It had been a stressful night on Saturday, the train strike had caused issues getting Raffy to the dog sitter’s, and Jane wasn’t able to drop him off until after 8pm, which meant that our travel plans of driving down to Southampton were postponed until this morning and all the pre-departure checks were more than a little fraught.
We departed at 07:30, heading down to New Milton where the car was going to be left with Jane’s Dad for the duration. The drive down was uneventful, and we were in New Milton before 10am and the bags transferred to John’s car for the drop-off at the Mayflower Cruise Terminal. After a short rest, fortified by a lovely cup of tea we headed on the short drive to start our adventure. Sunday morning traffic was reasonably light and we arrived at the terminal 30 minutes before our allocated time. We dropped off our bags and before you knew it we were through security and onto the ship. We went straight to our muster station and checked in there with our boarding passes. With those formalities out of the way we climbed the stairs to deck 4 and our cabin.
The PG cabins on deck four have huge balconies, not QG huge, but pretty big with a couple of reclining rattan chairs and a footstool. The fizz wasn’t a half bottle of Pol Acker but a full bottle of Grand Imperial, sparkling Blanc de Blanc and the added bonus of couple of Charbonnel and Walker truffles each – according to Jane it compares favourably with the Pol Acker.
We headed up to the PG dining room for lunch, mainly to see where we would be seated and we’re on a table for 6 – table 106 which is right at the front of the dining room with nice views forward over the Grills Deck. We weren’t particularly hungry but it’s nice to see what’s what. When I logged into MyCunard at home, the table was set to a table of six, so I changed it to a two expecting to get a two., I’m not sure how a large table would work in the Grills if people end up eating at different times, so I was surprised to see when we arrived in the PG dining room, we were allocated to a six. I can only assume this was because we booked this cruise really late and there was only this six top left. I’m not complaining and we lunched with a very pleasant pair of sisters. My lunch was a smoked salmon and wasabi starter and Italian sausage pasta, no dessert for me, but one of our table mates had the rhubarb and strawberry crumble and I very nearly changed my mind.
After lunch it was back to the stateroom for the more mundane chore of unpacking the multitude of bags. Jane asked for more hangers which Myra our steward supplied. Clothes hung and bags hidden away under the bed it was getting near to Commodore O’clock, so we headed upstairs for a much deserved drink. Jane started with a Cool as a Cucumber and I had an Atlantic Mist. This was followed by a Doombar and a Ginger Cosmopolitan and nibbles, dry roasted peanuts.
We were a little late getting to dinner, Jane had to wash and dry her hair which takes an age these days, but we were up in the PG restaurant a little after 19:30 to find our tablemates already finishing their entrees. After a quick round of introductions with the remaining two members we settled in to a pleasant dinner of ham hock terrine, New York strip in a pepper sauce and frozen mango and passion fruit souffle. Dinner was excellent and after that we headed down to the Winter Garden to listen to the Newfoundland Duo, an Irish folk duo, before retiring for the night.
An excellent description. Will
You be doing the aqua aerobics tomorrow before breakfast?
Thank you Tim, that’s a good question, I don’t think the risk of a stiff neck is worth it. Too much risk verses reward, but we will be doing the chairobics are there’s very little chance of neck related injuries there.
When are the lifebelt drills?
Thank you Tim, that’s a good question, In these modern times the lifeboat drills are now virtual and are done in the comfort of your very own stateroom