An Epic Transatlantic Cruise with Walking Difficulties

Welcome to latest adventure with 6

For those who haven’t read my reviews before a bit ofexplanation

In the 1970s was a popular tv series called the 6 milliondollar man-may have been bionic man in USA

An astronaut Steve Austin was seriously injured and had mostof his limbs replaced by bionics at a cost of 6 million dollars

my husband as a result of Rheumatoid Arthritis has had hipreplacement surgery at a cost nearer 6 thousand hence the nickname 6

we were due to take Epic transatlantic cruise last April butdue to complications of his metal on metal joint had to have urgent revisionsurgery to replace a failing joint so we rebooked for this year

I do very detailed reviews concentrating on difficulties ofaccessing sites when you cant walk for long distances

Spoiler alert

On last day my backpack was stolen which contained lap topand kindle was stolen

But also contained my paper notebook with detailed day byday scribblings

So this review will not be as detailed as usual as will relyon memory and photos to jog memory

This may be cause for celebration for many

Our Epic journey started on Good Friday from our localrailway station down to London

I had planned the journey to be as easy as possible withluggage and minimal walking

First part went as planned-journey assistance on train tohelp getting luggage on board train

From London Kings Cross was supposed to be an easy walkacross road to St Pancras and local train to our daughter and son in lawsapartment in Surrey

However due to engineering work no trains were running !

Long story short we ended up travelling underground tubesystem with luggage which we had hoped to avoid

Given wrong directions several times by staff who didn’tknow which lines were running we ended up walking much further than planned and6 arthritic ankle was very swollen next day

Daughter eventually talked us through alternative route anddispatched husband and father in law to pick us up from local station in car

By this time was lunchtime and about an hour past plannedarrival time so we headed off to local pub for lunch and then were joined byson in laws parents[what relationship is that?] for catch up as hadn’t seenthem since THE wedding last August

We then got taxi to Hilton Gatwick airport hotel inpreparation for our morning flight next day to Orlando

Yes I know if this is the type of detail I recall frommemory how much verbal waste product would result as a result of detailed notesthat were lost?!!

Following along, was keeping an eye out for this all week. Sorry to hear about your backpack

Following along, was keeping an eye out for this all week. Sorry to hear about your backpack

please e mail me

as result of theft of laptop can only retrieve 3 weeks worth of emails so lost lot historical info and addresses!

I'm so excited to see another of your review. I'm sorry that your backpack got stolen! Following.

Looking forward to your review!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I’m interested in this as my honey has RA and ALS so I’m always interested in learning new tips and tricks for traveling.

Flight to Orlando

One way flights across Atlantic are very tricky

Most major airlines such as British Airlines charge more fora 1 way than return/round trip

We were quoted over £3000 for 1 way per person

We found Norwegian Air with reasonable 1 way fares

For this particular flight Premium air with wider seats was only £100 more than economy at about £600

Sorry cant give exact cost as due to stolen laptop and limited extraction of past emails have lost lot of info

We walked the relatively short and flat journey from hotel to check in desk

Joining shorter line for premium a lady was checking tickets and asked about our return flights -I said we are cruising back

“Oh” she said you cant fly with an ESTA because that’s over 90 days”

Er no the date is written the American way 4/7 means 7thApril not 4th July

If only we could stay away that long!

Wheelchair assistance was summoned and took us to the included executive lounge where had a decent breakfast before being collected for priority boarding

Unfortunately we got to front of bridge to find tape across entrance to aircraft as plane was late arriving from LA and hadn’t been cleared for new passengers yet

This message hadn’t been passed back so wheelchair boarders were joined by other priority passengers along bridge which rapidly became very claustrophobic!

Eventually they let us on and we turned left for the first time!

The wider seats with retractable foot rest were very welcome

Then it was time to work up a sweat trying to help 6 on with his flight socks over his sweaty and swollen ankles-must be true love after almost 32 years of marriage!

