Our hols went 負かす／撃墜する a 嵐／襲撃する

Dubrovnik's port

ハリケーン-軍隊 勝利，勝つd start at about 75mph and can rise to about 150mph.

After that, things begin to get serious. The 勝利，勝つd which 攻撃する，衝突する us at 5.45am in the Ionian Sea, south of Italy, 登録（する）d on the ship's computer at 116 knots (about 130mph).

The Brilliance Of The Seas, one of 王室の Caribbean's 非常に高い 13-deck, 120ft-high 巡航する ships and just one year old, shuddered as the 爆破 攻撃する，衝突する the starboard 味方する, the 90,000-トン 大型船 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）d ひどく to port and loose items were sent 衝突，墜落ing to the 床に打ち倒す.

From my bed in our cabin on the ninth deck I could see the 雷 crackling across the sky and held my breath as the 抱擁する 大型船 struggled against the 勝利，勝つd before slowly 安定したing herself and ploughing on through the 激怒（する）ing sea.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. This was a 巡航する in the Mediterranean in July, not the North 大西洋 in winter.

Our three children were in the next door cabin - they must be terrified, I thought.

They weren't. They were 急速な／放蕩な asleep. They woke only when our Swedish captain, Thomas Wildung, 発表するd in his 慰安ing Sven-Goran Eriksson トンs that everything was all 権利, there was no danger and there had been no 損失.

(Not 厳密に true. The 巡航する director's TV had been 粉砕するd and the dining room's 供給（する） of plates was decima ted. But I suppose worse things happen at sea.)

The children were 自然に disgruntled at 存在 woken at such a time - they had only got to bed at 2am and couldn't have cared いっそう少なく about the 嵐／襲撃する.

And that was a blessing. After all, I had 説得するd the whole family that 巡航するs were no longer the 単独の 保存する of the idle rich and the geriatric, that families could go on 巡航するs too.

In the past we had stuck to 乾燥した，日照りの land for holidays in gites and apartments along the Mediterranean coast in フラン, Spain and Italy. This time we were taking to the water.

I regaled them with stories of my school 巡航する as a 十代の少年少女. We had 始める，決める sail from Venice on the SS Uganda, an ugly white monstrosity, and had ten days of eating in refectories, sleeping in 寄宿舎s and snogging on the poop deck. 'It was 広大な／多数の／重要な fun,' I 発表するd.

'Doesn't sound like it,' 不平（をいう）d my three sons. 'Do we have to do the snogging bit?'

'I get seasick,' said my wife.

'No one gets sea sick on modern 巡航する ships. It'll be fantastic - you'll see,' I 保証するd them.

'We won't have to go on the same boat as you did will we, Dad?'

Er... no. 現実に the SS Uganda was later used as a 軍隊／機動隊 運送／保菌者 in the Falklands War - 推定では after 存在 昇格d from schoolkid 基準 to squaddie 基準. Modern 巡航する ships are different. Very different.

As we approached port in Barcelona we were 迎える／歓迎するd by the sight of the glass-味方するd Brilliance Of The Seas.

She towered above all the other 大型船s in the harbour. The nine-storey atrium was higher than our 地元の shopping centre and the 最高の，を越す four decks of cabins all had 私的な balconies.

Inside was a theatre, cinema, casino, four dining rooms, three swimming pools, more 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s than I can remember, a basketball 法廷，裁判所, two nightclubs, a 十代の少年少女s' 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 (soft drinks only), a kids' club, a gym, a jogging 跡をつける, a nine-穴を開ける putting course - it went on and on.

We stood in the main central area and gazed up at the glass balconies and windows. 'Wow,' said one of the boys. We went in search of our cabins and すぐに got lost.

All around us was a 広大な／多数の／重要な mix of 国籍s. All the 2,100 乗客s seemed more accustomed to the 巡航する experience than us.

The Germans were by the pool, the French looked sophisticated, the Middle Easterners looked rich, the British looked lost and the Americans were eating.

Our 12-day 大勝する began in Barcelona, stopped at Villefranche for the Cote d'Azur then Livorno (for Pisa, Florence and Siena), Naples (for Pompeii, Sorrento and the Bay of Naples), Venice, Dubrovnik, Corfu and Civitavecchia (for Rome) before returning to Barcelona.

