'We tried an MSC fly-cruise from Manchester Airport to the Med - it was amazing'

It's easy to take for granted just how lucky we are to have an international airport just a few miles from our city centre.

Yes, we've all had a grumble about queues, parking and the rest of it - but it really does bring the world to Wythenshawe. But, because our airport makes so many destinations so easy to get to, it can mean experiences that are a little bit more difficult to get to can end up being overlooked.

After all, why bother driving to Southampton for a cruise when you can nip down Princess Parkway and be in Lanzarote by lunchtime?

The good news is there is a way where you can go cruising without having to trek down south. MSC's fly and cruise option offers accessible cruising from Manchester and is absolutely perfect for families looking for something a bit different from the typical short-haul holidays we love.

Over the May half-term I tried it - and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. Staff can't do enough for you, there's a huge range of things to do and see, the choice of food is wide - and that's before you've even stepped off the ship.

I loved the fact that even though the sailing doesn't start until you get to Italy, the journey starts here in Greater Manchester with a Jet2 flight. To me, the flight I took might as well as had 'The Med' on the front, in the way that buses, in the 1950s, used to have New York, and Zurich on their faces, as they ferried passengers from the long-lost city centre airport check-in to the gate for their flight at Ringway.

We took MSC's Divina fly-cruise route, which leaves Rome's Civitavecchia port about 5pm, allows you to get accommodated to how things work and rest with a sea day, before arriving at Mykonos the day after.

The next day we hit Izmir in Turkey, then