Where do I start.......firstly I would like to say that myself and my partner are under the age of 30 and this was our second cruise, our last being with P&O in 2011.
We arrived in Southampton the evening before, having travelled down by coach and we stayed in the Premier Inn Hotel which is practically opposite the port. We got a taxi the morning of the cruise to the port which cost �£5.00 and we were greated outside the port by baggage handlers who took our cases. Check in was fabulous, no waiting around just straight through. The whole check in process must has taken about 15 mins. We booked the cruise over 12 months ago and had booked an inside cabin on deck 2 towards the back of the ship at a cost of �£950pp. We had arranged not to pre-pay our gratuties. The cabin was an adequate size and we couldn't fault the cabin steward as he always made sure that we had fresh towels etc. We did speak to another couple who had told us that they had booked their cruise 2 weeks before departure and had got it for �£600pp for an outside cabin, so maybe if we went again we would wait for a late deal.
We did attempt breakfast at around 9.30am in the Windjammer buffet restaurant a few mornings but it was hectic, too many people and not enough tables. It was either you walk around for half an hour looking for a table or you waited until 10.45 until it had emptied out a bit. We therefore used room service for breakfast some mornings, you couldn't fault it. We even had delivered complimentary strawberries dipped in chocolate one afternoon from them.