What It’s Really Like on a Craft Cruise.

I’ve just sailed the ocean blue teaching creative workshops on a craft cruise for Prima Magazine and Ambassador Cruise Line. It was so much fun – and also such hard work! When I shared my experience on Instagram, my DMs lit up with questions – from “what even is a craft cruise?” to “what did you eat?” and “what did you make?”.

So here’s my behind-the-scenes, below deck look at life on a creative cruise, answering all your most-asked questions. If you need to know anything else just email me on christine@sewyeahsocialclub.com

I never knew these types of cruises existed: Which company ran this one?  

This particular cruise was with Ambassador cruise lines and the ship was The Ambience. Ambassador had teamed up with Prima magazine who were the organisers of the craft programme and Ambassador facilitated it. I used to do the craft pages for Prima years ago which is how I got involved.

I feel the ship is quite small in terms of cruise ships with a max capacity of 1400. My room was quite Travelodge-esque and the decor wasn’t particularly to my taste, but I loved my balcony and when you have floor to ceiling windows looking out to sea does it really matter what the carpet looks like? The communal spaces were jazzy, done up in various styles to suit the venue: Raffles Cocktail Bar = palm trees and wicker. The Purple Turtle Pub = oak barrels and karaoke. 

What did you pack? Do you have luggage tags?

You do get sent luggage tags for each bag labelled with your room number before you go. I think you can take as much stuff as you want, but this probably varies from company to company. I had my main suitcase for clothes and things and then all the materials for workshops for 150 people (5 big bags in total). At the last minute I packed my own mug as I feel hotel mugs are never big enough and I'm thinking if I ever do another cruise I would take my own pillows and maybe even my duvet! I’d also bring a fancy dress for the Gala nights as it is nice to dress up (fancy as in sequins, not fancy as in a clown costume .. though some might say it's hard to tell the difference with my wardrobe sometimes).

When you arrive at the dock your bags are taken from you as you board and then delivered to your room. It was seamless. When the cruise is over, you leave your suitcases outside your room the night before and they are taken away. On disembarkation day, everyone leaves the ship a deck at a time and you collect your luggage from a big hall on shore. It was all very straight forward apart from a mislabelling calamity on one bag and I had to wait for 4 more decks to disembark before I could reclaim it. 

Where were you?

We sailed from Tilbury Docks to Honfleur, then to the Isle of Scilly, Cobh for Cork in Ireland and then back to Tilbury. When we were in dock we had between half a day and a day to visit each place. There were some organised trips like visiting Monet's gardens in France and wildlife boat tours around Scilly but I just went exploring on my own. Part of the reason I joined this cruise was so I could visit Scilly. It was beautiful. 

ABOVE: The Scilly Isle. If you ever get the chance to go. Go! BELOW: Honfleur in France and the colourful houses of Cobh, Ireland

How long were you on board?  Did it feel too long? 

Our cruise was 8 days. I didn’t think it was too long, but then I was so busy on some of the days that they just flew by. Before I went on the cruise I couldn’t comprehend how people can do it for months at a time and sometimes not see land for days - if you take a 31 day cruise to the Caribbean you are at sea for 11 days on the way there with just a one day stop in the Azores and 11 days on the way back. I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready for that but I do think a 2 weeker would be nice. 

Was there crafting done each day?

There was quite an extensive craft programme during our cruise. There were five teachers onboard; Freddie Patmore was on knitting, Clare from Hello Hooray and I were embroidery then Julie Peasgood,  Momtaz Begum-Hossain and Amy from the Edinburgh Craft Club superbly handled everything else! Between us we had a wonderful array of workshops from colour therapy candles to dried flower wreaths, knitting and crochet masterclasses, embroidered fish, mosaic hearts and so much more. 

Our glorious group: FROM LEFT Freddie, Amy, Julie, Clare, Me, Imogen from Prima, Momtaz and Jo from Prima.

Each workshop had space for 30 people and were between 3 and 3.5 hours long. They were dotted around the ship in different venues. Some of the spaces were great and some not so much.  Several were held in the restaurants, with low lighting and separate tables, which made it a little tricky. Often I ended up teaching the same part of the workshop over and over again at each table which wasn’t perfect. But that's what’s so great about crafters, everyone is very generous of spirit, so if someone had a question and I was over the other side of the room, there was always another workshop participant who would help out. The workshops I taught were Huxley the Hare (I taught him on the first day and then people continued stitching through the week), Applique Felt Needlebooks, Embroidered Sardines and Mini Abstract Hoops. All embroidery based but a nice mix of skill levels and creativity.

A creative mess. It was good to get in the workshops early to get a window seat!

There were also drop in sessions each day  - ‘Knit and Natters’ and ‘Stitch and Be very nice about everyone’ and there were plenty of places to sit and craft with a cup of tea and a glorious view of the sea. If I did it again I would say we would need twice as many workshops and more drop in communal craft sessions.

Are craft activities included in the cost or an extra charge? Do they send a supply list in advance? 

