Host Hattie

In Cadiz

We'd ordered juice and milk from room service to try and make sure we were up in time for Britannia breakfast. As it was I was awake in time for beautiful skies over Cadiz. We were given the table underneath the globe, eggs Benedict was very nice, nobody bringing pastries round. I guess you have to ask but that would have been greedy! We got our belongings together and went to find the gangway. There was a crew exercise going on and only one gangway in use so there was a moderate amount of chaos. We sat in the Grand Lobby to wait for the worst of the queue to pass. It wasn't helped by having to stop every time someone decided to get back on the ship. Mr HH was muttering rude things but finally we were off and catching the HoHo bus. We got off at the beach and have had a lovely couple of hours in the sun and lunch.

I'd have to check when we're back on the ship. Thanks, we're having a lovely time

It got a bit chilly so we returned to our cabin for a siesta. We can hear rehearsals in the theatre but it's not unpleasant. Mr HH left off his tie tonight but there were still plenty of jackets and a few ties in the Commodore Club. Still no neighbours so we arranged with the Head Waiter in our section to move to their table. We're right next to the walkway and I could see us wearing dinner by the time the cruise was finished. We got our rose wine before our starters tonight. I wasn't very inspired by the starters so I ordered a salad described as Avocado. When it arrived I remembered the complaint here, it was fine but it was mostly apple and lettuce with avocado in the dressing. We both had lamb for main course. We finished in plenty of time to get a box for the Ida Girls show. The first number made my ears hurt but we enjoyed it by the end. Just time to catch the last few numbers from the husband and wife duo in the Golden Lion.

Sea Day We were woken up by breakfast arriving, I'd ordered slightly less this morning. We watched the repeated lecture from yesterday and then sat in the sun on the balcony. Mr HH went to enter the Blackjack tournament and we had lunch in the Golden Lion before the final. Our drinks order arrived completely wrong, I kept mine but Mr HH swapped his. One advantage of the app is that we could see the refund. He finished 2nd, no prize unfortunately and we found a couple of free steamer chairs and watched the waves

We had a second round in the Commodore Club to get rid of the taste of the first and then to dinner. A glass of warm formerly sparkling wine and a card from the Captain to welcome us on board. Still no neighbours and no sign of our rose wine. I ordered red which arrived in time for our main courses, hopefully the sommelier will speed up or our waiters slow down. I had the surf and turf and Mr HH the venison. We went to the Queens Room to watch the ball, some interesting dancing and 2 female vocalists.

Sunrise in Cadiz this morning

5.45 and 8.15, both fixed.

You can't really avoid it completely on the first night as everyone has to be shown to their table

There's a short description on another page but it's not very informative. I like the colour coding and having the Spa and sales items shown in a separate box but there's definitely less information generally. As I was saying we tried the Black & White cocktails, I might not have ordered the White Queen after I saw the expression on the lady sitting near us once she tried hers ! All I can say is that it's certainly a Sour - I finished it but that's about the best I can say, the Mai Tai was better but served in a Martini glass so not the long drink that Mr HH was expecting. Cold and warm canapes were served and we watched the sun set.

That's very kind thank you. We had a lazy afternoon, we watched the end of a film waiting for "Mrs Lowry and her son" to start. Mr HH fell asleep and between the noise of the snoring and rehearsals in the theatre I struggled with all the dialogue. The WiFi dropped out on my phone but was OK on my Chromebook. Black and White night so we went to the Commodore Club.

We slept well and our breakfast arrived on time, it seemed to come with lots of plates but we managed to deal with yogurt, a fruit plate, pastries and smoked salmon and scrambled egg. Neither of our phones wanted to have anything to do with the wifi so we went to sit in a public room and set up 24 hours of the basic plan. It seems fine so far and is now working in the cabin as well. At one point I had a message that my account had been locked so we joined the queue for assistance from the incredibly patient librarian who was dealing with everything from how do I set up email on my phone to Can I check these books out ? The Captain's noon announcement sounded a bit more relaxed than yesterday, we are currently doing 23 knots across the Bay of Biscay so the ship is moving around a bit but we are due in Cadiz on time. We went to Britannia for lunch and got a table for 2 overlooking the wake. Mr HH was slightly thrown by the new menus, no orange roughy !

Today's activities

Second sitting dinner is at 8.15, there was a queue stretching back to the Chart Room but once the doors were open it moved quickly. We were shown to a table for 2 near the back of the restaurant, my chair was pulled out and napkins placed on our laps. Mr HH isn't very happy as we normally have a table for 6 but it seemed a good idea when I requested it ! We're right next to another table for 2, when we sat down we exchanged pleasantries with the lady at the table who was anxiously looking for her husband. She soon disappeared leaving us alone. The sommelier was doing his best to cope with the first night chaos and our wine arrived at the same time as our main course. At least we still have plenty left over for tonight. We finished in plenty of time to get a box in the theatre for the comedian at 10pm who had plenty of new material about our first port of call being Southampton ! We went to listen to the duo in the Golden Lion and made the most of the mobile connection to the Isle of Wight to let everyone know that we had sailed. I ordered breakfast via the hanger and we were rocked gently to sleep, very grateful to be sailing at last.

Sorry to leave you on a cliff hanger we sailed while we were at dinner.

Having said that we've come to the seats overlooking the Grand Lobby by the Chart Room for a mojito and a good view of the policemen and sniffer dogs !

Captain Hoyt has just told us they are doing some final checks and we should be cleared to leave soon.

I don't know, the new format Daily Programme doesn't tell you and I don't think he introduced himself in either his safety briefing or his subsequent broadcasts.

I had seen some speculation ....... There's no sign of any police or bomb squad activity, the workers on the dockside have pulled up chairs so they seem to be expecting a long wait. We're finishing off our Pol Aker with Peach juice and trying to decide if we need to dress for dinner or a night in the terminal !

No sign of anything, the Captain made another announcement which didn't really tell us anything.

Yes, just back in now

Not today! Well this is a new one, we pulled away from Mayflower Terminal, turned round and are coming back in ! There was an announcement but we couldn't understand it from our balcony.

It's a little way out of Southampton but the food was excellent. We always eaten at Monty's Inn for dinner but the Terrace restaurant looks lovely as well.

Thanks all, we're enjoying some sun on our balcony and waiting for our last bag to arrive. Our taxi came a bit earlier than booked so we were on our way from Beaulieu at 12.30 and through Mayflower Terminal and on the ship at 1.30. There was a bit of confusion as the system had the wrong passport numbers for both of us - very odd as mine was brand new. Our photos needed taking twice, we were some of the few people in the terminal wearing masks. The Golden Lion was serving lunch until 2.30, it was quiet when we arrived but had filled up by the time we finished. We had our cards scanned at our muster station and came back to our Deck 4 cabin to unpack.

We had a very nice dinner at the hotel last night and a good night's sleep. So good that we almost missed breakfast! We got there just in time and moved our cases round to reception. Back to the room to take our COVID tests, both negative. I can't imagine how upset I would have been not to be able to go at this stage.