We boarded the Navigator in Malaga, which was a wonderful start for us as it is only about an hours drive away from our home. We had arranged to leave our car at SP Parking, which is an off site airport parking and that they would take us down to the port in their transportation. This worked out perfectly for us and no sooner had we arrived that we were in their taxi van and on our way - about 30 minutes drive from the airport area to the port. Navigator looked superb in the sunshine and we weren't to be disappointed. Malaga port is undergoing major construction work and the ship was berthed a long way from the port entrance, it seemed a very complicated route that the driver had to take to get us to the ship and I would have hated to try and get there under our own steam.

We had read many horror stories about embarkation at Malaga during the series of 5 night cruises prior to our Transatlantic, however we were pleasantly surprised. Porters were readily available to take the luggage and we entered a short queue for security and were checked in very speedily. Lots of check in staff were available and there were some shops, including a duty free shop after the baggage scanner for any last minute purchases!

It took an hour from us arriving at SP Parking at Malaga Airport to boarding the Navigator - we were on board by midday - and as usual cabins were not available until 1pm - so we headed to the Windjammer for a light lunch before going to the main dining room to check out our table allocation. We were delighted to find that we had got our table for 2 , as requested, in the 3rd floor Nutcracker restaurant. Read more