We were over an hour late taking off due to above and then the passenger count being wrong and had to check several times

In flight entertainment-I wasted 2 ¾ hours of my life watching the new Bladerunner movie

Included food-beef and potatoes would have been OK left plain but tasted awful smothered in a greenish coloured garlic infested sauce

At least they brought round the drinks trolley a few times

Arriving in Orlando mid afternoon local time over an hour late

As soon as seatbelts signs were off it was the usual stampede to get off

Unfortunately there was a problem with the airbridge so another delay

We knew to sit tight to be last off aircraft for wheelchairassistance and sure enough there was a guy with a wheelchair just off aircraft

Last time we were in Orlando was 5 years ago and they took us all way through to airport exit

This guy pushed off ramp and into terminal building where he turned to me and said “he’s all yours”

Er did he hear our English accents and assume he wouldn’t be getting a tip?

I valiantly pushed 6 forward to the TSA/immigration area trying to avoid ankle damage to fellow passengers

Fortunately an employee saw the wheelchair and opened a channel for fast track so didn’t have to join the snaking queue

However getting to front quicker still means going through the retinal screening/fingerprint rigmarole and with an arthritic wrist its tricky twisting your body from a wheelchair to get correct print!

Eventually got through to baggage claim and 3 arriving planes from UK bunched together on 2 baggage carousels

As it routinely takes over an hour to get through immigration/TSA our first arriving flight had clogged up one carousel and staff had lined up cases along wall in preparation for next arriving flight from Glasgow whose first passengers were already through

I spotted one case but not the other

Several other passengers were also finding only half their luggage and staff member suggesting need to file claim for missing baggage as all out

Er no there isn’t enough luggage there for the number of passengers on a jumbo!

Sure enough the infoboard changes from Glasgow back to Gatwick and rest of our luggage comes through

By this time there are a lot of people in the area from both flights and I am faced with 2 suitcases 1 husband in wheelchair and no porter sin sight-hey willing to tip $100!!!!!

It was a self propelling wheelchair so 6 set off[elbows would suffer in morning as they cant fully straighten] and I followed dragging2 cases and feeling like a turtle with heavy backpack containing laptop-same one that was stolen on last day!!!

I f you are familiar with Orlando airport you will know that several hundred yards from this area you come to an area which has moving stairs up to the platform where you take monorail to near exit

There are several employees hanging around preparing to send luggage through carousel to be collected in main exit

Surprise surprise after eventually being reunited with their luggage no one was prepared to part with it again and chose to take it with them on the escalator/moving stairs

We couldn’t find a lift/elevator so 6 dumped wheelchair and grabbed case and joined the rest-if he was any worse mobility wise this could have been a real problem

Top of escalator we did fast monorail to main terminal area where turned phone off airplane mode to contact Florida friends who were due to collect us

Picked up message interrupted by “oh we see you”

Original plan was to text them when through and they would come through to airport therefore saving parking charges

With delays they were already there and concerned about lack of info

Wake up call to airports

People panic with lack of info!

Followed major hugs-these are a couple we met on our very first cruise in 2009 and we have kept in touch with and manage to meet up with on 2 yearly basis

2011-our25 wedding anniversary and we d booked a Caribbean cruise and had weekend to spend with them

2013-company 50 anniversary -whole company and partners flown out to Orlando and found time to meet up

2015-they were doing transatlantic cruise with his brother and sister and we met up in London

2017-after our cancelled cruise last year they had a stopover for a few days before visiting their son in Vietnam so they stayed with us and we showed them the sights of North East England.

So now we had broken the 2 year pattern and they were ready to show us the sights of Orlando beyond the theme parks.

We dumped the luggage at their Kissimmee timeshare and then off to supermarket to stock up for the week

Followed an evening of catch up and lasted out till 11pm local time which was 4am according to our body clocks!

following along...

My head is spinning!!! Some whirlwind experience so far!! Will be following!:)

WEEK IN ORLANDO

Of course we woke up in the middle of night and couldn’t get back to sleep-jet lag!

I had pre booked a mobility scooter from a local company to be delivered between 7 and 8 that morning

I had given primary contact number as our friends as ours would be an international call

8am I get a whatsapp message that the delivery guy was in reception but had been unable to contact us

L had slept through his cellphone messages

Reception had been ringing our apartment but L had taken that phone off the hook to avoid calls to attend timeshare presentation invites!!

