We've cruised to the on Oceana for three years now but this time it had been shortened to 28 days which meant we only had time to visit the Eastern Caribbean.

The journey started badly as our train terminated at Birmingham because of the flooding but fortunately they were still allowing an occasional train down to Southampton from there. We managed to fight our way onto one and even got a seat, arriving in Southampton just over an hour late. When we heard the BBC news later that evening, about numerous storms and road and rail closures we heaved a big sigh of relief. However as the title suggests, things happen in 3s and our misfortunes weren't over as the next morning we got a text to say that due to the forecast heavy storms, Oceana would not be sailing that day but we should check-in as planned. Our immediate thought was we'd have to miss out Madeira which proved to be the case. We were actually exactly 48 hours in setting sail, due to the hurricane that hit the South Coast and to be honest it was still pretty rough for the first 36 hours so we felt the captain had made the right decision, as did everybody we spoke to. Embarkation went smoothly (well after our driver returned my iphone which I had left in his taxi!!) and on the first day of our enforced visit to Southampton a shuttle bus was laid on for us so John Lewis and M&S did well out of all the passengers. On Day 2 however, we had to stay on board, as the Captain was waiting for a break ion the weather, which unfortunately didn't come till nearly 4:00 p.m..

So off we sailed into a Force 8 for the first two days. There were lots of people we'd met on previous cruises so they helped us pass the time during our 8 sea days. Of course the weather improved each day so after the mid-Atlantic, we were enjoying time on our balcony and on deck. It was still a bit breezy but not uncomfortably so. Read more