Day 1

Joined the ship at Southampton via the Cruise Connect bus, which was very efficient and would have been dead on time had it not been for the combination of the Southampton Boat Show and a football match which slowed traffic down somewhat . Embarkation was fast, despite that the fact that I had forgotten to bring the tickets! I took them out to remove the luggage labels and forgot to put them back. At the check-in desk they said "no problem" and checked me in using my passport. That was when that my credit card didn't work on their system but they blamed that on their terminal and said to register it on-board. Impressed with the cabin - sorry, stateroom - plenty of room and a view outside between the lifeboat davits, which I prefer to having a sheer drop owing to my fear of heights. The interactive TV has the name of the previous passengers on it as well as ours. Went to Britannia Grill. Had asked for a table for 2 but our table, 63, is for 6 and located right in the middle. The other guests are a couple of blonde ladies from Southampton, who are on the same deck as us but the other side of the ship and a man and wife from the UK. Conversation is difficult due to the high noise level and the fact that I am totally deaf on one side. Service is quite fast.

Day 2 Read more