THE wide blue bay is a vision of paradise in the early morning sun: golden sand, a gentle breeze and the curving beach almost to myself, apart from a few children fishing for crabs among the rocks on the foreshore.

Then I look in the other direction along the shore to see the face of conflict: a massive concrete bunker, presenting a narrow slit towards the waves and built to resist bombardment.

It all looks in such immaculate working order that I half expect a blonde, freshfaced Hans to open the hatch door and ask politely if he could go home.

Now I understand why our Fred Olsen cruise liner Balmoral stirred so much interest with an onshore expedition on the Channel Island of Guernsey entitled “The German Occupation – with the chance to explore and photograph a German gun emplacement”.

If you like gun emplacements, Guernsey's collection is among the world's finest: many boast a brand new coat of Dulux, and Castle Cornet, bastion of the English Crown for 800 years, fires an 18th century cannon each day.

A gentler Fred Olsen outing offered a cycle tour of the island, taking in some of its 27 (mostly sandy) beaches and bays. With a speed limit of 35mph, Guernsey has drivers so careful that even amateur cyclists can amble along with confidence.

Cruise ships make about 120 visits a year to Guernsey. It's a grand sight when you pull back the curtains to see St Peter Port basking in the sun.

There's plenty to see in a few hours onshore: beaches and bays, the house where French novelist Victor Hugo polished the final version of Les Miserables between visits from his mistress, fine seafood, and so many bits, bobs and bunkers which the Germans left behind.

Driving into St Peter Port, Visit Guernsey guide Viv Wenman points to the long slit in a solid stone wall at a road junction: the invaders popped a machine gun through the gap to deter resistance, and locals have preserved it.

We rounded off our visit with a splendid Sunday lunch at La Fregate restaurant (amazing value at £26 per head), enjoyed on the terrace of a hillside vantage point which looked down on the Balmoral in the wide blue bay beneath us.

We reached Guernsey on the second day of our weekend cruise – which began in Southampton on a Friday afternoon.

Fred Olsen's fleet has a reputation for its care of older travellers, especially over- 60s. But when I checked in by stepping gingerly between the push chairs, I realised its weekend cruises attract a wider age group.

Family reunions linking the generations, hen parties/girly weekenders, even a male voice choir from Hampshire in matching pullovers due to perform in Normandy – all sorts turned out for this one.

Some are drawn by the fame of the ship: Balmoral, the largest ship in Olsen's fleet, starred in The Cruise: A Life at Sea on BBC 2.

With everybody finishing meals at roughly the same time, Balmoral offers a fantastic mix of musical shows, dancing, karaoke and numerous bars to pass the evening – all rounded off with a midnight buffet.

On the promenade deck, groups gather before breakfast to cover four laps for a measured mile. You can do yoga, Pilates and exercise to music – at £5 per class.

Our cabin had good sea views beyond the line of lifeboats, rather than a balcony – but a settee and oodles of living space beyond the bed. And the bathroom was big enough to include a bath where you could actually sit down.

Single travellers like Balmoral too, because she has 64 cabins (out of a total of 800-plus) designed for people travelling alone, who dodge single supplements to enjoy a space which is all their own.

Prior to visiting Guernsey, our boat made a stop in Honfleur, a historic and beautifully preserved town on the Seine estuary of Northern France, where Parisians come at weekends to escape.

We walked into town, following cobbled streets beyond the market place to Sainte-Catherine, built by shipwrights in the 15/16th centuries and the largest wooden church with a separate bell tower in France.

The town's impressive art gallery is a tribute to eminent local artist Eugene Boudin and fellow Impressionists, including Monet.

But the most unusual museum here is The Maisons Satie, a strange mixture of sights, sounds and machines arranged as a tribute to composer Erik Satie, born here in 1866.

Honfleur and Guernsey make a fascinating double act. If it's possible to arrive in Southampton on a Monday morning with a spring in your step, you probably need to arrive on Balmoral, with ukulele serenades still ringing in your ears.

  • Jeremy Gates was a guest of Fred Olsen Cruises (www.fredolsencruises.com, tel 0800-035-5150) which offers a variety of mini-cruises.
  • On December 6, Fred Olsen's Black Watch will operate a four-night Paris & Bruges voyage ex-Dover (to Rouen and Zeebrugge) from £399 per person.
  • For more information on Guernsey, or to book a tour, visit www.visitguernsey.com or call 0800-028-5353.