Oriana Embarkation

---

Wednesday July 24th 2013. Southampton, England.

We arrived at our friend's Liz and Ian's home in Gosport late morning having set off from Bristol around 9.30 am. We were fed a fantastic lunch of Gammon with parsley sauce and then Ian drove us to the Mayflower Cruise Terminal in Southampton. We arrived around 3pm and checked in and boarded with no queues whatsoever - brilliant! We had only been on board for an hour when we had to show up for the mandatory safety drill. We set sail at 17.10. The Oriana was moved off the birth with the aid of a tug. Once clear of the dock we set sail under pilot instruction for Dublin Bay. We went up on deck and to watch the sail out of the channel, passing the Fawley Oil Terminal on the right hand side. Oriana negotiated the turns at Calshot Spit and Brambles Bank. We sailed parallel to the Isle of Wight, clearing No Man's Land Fort and Horse Sand's Fort before setting a southerly course. As we cruised past the Isle of Wight we could clearly see Osborne House and Carisbrooke Castle. The pilot disembarked just before the Nab Tower about 3 hours into the voyage.

Our cabin is and on a fairly high deck (5) which is good. There is a choice of dining with a self service restaurant (food hall style) on deck 9. Alternatively you can go to the waiter service dining rooms. We had booked on a table for 8 - so tonight we were going to meet or dining companions for the first time. We have been allocated The Oriental Restaurant. The suitcases arrived before dinner and were delivered by our cabin boys Eurico and Filton.

We went to dinner and met our dining companions. There was a couple, two single guys and us. We didn't talk much to the couple but got quite chatty with one of the single guys called Ken. They all seem pleasant enough - we will try to converse with the others more tomorrow.

---