I headed over there and met the guy to guide him to our apartment

He said he frequently delivers to this complex but had no idea this part of it existed-yes we had difficulty finding it ourselves the previous night as has a separate entrance from the main road

It cost about$130 for 6 days hire of a 3 wheel travel mobility scooter similar to the one 6 owns at home

Very easy to dismantle and store in boot/trunk of car but difficult on rough ground

The timeshare complex was mainly flat but finding a level path around speed humps was tricky and where there were short cuts for walking it was inaccessible with the scooter as no dropped kerbs

It was also impossible to go round the corner to nearby Walgreens as the sidewalk/pavement ended abruptly, There was a rough track worn by feet but too narrow and sloping towards road to safely negotiate,

Not sure how the ADA act applies to who is responsible for that ,Our first visit with kids to Orlando in 2002 6 was fit and well .We would have walked a lot more than taking hire car short distances but there jus tweren’t enough pavements/sidewalks

There were a lot more now but as noted not all connect!

Anyway L acted as our chauffeur for the week and the mobility scooter came in very handy once we reached our destinations.

So what did we do for the week[which was glorious sunny weather without sweltering heat]

Lakeside park and Monument of States-most underwhelming part-sounded lot more interesting in my research-however we did see our first alligator in the wild.

Chocolate kingdom in Old Town-great fun Aimed mainly at children so we fit right in.You get a history of chocolate making starting with Aztecs and tasting opportunities .Our guide was from the UK and from the fit of his uniform he had been indulging in a bit too much of the local produce,

I and L own a fancy dress shop in southern Florida and wanted to stock up at a Flea market about an hour away.6 decided to stay home that day but I wanted to see Florida outside Orlando so went along-not having seen anything like this in UK it’s huge and there were mobility scooter for hire at entrance, It was a cross between car boot sale and traditional market

Winter Park aka millionaires playground, We had a boat trip around the lakes and view the huge mansions dotted around the shore.The trend is to buy up property as becomes available, demolish it and rebuild your own designed house

OK plan is to do just that but dismantle our old house and ship it over to Florida to be rebuilt stone by stone-the warm sunshine will be good for Rheumatoid Arthritis sufferer, As it’s a semi detached our neighbours will have to come too but don’t think they’ll mind as they love Florida too,

Does anyone know the winning numbers of the next lottery?

Pioneer village at Shingle Creek-rebuilt historical houses on a walk around site, These are simple homes lived in by ordinary Floridians and its very interesting. In its infancy as a business and mainly visited by school parties but there was a film crew there about to use it as a location for a tv drama .A definite contrast to the big theme parks,

Sanford zoo-a small friendly place -they let 6 out again as we were concerned they might think we were trying to take one of the animals home with us,

Gatorland-this was the nearest we got to traditional themeparks and it was good fun.Senior citizens half price admission for over 55 so we just qualified-but they dint ask us for ID!!!!!!

Oh and we ate!!

Traditional mom and pops diners ,sports bars, pizza places-I lose track!

One fun thing we girls did at the timeshare was paint a wineglass class,Cost $10 and you get to decorate a wine glass with your own design using acrylic paint-also includes an actual glass of wine to help the artistic side along. Just be careful not to mistake the plastic wine cup with the brush rinsing water cup as they are the same shape. This inspired me to take a couple of Canvas by U painting classes on board ship-more on that later,

One thing we did note since our last visit over 10 years ago when we last hired a car to entertain the kids around the theme parks is how much more congested the roads are-literally 5 minutes spent at each trafficlight intersection waiting for traffic to move!

Before we knew it the week was up and it was time for thecruise.

Saturday 7 April day 1 of cruise

All packed up from timeshare, mobility scooter picked up and L and I drove us an hour to Port Canaveral and fond farewells.

It was just after 10,30am and had been warned that this port can be disorganised

Sure enough trying to find the 1 employee to drop our bags off with was a challenge

Lots of people in high vis vests but most were shuttle drivers picking up guests from previous cruise.

Once inside the terminal made our way to priority line-newly turned platinum plus for this cruise.

Painless check in and told to take a seat-no boarding number as would just show card to show status when called for boarding.

Just after 11.30 called for wheelchair assist passengers but we decided to sit for few more minutes till platinum was called.

We actually overtook a lot of wheelchairs on the ramp-probably because longer cruise and no fly option this was the most wheelchairs mobility scooters rollators and walking sticks have ever seen on a cruise. Made 6 look positively sprightly!!

