Southhampton

To Southhampton

We woke up this morning and had a wonderful English breakfast at our hotel. Fortunately it was included. For two people, it would normally total 32 pounds ($64 US)! We even had some English tea. We enjoyed our hotel. The location was perfect to Tower Bridge. We had plenty of space and it was very clean. I would recommend it (Chamberlain Hotel) to anyone who wants to be near Tower Bridge.

We had take a bus to Waterloo station (since the underground is still closed for construction). I was hoping to take the 10:00am train to Southhampton. We got there early and was able to get on the 9:30am train. The train was a bit crowded. Since we had our luggage, we decided to just stand during the trip. There were seats, but none together. It took about 1 ½ hours to get there.

Once in Southhampton we got a taxi to the port. It is less than 5 minute ride. Once at the port, the check in process was fairly easy. We waited about 30 minutes to check in and then about 40 minutes in a sitting area before we could board the ship. We were on the ship a little before 1:00pm.

We went to a cruise critic meet and greet a little while ago. We met some nice people. I want to work on unpacking and organizing our room. (I know, me organizing something. Brian offered to unpack but things would not be where I want them so I will gladly do it myself). I am very happy with our room. In our cabin, we have window and I think the room is standard size for a cruise ship. I think we have more drawer space than I am use to. That is definitely a good thing. The bathroom layout is a little different Walk in and straight ahead is the sink, to the right is the shower, and to the left is the toilet with a sliding door.

We just left port around 5:30pm. We were supposed to leave at 4pm, but the ship was waiting for some people who are late. The cruise transportation had problems and so they waited on them since it is the cruise line's fault. We talked to some of the people affected, and it sounds like a short layover was part of the problem.

We plan to get ready for our “freestyle” dinner and then go to comedy show tonight. I think we are eating in the Pacific Dinning room however I don't think we have actually talked about it yet. Tomorrow we are in Paris all day. So don't be surprised it I don't get to post a blog posting till Tuesday.

P.S. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

P.P.S. Update from Brian: We have 184 pictures