all been equipped with coffee pod machines, which Jinnie considered a vast improvement on the sachets of instant, even if it was upmarket instant. Before disappearing into the bathroom, she slipped a pod into the machine and started it going.
On coming out of the bathroom Paolo was out of bed and sitting on the balcony wearing a ship’s robe and sipping a mug of coffee. Jinnie said, “I thought you were staying in bed.” “The coffee smelt so good I had to get up,” replied Paolo. “So, where’s mine?” asked Jinnie. “Still in the machine,” came the reply.
After breakfast the twins were itching to get in the pool but had to wait for an adult to go with them. In the end it was Izzy and George who went in the pool with them and were soon splashing and having fun. Jinnie said, “Those two really love George and I think he loves them. Look how they are all laughing. I think I might join them.”
***
Jinnie was about to suggest trying something new for lunch when she remembered it was a formal night. As she wanted to try the Quays and it served a bigger meal, she decided to leave it for another day. The kids would be quite content with pizza, a burger or a hot dog, and if the adults wanted something different, they could go to the main dining room or the buffet, even the 6th Street Diner, there were loads of places to eat on this ship.
George and Izzy ate the P&O curry of the day in the buffet, while Jinnie supervised the twins, who for a change had chicken burgers. With his mouth full, Willie said, “This chicken is really good. We will be having it again.” Granny laughed and said, “But they had it on Britannia and you never tried it.” Millie answered, saying, “We didn’t know it was this good.”
With the twins at the club everyone else had a peaceful afternoon in the Caribbean sunshine, with a couple of drinks and a few dips. Jinnie sat on the edge of the pool chatting to George, saying, “Last time I spoke with the Queen she said she sometimes wished she could be a private citizen again and go on a Caribbean cruise.” George replied, “Now I know what she meant when she said she wanted a full report when I was next on duty. But the word is the government is going to build a royal yacht. Obviously it won’t be anything like this, I expect it would be more like one the owner of a football team has.” “Gosh, it must be lovely having your own yacht,” said Jinnie, “going wherever you want, staying as long as you fancy, having a private chef making all your favourite food.”
“But on the other hand, it would cost a fortune to buy,” said George, “then you need to have all those staff, and I bet it costs a fortune to fill up with fuel. I would have to win the lottery and then some to even buy a motorboat on the Norfolk Broads. I went there once with a couple of mates years ago. It was fun, we moored at loads of pubs.” “I don’t think that’s the kind of thing the Queen wants a report on,” replied Jinnie, “I suspect she’ll want to know where you went, what the ship was like and how good the food was.”
A little later Jinnie was reading her Kindle when her phone rang. Before answering, Jinnie checked the screen for the caller, and it said ‘Jorja’. Jinnie said, “Hi Jorja, is everything OK?” “Yes,” said Jorja, “I just wanted to update you on the oil rig contract. We are signing tomorrow, and the contract should go active in mid-February. It gives us time to recruit and get them safety trained. They are very fussy about safety. I have been talking to the oil company’s American parent, and they say they have added us to their approved contractor list. They have rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea.”
“Now that is interesting,” said Jinnie. “Do you know when they might be looking for a bid?” “Apparently they are going out to tender on a block of rigs in the Gulf in about six months, as the contracts have about a year to run,” replied Jorja. “We’d better not mess up this one then,” replied Jinnie.
***
Mug of coffee in hand, Jinnie watched from the suite’s balcony as the ship eased into Oranjestad, the main town on Aruba. It was a beautiful morning; just after 07:00 the TV already said it was 27°, and the sun was glinting off the water. When booking excursions back in Hadley, the twins had chosen today’s excursion, and it was departing quite early, so Jinnie went back into the cabin to go through the interconnecting door to get them up. But there was no need, as they were up and dressed, and with Izzy’s help getting their snorkelling gear ready for today’s excursion.
Izzy was putting flippers, snorkels and face masks in the twins’ backpacks, and when Willie spotted his mother standing in the doorway watching, he said, “We are very nearly ready, Mummy. We don’t want to be late for breakfast because that would make us late for the excursion.” Jinnie smiled and said, “Come on then, let’s go and see if Aunty Penny and Uncle Dan have made it to breakfast yet.”
They bumped into Penny and Dan at the lift, and so they all entered the Epicurean for breakfast together. The trans manager said, “Good morning, everyone,” as he showed them to their usual table. “Will you be waiting for Mr and Mrs Walsh before starting?” asked one of the waiters as he handed around the menus, which everyone ignored as they knew them off by heart. “Not this morning. We are on an early excursion, and they are just going to the beach,” replied Jinnie. “I wonder if you could expedite our service this morning, please, the twins are anxious not to miss this trip.” “Of course, madam,” replied the waiter.