This did cause an issue with elevators throughout the cruise, If busy times 6 used stairs as much as he could to leave room for those who had no option but to use elevators,

Restaurants not quite open yet so a cruise tradition to head for nearest bar and get started on the UBP with a rebellious fish or 2

Again always avoid buffet on embarkation day and found main dining room Taste and another cruise tradition fish and chips for first meal. This would prove to be the only time we ate here.

There always seemed to be a line but as we had a 4speciality restaurant meals as a perk, our 2 platinum meals and a new platinumplus meal with officer we tended to eat in the buffet other nights .

Muster drill for us was in theatre and then up to Spice H20 wearing mardi gras beads to be able to identify fellow roll callers as there was an informal sailaway meet up and we were able to put faces to some names ahead of the official meet and greet the next day.

Sailaway was supposed to be 5pm but was bit later than that-several drinks later and watching the Florida coastline fade away I suddenly felt very tired!

We both headed back to cabin for a nap and I was out till the next morning!

6 woke after a couple of hours and went to check out the entertainment in the Cavern club.

I’m enjoying the review so far! Looking forward to the rest :-)

Wish you guys were sailing with us back on Spirit out of Rome this year on 27 May 2018. Looks like despite the end of your trip overall it was very good.

live time update on stolen rucksack

in communication with tour company who at present will keep anonymous

travel insurance company have quoted exclusion for "gadgets" which includes laptops

questioning value of travel insurance?

Wish you guys were sailing with us back on Spirit out of Rome this year on 27 May 2018. Looks like despite the end of your trip overall it was very good.

another time!

Sunday 8 April day 2 at sea

We had noticed a couple of issues with the cabin-safe wouldn’t lock and shower slow to drain. Also cabin door needed to be pulled shut on exiting or wouldn’t engage lock and therefore not secure.We reported these to our cabin steward who knocked and introduced us to a “handsome maintenance guy”who addressed the issues. There was always an unpleasant smell coming from the toilet-it was kept well cleaned but think an issue with blockages.

Apparently the safes were brand new on last sailing but hadn’t been checked.We had the same issue on Escape inaugural from Hamburg to Southampton a few years ago.

After breakfast we were sitting in atrium when a couple asked us if the seats next to us were free-we invited them to join us.10am trivia was about to start so they asked if we wanted to make up a team, We agreed but said we had to be somewhere at 11am-turns out so did they and it was the same cruisecritic meet and greet!

We introduced ourselves and L and A from Canada joined myself and 6 for a team we called Hair .if you have seen any of us its obvious why.

We didn’t do too bad so as this trivia was to be a sea day tradition with a prize to the overall winning team[more on that later] we agreed to meet up each sea day .Fortunately they changed venue to Bliss for rest of cruise as acoustics and line of sight to screen is poor.

We then headed up to Bliss for the 11am meet and greet

There were over 200 people signed up and over 100 actually turned up. Ably co ordinated by Gerrimom it was almost a victim of its own success as there were so many people didn’t get to put a face to screen name.

After the officers left people milled around finding tourpartners or activity partners for various extra activities planned for this transatlantic

I was unable to find the people I was sharing with in Malaga and Gibraltar which would later prove to be a problem.

The cruiselines would have you believe the danger of privatetours is that you may miss the ship-actually it’s being left carrying the can for whole tour van if no one else shows up on the day,

I have always been lucky either organising or adding on to others tours and have met some great people this way,

If I’m the organiser I make sure people who have expressed interest on roll call email me and we discuss expectations off roll call, I am always clear that 6 struggles with distances and so will be minimal walkingtours. Also we don’t like to waste time with long meals as prefer to sightsee,

Once we are all agreed we swap real names and cabin numbers but agree to meet on ship before actual tour. Best place is usually at meet and greet after officers have left, So when I couldn’t find these people I was concerned but not too worried as I had their cabin numbers[as I thought] and so left a note on their door and a message on room phone[NB there were problems with this phone system -several people complained about not getting messages from friends throughout the ship]

As you may gather I’m an over organiser.Whereas as my husbands nickname is 6 his for me is The Queen[not to be confused with the other one] due to my organising of people. We also joke about having a tower where people who annoy the Queen end up. There are several crew members and fellow passengers from past cruises who have rooms with their name on.

