The Cruise to Norway, including Dublin, Iceland, and Brugge...

Saturday, 18th June - SOUTHAMPTON - ALL ABOARD!!!

Yesterday, the taxi driver who brought me back from the Hertz yard, suggested we get down there around 11.30am, as that would be when the bus loads of other passengers would start arriving. Good local knowledge is always handy!

So we walked into town to try and find a better (third) bag to replace the cheap one we'd bought in Gloucester, which was becoming hard to manage and perhaps not strong enough. On the way, we went to the remains of the old town walls and you can go up stairs and get a better view around the area. It's good they've kept these bits of the past, and fascinating to see just how large the wall would have been.

Then we headed to the large shopping mall, to get bag labels and the new case.

There isn't much choice for travel goods, which surprised us a little, given that so many cruises leave from Southampton, and we had lunch at Pret a Porter first, and then went back to find things. Great shops, and you could go berserk finding lots of lovely clothes here, but that's not what we wanted and so after discovering that M & S didn't have luggage, we went back to John Lewis (which I reckon is their version of David Jones), and found a really good one, that had been reduced. It ended up being just the thing, and again we were able to re-organise everything for the trip down to the docks tomorrow.

The taxi driver down to the ship was telling us that the big shipping lines don't necessarily bring that much money into the town any more, as they had taken over a large part of the docks and had dedicated it for the parking of cars and buses for cruise passengers. We came across several people on the ship, who simply parked their car at the dock for the duration of the cruise, and all they had to do when we disembarked, was to wheel their bags over to the car, and drive off home. One couple only lived ten minutes away in Southampton, and they parked there!!!

So with that service provided by the shipping lines, the hotels aren't getting as much trade. Why pay for a night in a hotel if you can simply drive to the ship on the day?

On a completely different note, this wonderful model of the creature from the ALIEN movies, was on display in a game shop! It was all metal, and sculptured/welded/soldered together!

Next - ALL ABOARD!!