So when your currently sitting in Hairdresser waiting for your Babylights to take it's always a good time to do some writing!

So, todays topic, cruising. I am lucky enough to have a performing older brother who happens to have bagged a contract on board Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas playing Sam in MAMMA MIA. So when us family members are allowed to join for a silly price, it's like a no brainer.

Ok, so it's raining Uk at the mo, so a week on a Caribbean cruise is ideal really.

Flight from Heathrow to Miami, guess who had the only onboard entertainment that wasn't working?? Yep... So a bit of a drag a 10 hour flight by myself with no films... But anyway, got through it, arrived safe and well and was driven by an Uber (how good is this app!) to Larry's Airbnb studio on the river in Fort Lauderdale, what a view!! Where I was meeting mum and dad.

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Larry's studio flat! An airbnb find![/caption]

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Morning sunset in Las Olas, Fort Lauderdale[/caption]

Next morning, Uber (it's the way to go in US) to Port of Fort Lauderdale to meet the brother and this floating hotel!! Around 6,000 passengers, 2,000 crew so yes, the dingy is quite large!!

I had never been on a cruise, and kind of didn't really know what to expect, but WOW.

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4:30 pm - and we are off! Sailing towards the Bahamas (Nassau).

Of course our main event on the cruise was to go see Romero (the brother) in what ever he was doing, so night one was MAMMA MIA. They do a full on 2,5 hour run of the show, with the same set and costumes as the West end/Broadway version. A floating pro show. Being quite in to my musicals, always have a critical eye on everything, but the cast was outstanding and what a great way to see a professional show.

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Mamma Set[/caption]

Arrival at Nassau, Bahamas.

Unfortunately can't say a great deal about this place as the day was quite grey and we did get a tropical downpour going on so we had no choice to hit back to the ship quickly as it wasn't stopping and frankly it's not the nicest of islands.

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Wise words from Nassau[/caption]

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Queen's staircase[/caption]

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Nassau - Queen's Staircase[/caption]

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Excuse the grey sky! Allure of the Seas.[/caption]

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All aboard![/caption]

By the way, hair is going well. Colour is off and being dried as we speak. The end result is always great but it does take up nearly 4 hours of your day off! My blue haired stylist is great though (My colouring wasn't as brave).

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Zumba class at Nassau Port when all clients boarding back on![/caption]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvP5uuowGUQ

Anyway. We always had a little date in the evening which was lovely of course seeing the bro in Mamma mia that night and quickly after, a full on diving show at the back of the ship.

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Day 3 - Sea day.

A day to chill out, sun bathe, eat, drink and dance (and of course see Mamma Mia again, third time, such fans!). After this 3rd time they change and put away the Mamma Mia set and change into a Cirque du soleil style acrobatic show with live music and singing (Blue Planet) so this was our last day of this show and was then on to the next!

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Windy Pina Colada moment[/caption]

There are millions of places to eat on the ship, but there are a few set nights were it is formal.

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Formal night[/caption]

Day 4 - St Thomas (part of U.S Virgin Islands)

Now this one is a keeper! Took a large taxi, few of us going, to one of the beaches on the Island, it was like a little private resort, we did have to pay $5 each to get in, but very worth it, there was only about 30 people on the whole beach!