Sam Faiers has shared her holiday memories (Image: Getty)
Sam Faiers felt she’d had it with holidays from hell that didn’t live up to their promises, after being caught out at least three times by fake pictures.
“In the past I’ve looked at images online and booked a holiday based on the glossy pictures that the hotel might upload and then after arriving, it’d be nothing like what it says,” she revealed in an exclusive interview with the Express.
After several bad experiences, she wasn’t keen to get scammed again – and when the opportunity arose to set sail with Royal Caribbean recently, she questioned whether it’d be for her.
A cruise was the last thing she’d expected to enjoy as a mum of boisterous young kids, as she’d always assumed it was for the “older generation”. “I’d never done a cruise before, and if I’m being totally honest, I didn’t think cruises were for me and my family,” she confided.
“My grandparents always went on cruises! I felt like it was for like the older generation, with everything set up for them, and I never even knew what they had to offer for families.” She added that she’d felt like there was a “stigma” around doing the same trip as a young woman with three kids aged eight, six and two years old.
However, the 33-year-old, formerly a reality star on TOWIE and now an entrepreneur and influencer, said that her Oasis of the Seas cruise with Royal Caribbean International “couldn’t have been more different” than her original expectations.
The Mediterranean cruise took her everywhere from Barcelona to Rome – but with multiple restaurants and swimming pools, entertainment shows and every possible sporting activity from ziplining and rock-climbing to surf smulators and football on board, she found plenty to do while at sea too.
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Sam Faiers posing outside the cruise ship’s aquatics show (Image: SAM FAIERS/ROYAL CARIBBEAN)
“I’ve got three children of three different age – and there was something for all of them,” Sam recalled.
“For instance, my son’s really into football and there was football every day, around four o’clock on the top deck.”
There was also a waterpark perfectly suited to tots, with three waterslides, water cannons, fountains, pools and the first-ever twin drench buckets, while the older kids loved The Ultimate Abyss (the longest dry slide at sea) and The Perfect Storm (an “action-packed trio of multistorey waterslides known as Typhoon, Cyclone and Supercell”).
There was even an aquatics show featuring Olympic-level divers and synchronised swimmers onboard.
She added: “I think what I loved about the cruise most was waking up every morning and you’re somewhere else – it’s magical. There’s something quite therapeutic about falling asleep and knowing that you’re sailing out at sea.”
She even managed to stave off toddler tantrums from her youngest, little Edward, as there was so much to keep him engaged and occupied.
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Sam Faiers found something to occupy all three of her kids on the cruise (Image: SAM FAIERS/ROYAL CARIBBEAN)
“My toddler is actually not the best traveller in the world,” she confessed, “and I feel like this has been the only trip I’ve been on where he has been well behaved!”
“It was only a short couple of hours on a flight to get to the ship, as we went from Barcelona, and that journey was no problem. Then once you’re on the ship, when you’re travelling from place to place, there’s so much to do, so it’s almost like you’re not travelling at all!”
Holidays aside, having successfully sailed the seas with a toddler, Sam now has a bigger travel challenge in mind –
The reality star has come a long way since her TV debut in TOWIE and now has her products stocked everywhere from Boots to Harrods.
They include prams, home furnishings, a collagen drink, an eyelash line and even a fragrance which excelled so much in its first year that it out-performed offerings from rivals like and .
Although she no longer needs the exposure, she’d still love the adventure of taking to the Australian jungle and braving Bushtucker Trials – and thinks her background has more than equipped her for the challenge.
Despite her reputation as an image-conscious glamour-puss, Sam shared that she’s “actually quite adventurous and outdoorsy” too and that camping and creepy-crawlies wouldn’t faze her.
Could the show be the next step in her already illustrious career? Stay tuned to find out.
Sam Faiers has partnered with Royal Caribbean International () for her holiday onboard cruise ship, . Offering the ultimate choice for a family holiday and memorable quality time, six Royal Caribbean ships will sail from five European destinations next summer (2025).