THE CRUISE -

Day One - Saturday, 18th June - Southampton

(This cruise was chosen only because of its destination, Norway.
We have had two 14 day cruises before this, both of which included New Zealand, and the second of which was on a large ship like this one, the Azura.)

We had left Australia before P & O would have sent us the balance of our ticketing, etc., and so we didn't have baggage labels, which they said they would send. You can download them on-line, but we had no access to a printer during most of our trip around the UK.

When the taxi dropped us, a large man in porters outfit came with a trolley and once he was told we had no labels, we were escorted inside to a table which had been set up for people in our situation. A friendly team of volunteers (?) then wrote our cabin number on the labels, and after attaching them, the porter disappeared with our luggage, assuring us they would end up in our cabin.
Upstairs, in the huge waiting area, you can sit wherever you want, and they have free magazines and coffee, and drinks, and precisely at midday they call passengers to board. It was very interesting just sitting there and perusing all the different faces around us. Obviously a big percentage of Brits, but scattered through were the odd Oriental couple, or those from other parts of Europe. Something I love doing.


Naturally the ones first called are those with large staterooms and suites, and then they work through the alphabet, and you are called up according to the letter which is given to you when you get to this area. We were fairly early, so we were letter "E", and it wasn't long before we got in line. 

However, we were the odd ones out, i.e. NON European residents, and so were shown to a special area, where they checked our tickets, and then took our Passports. At this point you begin to wonder if they are really allowed to do this, but they explain that they will be returned to us when we disembark.
(Note: Not so. We had to be given them back later in the cruise, so that we could enter Belgium)

The whole process is VERY efficient, and then you each get a ship card to use for ALL purchases on board, as they don't use money. It is also your cabin key.
After the required holiday snap by ship's photographers, we boarded. The cabins are not ready until later in the day, so went found one of the buffet restaurants, as we hadn't eaten for a while, and then found a bar (Surprise!), and had a bit of a look around.

The cabins were ready about 2.00pm, and when we got the call, went to find ours. It is on A Deck, and is the twelfth floor, and this deck is called "Australia", and the entire deck is cabins, some inside with no windows or anything, and the rest face out to the sea on both sides. All but one of our bags was there and so we set about unpacking, and it was good to know that we wouldn't have to do this again for over two weeks!!!

These are the shots from our deck, showing the length of the ship fore and aft.

They had a "champagne sail-away" up on the top decks, and we had our share, although we are still not sure whether or not we paid for the drinks, it was very pleasant being up there to watch the ship leave port. I always enjoy this part. This giant ship slips so easily out from the dock, and then gently gets under way. We had to wait for some other ships to leave before us, (tides wait for no man).

This wasn't as good as the time we left Auckland, when hundreds of boats 'escorted' the ship out of Auckland harbour, but the weather cleared, and it was very pleasant, and good to know we were under way.

Decks of the cabins below ours

One of the local brass bands to send us off.

We were booked into the early sitting for dinner at 6.30, and wandered down to try and find the restaurant. There was a card in our cabin, which had the details of which table we were to be seated at, No 57 in the Peninsular Restaurant. This is one of two large rooms dedicated to serving the two meal sittings of 6.30 and 8.30pm. This means that whatever happens during the early sitting, we all had to be out in time so that they could re-set for the later crowd.


The early crowd had a great many people who are into all the shows and things and so wanted to be done with dinner and then go to the show. A lot of the latecomers, would have already been to an earlier show at 7.15pm , and so it goes on. If you are that type of person who likes all your activities just so organised, then this is for you.

It's not for Lee and I !!

Still, having dinner early does give you the chance to do other things, like have a walk on the deck, or go to the bar, or casino, or just find somewhere else that the crowds aren't.


Our table at dinner was interesting to say the least. We had another two couples with us and you have the same people every time you go to dinner. They were all very nice people, but the husband of one couple (we think), may have had a stroke or something, and I don't think I heard more than five words he said. His wife was next to me and she was nice and we chatted a bit. 

Lee had the husband of the other couple next to her, and he seemed very interesting, and so was his wife, but she was the talker, and we didn't get much from him. 
We saw all of them again during the course of the cruise, but only joined them at dinner four times.
This was mainly because there were four Black Tie Formal Dress nights, and three Semi-formal nights where the men (discrimination!!!) had to wear a jacket.


We don't do formal nights and we thought that out of a 15 day cruise, a total of six "straight jacket" nights was too much, and besides, you can't carry formal gear half way around the world, just to take on a cruise.


The first meal was very good and the serves were not large, (in fact I wouldn't be surprised if some people thought the servings to be small), and you get a choice in each of the three courses. It is good service, and at the end of the cruise you are expected to give the head guy from your table an envelope containing a remuneration, which is spread amongst he and his team. 


First evening meal on board over with, and who knows what they thought of us Aussies, but we did have some interesting conversations on the few nights we were with them
After dinner we went out and looked at the water, and tried to work out where we were, relative to the English coastline, and thought we might be off the Isle of Wight and possibly looking at Osborne House. Then we proceeded along the coast of mainland England, past Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.

A good night's sleep, as the bed is quite comfortable, but not sure yet about the pillows.


Tomorrow - Sailing towards Dublin, and getting used to the layout of the ship...