“Gosh, they whizzed us through breakfast this morning,” said Paolo as they stood waiting for the lift. “Yes, that was amazing,” replied Jinnie. “We have loads of time before we have to meet for the trip. No excuses not to clean your teeth, kids.”
***
Twenty minutes later the family, less Granny and Grandad, were on the dockside in the queue for their excursion, with queues for other excursions all around them. The twins wanted to get on with things and were grumbling until one of the girls from excursions came around with the wristbands. The twins wanted to know where the catamaran they were going on was, as there wasn’t one to be seen. The girl told them the catamaran left from the jetty at a nearby hotel, which made the twins moan a bit more at the idea of walking to a hotel.
The courier led the group through the duty-free building into the car park, where, much to the twins’ delight, a tourist land train was waiting for them. The train set off with a bell clang and the twins grinning. The train trundled through the town before turning into a rather nice-looking hotel, crossed the extensive grounds and came to a halt at the jetty where the catamaran was waiting. With everyone on board, the crew cast off and motored slowly across the bay before hoisting the sails. The twins loved lying on the cargo net at the stern of the boat between the twin hulls, where they could watch the sea rushing by.
The catamaran eventually dropped anchor at Boca Catalina, and the crew lowered a platform at the stern of the boat. The twins were quick to don their snorkelling gear but were told to wait for the adults and, once in the water, were not to swim away from their dive buddy. Willie was paired with George and Millie with Paolo, who were the strongest adult swimmers. The twins impatiently waited their turn to enter the water before eventually sitting on the edge of the platform with their legs in the water. First Millie and then Willie slipped off the back of the platform and entered a new underwater world.
The twins had been practising snorkelling in Uncle Nigel’s pool for weeks and were quite familiar with the gear. Jinnie had no worries that they were in any danger, as the twins were exceptionally strong swimmers, and calmly watched as they disappeared into the water before she and Izzy joined them. In the new world she entered, Jinnie was amazed at the number of colourful fish on the reef. Numerous small fish buzzed around, oblivious to the growing number of humans in the water. As she lay on her stomach breathing through the snorkel, she watched the twins diving among a shoal of what she recognised as Sergeant Major fish with their distinctive yellow backs and five vertical black stripes.
Jinnie thought this spot was ideal for first-time snorkellers. The water was shallow and warm with hardly any current, and the fish were abundant. As she got a little more adventurous and started diving deeper, she saw even more variety of fish: angelfish, trunkfish, surgeonfish, parrotfish, even a clownfish or two. There were starfish and the odd ray. She was fascinated but thankful the water was shallow, as she had read that in deeper water there were moray eels, which looked nasty. Jinnie eventually hauled herself back onto the boat and watched as the excited twins regularly came up for air before diving back down. She was wondering where they got their energy from when an exhausted Paolo and George eventually dragged them out of the water.
The twins were ecstatic, raving about what they had seen and done. They didn’t know the names of most of the fish they had seen, but there was a big laminated chart on the catamaran, and they were soon enthusiastically crossing off what they had seen. But the crew interrupted to say the lunch buffet was served, and the food took precedence. The twins feasted on burgers and salad, cold chicken and little baked potatoes. There was tropical fruit for afters and Pepsi to drink. It was what the twins considered a nearly perfect meal. It needed ice cream to have been perfect.
After lunch the catamaran upped anchor to sail back towards the cruise port but stopped for a couple of hours at Hadicurari Beach. With its white sand and palm trees, Jinnie thought of it as idyllic. There were loungers and fixed thatched umbrellas for shade in the intense afternoon sun, all included in the excursion. The twins were quickly covered in yet more factor 50 sunscreen before setting off to paddle in the warm shallow water and splash with George and Uncle Dan. When they left to sail back to the hotel jetty, the reggae was turned up loud and the rum punch was served. The twins had fruit punch, which looked like rum punch, and joined in the singing all the way back to the waiting land train and eventually the ship.
At dinner that evening the twins told anyone who would listen what a wonderful day they had had, all the fish they had seen, all the food they had eaten, the beautiful white sand beach they had been on, the catamaran they had gone on, the land train they had been on, and how everyone except them and the other children had drunk rum punch and sung. The people on the next table laughed when Willie told them the only thing missing was ice cream. Their waiter overheard the conversation and, much to the twins’ delight, brought them four scoops of tonight’s chocolate ice cream. On the way back to the cabin Millie asked Izzy if they were going snorkelling on any other islands, as it had been the best.
***
The next day the ship was in Kralendijk, the capital city of Bonaire. Willie stood on his parents’ balcony and admired the buildings of the town, all of which seemed to be painted in bright pastel colours. It was Christmas Eve, and the twins were quite aware that Father Christmas would be arriving on the boat late that afternoon, just after it had sailed, but unlike previous years they were not particularly bothered and were looking forward to an excursion to the mangrove swamp and a ride in a boat among the trees.
