On 8/8/06 14:37, in article ,
"Charlie Pridham" wrote:

snip
We sometimes see the poor b*****s on the cruise ships being herded off for
their 40 min spin around one of the gardens (using the cable car will give
you more time to explore) or a short walk along the most boring of the
islands lavadas, I am sure the cruise will be wonderful but as a way of
exploring such a remarkable island its pointless.

That was our chief reaction to cruising. We got to a place we found
likeable or interesting and left it just hours later! I sometimes found
myself thinking "I'd like to go back to such and such tomorrow" and then
"Oh, I can't!" My brother's company is closely involved with P&O and he
has done all or part of all, their cruises as a result and it seems that the
itineraries are carefully worked out with regard to getting as many cruises
into as many sailing months as possible and of course, things like berthing
fees etc. It is a business, after all. I must say, that I found the whole
thing of having to wear 'black tie' garb for three or four evenings
pointless and very false but perhaps I've had to do too much of that in my
time so it holds no interest for me. You can, of course, go to a different
restaurant but that lets the rest of your table down a bit.
However, to get back to the point we're looking forward enormously to a week
exploring Madeira and having a nice little collapse in the swimming pool
from time to time, too! We've had a gardener from one of the better known
hotels visit us from time to time to buy plants to take back there because
their stock was getting old and tired. It will be interesting to see what
he's done with it!

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(email address on website)