Time to check out the Thermal spa for which I had prepurchased a cruise long pass.I was distracted by a spatopia offer at front desk which offered top to toes massage at a bargain price[right says 6] so did that instead,

Feeling pleasantly relaxed I went back to change for our first speciality meal in Cagneys at 7.30

Going back to room afterwards for a nap surprise surprise I woke up next day[6 again headed out without me.

Doug and Sue are on the TA Bliss right now and he's writing a live report

We are on same ship in July and 6 is looking forward to comparing notes about lightweight other halves who fall asleep leaving their men folk to valiantly tackle the ships bars alone late at night.

Day 3 at sea

We headed to Bliss for progressive trivia 10 am which would be its permanent home each sea day for rest of the cruise which was a much better venue than atrium

Cruise Director Andre Paul Gaffney from our neck of the woods Newcastle upon Tyne in UK[home of Newcastle Brown Ale]

He certainly doesn’t have a local accent-he says years of stage school eradicated any dialect,I also think he didn’t go by name of Andre at school in Newcastle-would have been unmercifully bullied.

Extremely entertaining guy and very visible throughout cruise wearing some eye catching outfits and the most astounding brain full of trivia!

We met up with A and L to complete trivia team Hair

Andre announced that a record 44 teams were participating and worked the audience into a frenzy of excitement with the potential prize-Marley the Towel Elephant,

This can be purchased from the photo gallery for $25 and is as the name suggests a towel elephant stitched together to maintain shape and holding a photo frame.

The winning team each day would get to take Marley away and decorate him/her and bring back for next sea day trivia, The previous days winners had stitched on false eyelashes and created a necklace made of foil packets for tea bags.

As cruise went on people were more and more creative and the joke was going to be on the overall winner having to find suitcase room to take home .There was speculation that there may be an elephant overboard situation.

Our team did OK and we always managed at least half correct-not bad for 2Brits and 2 Canadians when a lot of the questions were based on USA knowledge.

There were several time changes throughout cruise as adjusted 5 hour time difference across Atlantic meaning lost hour each night but people still got there for trivia on time.

A and L then headed for the daily seaday lecture in Headliners. This proved to be very popular with a guest lecturer on mainly engineering matters .In fact if you didn’t get a seat long before 11am you were out of luck.

I headed for the 1st Canvas for U class 11.30 having been inspired by my wine glass painting and signed up as suggested on first day in Freestyle Daily

There were only 16 places available and when arrived there was a crew member crossing off names from list and a standby line forming for those who hadn’t realised needed to pre register .One lady in particular was getting quite vocal and poor crew member was looking uncomfortable.

1 lady who had pre registered said the subject for the day-palm trees wasn’t of interest to her and would prefer to do the next one-Tulips-therefore she was given first option for next class-the rest would be available as sign up 4 till 5 next day in library.

So there were 4 available places on stand by and 16 of us filed into room to take our places at an easel and worked out the firs tpuzzle-how to peel apart the plastic protective apron.

It was extra cost of $35 but you got to take your masterpiece home!

It was billed as “paint mix mingle” and aimed at amateurs t obe guided step by step through reproducing the model picture-ie palm trees

OK my seascape,sand and sky were OK

Even palm tree trunks passable

Major fail on palm tree leaves!

But we all had fun and I was keen to sign up for next one onTulips.

Back at cabin found our invite for the Platinum Plus dinner with Officer.We met at Cavern Club 6.15 where we met our 4 fellow diners and Officers-Blond bombshell Catalina head of Human Resources from Romania and herassistant Joel

We ate at Manhattan restaurant and it was a very entertaining evening.-the photo we had taken and I purchased-guess what was in the stolen rucksack!

Afterwards we headed back to Cavern Club where 6 introduced me to the resident Rock Band he had been listening to last 2 nights whilst I had crashed out early.

4 Blue-a band from Columbia-very odd looking band but very talented and got into their stride as cruise went on. They had replaced previous band Siglo who we had seen in October who had left ship after last Epic Caribbean cruise and now on another NCL ship-I think it was Bliss but with losing my cruise notes am only guessing[yes notes were in the stolen backback]

Anyway I managed to stay up till late and Nester in the Cavern Club soon learned to pour out a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and open a bottle of Bud as he saw us approaching as we spent a lot of time there throughout the cruise.

Also managed to keep last glass wine of evening to take back to enjoy on balcony listening to waves-another cruise tradition

Day 4 Bermuda

After a beautiful sunny week in Orlando a dull and rainy Bermuda was a bit of a let down initially

We had signed up for Byway tours with guide Heidi and her travelling companion Buddy who is a blind from birth dog.

