I chose this cruise because of the 3 days in France, I could hire a car and drive up to Dieppe from Le Havre. The coastal road drive was lovely and we had beautiful sunny weather and finished the day with a drive over the bridge to Honfleur. Alas our day in Cherbourg wasn't as kind weatherwise and Celebrity took the decision to miss out St Peter Port because of rough seas and poor forecast. So we arrived in Cherbourg a day early and as this Monday was a Holiday day - mostly the shops etc were closed. Some folk returned to the ship complaining about this but it didn't bother us as I knew we would at least find a cafe. We did however lose out private tour to Mont St Michel. We did miss the museum though right by the dock which friend on the ship told us was marvellous; a must for next time.

I got ahead of myself so should start at ...... embarkation went as smoothly as usual. The care taken of disabled people at Southampton port cannot be faulted and all credit and grateful thanks to the small army of men who collect you in a chair and whisk you though security (very thorough - thankfully) then through registration etc and then onto the ship where after receiving the flute of sparkly stuff it was off to Cafe al Bacio. After a delicious alcoholic coffee (I had a few of those as I had upgraded to the premium package) we got to our room just after 1pm. It was 2 doors away from last year's room so I knew it suited us well. Room 8191, balcony room with bed by the window. I think our cases were there in the fastest time ever and we had the room organised and clothes unpacked well before Muster drill.

Muster drill wasn't quite as smooth as usual - we watched a video which was ok though I didn't see the need for screen after screen in other languages - it could all have been printed on one screen and then some time was spent whilst the staff located a lifejacket to give a physical demo. Anyway it was eventually over and we made our way to the Sunset Bar for the sail away from Southampton. Alas it was a touch cool and windy and quite a few people missed it. I was disappointed to miss a few of the folk who had been posting on the roll call, some had been on other cruises with me and I never managed to see them. I even wonder if "KevininYork" even exists! Read more