Departure

After a morning being put through the ringer by our eldest daughter (another story for another day), a taxi arrived at our house early yesterday afternoon – to transport us, and far more bags than you would ever expect – to the port at Southampton.

Arriving at the terminal was perhaps the strangest part of the journey – finding ourselves walking through check-in, security, and up the boarding planks completely alone – surrounded by staff joking about our belated arrival (we were actually early) – apparently many of our fellow passengers had arrived hours before.

After finding our way to first our “muster station” and then to our room, we met our steward – a lovely middle-aged East Asian man, who’s name we’re still not entirely sure how to pronounce.

Soon after we set out on foot to explore the boat – wandering through the central rotunda – populated with shops staffed by pretty people, and filled with nice things – and stopped at the central pool complex – where we got the distinct impression that we might be the youngest couple on the entire ship.

An old man was swimming lengths in the pool (if you can call them lengths – the pool is tiny) so slowly we wondered how he stayed afloat.

After making our way slowly to the aft of the ship, we happened upon the entertainment staff singing the “departure song” – which while fun was somehow spectacularly less striking than the band and streamers that accompanied our departure 25 years ago.

The rest of the evening was spent wandering from bar to bar – figuring out where we might frequent in the days and weeks ahead. We settled – for the night at least – in “Andersons” – named after Arthur Anderson – one of the co-founders of the Peninsula and Orient Steam Navigation Company (the forebear of P&O).

I should probably have mentioned – we’re aboard the cruise ship “Aurora” – which was the flagship of the P&O fleet some years ago – now overtaken by the floating cities that traverse the globe. We passed one of them on departure – one of the colossal Disney cruise ships. Our ship seems to have a little more character, and a little more history wound into it’s bars, cafes and restaurants.

While sitting in Andersons wearing a blazer and an open-neck shirt, a waiter made the point of approaching me to offer a martini – to complete the James Bond look.

Finally dinner arrived, and our greatest gamble unfolded – who we would be sitting with. We had intentionally opted for the biggest table possible – with hopes of perhaps making new friends, and having co-conspirators to share the weeks ahead with.

The gamble paid off – although not everybody arrived for dinner, which apparently isn’t unusual on the first night of a voyage. We ended up being one of the last tables to leave, and also made friends with our server for the weeks ahead – a wonderful East Asian gentleman called “Edberg”.

Given that we had all been enjoying ourselves quite a bit more than we normally would (read: drinking gin in Andersons), most of us opted for hearty, filling food. My other half joked that I didn’t read the menu any further than the steak pie.

After dinner we wandered back through the ship, and somehow found ourselves the only people on the dance-floor in the night-club on-board. After making utter fools of ourselves for a few numbers we thanked the DJ, and went on our way.

It’s interesting – wandering the halls of a cruise ship late at night – when the vast majority of people are already back in their cabins. It doesn’t feel real.

We finished the evening in the Crows Nest bar – listening to a cocktail pianist hammering out a medley of show tunes in the manner a mechanic might while fixing a car. I did wonder if he had anger issues. Unexpectedly entertaining.

This morning I dragged myself out of bed bright and early – 8am – or so I thought, to visit the gym. It turned out my phone and watch had moved an hour ahead, whereas the rest of the ship had not.

Guess how difficult it is to keep pace on a running machine, when the running machine is mounted aboard a boat that is gently moving beneath your feet? I withstood it for a couple of kilometres before retreating to the bicycles and stepping machines.

After grabbing a quick breakfast, we’re back in the Crows Nest this morning – watching the sea scroll past below. The ship is off the west coast of France – heading south towards the Bay of Biscay – towards our first port of call, Cadiz – arriving the day after tomorrow. After a cloudy fog-filled night, the skies are clearing overhead. It’s funny how a little sunshine raises everybody’s mood.

I will admit – slowing down is proving difficult. I’m not used to not running from one thing to the next all day.