17 December

Off at a decent hour: 10:30-ish, and the M25, though busy, kept moving at a decent clip.  We opted for the A3 route to Portsmouth and Southampton, and were there very early, so struck out into the New Forest for our picnic lunch before heading back to the docks.

Boarding was as ever a thoroughly civilised experience: we were guided to where the porters were ready to collect our bags, then motored on to where we’d to hand the car over.  From the car to the cabin took maybe 20 minutes, and it wasn’t long before our bags arrived.  We’re in the same cabin as we used back in 2016, so though we get a bit more movement than in our midships cabin last time, we have less traffic past our door, and next to no mechanical noise.

We’re among friends: the captain is once again Inger Thorhauge, who was in charge last time we did the Christmas cruise.  On the way down for supper, Martyn mused whether we might again bump into a couple we met in the Midships bar two years ago.  They weren’t there, but as we went through the photo gallery, there they were: Pamela and David, so we stopped and had a good catch-up.

Our table is perhaps the least attractively placed of those we’ve had on our cruises so far, but our companions at the next table are a likeable couple from Essex.  Dinner was excellent as usual, and the Picpoul is still in the wine list.

Though the drive to Southampton was pretty brisk, a lot of it was into a low sun reflected off a wet road surface, so I was pretty tired, and have opted out of this evening’s show.  Early night with a good book, methinks.

Tuesday 18 December

Less mechanical noise, maybe, but once the wind and swell got up to strength, the old tub started heaving about, with much creaking, crashing and banging.  Just as well we’re good sailors, though we each felt a bit queasy from time to time, and sleep was pretty well impossible.  As we returned to our cabin after (a rather thinly attended) breakfast, the captain came on to the PA to say that we’re sailing into a 60kt wind, but that the movement of the ship has rather to do with the 4-5 metre swell.  She tells us that improvement is expected in the evening, so we might catch up on lost sleep tonight.  Meanwhile, I’ve finished one book, and am glad I have a couple more lined up.

Unfortunately, every time the ship heaved, part of the floor plating popped noisily up, then noisily back down again.  As my bed was resting on said plating, I got sporadic jolts through the night, which meant that I got very little sleep.  When the same phenomenon showed up on night 2, I had had enough, and rang the purser’s office.  A dame turned up pretty quickly, and said she’d show me a cabin where we’d get better sleep.  It turned out to be an inside cabin, so I rejected it.  A more senior person then appeared, took a video of our oscillating floor plating, and took us to a balcony cabin that we could use for the night.

Wednesday 19 December

The cabin was right at the blunt end of the ship, so, as we’d already changed for the night, we had to pad along the corridors in dressing gowns and slippers, and repeat the process in reverse next morning.  The cabin was a bit bigger than our first one, and we slept reasonably well.

This morning we learned that cabin 2 is booked from an intermediate port, so after breakfast we were on the move once again.  

Breakfast was kedgeree, complete with curry sauce.  (Memo to self: smaller portion next time, and no curry sauce.)  Cabin 3 is the same, smaller, size as cabin 1, but we can cope.  It’s two decks down from where we started, and even closer than before to the sharp end.  The sea remains quite rough, so we’re being thrown about a bit, and get the occasional crash of a big wave under the bows.  But I’m in no danger of losing my kedgeree - and the floor all moves in one piece.

Another day of reading, eating, sleeping, a couple of quizzes and an excellent, if loud, show of Hollywood song and dance in the evening.  We spent a bit of time up in the bar above the bridge, watching the horizon rising and falling ahead of the bows.  Occasionally quite dramatic!

Thursday 20. December 

The sea was still a bit lively overnight, but since our cabin is rather more solid that the last two, we slept well: I first checked the time at 06:45-ish.  By lunch time we’d walked the length of the ship a couple of times, inside and out, done a quiz and attended an informative lecture on Picasso.  The weather has improved a lot, so there were quite a few people sitting out on deck this morning, and even one hardy type in the swimming pool.

Fish and chips in the pub, then a nice little piano recital of pieces by Haydn, Schumann, Debussy and Albeniz, very well attended.  I don’t know how many pianos there are on board: certainly four in areas accessible to us lesser mortals in steerage and there is at least one suite with a graaand piaaano in it.  The one we heard this afternoon in the Queen’s Room could do with a visit from the tuner/fettler: not clear whether they have one on board.  Time will tell.