Before starting the cruise we stayed overnight at Chilworth Manor, about five miles outside Southampton, on a Park & Cruise package. You get a room, dinner, breakfast, car parking and a taxi to and from the cruise terminal. It's a beautiful hotel and the weather had suddenly turned sunny and hot so we were beginning to wish that we had booked a week in Southampton instead of a cruise.

Following several emails from Princess about boarding not starting until 1pm we arrived just before 1 and found that it had still not started. We overheard a member of staff at the terminal saying that the ship was having a deep clean and later found out that there had been a noro outbreak on board. Boarding eventually started about half an hour later.

We easily found the cabin, a Vista suite at the stern of Dolphin deck, as we had been in its twin on the Emerald Princess a couple of years ago. Despite the age of the ship it is still in excellent condition and the cabin was clean and well furnished. Read more