Well that's day 1 out of the way! Safely wrapped up in bed with the curtains open as we gently slip our moorings and with the aid of a tug we back out of Bridgetown harbour for a night and a days sail to Grenada. The flight wasn't too bad in the end, just under 9 hours. There was a fair selection of movies to watch and the food was OK, better than I was expecting to be honest although Fiona would disagree as 2 of the 3 main course choices had cheese in them which she is allergic to. But she had come prepared with a sandwich meal deal purchased in Boots at the airport. There was a slight panic as for a short while it seemed that they had run out of gin but some extra supplies were found. We were at the back of the plane so were at the end of the line for the drinks service and g+t must have been a popular choice. The flight was a P+O charter from Virgin so everyone was going on a cruise although we weren't sure if we were all going on the same boat.
There was no luggage collection or going through customs or passport check after we landed, it was straight down the stairs from the plane onto the tarmac and then straight onto a bus for the transfer to the cruise terminal.
Of course everything takes time so there was plenty of waiting in line but eventually we had our passports checked, our credit cards swiped and we were presented with a personalised card to open our cabin and also to allow us to buy anything and of course leave and get back on board the ship. Everything was well organised except when we eventually got to the boat there was only one gangway working and they were still disembarking passengers who were leaving to go to the airport. There had been some delay for a reason we didn't discover.
Anyway it was up the gangway, swipe your key card, get your had luggage x-rayed and then onto the room. There was no problem with the bottle of gin Fiona had bought at the airport (special deal £13 a litre for Tanqueray) which should get her over the weekend.
The room is a decent size although the bathroom is best described as cosy.
Our room card said we had been assigned to first dinner sitting at 18.15. Normally on holiday we eat later but I think going for dinner at 18.15 will work better especially if we turn up 30 minutes late, as long as we are out by 20.15 its OK and there is always the buffet option.
It so happens that the ships captain is known to us, or rather to Fiona and is in a way sort of related. Fiona's aunt who died 3 years ago was married to the captain's uncle. Small world. We knew that Sarah, captained a P+O ship but not which one, according to the info in the ship's magazine she has captained several over the years.
Dinner tonight was OK, a wide choice but we both settled for something simple given the travelling we have done and the time difference (4 hours) although the pilot had tried to confuse us by saying it was 5.
At 20.00 we had to muster for a practice drill to make sure we could put our life jackets on, the instructions were "bring your life jacket, a head covering and your medications". Looking at some of our fellow passengers some of them would have had trouble carrying all their medications. There are very few younger than us on the boat and a number who I would class as infirm.
After the drill we decided to turn in as we had had an early start.
2025-02-06