Over the last several weeks, I’ve posted several entries on my social media sites about going on a quilting cruise. I’ve been there, and returned, and I had a wonderful time. I’ve put together what has become a series of blogposts about this experience, and using to document my adventure – as well as to answer questions about what it’s like to go on a quilting cruise.  I hope you enjoy this series, and if you have questions, please post them in the comments for this post. Today’s post will give you a bit of a background, how to pack, what to pack (and what not to!), and some of the issues that I had to address as a woman traveling alone.

Cruising has become a big wave in the quilting industry, and there are many cruises to wonderful destinations that come across my feeds – and into my email box every day. I’d never really taken a hard look at them until this point, because they are (frankly) expensive, and if I’m in the market for a cruise vacation, I’m much more likely to select one that appeals to my husband as well as myself.

That changed last summer. Readers will know that I have been I’ve been a fan of Karen Brown of Just Get it Done Quilts for a long time, and not a week goes by that I don’t watch at least one of her You Tube videos.  Karen  has begun hosting quilting cruises for the past several years; so far, she’s done Alaska, the Panama Canal, Hawaii and this latest cruise, which started in Southampton, England, then went to Ireland, Iceland for 3 nights, Scotland and then back to Southampton. This 11 night cruise has been described as the Fire and Ice Tour on her website.

Karen announced this trip on her channel last summer, and I immediately went to my calendar to make sure I had no engagements booked for that timeframe – which is the reason that I wasn’t able to do the Panama trip.   I then blocked the dates out with a notation “DON’T BOOK ANYTHING UNTIL YOU DECIDE ABOUT ICELAND”.

Iceland? Southampton? What? How? Mike and I have done several cruises to the Caribbean in January, and I’ve been overseas one time before with my mother’s divorce tour to London and Paris – but that was when I was a teenager. The only overriding thing I remember is exhaustion because I didn’t sleep on the plane. Nothing has changed on that score.

This was 4 countries, 5 timezones, multiple currencies, and several temperature ranges. Plus a quilting class at sea – so what about sewing machines? (Ooh, a good time to mention that that the UK uses different electrical systems and voltages.) 

The things I learned about in getting ready for this trip.

We sailed aboard the Celebrity Apex, which was launched in 2019. It’s a beautiful ship – the nicest one I’ve been on. I’d love to sail on her on a warmer cruise, because  several of the outdoor amenities that were unavailable to us in a North Atlantic trip. We sailed two full sea days north from Ireland to arrive in Iceland, which brought me to the fabled Land of the Midnight Sun (literally, the sun was still up at 11 PM), and the not so fabled Arctic Circle. But more on that later. We had a dedicated sewing space on board the ship, and when the class was not in session, we often gravitated there to hang out, work on hand projects, and just chat. My understanding of English football may have improved in the room.

Although Karen is the teacher on the cruise, sheworks with two professional travel agents to manage that part of the trip.  Ray and John of RGE Travels have worked with Karen several times before. They handled all the  details of getting 22 quilters from all over the world all on the same page – and the same zoom call – to go over the planning part of the trip, not to mention getting us all to Southampton in time to board.

When a trip is done well, the guests are never aware of the issues that arise, and John and Ray definitely spoiled me. They also sailed with us, so they were always available to check in on us, and to answer any questions. In the run up to this trip, several past passengers from Panama last year absolutely raved about them, so I felt very comfortable about the part of the trip that started aboard the ship.

Our group wound up being 22 quilters from places as diverse as England, the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.  And along with the 22 quilters came the Plus 1s – husbands, daughters, granddaughters, sisters, friends…it was, by most people’s standards, a magical group which just jelled at the beginning. We had several tables in the main dining room on our ship, which always had opportunities for great dinner conversations and interesting interactions.  Someone asked me today what was the best part of the trip, and I didn’t even have to think about it - the people who shared this experience with me.

I’ve already received an email chain from the group with contact information to stay in touch. And 18 replies!

In this photo, there are two people who weren’t part of the class, but who played a huge part in the success of the class - Katie and Ben of K&B Sewing Machines in Romsey, Hampshire. If you saw my social media post from the day I was boarding the ship, this was the (adorable) shop I stopped in at on my way to the pier. They arranged for us to have Bernina sewing machines to use on the cruise, and I had a great experience with mine.

Katie has been a guest on Karen’s “Quilt Circle” interview series, and you can learn more about her impressive story by watching this video link here. She and Ben were on their first cruise, and they always had a friendly smile and a cheerful hello when we met them on the ship - or on excursions.

In the next installment, I’ll tell you about how I got ready for this trip, how I packed, and my adventures in London. Would you believe Afternoon Tea on a Bus?