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Wednesday 15th February 2017
Cruise: N703
Ports of Call: Southampton – Amsterdam – Zeebrugge (for Bruges) – Southampton
Sea Conditions: Calm
Weather: Light Rain and Overcast
Picked Mum up at 10.30am then headed down to pick a very excited Jess up a couple of minutes later. All loaded into the car and we were off to Southampton to take Jess on her first ever cruise!
The A34 was very quiet (not sure if there was a hold up further up so traffic wasn’t getting through) and it was plain sailing on the M3 and M27 too. We pulled up to Mayflower Terminal just before midday and were ushered through to the terminal. Pink boarding cards allocated due to Mum’s Caribbean status so down the priority lane we went and straight to a check in desk. Medical questionnaire, photos taken and credit card taken and then straight through to security and we were onboard sat down in the Waterside Dining are having lunch by 12.30pm!
Lunch was very well timed as soon as we’d finished, the cabins were ready! Our cabin for this short cruise was A726, a balcony cabin with Pullmans for the kids to sleep in. Suitcases had beaten us to the cabin so we quickly unpacked (discovered Callum’s swimming trunks hadn’t made it into the case in spite of taking them off the radiator and upstairs – not sure where I left them!). Guess what the kids wanted to do!!
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Plenty of room for all our stuff – as we were only onboard for 4 nights, there should be!! We met our cabin steward, Jose, then went to explore Ventura. Similar flow to Azura and Grand Princess – just different names for all the places. We also popped by Scubas to register the kids – things have really tightened up since we last cruised with P&O. All the kids need to wear wristbands all the time with their Muster Station … and when kids are checked in and out you need to show your cruise cards. Also no photography is allowed in kids club or at any of the kids club organised activities. Scubas room is down one side of the ship in the Reef area – nice bright full height windows so great views and light and airy. As you’d expect, there are games consoles, seating areas, craft/colouring stations, plus a table tennis and football table.
Wandering around the ship, the kids saw the pools and still wanted to go for a swim. One pool at the back plus a kids splash pool, one under a conservatory style roof, one outside mid ship pool and an Oasis pool (next to the Retreat) which is an adult only pool. This one is apparently heated whereas none of the others are!
Back to the cabin to collect life jackets and we headed to our Muster Station (Havana) ready for the drill. We had just sat down when they announced Muster would be delayed for 30 minutes as passengers were still boarding. Muster complete, life jackets tried on and one of our life jackets had a light missing.
Back to the cabin and we stayed on the balcony for sailaway rather than going up on deck. It was starting to go dark and was getting a little colder.
Jess decided we would eat in the MDR tonight so we all got changed and went down to the Cinammon Dining Room on Deck 5. We were seated on a table for 8 with two older coupled which surprised us. They didn’t say a word to us (or each other!) all evening! Next time – table for 4 please.
Callum had prawn cocktail and swordfish, I had hot smoked trout and swordfish, Mum had the pasta and lamb (which looked lovely) and Jess chose Chicken Nuggets. For pudding, Callum had a mix of ice cream and sorbet, I had some chocolate dessert (not the one I’d ordered!) and Mum and Jess had the Forest Fruits Pavlova.
After dinner Callum wanted to go to Kids Club and Mum, Jess and I went to the theatre to see the new Headliners Show based on West End Theatre Shows. First one was Fame – but out of the four songs, the only recognisable one was the theme song (no other popular songs from the album I had as a kid). Jersey Boys was next up and then just as the troop were starting songs from Witches, Jess announced she wasn’t feeling well (in fairness it was really warm in the theatre) so we made a quick exit back to the cabin. She was absolutely fine – think it was an excuse as I don’t think she was enjoying the show (but we couldn’t take any chances)
We had a bit of a giggle when we got back to the cabin – the pullmans were down and seemed to fill up the entire space in the cabin. Mum and I couldn’t sit up in bed and we all had to get into some very peculiar positions to get around the bunks and the ladders. We all bumped our heads on at more than one occassion! Thank goodness it was only for 4 nights.Jess headed up to bed whilst I popped back to Kids Club to get Callum. Callum was quickly up in bed and fell asleep really quickly. Jess soon followed suit.
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