June 12 - Southhapton England

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Hello from Southhampton England. This was a very busy day for people leaving the cruise after our Transatlantic Crossing, and also a very busy day for people joining the cruise here. However, it was a slow day for us and most of the folks continuing on the back-to-back cruise. So, we had our meals and tried to stay out of the way of the workers and the newbies. Southhampton as a town probably has places to explore, but they are quite a way from the Mayfield Terminal, so we didn't go to shore. That actually worked to help us finish shaking off our colds before we sail.

So where are we going from here? The answer is Norway. We will be sailing up and down the west coast of Norway and stopping at a variety of places. The first cruise we didn't do a lot of excursions, but this cruise we will be going on 6 excursions. That excludes the 2 "tender ports" and one port which didn't have anything except fairly significant walking. But we will cover each of those as we reach the appropriate ports. Anyway, it may make for more interesting stories and pictures.

We had breakfast in the dining room to avoid the crowds in the Horizon Court. Janet had a good chance to catch up on all the computer work since the internet was pretty steady here docking in Southhampton. Then David brought down a cheeseburger and a hot dog, along with some drinks, and we had a quiet lunch in the cabin. The day was sunny and warm, with the temperature getting up to 80 in the midafternoon, so David was able to spend time on the balcony reading while Janet watched another movie. We haven't used the balcony a whole lot so far but we expect to see warmer temps and better cruising scenery on this part of the trip. Then we both had nice long naps in the afternoon.

Before dinner, we went to the Explorer's Lounge for a Captain's Circle gathering of Elite or Platinum passengers. There were some little snacks and you could order a drink before dinner. Then we went to the dining room. The table we used previously was all booked and we ended up on the opposite side of the dining room. We think we have it corrected so that we at least get the same waiter as last time, if not the same table. Anyway, we both had braised short ribs which were good. Then we had a kind of banana/carmel pie for dessert. It was very rich but quite tasty.

After dinner, David went to the theater for a little while, but he could not understand the British comedian's accent or didn't understand the humor of his jokes, so he left early and came back to the cabin. However, the cruise director did give the distribution of the highest nationalities for this cruise. There are 10 Argentinians, 12 New Zealanders, 94 Australians, 253 Canadians, 397 UK, and 1107 USA. We were expecting to be overrun with Brits, but that is not the case.

Tonight, we adjust the clocks forward again to get onto the European time zone. This will be the last "lost hour" on the trip. We will get this one back near the end of the cruise as we prepare to return to England, but that is a couple of weeks from now. Anyway, that is all for tonight.

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Comments

[Elizabeth]

Dessert
It sounded like you had Banoffee pie -- Does that sound correct? I've seen it on bakeoff and it looked AMAZING