I hadn't realised just how 決定的な the choice of ship is. Don't think you will spend most of your time on land soaking up the culture and getting to know the natives.

The beauty of 巡航するing is that the culture comes in soundbite sizes, your ship becomes your home and you don't have to interact with the 地元のs at all.

Now that's what I call travel. As if to 強調 the point, we were taken 岸に by tender at Villefranche, where we sat at a typical French cafe and waited to be served.

And waited. And waited. And then got fed up, walked off, and returned to the ship where the staff fell over themselves to bring us drinks. Out there it may have been フラン, but the ship was home.

Many people on board were 巡航する 退役軍人s and 十分な of useful advice. You 支払う／賃金 for drinks on board with 王室の Caribbean at a flat 率 and children can have 制限のない soft drinks.

支払う／賃金 another flat 料金 and adults can have 12 瓶／封じ込めるs of ワイン, saving on buying a 瓶／封じ込める for each dinner.

But what if you don't like sea travel? When we left Barcelona we couldn't feel the ship move.

As if to 証明する how smooth the sailing is, you can go putting on the 最高の，を越す deck or play pool in the 植民地 Club.< /p>

Throughout the 12 days there was the one 嵐／襲撃する; the 残り／休憩（する） of the time we could have been in a hotel on land.

So was our 嵐／襲撃する unusual? 井戸／弁護士席, yes.

As Captain Wildung said: 'On 巡航する ships we are spoilt. In the 嵐／襲撃する we had a little 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of about ten per cent - 井戸／弁護士席, all 権利, a good 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） - but those are 条件s コンテナ ships and smaller 大型船s put up with all the time.'

But apart from that one night we were never 乱すd by the 天候.

Our children, usually the most 批判的な of travellers, were soon seduced by the daily life on board which slipped into a wonderful, leisurely pattern.

The parents would get up 早期に enough to have breakfast and coffee, while the children slept; then we would sit by the pool and read, while the children slept; then we would 準備する for a late lunch and, just before 長，率いるing for the restaurant, we would wake up the children.

Once they were fed and watered, they were off. Apart from trips 岸に, they more or いっそう少なく disappeared.

My eldest 設立する some fellow English football （土地などの）細長い一片-wearing 十代の少年少女s to hang around with, my 13-year-old made some American friends and spent his days on the basketball 法廷，裁判所 and my youngest discovered the games arcade.

He would pop up from time to time asking if he could put more money on his Seapass card (巡航する ships are 大部分は cash-解放する／自由な, except for the casino) and then disappear again.

We would 会合，会う up as a family for dinner before they tore off again after 交渉するing a ridiculously late 外出禁止令.

But even for the children there were days when they could not forget that the beauty of a 巡航する is that every day you wake up somewhere different.

Our approach to Venice was the voyage's most みごたえのある moment. As we 近づくd St 示す's Square, small boats buzzed and gondoliers paddled around us while we towered over them.

We gazed at the 橋（渡しをする） of Sighs, St 示す's and the Basilica all from our 私的な balcony. There can be no better way to enter Venice. It's the only way to do it 司法（官）.

At the other ports, we wandered 岸に and 設立する our own way around.

There are countless organised excursions on 巡航するs but if you already know the South of フラン and the main parts of Italy it is just as 平易な - and a whole lot cheaper - to do your own travelling.

Our 旅行 支援する to Barcelona was across a Mediterranean so 静める that it looked like mirrored glass. The 嵐／襲撃する of a few days previous was long forgotten.

But as Captain Wildung said, 'At least you now have a 広大な／多数の／重要な 巡航する story to tell.'

井戸／弁護士席 I do, but I'm not sure about the children. On the 旅行 home I asked Matthew, nine, who was 需要・要求するing to go on another 巡航する holiday, if he'd been 脅すd by the 嵐／襲撃する.

'What 嵐／襲撃する?' he asked.

Getting there

王室の Caribbean International, (0800 018 2020) 申し込む／申し出s a 12-night Mediterranean 巡航する on the Brilliance Of The Seas.

Prices start from £1,309 含むing return flights to Barcelona, 十分な-board accommodation and entertainment on board ship, 税金s and 移転s.

Sorry we are not 現在／一般に 受託するing comments on this article.