An early morning alarm call at 4:00 started our day. From there it was just a case of getting up and checking out before making the short walk to the terminal. By 5:20 we had cleared security and were sitting in Giraffe, our favoured breakfast venue.
The flight was uneventful and we arrived 5 minutes ahead of schedule. While we were waiting in the baggage reclaim area, members of our party started to become known to us and then with our hosts issuing out special cruise.co.uk lanyards with our names on we were all pretty much aware of who was who by the time we had left the baggage reclaim area.
Transport was laid on to take us to the port which took just over 50 minutes. When we arrived we were given priority boarding which had us on board in less than 20 minutes. Obligatory photos taken with no seemingly way of escaping it either.
A few minor observations at this point, no health questionnaire and no hand sanitiser when first boarding. Very strange not to be offered the latter this day and age.
We were told cabins would not be available until 2:30 but found ours ready so dropped the bags off and went off to explore the ship.
The cabin is really nice and seems to have all the required elements you could need. One question that is puzzling me, why a wall mounted bottle opener in the bathroom???
The ship is very bright and spacious and I think once we get our bearings it will be easier to navigate. There are lots of public areas and plenty of places to sit. The buffet was as you would expect very busy on day one and on first impressions having lots of varied things to eat. However none of the items are labeled with allergen information, Nicole is on a gluten free diet and not having these details displayed or readily available made her selections limited/difficult. Everyone kept sending us down to deck 5 to the Splendida bar which is listed as a gluten free bar. There is a bar tariff there which lists safe drink items and there are 4 packets of gluten free snacks available but don’t come as part of the package. On a positive note the bar manager noticed our interest and came forward to offer help and assistance with our choice.
We spent the afternoon just wandering and exploring the ship while waiting for our cases to arrive.
Muster is at 5:15 and all aboard at 6:30 and we have our first proper get together of everyone at 7:30 with drinks at the bar at the back of the ship (the name escapes me at the moment but I know where it is!) After that we all go to dinner at 8:30 splitting into two groups to sample different venues.
The Wi-Fi is proving to be a little testing at the moment with virtually no coverage in the cabin so I need to visit the public areas to make any posts.
We have had a good day and a met up with a great crowd. This cruise is going to be fun.