We booked this cruise late, and were pleased to find it under-occupied, with 300 souls less than the full complement.

We travelled to Southampton by train from Cardiff, and were met by the usual problems on First Great Western, ridiculous overcrowding, and a train one hour late due to a points failure, this time. There's always something on every journey How do the bosses of this company have the brass-necked nerve to accept an annual bonus?!

This was compensated for by a rapid embarkation to the ship, the best ever at about 15 minutes. Read more