Day 16 - Southampton

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Geo: 50.8998, -1.39561

We awake at 6am and Adventure of the Seas is already docked in Southampton. It's a beautiful, crisp sunny morning. P&O's Oriana is silently making her way up the channel to her berth behind us. I can see bleary eyes passengers from that ship looking over at ours. No doubt mulling about their journeys home.

We shower, dress and head down to the Vivaldi Dining Room for breakfast. As it's the last morning it's served buffet style rather than waiter service. After that we head up to deck 12 for a walk around in the early morning sunshine. Feels strange to know we have travelled from the new world back to the old without getting on a plane.

As it's still too early for us to disembark we head to the Windjammer for some coffee and pastries to pass some time. We then head back to our cabin for the last time to ensure we have everything before leaving Adventure of the Seas. All being well we will be boarding her again in exactly 117 days time for a 2 day mini cruise to France with family.

We head down to deck 4 and within minutes we are collecting our bags and hauling them through border control. There are a lot of mean looking guys on duty pulling people aside left right and centre. We were warned security would be heavy as the ship had come in via the Caribbean, a known thoroughfare for drugs from the central and southern americas. Focusing on the exit you feel sure you are going to be pulled aside but we don't.

We have a little wait for our cab to arrive as we disembarked a little earlier and easier than planned. We see a few familiar faces from our 14 days onboard and say goodbye to them. Before long we are in our taxi and heading for the airport. I think a large percentage of fellow cruisers are also passing through Southampton Airport as we see a lot of familiar faces again.

Once checked in we head upstairs for some lunch. Mhairi and Tam are there also doing the same. We see Jennifer (Bloody Mary) and Dougie in the departure lounge just before we board. Our flight onboard the small Dash 8 turboprop only take 45 min to fly to Manchester and we touch down around 1.15pm. We are in the car and home at around 2.10pm.

And so ends one of the best cruises we have taken so far. Sure there were a few things that didn't go to plan but they did little to spoil a great trip. We saw some great places, did some great things, made some great memories and most importantly met some lovely people along the way.

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Photos

P&O's Oriana follows us into Southampton
P&O's Oriana follows us into Southampton