Heidi is a native Bermudan and her grandfather was the last lighthouse keeper at Gibbs lighthouse before it was electrified

We signed up on an individual basis so Heidi filled the van so imagine our surprise when we recognised our trivia partners amongst the tourmates.Cost $100 per person which included lunch at a place called Grannies-a tiny restaurant run by 3 women who do a roaring trade with locals and speciality is fried fish sandwich on raison bread

Normally Heidi would collect as a takeway and eat as picnic by waterfront but due to poor weather the restaurant had found mismatched chairs to fit round the table-one person sat at counter area.

It was great fun!

Heidi apologised for the poor weather-said had been a dreadful March and sand filled winds had scorched vegetation brown-still looked a beautiful island to me!

She took us all over the island pointing out hidden coves and other gems and ending up of course at Gibbs lighthouse.

A great day with a great host and great company and the sun did end up making an appearance by the end of the day!

Back on board 6 of course set off the metal detectors

Security guy points at his boots and asks “are they metal toe capped?

That’s a new one!

I headed to library to sign up for next Canvas 4 U -I got there 10 minutes before 4pm and already 10 people had signed up before the advertised 4pm

By 4.10 all 16 places were taken

Sailaway we headed up to Spice H20 to look out for pier runners and met a group of crazy Canadians who were doing the same. We agreed we all have a sick sense of humour and called this point sickos corner and agreed to meet here at next port sailaway which would be 6 days later in Madeira. Unfortunately no pier runners for our entertainment

Night was spent in Cavern club listening to 4 Blue and I again managed to stay up till after midnight!

Her threads are the best.

Never change.

I can see over 1000 views and thank you

don't expect everyone to comment as not one of those posters who expects praise after every post!

however if you \ have any questions please post

Great review!

Day 5 at sea

Start off meeting our trivia mates and discussing great Bermuda trip yesterday

Andre was really getting into his stride and finding some really obscure trivia but we were holding our own and scored 14/20

I headed off to Canvas for U and painting of day-tulips

There was a standby line but only 1 person was able to get in -this is getting very popular!

Shall we just say painting plants is not my forte although I am showing more of a talent for flower arrangement classes back home,

The lady who was very vocal about not getting in the first day had made sure she was front of line but seems to have missed the point of the class

it's described as paint mix mingle and how to recreate a sample painting by being guided step by step but allows for personal touches .It isn't meant to be taken too seriously and have a good laugh at your own and others efforts.

Whilst the rest of us were attempting to follow the model picture of tulips this lady was following her own agenda and producing an abstract which was basically brown on black mess

The rest of us were having great non verbal communication with raised eyebrows and nods to express our opinions that she had prevented another cruiser from participating in the activity as it was intended,

Anyway I decided not to sign up for any more as realised my talents do not lie in that direction and give some of those on stand by a chance.

Although looking at some of the exhibits in the Park West gallery I was tempted to prop my creation in amongst and see if it attracted any bids.

The weather had improved and next few days were glorious!

Atlantic like a millpond and I discovered deck 18 forward very quiet with a lot of cruisers not realising that the left hand side elevators lead up to this public area which has padded loungers probably cast off from Haven/POSH

I was on board early enough that could probably have snagged a POSH pass but decided not necessary as can be very windy up there.

I did pre purchase a cruise long Thermal spa pass that probably used alternate days due to glorious weather so concentrated on getting a decent tan

6 was actually quite disappointed as he brought thermal underwear thinking would be sat warm and snug on otherwise deserted pool bars

Fortunately they have returned home safely as they were NOT in the stolen backpack!

We had arranged to meet a couple C and G who we had arranged to share a taxi tour in Cadiz later in cruise at La Cucina as they had a Platinum meal to use . Part of the good practice to meet up pre tour,

G was using a rollator and so totally reliant on elevators to get from one floor to another

He said his doctor said he has moderate arthritis and not ready for hip surgery yet

Er 6 at his worst using crutches pre first hip op was not as bad as that-suggested he seek second opinion as that’s not moderate arthritis walking like that!

La Cucina is on floor 14 front of ship and accessed by garden café buffet down some steps. Wheelchair access is via deck 14-out of forward elevators follow sign along cabin hallway to come out in restaurant-not easiest to find.

