Enjoying virtual voyages across Europe

Residents at Sanctuary Care homes across England and Scotland are embarking on a ‘virtual’ two-month cruise trip during a summer-long globe-trotting expedition.

Over 100 of our care homes are preparing to set sail tomorrow (2 July) from our very own port in ‘Southampton’ to eight beautiful and popular destinations. Creating the perfect cruising experience, our dedicated teams will be transforming our homes into ships, where they will be playfully known as cabin crew, and our residents are now our luxury passengers (travelling first class of course!).

At each picture-perfect destination, we will bringing the flavours, traditions and cultures into the heart of our ship so our fabulous residents can enjoy wonderful ‘excursions’ while remaining safe and happy in the place they call home. But this isn’t your average cruising activity. Our residents will feel like they are on a real holiday, with personalised boarding passes and tour guides at each destination. We have also equipped our cabin crew with weekly handouts so they can deliver traditional festivities, with real likeliness to create meaningful moments that you would naturally create on holiday. And we can’t forget our Captains, once formally known as home managers, who will ring in their ship at every port and run through the exciting itineraries for that week, as well as ensuring there are no ‘men overboard.’

So where is our Sanctuary Care Virtual Cruise-liner traveling to?

We will be officially setting sail with boarding passes in hand from Thursday 2 July in Southampton, and voyaging to:

• Lisbon, Portugal (9 – 10 July)
• Malaga, Spain (16 – 17 July)
• Nice, France (23 – 24 July)
• Rome, Italy (30 – 31 July)
• Valletta, Malta (6 – 7 August)
• Athens, Greece (13 – 14 August)
• Limassol, Cyprus (20 – 21 August)
• Istanbul, Turkey (27 – 28 August)

We will be busy celebrating traditional festivals, enjoying three-course themed cuisine, learning a new language or dance move or two, as well as turning our hands to traditional painting and line drawing, and even sampling the finest ports from Portugal. No day or experience will be the same, and at every port, country or activity we will be providing a person-centred activity so everyone can experience what these beautiful countries have to offer and learn something new (as holidays and inspiring activities have no age limit).

And someone who is already excited to get some sea-miles in, is our Captain Hugo Ruela (home manager at Chadwell House Residential Care Home) who said: “It’s such a fantastic and inclusive activity that all our residents, including those living with dementia, as well as our teams can benefit from. We have so many exciting excursions and activities to look forward to, as well as delicious meals. Everyone will experience something new including my cabin crew, while for some it will also provoke amazing memories of when they travelled with their loved ones. We can’t deny that recent months have been a challenge for the care sector and we all deserve something to focus on that is positive, something to celebrate and just get away from it all – and the Sanctuary Care virtual cruise is our answer!”

We can’t deny that recent months have been a challenge for the care sector and we all deserve something to focus on that is positive, something to celebrate and just get away from it all – and the Sanctuary Care virtual cruise is our answer!

Watch this space as we share exciting weekly updates and postcards across social media!