INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEAS JULY 26TH 2008 - MEDITERRANEAN TREASURES PEOPLE TRAVELING- me, early 50s, from the UK, My niece C, early 30s from NYC, A, also early 30s and from NYC and her Mom, G early 60s from NJ. We joined up with two friends from our Jewel of the Seas cruise in 2007 P and S early 50s from UK.
PRE-CRUISE We all arrived from our various airports or driving and the 4 of us stayed at Highfield House hotel in Southampton- very reasonable price and pleasant rooms with very pleasant staff. Price included breakfast.
DEPARTURE DAY Two of us drove to the port, the others took a taxi as we had too much luggage for one car. We arrived at just before 11 and dropped our luggage, went to park the car and as we were leaving the car park met S and P who were just arriving. They left us to check in before us and we waited outside for G and A. Their taxi was a long time in coming but at last they arrived and we checked in quickly, stood for the welcome onboard photo and we were onboard by 11.45. We had sailed Navigator and Mariner previously and so knew the basic layout of the ship but we spent some time wandering around admiring the ship. We eventually went to out staterooms to leave our carry on bags. A and G had a promenade view room on deck 8 and we had a junior suite on deck 9 on the hump. Great room. We then went to the Windjammer for our first lunch onboard- we had been talking about the great salads you can 'make' for hours. We met S and P and bagged the very large round tables. After lunch our bags had started to arrive so we were able to unpack a little before the safety drill.