It’s 8pm and for the last hour a cruise ship full of strangers has become a very tight-knit and wholesome astronomy club.
Almost 1,800 of us passengers on Tui’s Marella Discovery 2 are gathered together on the top deck in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, staring up at the same patch of sky.
People are pointing, strangers are chatting and every few seconds someone shouts for their partner, their children or a nearby stranger to peep through their solar eclipse glasses as the orange-lit crescent of the moon edges closer to the sun. Some are on FaceTime with loved ones in the UK who won’t see what we’re about to see.
Comments of “Woah”, “Can you see it?” and “It’s so close” can be heard across the open deck of the ship, which has positioned itself off the coast of Spain so that passengers can witness the moment of totality.
I’m standing among people of all ages, all of us scrambling for a great view of a natural phenomenon most of us will probably only ever see once. I periodically check through my glasses, watching the crescent get smaller as it creeps towards the sun.
Over the whispers of strangers, I can hear the sea gently moving below us and the voice of astronomer and science commentator Dr David Whitehouse, who’s onboard, talking passengers through the eclipse as it unfolds. “This is something our ancestors would never have seen again,” he tells us. “The dinosaur generation wouldn’t have seen this.”
He starts a countdown. Ten minutes becomes one minute, which becomes 20 seconds, as we all eagerly await the moment. “Can you feel the magic building, ladies and gentlemen?” Whitehouse asks as we near the final few seconds.
The vast Atrium Bar on Marella Discovery 2 (Photo: Tom Fallon)And honestly, I can. Most crew members have slotted into the sea of strangers and nobody minds that there’s barely any room to move. The all-inclusive bar has gone quiet; people have stopped ordering drinks as we’re all fixated on the next few minutes.
When it happens, and the light drops and the sky darkens, the boat erupts in a sea of “aaaahs” and people frantically trying to capture something their phone cameras cannot possibly do justice to.
For 93 seconds, the sun is completely covered and we’re standing in darkness in the middle of the Mediterranean. “This has been the perfect eclipse,” Whitehouse says.
It’s hard not to feel completely awestruck knowing I had one of the best possible views of the astronomical event that became the centrepiece of this seven-day trip around Europe.
This August was the first time since 1905 that a total solar eclipse could be viewed from Spain (Photo: Leon Neal/Getty)It was on day two of the Cosmopolitan Charms itinerary, which had started in Palma de Mallorca and had been tweaked slightly to put us in the perfect spot in the sea. Cruising offers something land-based eclipse viewing can’t: a good view with the ability to move. The ship was able to get into position, away from the crowds, with the crew monitoring conditions and positioning the vessel as best they could.
“These are for tomorrow; you won’t want to miss it,” one of the staff had told me the day before, handing me a set of solar eclipse glasses. Once we left the Spanish port of Palamós, we spent a few hours sailing into position. “We’re going as quick as we can to get you a once-in-a-lifetime view,” said the captain.
There was certainly no shortage of people who’d come on the trip specifically for the event. One man in his 60s told me he’d extended his cruise by a week to see the eclipse, describing it as a “once-in-a-lifetime” experience. “Nobody at home would have seen what we did and I hope everyone realised how special that was,” he said a few days later, when everybody was still talking about it.
Tui’s Marella Discovery 2 set sail from Palma de MallorcaHe was a self-proclaimed “space obsessive”, and not the only one aboard. There were plenty of younger passengers gathered around the decks, many in their twenties like me. Some in couples, others with friends or family. Standing shoulder to shoulder with the same view brought everyone together in a way that viewing back home couldn’t.
The eclipse turned out to be the cherry on top of an already activity-packed Mediterranean cruise.
The Marella Discovery 2 is a floating resort capable of carrying 1,836 passengers, with two pools, a spa, mini-golf, a climbing wall, an outdoor cinema and enough bars and restaurants to make choosing where to eat each night difficult.
Our days were spent moving between Propriano in Corsica, Rome via Civitavecchia, the Amalfi Coast and Palermo.
In Rome, I spent my time walking, standing in awe at landmarks like the Vatican, the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain, and eating pasta. On the Amalfi Coast, it was lemon gelato, and in Palermo, it was Sicilian sandwiches filled with Italian meats and cheese.
The cruise called at Salerno on the Amalfi CoastThe major appeal of a cruise is waking up somewhere new without having to drag your suitcase there – and many ages are seeing it. Despite the stereotype of it appealing primarily to retirees, Cruise Lines International Association (Clia) stats show the average age of cruisers is 54.6, and there were plenty of younger couples enjoying the ship’s Broadway Show Lounge, late-night discos and bars. Next winter, Marella Discovery 2 will become permanently adults-only, with children’s spaces replaced by a speakeasy-style bar, escape room, karaoke room and arts-and-crafts area.
On this particular cruise, the most memorable entertainment was something none of us could control, a natural phenomenon, and it’s likely to be an increasingly attractive proposition for eclipse-chasing travellers.
The next big opportunity comes next year, when a total solar eclipse will cross southern Spain, North Africa and Egypt on 2 August. It’s being dubbed the “eclipse of the century” because totality will last for more than six minutes in parts of the path.
The Nile is likely to be one of the biggest draws for this, and having watched an eclipse from the deck of a ship, I can understand why. There’s something wonderfully simple about it. You can be somewhere beautiful, with food and a drink nearby, while someone else works out exactly where you need to be. And all of us who were there will talk about what we witnessed for years to come, knowing we might never see it again.
How to do it
Marella Cruises offers a seven-night, all-inclusive Cosmopolitan Charms on Marella Discovery 2 from £1470pp, sailing round trip from Palma de Mallorca. Includes Tui Airways flights from Gatwick to Palma on 20 October, 20kg of luggage, transfers, tips and service charges.
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