May 19 – Southampton, England

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We made it back across the English Channel, so we changed times zone. We actually gained an hour last night. That was good because we stayed up late watching horse races – awaiting the Preakness. We wore out at about midnight Central European Daylight Time, so we missed the main race by about an hour. We are sure Elizabeth was watching it and thought it would be fun to watch it with her, but we were “scratched” before the race.

This morning, we got up at 8:00 UK time and headed down to the Palm Dining Room to have a leisurely breakfast. Unfortunately, they closed early today because so many people hit the buffet before leaving the ship. So, we had a leisurely breakfast at the buffet instead. We will try another morning and someday will get that breakfast. Most of the departing passengers were already in their assigned location and it was unusually calm in the World Market Place today.

We returned to our cabin to stay out of the way of all the workers who were trying to clean up after the past cruise and get ready for a whole new group boarding today. David went up and got some drinks for us and then took a few pictures from the deck, but mostly we read and did internet stuff because it is really good service here in port.

Today was a first-time experience for us. We remained in our cabin and the steward left – usually it is the other way around. The stewards, in fact all the cruise staff, work 7 days a week on 9-month contracts. Anyway, we had said goodbye to Danny last night and thanked him for all his help. This next cruise our new steward is Rodney. He is servicing a few cabins on our deck and some full-sized suites on the deck above. We did not meet him until about 2:00. We got our paperwork for this next cruise, including our excursion tickets, and the complimentary minibar was refreshed for this next segment of our vacation.

The weather was a little chilly and overcast this morning, but by 1:00 it had warmed up and was sunny. We went up to Lido Deck and each had a couple of slices of pizza. Even if everyone else forgets the size of the pizzas, Patterson will surely be proud that we had 2 slices each. Altogether, that is half of a 24” pizza - good but large. And then we got desserts.

We returned to the cabin. Janet did some stitching and watched TV, but finally had to take a nap. David went out on the balcony to read since it is not windy with the ship sitting still in port. He is partway through the 3^rd book he brought along on the trip. Also in port today was the Sky Princess – one of the newest and largest ships in the Princess Fleet. Both ships were scheduled to leave about the same time, so they each were blowing their ship’s horn in friendly greeting. Finally, the other ship used its multi-tonal horn and played the opening bars of the theme from Love Boat. Ok, so they got to go first, and we followed them out to sea.

Our reservations were for 6:00 in the Palm Dining Room. Tonight’s meal we were with 8 other folks at a large table, but they were all interesting people, and we had a good evening. For appetizer, Janet had a Shrimp Cocktail, and her entrée was Fettuccine Alfredo. David had both Hot Loaded Potato Soup and Chilled Pineapple Soup, followed by Cajun Fried Chicken. For Dessert Janet had Bananas Foster and David had Blueberry Cobbler. We didn’t finish until after 8:00 when the show in the theater started, so we went back to the cabin for the evening.

With the ship going back to Europe tomorrow, we lose an hour again tonight. As we close for the evening, the foghorn is sounding every couple of minutes. That will keep us going slowly, so it should be smooth sailing ahead for a while. Good night.

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Photos

Lunch Desserts
Choc Brownie w/ Syrup, Carrot Cake, Red Velvet Cupcake, Choc-Log