square CRUISE TRAVEL My affordable river cruise filled with cobbled cities, wine and good food
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Mega-ship cruising and Eurovision are clearly a match made in heaven. A camp, joyous, all-inclusive heaven. Both are exuberant, crowd-pleasing and glitzy, so it’s no wonder Royal Caribbean decided to put the two together with its Eurovision-themed cruise around the Mediterranean cities of Barcelona, Palma, Marseille, Florence, Rome and Naples. A sponsor of the competition, it first launched the themed cruises last summer.
Swedish fans Andreas and Manni (Photo: Stephen Unwin)
But one of the beautiful things about Eurovision is your ready-made community. Like travelling as a gay man, when you find your people, almost immediately, Eurovision fans sniff each other out. The outfits help. And of course, there’s a huge crossover between the LGBTQ+ and Eurovision demographics.
Andreas and Manni from Malmö, Sweden, which has hosted Eurovision twice, have joined the cruise because tickets to the actual event are now out of reach: around £1,000 per person for the three shows before you factor in accommodation and day-to-day expenses in an already expensive town like Basel, where the final is being hosted.
There are two Eurovision themed departures this year (Photo: Royal Caribbean)
“When we added the drinks package,” says Manni of the cruise, “it came to around €1,700pp (£1,400pp). And that’s food, drink, holiday and Eurovision.” There are also weekend packages, jumping in at cities further along the route.
I go for a cobbled-together concoction of lentil curry, chickpea salad and chunks of broccoli (vegan options are notoriously hit-and-miss on these vessels), with a buck’s fizz. It comes with a side show of zipline early-birders flashing past the window.
The ship even has a zipline (Photo: Ron Buskirk/UCG/Universal Images Group /Getty)Read Next
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Read MoreCentral Park on the 8th deck is an open-air garden with Calatrava-like structures piercing the ground, fringed by arguably the classiest joints on the boat – lovely little Italian and French bistros, cosy wine and tapas bars, intimate breakfast cafes if the scrum of Windjammer isn’t to your taste and, come evening, a jazz band that takes requests (but may not know all of them).
Down on the 5th is The Boardwalk, where we emerge after boarding the ship. Feeling more like a Westfield shopping centre, it’s packed with shops, mid-range restaurants, and a cocktail bar that rises and falls two decks while you sip your vodka martini. The engineering alone makes my mind boggle.
www.instagram.com/p/DHN0H8pR6A1/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==At my last count, there were six theatres showing a roster of big-hitting shows, including Eurovision-friendly Mama Mia the musical, Blue Planet – an environment-themed jukebox musical – the brilliant Blades, which is ex-Olympic ice-skaters putting on a spectacularly choreographed show, and “Adult Comedy”, a non-PG set that sells out fast.
On board the themed cruise (Photo: Stephen Unwin)“Your Swedish flags are so raggedy,” I tell Andreas and Manni, as they decorate their balcony with rainbow flags and lots of the gold and blue of their home nation, ready for the final, amid on-board rumours of an appearance by a Eurovision act.
Royal Caribbean’s next Eurovision cruise departs Southampton on 18 June for three nights, calling at Bruges.
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