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The Ship Where I Got in Shape ; Cruise Special

Posted on: Tuesday, 18 January 2005, 18:00 CST

W Caroline Hendrie gets fit with some very welcome pampering on a Med cruise The strokes on my back were not the smoothest or most rhythmic, but they were getting longer and more confident.

'Very good, Michael, that is right.

Find the muscle and follow it down the spine and sweep back up the sides,' said Katia, our teacher.

It was my turn on the couch for the couples' massage class, half an hour each way, learning how to give each other a proper back rub.

Our classmates were six Spanish friends who, having burst in late, made up for lost time by staying on after class, the men practising their technique with enthusiasm on their partners' thighs.

But we had no time to hang around; we had an important date with a personal trainer for a private pilates lesson.

Royal Caribbean is famously popular with children and their parents. The American cruise line has its award-winning Adventure Ocean youth programme of activities for three to 17-year-olds, but it also has much to attract those without children, as I discovered.

We took a five-night, roundtrip cruise from Barcelona on Brilliance of the Seas, and found it the perfect combination of relaxation and activity on board, punctuated with interesting ports of call.

With a special interest in selfpampering, I had rushed to the ShipShape spa the moment we got on board, but after a morning flight from Heathrow, it was by now midafternoon and all appointments for the one day we'd be at sea had already gone.

Not to worry though, the spa is open all evening and the efficient staff found us late-afternoon appointments on a day in port, enabling us to go ashore and have our treatments on our return.

The Total Face and Body Experience was one-and-three-quarter hours that my boyfriend Michael will never forget. From the tips of his toes to the top of his head he was massaged in exotic oils, and emerged in a dreamlike daze all set to buy the Pounds 50 soothing eye gel recommended by his therapist.

I had a much-needed facial and a Well Being massage both expertly performed by Leanne from Manchester and Jose from Portugal.

A great place to wind down is the adults-only Exotic Thermal Suite, a chillout zone of peppermint mist fog, saunas and rainforest showers.

For the more energetic there is a well equipped gym, with running machines that have views which make you feel as if you are running over the blue horizon.

Classes ran from Wake Up Stretch at 7.30am to Moonlight Yoga at 8.30pm. All led by enthusiastic staff from all over the world, these classes are for over-16s only.

As well as the busy outdoor pool with live music, and a children's pool with slide, there is a quieter one in the solarium where the only sound is birdsong and the turning of pages. This is adults-only, except for two 'family hours'.

On deck there are plenty of activities open to all, from the rockclimbing wall where the intrepid can dangle from a rope 200ft above the sea, to a spot of gentle putting.

We enjoyed a few rounds of minigolf and some astonishingly i n c o m p e t e n t games of shuffleboard-on deck in the early evening when most other people were having dinner or getting ready for it.

Dinner in the vast, two-floor main restaurant was in two sittings. The first was from 6.30pm, the second had options to sit down at either 9pm or 9.30pm.

This late hour was perhaps a concession to the great number of Spanish people on board, who are used to eating even later. Because it was a short voyage, Europeans greatly outnumbered Americans who tend to take 12-day Med cruises because of the long journey to Europe.

Food was plentiful, with breakfast ending at 11am, lunch available from noon to 4.30pm, all sorts of snacks provided until 1am and 24-hour room service.

We discovered the champagne bar, with its happy-hour champagne cocktails, on the way back from lifeboat drill.

My favourite place to dine was the Chops Grille where for a supplement a lookalike of the enormous chef in South Park turned out steaks cooked to perfection off the open grill. The other speciality restaurant, Portofino, which is themed on Italian cuisine, also has a delightful atmosphere. In both restaurants children over 13 can join their parents.

Brilliance of the Seas has 13 enormous decks and can comfortably accommodate 2,500 passengers.

Whizzing up in the glass lifts gave me a giddy thrill, as did looking over the balcony of the central atrium down to the piano bar nine storeys below.

One of Royal Caribbean's Radiance class vessels, Brilliance prides herself on the number of outside cabins, and ours on deck nine had one of the hundreds of glass-sided balconies. My only dis-

appointment was missing the whales playing alongside the ship while I was glued to the television mesmerised by Nicole, the onboard shopping adviser, who enthused about local specialities and the benefits of shopping at carefully selected Royal Caribbean- approved emporia on shore.

Although there was so much to do on board we did venture ashore. Our most exhausting foray was a half-day excursion to Pisa which involved a 45-minute bus journey followed by a trek in a straggly, slow crocodile from the coach park to the leaning tower.

We had two hours there, but it felt as if we had no sooner arrived than we were assembling at the meeting point to go SOCIABLE CLIMBING: Rock wall on the Royal Caribbean, above, which also offers massages, far left, and as Caroline found out golf, left back. Perhaps we should have instead taken the tenhour Florence excursion, or the Tuscan countryside tour.

Too many choices.

The most relaxing excursion was the one where you could wander round Ajaccio on Corsica, visit the Palais Fesch with its dazzling art collection, write a few postcards in a cafe, have a spot of lunch and stroll on the beach, before going back on board for a siesta followed by a massage.

Naples was quite a shock after a few days of American efficiency on Brilliance. Stepping off the ship we were accosted by persistent taxi drivers eager to take us to Pompeii, but navigating our way round them was a doddle compared to crossing the main road past the port.

The old quarter was quaint, our spaghetti lunch was delicious, the funicular great fun, but gosh it was good to get back on board. We glided up in the silent lift to our cool cabin, ready for a rest before the evening's entertainments began.

What would it be a magic show, cabaret, a musical or a fancy dress party?

And would we win our fortune on the roulette table?

Sailingthere Royal Caribbean International (0800 018 2020, www.royalcaribbean.co.uk) has a 12-night fly/cruise aboard the Brilliance of the Seas from Barcelona visiting Villefranche, Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Naples, Venice, Dubrovnik, Corfu and Civitavecchia (Rome). Prices start at Pounds 1,289 including return flights, all accommodation and entertainment on board.

Source: Mail on Sunday; London (UK)

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