What the twins really wanted to know was why, when Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire were all in a row on the map, they had gone from Aruba to Bonaire, missing out Curaçao, then were having Christmas Day at sea before going back to Curaçao. Daddy said that they would be at sea because everywhere would be shut on Christmas Day, and that made sense, but it didn’t explain why they didn’t go from Aruba to Curaçao before having the day at sea. George suggested they should ask the captain, and the twins vowed to ask him if they saw him.
As usual they assembled on the pier before being led to three minibuses for the excursion. They drove past a salt lake and stopped for a few minutes to look at the flamingos, but the twins were most disappointed as they were miles away on the other side of the lake and could hardly be seen, even using the maximum zoom on their phone cameras. The driver said that on the way back they would have a refreshment stop at a different lake, and there were many more flamingos there and they would be nearer.
The minibuses pulled into a parking area next to a reception building, and the tourists were led inside, where they were divided into blocks of eight. This suited the party as Uncle Dan and Aunt Penny had gone to a beach, so they made up an eight for the glass-bottomed boat trip into the mangroves. The twins loved the trip, but not being coated from head to toe in factor 50 and mosquito repellent. The boat edged in under the trees, and they saw birds, snakes, spiders and lizards. Then the guide pointed out all the fish under the boat that used the tree roots as a nursery. They took loads of pictures on their phones and told George how they would print a load off on Mummy’s computer ready for when Mrs Pilbeam asked for a “What I did on my holiday” story.
***
The party were back on board before lunch and easily got loungers around the pool because so many people were ashore. The twins headed off to get their own lunches from the Poolside Grill. They told Izzy that now they were seven, they were old enough to go and get their own lunches. In any case, she could see them all the time from her lounger. Jinnie and Izzy decided to give it a try and were delighted when the twins came back with hot dogs and chips and a little pot of tomato sauce that “a man” had helped them fill from a big pump container.
Jinnie decided she wanted something different for her lunch and told the others she was going to try the Artisan Sandwich outlet. The other adults liked the idea and, while Granny and Grandpa Walsh stayed with the twins, the other four headed for the outlet in the Horizon Buffet. They found a queue at the outlet, but it was moving fast and it gave them a chance to see what was on offer. As it was nearly Christmas, Jinnie selected Turkey Salad on crusty farmhouse bread. The server asked if she wanted butter or mayo on the bread, and she remembered that Americans didn’t butter sandwiches.
Back at the loungers, Grandpa had collared a waiter, and as they arrived back the cold drinks were arriving, beer for the men and Pepsi Max for the ladies. Granny and Grandpa rather liked the look of the sandwiches and headed off to get their own. Jinnie bit into her Turkey Sandwich and looked around at the others, saying, “This is delicious, and the bread is fantastic, no wonder there was a queue. It is every bit as good as our shops.” Izzy was eating Prawn Mayonnaise in crusty white bread, and she nodded vigorously. “I agree, this is excellent and all the better for being freshly made in front of you.” The two men both had chosen Roast Beef and Watercress with Horseradish, again on crusty white bread, and agreed the sandwiches were tremendous.
The grandparents arrived back, both with Ploughman’s Sandwiches: mature cheddar cheese, mild onion, and Branston pickle. Granny Walsh took one bite and a big smile spread across her face before saying, “I have never had an Artisan Sandwich, but this is good. There was so much choice I really didn’t know what to have, so I just followed Grandpa. This is much better than a hot dog.” The twins looked at each other before Millie asked, “Do they do our favourite, hard-boiled egg and tomato?” “I’m sure they would if you asked,” replied Izzy. “They have loads of stuff on display, I saw hard-boiled eggs, and I bet mummy had tomatoes in her Turkey Salad sandwich.”
***
That afternoon, the twins knew what the procedure was, as this was their third Christmas cruise, so they opted to stay around the pool rather than go to the club. Willie said, “We can see Father Christmas arrive better from here than from in the crowd at the club.” Jinnie chuckled to herself and thought, ‘my babies are growing up fast.’ Everyone had a lovely afternoon in the sun and splashing in the pool before the usual announcements were made about the radar picking something up and checking what it was with NASA. The twins chuckled as they knew what was coming; it was exactly the same as on Britannia the previous two years. Willie said, “Mummy, we don’t think this is the real Father Christmas.” Jinnie said, “In that case you won’t want to see him in the Atrium tomorrow.” “Oh yes we will,” answered Millie, “we want our presents.”
In Chapter 5 – Christmas at Sea
© WorthingGooner 2025
