What a busy day we had yesterday.
A visit to Boots to buy the bulk of our toiletries and a trip to Asda to buy anything we couldn't get in Boots were the main pre-embarkation tasks - we got loads of stuff & finding space to put it all once we got it back to the Premier was another big task!......
We managed it......just - and were packed & ready to leave the hotel by 11:45.
Our (pre-booked) cab arrived on time & a very excited pair of Merseysiders were at the cruise terminal around 12:25. It's a good job there's not such thing as an excitement gauge - if there was, I'm sure I'd have broken it - even the lady at check-in commented on how happy I looked.
The hoards of people inside the terminal made it look a bit manic but check in was organised really well.....we didn't wait in line for long and were getting our card keys by 12:45 and then, (queue drum roll please).....it. was.
"Up the Gangplank" time and we were on board
A visit to Boots to buy the bulk of our toiletries and a trip to Asda to buy anything we couldn't get in Boots were the main pre-embarkation tasks - we got loads of stuff & finding space to put it all once we got it back to the Premier was another big task!......
We managed it......just - and were packed & ready to leave the hotel by 11:45.
Our (pre-booked) cab arrived on time & a very excited pair of Merseysiders were at the cruise terminal around 12:25. It's a good job there's not such thing as an excitement gauge - if there was, I'm sure I'd have broken it - even the lady at check-in commented on how happy I looked.
The hoards of people inside the terminal made it look a bit manic but check in was organised really well.....we didn't wait in line for long and were getting our card keys by 12:45 and then, (queue drum roll please).....it. was.
"Up the Gangplank" time and we were on board
 |
| In reality it was more Up and then Down The Gangplank - but it got us to where we wanted to be 😊 |
After dumping our luggage, putting the valuables in the safe & saying hello to our room steward "Larry" (he seems nice), we were down in the internet cafe redeeming our wi-fi voucher & getting our account set up pdq.
We did a bit of exploring but with the suitcases arriving and a million things to do, we didn't see much of the ship - I have sussed out that she's huge though - think it will take the whole 17 days to see everything & even then, I don't think we'll see everything!
Here's our room
A late lunch, a bit of unpacking, door postering and muster drill got us to 5pm and sailaway....
The weather played nice and it was warm enough to stand on deck as we sailed out of Southampton. The AIDA Prima was also in port and her passengers gave us a great send off......tons of them were waving goodbye (& vice versa) and that, along with the CB's resident group belting out some fab songs as we made our way to the high seas (aka the English Channel) all added to the occasion.
 |
| Some of the Aida passengers enjoyed our sailaway as much as we did |
 |
| The sun sprinkling its rays over (I think) the Isle of Wight as we passed by |
(Back down to earth!), I did a ton of ironing and then we made our way to the Welcome Aboard Show. The British comedian, Rick ???? (name escapes me) wasn't really our cup of tea but we did laugh occasionally. I suppose it comes down to different strokes for different folks because quite a lot of the audience like him so he certainly didn't bomb, he just wasn't for us.
A quick glass of wine in Crooners and then our tummies were telling us it was time for dinner.
Couldn't say which dining room we went to but there was no wait and we were seated immediately. We said we were happy to share so they put us on a table for 8 however, we ended up being the only 2 on it because the later dinner trade had slowed to less than a trickle. Talk about feeling like a pair of Billy No Mates (Liverpool expression).
 |
| Our Billy No Mates Table - we had each other though |
The food was fab ......a fish cerviche followed by chilli for me and T had spring rolls then rib eye. Neither of us felt like dessert cos a) we were full and b) too tired to eat it.
It didn't help that I'd been awake since 2:40am but, that aside, I'm still amazed at how excitement can really tire you out - at 9:45 we were back in our room and totally ready for a good night's sleep.
Our first day on board was wonderful
