Vacay part 2

7/21/15

National Express Bus from Victoria Station to Southampton. A few hours of driving and another 100 pictures or so later we arrive and find a taxi to take us to the pier. Great scenery along the way and we did get to drive through the University. Very cool looking! We arrived in plenty of time to board, drop our stuff off in our room, find a drink and start taking pictures of the dock from the ship!

Leaving London we drove through this town on our way to the M4. All the towns were just this gorgeous!

What a cool looking school!

Please note that there are 2 drinks, one for me and one for Joe! 

This is the area where we entered to board the ship, probably one of the easiest times we've ever had.

Must say, boarding in Southampton was beyond easy! These guys really know how to expedite! From the time the taxi pulled up to the time we were on ship, maybe 20 minutes! I was very impressed with how quickly things went. If I was able to walk faster on the uphill ramps, it would of been even less! Right off the bat, this ship impressed us. Very clean, great staff and our room steward already had the water and power cord for my machine in the room. We dropped our carry on items and headed up on deck to check things out. Muster drill was well organized, staff was great. Wish that some of our fellow passengers were as pleasant. To my way of thinking it is the final hurdle and once we complete it, the cruise portion of vacay is officially underway!

  

Amazing views as we are pulling out of the dock. The coast is gorgeous and we pass by a bit of every type of scenery imaginable. Joe loved all the abandoned boats we saw. I'm not sure why but I think my favorite was the field of cows! 

Now that the cruise portion of the vacation has begun we finish our drinks then head off to explore the ship. Good size, but not overwhelmingly so. Everyone we see, both staff and fellow passengers are friendly. Evidently, the trauma of the muster drill has worn off (or the naysayers have taken to their cabins)! Walk around a bit then head to cabin to unpack and get ready for dinner. One suitcase is already waiting for us. Get it unpacked as the second one arrives. Great room with plenty of space for all of our junk and the cases fit under the bed. OCD issues tended to, we are off to find food.

Signed up for the Anytime Dining which means that we show up and they find us a table. Get the option of dining alone or with others but for this first night they seated us up front with all the wheel chair bound folks! Okay for one night but we changed that seating arrangement for the rest of the cruise! Put me in the back by the windows. POC has wheels for a reason. We also tried to be seated at larger tables so we would have the opportunity to meet some folks. Being on a ship from the UK is very different than the cruises that we have taken in the past. Joe and I are just loving all of the different folks we are meeting!  

Next installment, cool ports and interesting people!