The meal was very slow-sat down 7pm and had to hurry bill lalong so they could catch pre reserved 9pm show in theatre![actually zero balance but still have to sign]

Surprise surprise we headed off to Cavern club where 4 blue were getting into their stride and inviting fellow entertainers off duty or passengers fancying themselves with talent to join in

The place was busy but the shutters were closed across the windows so people didn’t realise there is a window seat behind them. We opened one and I suggested if we closed ourselves in we could join the sea level club-6 declined

Day 6 at sea

2nd of 5 consecutive sea days with regular clocks changing

Despite this managed to get down to trivia 10am each day to meet our trivia team mates. We joked about custody of Marley in the event we won and 2 possibilities

• he would spend 6 months in UK and 6 months Canada in Niagara area-we decided Marley would prefer Canada summers and UKwinters
  
• wisdom of Solomon-chop him in half
  

We actually came in danger of having to decorate him for next day as 15/20 we tied with 2 other teams but got the tiebreaker completely wrong

By this stage Marley was looking very different with enhancements such as nappy ,pink ears and toe nails-you can imagine the state of it by the end of cruise.

The weather had turned beautifully warm and sunny since we left Bermuda and the Atlantic was like a millpool!

I therefore only tended to use the Thermal spa on alternate days as spent lot of time outside working on my sun tan.I had booked a starboard balcony cabin as thought would get more sun that Eastward crossing. Iactually spent more time at public sun deck on deck 18.

This area is accessed via the left side glass elevator coming out of garden café to great outdoors-the right hand side one goes to Haven and POSH club so you need an enabled key card to access it.

Many people did not realise the existence of this area and was always easy to find a lounger including padded ones at very front which were probably leftovers from Haven.one day a water cooler station was set up there and occasionally a circulating waiter offered drinks.

There were a lot of extra activities planned to take account of multiple sea days-some had been organised via roll call-card games bar crawl etc but others organised by ship included

Lecture in headliners -always very popular and needed to get there early to get a seat

Lots and lots of trivia including star trek star wars DrWho Game of Thrones and Harry Potter showing Andres encyclopaedic knowledge of things you can happily go through life not knowing[whats worse I scored pretty highly on them!]

Cooking demonstrations in atrium-the Indian curry demo went over very well but the actual dishes available in buffet very poor-under vegetarian section so no meat.If NCL opened a speciality Indian restaurant it would go over very well particularly with Brits who love it.

Talking about speciality restaurants we had 4 meal package as a perk so decided to try Tepanyaki which we had never done before[too mean to spend extra money]

This turned out to be great fun and we had some great tablemates

A gentleman on next table came up and asked if had been on Escape inaugural from Hamburg to Southampton a few years ago.He showed me a photo on his phone of me at one of the meet ups

Nice to see you again Carnac767 and your lovely wife

That was the 4 day cruise where we ended up doing 3 muster drills as was sold as a 2 day plus 1 day plus an extra offered to gold lattitudes and above at a cheap price and also to travel agents to view the ship.

First 2 days sailed from Hamburg Germany to Southampton UKand then 2 overnight cruises around Isle of Wight.

They insisted all guests had to do muster drill each leg even if already done-staff at muster station got to recognise us and I was tempted to offer to take over the putting on lifejacket demo by the end to give them a break![the people who stayed on to do the transatlantic had muster drill number 4 the next day!

At the end of evening photographer came round and handed each guest a very nice folder with chopsticks stuck to front and printed photo of us inside-with a invoice for about $30!

No thanks

Anyway if we had bought it it would have ended up in the stolen rucksack!!!

Afterwards we ended up in Cavern club with 4blue who by now were really getting into their stride as a band and a lot of audience participation as well as fellow artists. They certainly earned their salary as were performing each day whereas others such as Epic Beatles played only a few times.

By this time I was actually managing to stay up till final set and taking final glass of wine back to balcony to enjoy whilst listening to sound of waves crashing against ship and looking at stars on a balmy night-ahhh-heaven

Loving your review as always! I feel as if I'm reading a novel. Looking forward to the rest.

Loving your review as always! I feel as if I'm reading a novel. Looking forward to the rest.

well it isn't a romance novel unless you want spicy bits added lol