| Subject: Mediterranean February 1979 |
Author:
Frances Gilbert
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Date Posted: 19:07:46 10/30/11 Sun
Just found this site and have spent a happy hour or so remembering the cruise I went on. I think it must have been February 23rd 1979, we went for 2 weeks. It was the first time I'd been abroad and going on the SS Uganda was such a wonderful adventure. I went to Philip Morant School, Colchester and I think there was quite a large group of us.
We flew by British Caledonian from Gatwick to Naples where we joined Uganda. Once underway, we were told to look for Stromboli but I remember feeling so sea-sick I couldn't care less about looking for a volcano! The sea-sickness seemed to last for an eternity and I was really badly affected. I can still remember the medicated smell of the brown sick bags. They did give us sea sickness tablets but they didn't seem to work.
Our next stop was supposed to be Alexandria and we were looking forward to seeing the pyramids, but because of bad weather, we couldn't dock. We had an extra long excursion in our next port, Haifa. I always thought we were particularly unlucky about Alexandria, but looking now at other posts, I see this seems to have been a common theme.
After Haifa, we went to Limossol, then somewhere in Greece (I can't remember where), then Kotor in Yugoslavia and finally Venice.
After Haifa, the seas were calm and I was able to really enjoy my cruise. The things I remember most were:
The terrible food! I've cruised in recent times and the Uganda was the only one where I lost weight! We lived on Mars bars. I bought some Turkish delight for my Dad on one stop, but ate it because I was hungry! In one port we were taken to an orange farm and told to help ourselves to oranges. I think we all came away with armfulls. Oranges have never tasted so good since! One day my friend, Kerry, dropped her jam tart on the floor of the dining room and, of course, it landed jam side down. She tried to pick it up but it seemed to have become welded to the floor, so we had to leave it there.Goodness knows what it would have done to us if we'd eaten it instead of chucking it on the floor!
I remember a crew member called Mr Furlong (I think we called him Action Man on account of his hair). He took great delight in telling us what would happen if we fell overboard, ending with the warning that we would get "chopped up in the propellers".
I remember having an allotted time in the swimming pool, which was tiny and very salty.
Above all, though, I remember having an absolutely fabulous time and knowing, even then, that I would always remember my time on the Uganda.
Since then, I've travelled abroad some more, more recently going on cruises. I've docked in Alexandria and seen the pyramids and sphynx (fantastic) and I've sailed past Stromoli, which still spews out smoke and ash. You could say I've made up for the bits I missed the first time round. I think it's a shame there isn't anything like this for my children at school, though they do quite well with the trips available. Nothing compares to a cruise where you get to see so many different countries in one trip. Happy days.
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