Sunday morning - we packed all of our many bags (and Christmas presents) into the rental car, left Sheila and Bob's and headed to the cruise ship, for our cruise from Southampton to Bermuda (stopping in New York - more shopping!!). Our only concern was where we were going to store all our bags in the cabin!! A nice way to travel back to Bermuda after 3 months away.
We thought the lady at checkin was joking with us, when she said that the ship would not be stopping in Bermuda, but going to Madeira instead!! She said it was due to bad weather predicted in 10 days time in Bermuda!?!?!?.... There was in actual fact a big weather system in the Atlantic that we needed to go south of. However, we remain convinced that this was just an excuse, and not a reason, to not stop in Bermuda. Needless to say, a lot of hours were spent with Customer Relations over the next few days, sorting out how we would get home (and who would pay for it!!)
Despite our issues with Customer Relation, the ship was lovely - the nicest ship we have been on. It even had a putting green on the top deck!! Shows and food were also great.
The centre of the ship, consisted of 6 fully glassed, 14 floor, elevators in an atrium, with a tree growing in the middle!!
Indoor and outdoor swimming pools. However, these had to be closed for some of the time, when the rough seas caused the water to rush from one end to the other (and out all over the floor)
So, after a couple of rough sea days, as we skirted the storm, a short, unschedule stop in Madeira for a few hours. Not a good trade off for Bermuda!! - It seemed like all of the passengers on the ship choose this repositioning cruise because they wanted to see Bermuda, and most of them had already been to Madeira before! A lot of disappointed campers! However, the weather was quite nice in Madeira, so that made people happier.
Wifi Zone!!
As we left Madeira, the weather got better for a couple of days and people started to fill the deck, sunbathing. However, unfortunately it didn't last for long, as we started to head north again towards New York, the weather deteriorated - cold and gale force, howling winds, just before our arrival into New York! They even had to close off all of the outside decks.
The cruise should have been called the 4 seasons cruise - Autumn in UK, Spring in Madeira, Winter in New York and summer in Miami!
Sea days consisted of different activities - Playing bridge, singing in a choir, music trivia quizzes, one trip to the gym..., reading, watching movies, listening to talks, watching great shows every night, and of course... eating!!!! The compulsory past time on a cruise ship.
There were 2 other couples that we knew on the cruise, Richard and Wendy Gray and Jane and Andy Bermingham, and we all ate together most nights:
Here is a picture of me with the captain - he had no idea what he was in store for next!!
Finally, after another 5 sea days, we arrived in New York - 24F!!! Freezing!! (but sunny).
For some reason it took 6 hours for immigration to clear all the passengers into the USA, and nobody could get back on the ship until everyone had been cleared. We were in no rush, but after getting ticket number 33 ticket at 9am, were not allowed off until 2.30pm! I felt so sorry for all those that went ashore early and were not able to get back on the ship until about 4pm. We took a walk around Manhattan, but abandoned getting tickets for a show that night, in favour of getting back into the warmth of the ship!!
The following day, November 19th, I finally flew back to Bermuda with all of my many bags! Jimmy stayed on in New York.
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