The Voyage to Nowhere

The cruisers by ships photographer

We had our last meal alongside the dock in Southampton last night, which is very unusual apparently. We saw the Beatles Experience again as they could not disembark at Amsterdam either and gave an another unscheduled performance.

The story of our Voyage to Nowhere was released to the press by one of the mutineers and we made page 6 of the Daily Mail and some of the on-line newspapers. The article was a massive exaggeration and although it was disappointing not to visit Amsterdam, due to the weather, the rest of the cruise was most enjoyable. We felt sorry for the crew who missed their free time (and brownies!) and looked after the guests for an extra day.  Special mention here for Adrian our favourite waiter in the coffee lounge.  

We all disembarked at 9:00am, Mark and Christina dropped Katie off at the station before going into the office and we delivered Jennifer home in the afternoon after some essential Christmas shopping at Sainsbury.

Totally at sea

Onboard French gourmet restaurant

Overnight we cruised on down towards Brittany coast before turning round at 8:00am north of St Malo. A small Christmas market has been hurriedly arranged in the ballroom this morning. We will have passed the Isle of White 4 times in three days! We had an excellent posh early lunch in the Verandah restaurant after skipping breakfast.

It was announced that we would be docking at Southampton early, on Monday evening instaed of Tuesday morning. There was a small mutiny at the reception desk later with some disgruntled passengers calling for the captain to make a full statement about the voyage.  

Still at Sea

Sea full of white horses

The captain was not mistaken, there was too much wind to enter the port of Amsterdam so we turned back in the early hours. We have spent the day cruising down the channel in a gale instead of walking round windy Amsterdam 

White cliffs of Dover in the gloom

We passed the white cliffs of Dover again this afternoon.  Went to another impromptu Insight lecture by Martin Bell and joined in the carol singing in the ballroom. Mark has been swimming and in the jacuzzi!!! The rest of us walked around the promenade deck again, very fresh today! We had a late lunch in the lido cafe followed immediately by afternoon tea! It can be done.

We dined in the Britainia restaurant again, the food is excellent as usual and we just caught the last half of the show by the resident performers.

All at sea

warm enough for shirt sleeves

Today is a sea day and turned out to be a good day for cruising. It's sunny and on the leeward side out of the wind its remarkably warm for December, shirt sleeves for some in fact. There are people in deck chairs, swimming in the pool and in the jacuzzi. 

nice range cocktails

We spent the day walking the promenade deck and attending some of the Insight briefings. One was by a former red arrows pilot and Martin Bell, the war zone reporter and MP, gave talks on his experiences. Katie took lots of sun set photos. 

It was formal night in the Britannia restaurant so we dressed up a but more than usual and enjoyed some pre-dinner cocktails before the meal. 

The Beatles Experience

The show in the theatre was a Beatles tribute band from Liverpool who were very entertaining. 

During the evening the captain announced that very strong winds were forecast for Amsterdam which may be problem getting into port later in the night.

All aboard for Amsterdam

QE with newly painted funnel

The day started fine and sunny, in fact a bit too sunny for comfortable driving. We all made it to Southampton in good time and were soon on board the QE and ready to depart. We were starving after the journey so we had something to eat in the lido restaurant before unpacking and attending the safety briefing. 

P&O liner ready to leave after us.

We set sail on schedule at 4:45pm and passed the P&O Aurora on our way down the solent. We were allocated the late sitting (8:30) for dinner and so we had chance for a quick nap to make up for the early start. After dinner in the main restaurant Mark and Christina hit the cocktail bar, but the rest of us retired before midnight.

Only one more sleep

We will be leaving home tomorrow with Jennifer at about 9:30 and driving down to Southampton to arrive at the port by 1:00pm. Mark and Christina will be doing the same from Luton and Katie is 'letting the train take the strain' from Kingston. So hopefully we will all be there around the same time and should all be on board by about 2:00 pm.

QE's sister ship the Queen Victoria

The Queen Elizabeth is scheduled to leave port at 4:45 and we will be at sea all day Saturday cruising around the channel, or north sea,  until we dock in the centre of Amsterdam in the early hours of Sunday morning.    

Only 5 more sleeps