On this cruise, each workshop had a materials fee, this ranged from around £2.50 to £15. Everything was supplied for the workshops so you didn’t need to bring anything unless you wanted a few WIP’s to keep you extra busy. 

Are there any additional charges for spa/gym/pool access?

On this ship (which I think is fairly small in the cruise ship world there was a pool on deck (unheated and COLD!) though this was more of a dipping pool rather than a decent exercise pool. There was a gym, sauna and steam room that was free of charge and then you paid for treatments. There's a whole gratuities thing that I didn't quite understand, it's a daily tip for all the staff that is added to your bill at the end of the cruise.

Apart from the craft workshops there was also a whole range of daily entertainment, from yoga and pilates, ballroom dancing and whale watching to bingo, pub quizzes and different musical and theatrical entertainment each evening. You did have to pay for water. Which annoyed me. You could refill your bottle for free but there were only two refill points, one on the 12th deck and one on the 1st! 

Did you seen any cool dolphins or wildlife?

I personally didn’t see any dolphins but volunteers from the charity Orca were onboard doing a continuous whale watch on deck. You could join them at any time and there was a notice board where they recorded sightings (below left). I did see a wagtail that had hitched a ride in Honfleur. I think he hopped off in the Scilly Isles. I don't blame him as they were absolutely full of spring flowers (below right).

Did you suffer from seasickness at all? The closest I’ve done is a ferry and that felt very wobbly.

I was a bit worried about this but it was totally fine, I think we did have a pretty calm time at sea and I can see how it could become quite dramatic. Fun fact: The most stable place on a ship is on lower decks and in the middle of the boat, so that's the place to get your cabin. I was on the 11th deck at the back so pretty much the worst place to be but was totally fine. 

I did have a balcony room and I don’t think I could have done without it. Many people get an inside room with no windows as they just use the space to sleep. This is the cheapest way to cruise but it’s not for me! (Images: below left: my balcony. Below right: the decor)

If you don’t want to dress up on formal evenings, is there still somewhere you can eat?

There were two main places to eat. Borough Market was a canteen style restaurant and Buckingham was a more formal affair. They served pretty much the same food, but Buckinghams was presented in a more fancy way and you had specific dining times. There were also a couple of specialty restaurants and about a million bars! There was something quite beautiful about seeing everyone in their tuxedos and evening dress on the two formal nights. I really like the idea there is a place where people still do this kind of thing. To be honest I felt sad I had left my sequin dress at home.

Was the food good for dietary requirements? Good labelling for veggie etc?

If you had a very specific allergy (we had a few gluten freeites and a severe pineapple allergy in our group) then you had to eat in Buckinghams and pre-order your meals each day. In Borough Market there are different food stations that offer a variety of menus; there’s vegan and veggie choices, classic British food, healthy options and international cuisines.  I definitely made some very creative food choices during the week. Apple crumble and gin and tonic at 3pm, chocolate sponge with a side of artichoke salad?! Gluten free options are kept under the counter to make sure the correct people have access to them but you just have to ask for them.  Food is served almost 24hrs. One day we somehow managed to find the one window between 10 and 11 pm where there was no food anywhere on board. We had been off ship and forgotten to have tea. We had had some delicious Kir Royales though. 

My personal highlight was the daily cream tea (and everyone elses judging by the queues). I play pretty fast and loose with my gluten intolerance and on the first day I got to compare the gluten free and gluten-full scones (can you tell which is which in the picture below?). I decided that this was a meal I was prepared to be bloated for! Oh and the Baked Alaska Parade: This health and safety nightmare is apparently a cruise ship tradition: flaming sparklers, flying serviettes, unstable footings, what could possibly go wrong (see how happy I am with my Baked Alaska!).

Is it all rich snobby people on board?

Ha! Definitely not on this cruise. Everyone was super friendly, swapping their different cruise stories at lunch. I can see why people spend their retirement sailing round the world (there's a dialysis room on deck 4). As I was a tutor and easily recognised, I guess lots of people may have been saying hello to me because of this but it did seem a very welcoming place. My favourite person I met was a 93 year old fiercely independent lady who had pretty much been everywhere. Twice. We sat next to each other on the small boat to the Isle of Scilly and she told me how she loved the singles meet up sessions and saying hello to everyone on her morning walk. (One mile round and round the jogging track no matter what the weather).

Will there be another craft cruise?

I hope so! It really opened my eyes to what’s possible. Before the cruise I was mostly worried about the days when we were just at sea. I thought I would go stir crazy being limited to the ship, but actually these were my favourite days. I find watching the sea incredibly relaxing and knowing that I literally couldn't go anywhere was good for my brain to just accept the here and now. Having done a bit of research and also having spent the week with the Craft Cruise Goddess that is Julie Peasgood, I now know that craft workshops are often included on many cruises especially Saga Cruises. Since being home I’ve been in touch with companies like Stitchtopia and Ace Camps Travel trying to get more teaching gigs… Watch This Space.