So our exciting adventure started yesterday when we arrived in Southampton just before midday. Check in was a fairly slow process but being newbie cruisers we were happily shuffling along, just pleased to be there. It soon became clear that the “KIAC” (know it all cruisers as we decided to call them) weren’t happy. “It’s never been like this before” “those people are moving faster than us” and even “we’ve been given an upgrade but we’re not happy about it” It appears KIAC are not easy to please….
Given the length of the cruise it probably shouldn’t have been a surprise that the majority of our fellow shipmates appear to be retired. Absolutely no disrespect to any retired readers and we don’t include anyone we know back home but they also appear to be generally a bit grumpy!
Tensions were running high but the tannoy announcement “I’m going to say this loudly – we’ve found a hearing aid if anyone has lost one” made us chuckle at least.
We got into our cabin just after 2pm and, as we were hoping, have been upgraded to a window with an unrestricted view – happy days. Cabin is lovely and we unpacked, managing to find room for everything.
Sailaway was supposed to be 5.30pm but our Captain announced that due to delays in boarding we had missed the slot so it would be 9.30pm. Andrew was keeping a close eye at the lorries loading supplies/luggage onto the ship and was convinced we wouldn’t make the 9.30 departure either. He was right – we finally set sail at around 11.15pm. Captain had gone quiet by this stage – might have been thinking that food and drink would calm everyone down.
We had a nice meal in the buffet and went to one of the entertainment rooms for an hour or so where there was live music and a DJ.
Day 2
Quite strange waking up to a view of the open sea!
A quick look at Facebook informed us that during the night we had in fact turned back towards Southampton due to a medical emergency – someone with breathing difficulties. A helicopter put a paramedic on board but the person and their partner were then transferred by lifeboat to shore apparently. All while we were sound asleep!
Spending the day trying to orientate ourselves with this vast ship – she is a real beauty!
We are around two hours behind schedule apparently and should be docking in La Coruna about 10.30 a.m. tomorrow. Really looking forward to it.