kerryincork

I ways stay in South Beach. I love the buzz.

Plenty of shops, cafes, restaurants, etc

This is done in the US all the time. I have read dozens of reports about US citizens and foreign nationals having their phones and laptops (even work ones) threatened with jail of expulsion unless they hand over their phone details.

I love tattoos I am getting my next one soon (as soon as the artist and I have space in our schedule).

The last thing I would do is get a tattoo on a cruise. They hurt, I don't relish being in pain. Also you have to take care of a fresh tattoo, regular bathing, applying cream, keeping it clean.

The first couple of days the tattoo is pretty gooey, a cruise ship is not ideal. Also you have to keep it out of the sun, no swimming, not too much alcohol. Pretty much everything you go on holiday to do.

Also when I get a piece done, my tattoo artist and I communicate back and forth for a couple of weeks before the actual tattoo getting the design right.

the tattoo might take 5 to 7 hours I can't imagine the tattoo artists on board are going to give this service. so what's left is flash, nothing wrong with it, but imagine the number of people who will end up having the exact same tattoo, sounds bit conveyor belt to me.

Some views of the ship

On the whole the weather has been great and the Seas calm.

No chair hogs on this cruise 😉

Probably a different story on Caribbean or Mediterranean cruises.

We did go swimming twice. The water wasn't freezing but not particularly warm either.

Well today was Greenock, I would recommend doing a tour, not much here really.

We went for a walk down  the promenade, stopped off at the Customs House and visited the Burns exhibition they had.

This was interesting, we also walked through the shopping Malls.

We saw that Taxis were offering tours for £40 per taxis per hour, so loads cheaper than the ships offering which I saw was £200 per person (for 4 hours)

There was also free tours from the terminal, which I heard were good.

We have an early start tomorrow so didn't want to be up early today.

I did buy a handbag from the stalls that they had at the port, £25.00 which I thought was good value.

This is the Arena theater 45 min before the show.

Last night (overnight in Reykjavik) was the first time this cruise where there were still seats available in the theater

Well signing off now till I get to Scotland 😁

We went to the nature baths in Akuryi and Godefoss (I have spelt that wrong)

I would highly recommend it

More photos

Faroe Islands

So in the Faroe Islands we took a P&O tour, it was a tour to one of the other island Vega I think. It was a very interesting tour, and the scenery was stunning as it has bee. Everywhere we have gone.

Back again it didn't work out how I expected. I am with Tesco for my plan and haven't had any connection since I Left the UK.

Any way I have been having a fantastic time. I have been really enjoying the P&O experience.

The things we like:

1. Freedom dining, we have been sharing tables with different folk each night. We have never met so many people. Everywhere we go we see people we now know.

2. We love the cabin layout, with our little walk in wardrobe, we have an inside and this arrangement makes it seem more spacious.

3. We are loving the quizzes. Which are UK based 🇬🇧😁 (the questions I mean)

Things which are not bad but not great:

1. We are not always receiving receipts, this is making it difficult to track spending without going to service desk to get a print out.

2. The venues for the shows are crazy packed. You have to be there a minimum of 30 minutes before show starts to ensure you get a seat.

3. I have seen layout on some of the newer ships have better flow. Seems to have a few deadends. Or you have to go up a floor to get where you want to go on the lower floor.

I have eaten too much already and it is not even dinner time yet.

Today we managed to catch the end of one of the quizzes and watched some of the Karoke, the usual mix of good with the bad 😁

I have heard some funny conversations on board, I might start a new thread so we can share the stories we hear. 😊

Well a new day, I still managed to get to the Yoga, I am getting up later and later☺️

So this is our second sea day of six in total. I bagged myself a bargain, a 75 min full body massage for £79, for a cruise ship this is pretty good. For anyone wondering they didn't add on a top.

I did add a tip for the masseuse as she was good. I didn't buy any of the other treatments she was offered or the products.

Generally I limit myself to one treatment per cruise.

So after the gym I just had a fruit cup from the gym, it was really early so we also had a sit down breakfast.

I've eaten a lot today & basically missed all the events I had marked down in the schedule.

It was a black tie tonight. There has been discussions about men's attire. From what I can observe it looks like about 90% of the men wear tuxes or dark suits.

I am in the theatre and I can only see a handful of men in shirt sleeves.

The first sea day started with classes in the gym. I bought the class pass, so first class was tummy exercise followed by a yoga class.

It was funny as the instructor said she was going to start with just the basic poses as people were at all levels. That was no basic glass, I have been doing yoga for a while, so not a problem for me. But we were doing poses we didn't learn in my on land yoga class until about 3 months in.

Later in the Evening we were at our first quiz, we were pretty pitiful.

The quiz was really crowded, we were lucky to get seats. Some were sitting on the floor or around the stage edge.

This was followed up by some dancing in the bar later on. Was in bed by 23:45

Well I have bought 24 hours of Internet so you will get an update today and tomorrow 🙂

We got freedom dinning, which we were happy about. We were starving so went as soon as they were open at about 17:30.

A nice selection, we both chose the swordfish, which was delicious. We both had the sticky toffee pudding, which was nice but not the best I have ever had.

There was a four part harmony singing group on last night, they were singing famous songs from UK & Ireland groups. They will be performing again later in the cruise.

They were decent singers, I have found that sometimes the singers on a cruise ship can be a bit screechy. Also the volume in the theatre wasn't too loud. We have found this to be a problem in the past as well.

We chose an inside saver cabi. Very happy with the cabi, more spacious than I expected.

It's been a while since we were last in an Inside.

Plenty of storage and hangers. Bed side lockers a good size there is also under the counter storage.

Unfortunately the last occupants of the cabin left the safe with the lock é gaged so we will have to call someone to unlock it.

Well the boarding process was fab, one of the best. From cab to cabin  about 30 min. Also our baggage beat us to our cabin too.

Started a walking tour of the ship and got waylaid by demon drink.

Well I found the bar 😁😉

And the desserts

Well a quick Uber ride here and waited 5 min and we are in the queue for check in. Big crowds here, but seems very organised.

The room was cheap at £106 for the room.

I went for a walk around Southampton everywhere was closed except for Macdonalds at 07:00 😉

I did spot one of Royal Caribbean ships in port, but could only see the emblem on the funnel and part of the bow, not enough to identify her.

Starting to feel excited now. Does anyone know what deck is 'B'?

We got a boarding time of 14.30, the hotel offers free baggage storage until 14:00 so for a change we are going to stick to our boarding time😊 and see how that works out for us.

We sailed out of Southampton about 7 years ago, so we will go for a walk around the old town and refresh our memories ☺️🙄

Well today's the day 🎉😁

We spent the night in Ibis budget, next to Macdonalds and TFI, an easy walk to Odeon cinema and big shopping centre, so location excellent.

The room was very basic, a family room very small and not much privacy, OK for family but friends might find it a bit awkward.

The door on the right is the shower stall, so if you like sailing the Epic you might like it 😉🚿