Queen Anne Southampton
Embarcation for our cruise is Southampton ocean terminal and whilst we are half an hour early many others are well in front of us. We join short queue but soon a man is taking notes and then photos of the car, key handed over and we walk across to drop our main cases and head into the Ocean Terminal.
Check in is busy and passport dates are closely checked but we remain well within validity at the moment. They decide to retake our security photos with glasses on but the longest delay is the check at the ship, although I cause a delay as my watch has tripped the security gate as I forgot to take it off.
We are asked to also visit our muster station and have our passes scanned as a double check that we are on board and also know the location of our muster station. As the muster station is on stairway C, at the aft so having walked back we get scanned. Next we want the Queen’s Grill where we will be eating our meals so we take the lift up to level 10 which is the location of the Grill restaurants. Only to find that there is no entry from this direction – it is closed off – so we have to go down a floor, through the buffet restaurant (re-imagined as an “Artisans’ Foodhall”) to the mid-ships lift.
We head up in the lift to the Grill restaurants which will open at 1300 and after a drink we are positioned at a table behind a pillar and close to a serving station so the good lady wife is not at all happy and asks if we can be relocated, we shall see.
Lunch devoured we find our suite on deck seven which is towards the aft of the ship. Jackie’s case arrives and she unpacks and mine then appears quite a bit later. As ever I suspect we have both over packed.
Queen Anne remains stationary and we head up to deck 11 and the Grills terrace where we can sit in the sun for an hour or so, although it is cloudier than early and even spits with rain at one point.
Showing that the ship is new it is announced that the usual emergency sirens will be heard and we have to go to our muster station. Given our earlier visit this is a surprise! However shortly before the alarms are sounded the instruction to visit the muster station is counter-manded; obviously scripts are not up to date!
Queen Anne
Warning sirens sounded we commence sailing and head steadily down Southampton Water past Fawley and Netley and then we start heading eastwards towards the English Channel, turning as we get close to the Isle of Wight following the marker buoys.
Arriving back at the Grill restaurant for our dinner it is pleasing to hear that an alternative table has been found from which we can view the passing landscape on the port side, Gosport, Portsmouth, Spitbank Fort, distant Wittering and Pagham are all out there somewhere.
We each have excellent steaks for dinner.
Post dinner we visit the theatre but are not greatly taken by the entertainer so slip out and return to our suite for a drink and bed. We lose an hour tonight as we move to Rotterdam time ahead of our arrival there tomorrow afternoon.
Sleep is a little disturbed, hot, then cold, then hot again, odd noises and some strange notions. First night is often short of sleep.